Review Tucker's Marketplace - Ottawa

*UPDATE: June 2020 they’re officially closing all locations and blaming COVID-19. BS! This review from 2016 is even more accurate now!* Firstly, I actually think this place is amazing. We came here for the dinner buffet on a Friday night. The wait time was only 10 minutes-if that. The food was great! Flavourful, consistent, and diverse! The staff were kind and our waitress, Kelsey, was a joy to have. The reason my rating is so low is because of a few key issues I noticed whilst dining. 1. The ice cream bar has no attendant. I watched several women with long hair diving down to get a scoop of ice cream, their hair going with them and touching the food! 2. Less than 10 minutes to close, I observed the chefs completely fill several food bowls at the buffet. Now you may think that this is not an issue, but here's the kicker. ALL THE FOOD LEFTOVER AT THE END OF THE NIGHT IS THROWN OUT. Absolutely nothing is donated to food banks or soup kitchens. The fresh calamari I saw being put out will all go to waste. I can't believe this is allowed. It disgusted me and gave me severely mixed feelings about dining here. 3. There is no charges for wasting food. I watched several tables of people leaving full meals out and paying the bill. After talking to some of the waiters they expressed my same concerns. They watch people not eat all the food they get and leave with lots of uneaten food, with no repercussions. This is easily the least sustainable restaurant I have ever seen. I will never eat here again until major, publicized changes are made. I wish the government would fine businesses that waste as much food as Tucker's does.

The taste of the food is decent but the options are limited compared to other restaurants. As for the price, it is not that cheap neither. Around 30$ per person including tax and tip for dinner. Since the place is pretty big, wait time is very low. Finally, the service was very friendly and welcoming.

Been to this Buffet / restaurant several times over the years and to be quite honest it's been the same over the years and that's not always a bad thing consistency is the key to success we had a great time food was good the only negative thing is that the options are really dull and now that they've taken bacon out it's a head-scratcher. $26 for weekend dinner buffet you expect some high-end items on the menu but nope and since eclipse Buffet and emerald Buffet are both out of business this place is going to get busier it's interesting to see how they're going to handle the change in numbers.

Wonderful service. Excellent quality. What a beautiful experience. Fresh and healthy foods. Amaaaaazing salad bar and taco station!!! Made to order fresh pasta station!! Wonderful roast beef, and soooo much more. We had a birthday supper here and it was effortless. There is something here for everyone. This is a restaurant that demonstrates they care. Families are welcome. Awesome price!!! #localguide

A variety of food to choose from! Definitely a place for everyone! Have been going there for the past 5 years. Service is exceptional (especially the manager). Student and birthday deals are available and facilities is awesome! Parking is easy to find. You can choose from patio or indoors. Always enjoy the ice cream there

The food was good, the selection was great! There's bound to be something you'll like. I was slightly disappointed to find that in most cases, the food looked amazing but it wasn't as tasty as I expected. The prices are reasonable and tip is included in the total. We were well served and all staff we encountered were nice and friendly. We'll go back.

Good house beer- but, expensive. Buffet is expensive as well- with a real lack of meat choices. Great looking salad bar- but you don't make friends with salad...

Very good food lots to choose from. Salad choices were good but some were a little lacking in flavor. Over all the experience was good. Would go back again for sure.

Great buffet in market area. Clean, friendly and lots of choices. I guess “Mother Tucker’s” has been updated with a new feel and name. I used to enjoy Mother Tucker’s in Winnipeg until it closed many years ago. Was pleasantly surprised.

Went there on Jan 21 /18. Everything was down hill from years ago; high school cafeteria food at best; a 2 star Cuban resort food for 30 plus including tax. A total rip off.

Let me preface this by saying that over the years we have been to this restaurant over 20 times we used to go for everyone's birthday but although I like it just fine I tend to stick to the roast beef, squash carrots and salad bar which are quite good in my opinion but I can't get my husband or son to go anymore as they do not like any of the dishes offered in the center hot bar which is unfortunate. I would say give it a try but don't have too high of expectations. Restaurant is large and clean. Staff are usually attentive .

Ok food. Great desserts. Horrible service. Our waiter insulted my family after asking for a refill on our drinks. Will never go back . Only positive server was manager downstairs was trying his hardest to fill in where his servers could not.

