C5 Restaurant Lounge

Bloor and University/Avenue inside the ROM

Restaurant type:  Fine dinning

Entrée price range:  $24-30

Wine price range: $40-Hundreds

We recommend this restaurant for:  Romantic night out, a night out with like minded food snobs…lol.

Overall:  Stewart  5/5  Nancy  5/5

Stewart’s Review:  Hands down, the best dinning experience I have ever had.  Great food, service, and décor.  I can’t wait to go back.

Nancy’s Review:   I loved everything about this place.  From the food to the décor to the service everything was fantastic.  It was the perfect night out.

Food:  Stewart  5/5  Nancy 5/5

Stewart’s Review:  The night began with a wonderful amuse bouche and it just continued to get better as we moved through our apps, mains, and cheese platter.  Our food was put together and presented in a way that I have never seen before, and I was tasting flavours and textures that I had never experienced before.  I was thinking about the food for weeks afterwards.

Nancy’s Review:  The food was delicious. I especially loved the cheese fondue. The vegetables were cooked perfectly and they used vegetables I never would have thought to use for a fondue.

Service:  Stewart 5/5   Nancy 5/5

Stewart’s review:  The food was wonderful and the service complimented it perfectly.  The service was friendly,  prompt, and informative.  Our server gave us great little blurbs of information about all of the food we ate.  This extra touch really added to our enjoyment of the night.

Nancy's review: The service was fantastic. Our wine glasses were never empty and there was always someone around to make us feel like the most important guests in the restaurant.

Décor/Ambiance:  Stewart 4.5/5   Nancy 4.5/5

Stewart’s review:  The restaurant is broken up into a bar and dinning area.  The bar area is decorated with a black theme and the dinning area has a white theme.  Each side is a bit bleak, but that is the point.  There are large windows which allow great views of the city.   I know the theme is black and white but I would have liked a little more colour to bring it to life a bit.

Nancy's Review: It was a romantic setting but the tables were a little close to each other. Great view of the city.

Value for Money:  Stewart 5/5    Nancy 5/5

Stewart’s review:  We really treated ourselves with food and drinks, and the final bill was very reasonable.  If you go,  I would recommend that you treat yourself to everything you want.  The final bill will be high, but the food and the whole dinning experience are definitely worth the price!!

Nancy's review: It was my birthday dinner so I wasn't looking at the price but i would pay whatever we ended up paying again!

Domus Cafe (Ottawa)

Location:  85 Murray St (Ottawa)

Restaurant type:  Fine Dinning/Local cuisine

Entrée Price range:  $30-35

Wine price range: $37 and up.

We recommend you visit this restaurant for:  Romantic dinner or an intimate night out with friends

Overall  Stewart 3.5/5  Nancy 3.5/5

Stewart’s review:  The experience was enjoyable but not mind blowing.  The décor was a bit dull, and it was a bit pricy, but I enjoyed the food, and the service was really good.  On top of that it serves a local/seasonal menu, which is always a plus.

Nancy’s review:  There were opportunities to make the food better, but overall the service and atmosphere made up for any short comings.

Food  Stewart 4/5  Nancy 3/5

Stewart’s review:  I ordered the elk medallions, which came with tasty green beans, mashed potatoes, and a pulled pork and potato croquette.  It was the first time that I had eaten elk and I really enjoyed it.  The beans and potatoes were the perfect side for the elk (though I would have enjoyed a lot more mashed potatoes).  The only low-light was the croquette.  I didn’t like the taste at all (and I found a bone in it).  The plate would have been much better without it. 

Nancy’s review:  The barley risotto appetizer had unpleasant texture and it left a bad taste in my mouth.  My main was seared scallops with shitake mushrooms and butternut squash.  It was good, but would have been more flavourful with a sauce or seasoning on the scallops.

Décor/Ambiance  Stewart 3/5  Nancy 4/5

Nancy’s review:  I thought that this was the perfect setting for a romantic dinner.  I loved the open kitchen and even though the restaurant was a big open space it felt intimate.  The prints on the wall could use a change.

Stewart’s review:  Unfortunately we ended up in a little nook at the front of the restaurant.  Nancy had a decent view of the restaurant but I could not see anything, so I can’t give much of a décor evaluation.  The only thing I could see were some wildlife prints which seemed a little out of place in a fine dinning restaurant. 

Service:  Stewart  4.5/5  Nancy 4.5/5

Stewart’s review:  The service was really great.  It was a big part of what made the evening enjoyable.  The servers were friendly and prompt.  When they noticed the bone from the croquette they immediately offered a free dessert (I took a Baily’s on ice instead).

Nancy’s review:  I agree with Stewart.  Our server was especially friendly and prompt.

Value for money  Stewart 3/5  Nancy  3.5/5

Stewart’s review:  The total bill was pretty reasonable but I did think that the mains were overpriced.  Overall, I would say that it was worth the money but there is some room to pick it up a few notches. 

Nancy’s review:  For a fine dinning restaurant the prices were reasonable.  I especially liked that they had a lot of affordable local wine.