Been here three times and have never been disappointed. Wide selection of food, friendly staff, quick to bus the empty dishes. Love the carvery and the main dish table. Only downside is that it's often busy and you may need to wait for a table, but on the plus side, a busy buffet means high turnover of food, so it's fresh.<br/>

My first time at Tucker's . Took my daughter for her birthday. Waiter didn't provide good service as I expected ..never came to our table to ask how we were doing or if we needed a drink since I just at water initially; had planned on ordering a drink and staying longer but he made no eye contact at our table..guess too occupied with other (still tipped him though) customers...food, dessert and everything else great despite lousy service from that particular waiter. I propably would go back but definitely not have that waiter serve me.

We have been there twice in the last three weeks for the first time in 10 years. Both times we had the same. Great service. Great food. The coleslaw was amazing. Great atmosphere. I had two kids with me and the girls at the pasta bar were great with them. They talked them into eating more than just plain pasta! You don't feel like you are eating "buffet food" made in large quantities. It tastes like home cooking. I think it actually is. Great place and good price.

I was there with the family, the buffet has somethings for every one. Ham was very good, the buffet was at the right temperature. Ok the kids enjoy the sweet and I may say very much. Good outing with family with kids.

Okay. That one word describes this restaurant to a tee. Like many, I came here for my birthday because I get a free meal. Went with a friend for a quick dinner. The place wasn't packed and we got seated immediately (maybe because it was a Thursday). For a buffet, it was remarkably clean and put together and the hosts were quite friendly. The downside was the lack of variety or punch. This is a buffet, we should have as many different flavours and variety as possible. I found the food quite bland. It had a great salad bar and dessert section (the best brownies I've had outside a bakery). If I had paid, it would have been $21.50 give or take, not worth it. Next time I'll stick to Continental or any of the other Chinese/Asian fusion buffets.

Some years ago, I enjoyed coming here, and so arriving back to the province today I brought my wife here for dinner, and I am besides myself with how terrible the food was. I am floored, actually. Although the roast beef was good, the Yorkshire pudding was dense and cold, hard and cake-like (I couldn’t eat it, actually, and love Yorkshire), the carrots were unbuttered and totally unseasoned, and the corn was chewy. Then, I tried the rice pilaf which would have been okay had it not been over-salted by about x3, which made it quite awful. Then, I get a salad from the salad bar and the croutons are clearly not fresh, but even *stale*. In addition, in the past there were many more buffet items, the items did not look appetizing at all, but would you believe that this $25-per-person buffet had *crispy onion topping* as a buffet item? Unbelievable. We also ordered a long island iced tea that wasn’t made correctly as it was like a fizzy pop and not like a brewed tea. I was so astonished that on leaving, I told the manager all this, that I used to eat there and that this tonight truly deserved a refund, as almost every item was really poorly prepared, and he said, “Well, we would like you to come back. You can come back and try us again.” Really? I mean why would you offer someone this when they just finished telling you how each item was terribly prepared, and after they told you that you used to be a fan? It’s not like a few items were bad, but it was all cheap and insulting. So we paid $63 in total for all-you-can-eat food prepared by people who could care less. I will never go to a Mother Tuckers (Ottawa) again. Save your money. If you once liked it, like me, it is not the same at all so you best go elsewhere.

The staff here take pride in providing the best possible food and service, and it shows. This is one of our favorite places to go, and we're never disappointed.

I really like it here. The food is really good and theres a decent variety. I don't come here too often due to location, but I look forward to it when I do.

Went on a Thursday at 7pm. Service was good. Food was well made. My options were limited because I am on a Low-carb diet, but I was disappointed to not have many options in terms of meat. I ate the beef roast (had to ask carver for more, and he gave me one more slice without issue). Ate a Kale salad which was good... Loved the sautéed carrots. Basically stuck with veggies and meat. Was disappointed that my kids didn't really find anything that they liked, as the options aren't as vast as the Mississauga location we were used to. Plus parking was expensive.

My partner and I go here every year for both of our birthdays because it is a great treat to have a free meal! We also love going for Sunday Brunch, and don't mind a little bit of a wait for a table because the food and service is usually quite worth it. Normally we love it, however our most recent experience was downright embarrassing. <br/><br/>My partners birthday yesterday:<br/><br/>We didn't actually have to wait too long to be seated which was a great start, but things went downhill quickly. Once the hostess seated us, it was a good 10 minutes before someone noticed we were there. It was not even our server, who was nowhere to be found. Another server came over and apologized saying that ours was delayed. He took our drink orders and was very nice. We helped ourselves to the buffet, but when we grabbed plates they had stuck on food from when they were washed. We eventually found clean plates after a few tries, and then went about the buffets. Between courses, no one checked on our drinks, or if everything was going well. We still had no idea who our actual server was. By dessert, we were pretty annoyed already but then noticed a huge mess of a dessert buffet. Mismatched serving utensils with the wrong dishes (cross contamination), chocolate from the fountain strewn around, and empty ice cream vats. There were also no bowls for the ice cream we were able to scrape from the bottom of the barrel so we had to go over across the room to get soup bowls. We would have loved to mention all of this to our server to have someone restock, but again, he was nowhere to be found. At the end of supper and dessert, we waited again for our bill to be brought. We saw who was pointed out to be our server making himself a plate of dinner and going into the back room. I sat with my debit card on the table hoping that someone would notice we were finished. Eventually, the poor other server from a different section noticed us again and offered to bring our bill for us. He apologized profusely - he was fully aware we were being neglected and took it upon himself to service us. One special touch we appreciated was that he surprised us with a sparkler brownie for my partners birthday. The only thing that made me not walk right out that night was the one server who did help us. <br/><br/>We were horribly neglected, the dishes were dirty, and the dessert bar was awful - dirty and empty.<br/><br/>I am very unimpressed and probably not going to continue coming to this location after this incident, which is unfortunate as it has become somewhat of a tradition for us to bring our birthday celebrations there every year.<br/><br/>Tuckers, if you would like to contact me about this situation, please message me. I have my receipt saved.

Went Friday night at 6pm for my Mother's Birthday. The service was friendly and efficient. It was very busy, and if we didn't have a reservations there was an hour wait for a table.<br/><br/>I am on a low-carb diet currently, so my options were fairly limited. What I tried:<br/>-Kale Caesar I actually quite enjoyed it. I had some on almost every plate I got. I'm not even a big fan of raw kale, so I was surprised, but it was very good.<br/>-Garlic Coleslaw was okay. It was decidedly missing something. I think a bit of acid like lemon or vinegar would have taken it up a notch. <br/>-Sweet & Sour fish, I only tried 1 bite, and I wasn't impressed.<br/>-Taco meat was tasty. I quite liked it.<br/>-Roast Beef. One of the better things they had. I ate a lot of it with Gravy & au jus.<br/>-Lamb, I found to be overcooked slightly. It wasn't objectively bad, but it also wasn't good.<br/>-I tried their custom stir fry and it was quite good considering I chose fairly simple items.<br/>-I tried their roasted chicken, which wasn't anything special. <br/><br/>My only real complaint was at the roast beef carving station, I went up a few times, and I asked "Can I get some more please?" after he had put a few small slices on my plate. He told me he couldn't because he would get in trouble from his boss. Not his fault really, but just made it a hassle to have to go keep going back up over and over when I could have just gone up once or twice.

Retirement meal. Had a great time and the food was excellent,

On the expensive side.... Good food and good service. There's a lot of variety and choices of foods and drinks. However, they do not have a lot of asian cuisine to offer. It's mostly salads, pasta, rotisserie and mixed items; mostly '' northern american'' cuisine. It's a bit more ''fancy'' than ordinary buffet restaurants. The only down side is the price. The basic price is 22,95$ for the buffet and all drinks are add ons; not budget and/or student friendly. Either than that, it's all good.

Rip off. Waste of money, totally over priced

Disappointed. 1. Yuck – old chewing gum stuck under the chair arm rest. Waitress just moved the chair to a different location. No further action was taken !?#.<br/>2. Absolutely ridiculous!!! – asking an 8 year old birthday girl for ID to prove that today is her birthday ??? Is Tuckers management afraid of being taken for a free children's lunch ???<br/>3. No rating sheets are available at the Burlington location – no possibility of contacting Tuckers on their web-site.<br/><br/>*** Tucker is obviously doing too well – but they lost this customer, family and friends ***

Fresh buffet food. While some menu items at Tucker's may be hit & miss - overall, the food consistently remains fresh and well prepared, living up to their claims. Wednesday nights are student nights - so if you happen to have your student ID on you, you can get a discount on your meal with a purchase of a refillable soft drink (or tea - if that's your preference!) I love the salad bar, as well can never go wrong with any of their chicken/turkey pot pies. Mashed potatoes are wonderful, as is the roast beef. Tucker's is definitely a higher quality buffet than many other greasy places. Although regular dinner prices can be quite high, try to look for specials/coupons or if it happens to be your birthday you can eat for free. A great option for a large variety of Western style buffet foot in the market.

Been here quite a few times and normally everything from service to food is excellent. Most recently however there was an error made on my end at entering the tip into the machine and somehow it ended up not working. Instead of calmly mentioning it to us the waiter waited until I was heading out and was very aggressive to my boyfriend saying it was an insult for us to not leave a tip with him giving us such great service and we should be ashamed and continued ranting leaving my boyfriend so confused and shocked. <br/><br/>It was a simple error which could have been easily dealt with in a proper manner. <br/>Won't be returning there for a while that's for sure.

Have a couple times. Good food. But very disappointed tonight with lack of customer service. A friend reserved a table for 14 at 5:30. Most were there by 5:45. At 6 server said they were taking our extra seats for other customers. The rest of our party came in about 5 minutes later. They ran into traffic problems. Both server and manager were upset that they had to try and accomodate these people. Didn't care. They basically said if you can't be here on time we don't want you. So the ones who were late left to go elsewhere.<br/>Not acceptable Tucker's. Not acceptable. <br/>Will not go back.

Client. I had one of the worst customer services experiences with Tuckers tonight.<br/>My friend that has a birthday today went in the morning to reserve for tonight for his birthday party at Tuckers. He spoke with the front man and he told him that he can come at 7pm and he will have a place for his group. We arrive at 7 pm and there is no reservation for the group. We explained the situation and the front girl says I am sorry I cannot do anything. Nobody wants to seat us and they ask us to stay for 1 hr to wait to be seated. We spoke with the manager, not only that he didn't try to help us, he tried to convince us that he was there and everything was reserved in the morning and that's why now we needed to wait for 1 hr. He explained to us that we didn't understand and on and on (the newly accepted customer service trick)...This is outrageous! When you are in fault, don't blame the client. Maybe they forgot rule number 1 in business - the client is always right! On top of that he said that he can't help us and we need to wait like everyone else for 1 hr.<br/>This is the last time I go there and I am going to advice my friends not to go. Outrageous client service!

Great selection of fresh food.. We decided to give this place a try. We have never been and were really excited. We headed there at around 7PM on this Saturday night. The lady at the front desk told us our wait would be around 30 minutes. About ten minutes in we were offered a spicy thai meatball by a staff member and about five minutes later we were seated at our table. Our server greeted us immediately and asked which drinks we would like, told us to go ahead and get our entrees. He returned with our drinks and checked on us several times and promptly removed used plates from our table. The food was FANTASTIC! No greasy buffet style food, a very large selection of tasty, fresh, delicious food. I was so happy to see so many sides of veggies and healthy choices. EVERYTHING was fantastic. I honestly did not put one thing on my plate I did not like. The desserts were great too, normally buffet style places have the crappiest food and this just isn't so here. The staff were fantastic and the food was great. If you haven't checked it out, do so!

Special days are excellent for the food and drinks we had a great time with great service happy birthday michele

Fell for a tourist trap in my own City. We went last night into the market area as part of our summer playing tourist in our own city.<br/>We had made a reservation (3 adults) for 7:15. We were seated shortly after our allotted time at a nice window bench table. I should note the girl at the reception desk had the charm of a wet noodle. But oh well !<br/>Our server was engaging and attentive.<br/>Going to Tucker's we expected to be treated to the carver section of the buffet.<br/>At 7:30 I was told there was no more roast pork left from a server who looked like he could fall asleep, no apology just "none left" although they proudly displayed the sign for the item our entire time there.<br/>As well my husband waited over 45 minutes for farmer sausage that never did finish "being prepared"; he asked several times just out of curiosity it never appeared.<br/>So we were left with okay roast beef (somewhat grey in color) chicken pieces that you would not describe meaty in the least.<br/>Ripped off is the term that came to mind.

Love This Place!. We decided to stop in at this place after walking around in the Byward Market. We went in and asked how long of a wait it would be; she said about 30-40 minutes. We decided to wait as we were craving buffet. We walked around outside and came back about 10 minutes later. After waiting for about 15 minutes, the woman at the front called us. She walked us to our table and our server greeted us right away. He introduced himself and asked us what we wanted to drink. He was very kind and courteous, telling us to help ourselves to the buffet whenever we were ready. We ordered our drinks and started towards the buffet. There were tons of options to choose from! We started with the salad bar, which had at least 12 different salads to choose from. The pasta salads were all delicious, very fresh and tasty. We then decided to head for the main dish area. We loved the fresh pasta station, as well as the special of the evening (tacos). They had every item you can think of; roast beef, french fries, chicken, rice, and much more! We noticed that once an item was finished, it was replenished right away. All of the servers behind the food counters were helpful in assisting us in choosing the items that we desired. After we went up for the third time, we decided to settle on dessert. There were many dessert items to choose from; our favourite was the chocolate fondue, what a unique item to add to the buffet! Our server was very kind throughout the entire evening; he came to refill our waters as soon as he noticed they were getting empty. Our total came to $45, which we thought was reasonable considering all of the food that was being offered. Everything at this place was top-notch; service, food, and atmosphere. Will definitely return again!

Good food. I and a few friends of mine visited this restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful night of fabulous culinary delights .<br/>We sat there enjoying our choice of these fine eats for about an hour and a half <br/>Believe me when I say we were completely stuffed .<br/>I highly recomend this establishment to all the fine eaters of ottawa and beyond.

I'm very happy. I'm a food critic in the greater Ottawa area and I'd just like to express how happy I am for you guys. Service, food, and envirnoment are spot on. Good for you guys and I hope to see more Tucker's Market Place's open up in the Stittsville/Kanata area. This is not even a suggestion, this is a demand. You can reach me at (613) 898-5673 for futher questions. Cheers

Good But they Changed Labelling. This was an excellent buffet-style restaurant to take your gluten-free and celiac friends to because they had been clearly labelling each food. A group of 10 was there on Sunday and, unfortunately, they have removed the identifying labels and now only say it is Balsamic Vinaigrette. One of our group had to keep asking about individual plates and it took almost 45 minutes just to get the first plate of food. Not good. Now the FOOD itself is excellent, and what was hot was hot, and the cold was cold - which is not always easy to do. There is a very good variety of choices which are bound to suit almost (excluding the gluten-free and celiac food munchers) any appetite. There were no major complaints. The salad bar is excellent because they have not blindly mixed everything together, kept it minimal for you to add what you like, pick your own dressing, etc. They are very light on fish and chicken options which I would like to see increased - the mussels were delicious but the one bit of fish was of "dubious" origin/name; as well the chicken parts were also extremely tasty and well cooked. Also, need a few more green vegetables and not salad. The staff were superb, our waitress was excellent. We had made a reservation almost two weeks before, but were a bit late in getting our table; however, management, did advise us in a timely manner and was quite apologetic about it. Overall, for a buffet, I would give this four (4) stars. Our dear companion who is the celiac and recommended this restaurant and we went in the past, was disappointed at the labelling changes and I would strongly suggest that Management review this and go back to the old labelling.<br/><br/><br/>-----15 Feb, 2013-----<br/><br/>Pretty Darned Good. Went with a group in early February 2013 and we had reserved seating. Everything was ready and the servers were excellent and always available (something not too common at other eateries).<br/>The food was very good and the price was right. Thank goodness not everything was battered, deep fried or sauced to death. The roast beef, beautifully rare, was melt-in-your-mouth delicious; the mussels far too good and best of all were all the vegetables; green beans, squash, sweet potatoes and too many others to mention. The salad bar was well stocked with a good variety of vegetables (including beets) and the balsamic salad dressing was oh-so-good. Tried too many things to remember all but other than some weird teriyaki fish (the texture was questionable) everything was darned good. Must have tried 30 plus delicious items and only glanced at what appeared to be a very good variety of breads and spreads. Did hit the dessert table, only once but thankfully the portions were bite size so I managed to try a bit of almost everything. Mmmmm gooood. Would highly recommend for everyone, especially picky eaters as the choice is extremely good and the food well prepared; you could not possibly go there and not find something for everyone plus more.

Not the best, I've been before and was way better, things taste frozen...

So Delicious !! Plan on going back many times, Its so good and so many options ! and the price really is not bad either

Food was good but not lots to chose from and the service sucked. We had to wait 40mins to get a seat but we saw lots of empty open tables well never go on a sunday again.

Good all-u-can-eat. During my visit to Ottawa our family ate here 2 times. Both times the staff were friendly & prompt. I enjoyed the various selection of food & desserts, however watch out for the salad bar section. Some of the items are not good, had to spit it out (sorry for being so frank) Appears that some of the salad items were sitting out too long. I recommended that they switch it over through the day.

It's a neat idea but the food flavour is flat and dull.

Good and Basic. Old 'standby, doesn't dissapoint. Lots of choices...get there early if you don't want to wait in line. Small amounts of each item, means replenished often, keeping things colourful and fresh. A bit noisy if you want a quiet place to talk - Liked it.

Tucker's was a decent All-you-can-eat buffet. The esthetics were nice and the service was prompt and friendly. The food, however, was very average. Some of the dishes (the roast beef, mashed potatoes, and yorkshire) was quite good, other's did not look very appetizing. Great selection of salads and deserts. Also had a made to order pasta bar of which I did not partake. It you are hungry and looking for a quick and simple meal, stop by; but I would recommend other places before Tucker's.

Hungry? This place has a great selection, all buffet style.

3 meat carving station!. Today they had ham, beef and turkey! It was a solid carving station although apparently they dont always have all 3 meats. <br/><br/>The corn, butternut squash and green beens were all very good. As were the deep fried onions. For my last course I had a ham and turkey sandwich with fried onion which was amazing! <br/><br/>There is alot off marginal stuff too but I think that with the selection most people should be able to find some things that they like. The quality was at least decent and the place was clean. <br/><br/>At $17/each its not cheap but it is reasonable.

It was an interesting experience to eat all these different kinds of food at the same meal. Hand carved roast beef to jerk chicken to chicken vindaloo. Crazy times!

Good for a get together. We had our work party here and were very pleased. We were a smaller group so the extra attention we received was incredible. Very happy!

The only things to like about this place are the amount of choices and the environment. Food isn't necessarily good and consistent but not surprised by quality when it's an all u can eat venue. Good classic desserts though

Sorel was a superb server! Got you what you wanted before you even asked. We will be back for sure, great concept and it's not Chinese food which is what you normally synonymous with buffets.

BEST. Why are there not more of these? Great concept, great food quality even though it's buffet, staff is friendly, restaurant is clean. It's just a great place to eat! And it's free on your birthday! It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Worlds best buffet for sure. Massive selection of different foods from a huge salad bar to a huge bakery full of warm rolls and bread to a soup and baked potatoe bar to a huge grill that cooks the best roast beef and prime rib as well as stir fry anything you ask to a massive dessert section with freshly made desserts and tons of ice cream and the toppings to create your own sundae. Overall, one of the best restaurants I have eaten at, and that is saying A LOT!

Tucker’s Marketplace is probably the best buffet in Ottawa. If you’re looking for a place to take a group or a bunch of kids this is the place it’s also great if you just want to eat a million calories.

Last weekend we found a coupon in the Ottawa Citizen weekend paper for a meal at Tucker's Marketplace for $10.95 each with the purchase of a drink.  The only hitch, it was good from Sunday to Thursday and expired on November 8th. So last night after finishing work we headed over to Tucker's Marketplace ( 61 York Street, Ottawa ) for some dinner.  Normal office hours in Ottawa are 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday.  So we arrived at Tucker's Marketplace in the Byward Market at 4:30 P.M. to find this location locked up light Fort Knox.  Weird, lots of hussle and bussle in the market as workers were leaving their workplace for the day.  A couple of other probable customers also looked at us and the store mysteriously as to why the front doors were locked.  I scanned the front doors only to find designated hours showing they open at 5:00 P.M. for dinner.    So we turned around and decided to explore the market while another set of customers came by shrugged and went to another r