Review Al's Steakhouse - Ottawa

Haven’t been in maybe 25 years and my old memories did it no justice. Last visit was a friendly reminder of how fantastic this place is as a staple steakhouse in Ottawa. Not a fancy restaurant and reasonably priced as compared to many other equivalent restaurants in the city. Service was amazing. Jamie made the visit exceptional. On top of fantastic service quality, and price point is and Exceeded expectations. Won’t be another 25 years before I go back here. Excellent food. Familiar ambience. Highly recommend. Thank you.

This place was fantastic. The food was delicious, and the service was top notch. We had the mussels, French onion soup, escargot, bone marrow and some cocktails.

We went there for our 30 year anniversary and we were served by Jessy If I remember her name correctly. She was amazing, gave us a very good service given the covid situation. The food was not the best but it was very good can't complain at all and I would go back definitely

You just can't be the charcoal grill. Generous portions and everything was incredibly delicious. Great service and lovely atmosphere. Pricey but it's a fancy restaurant so that's expected. Was my first time going but this will be a go to now :)

Had an absolutely outstanding lunch here. The food was delicious, and the staff was friendly and attentive. Covid regulations were being followed and enforced. Seating was well spaced. Very highly recommended.

First time visit for my Husband's Birthday. Ambiance was perfect food was fantastic and service was on point. Great place for Steak, French onion soup and a spicy ceaser. Check out their wall of famous diners on your way out!.

THIS IS THE BEST STEAK I EVER HAD!! Soft, perfect smoke, juicy, just wowww!! My friends ordered bone-in also amazing! Sweet potato fries - the best! Salmon is good too! The waitress that night we had is just ok… slip the dessert menu on us, almost got hurt by fork, what an attitude..and was so unhappy when we request to separate bill when paying which we already told her we are sharing when ordered..serving time is slow on Friday, didn’t get chance to have dessert but heard chocolate cake is delicious Overall, still definitely a place I ll bring my friends and family to come on special days!

To begin with the food was amazing, the items we tried were correctly priced and very tasteful. The steak was a perfect medium rare and very good! The downside of this restaurant is the fact that they don’t every client in a reservation that they will charge you an 18% service fee (tip). So you just have to pay 18% even though the service was in my opinion one of the worst ever received in a steakhouse ever…. Server was rude, tried to grab our drink order after being seated for 2 minutes and served us the third bottle of wine we ordered after a good 30 minutes… Also he never told us about the caesar salads being an extra 5$ each, instead he just brought all of us one and charged us 5$ each without even saying it was an extra which is very unprofessional. Will definitely never be served by Ryan there again…. They did offer some compensation for the bad service we received. The food would be the only reason why we’d go back!

Delicious steaks and appetizers. The service was great. The manager anf the waitress were so friendly. The food was absolutely divine. The decor is superb. Fancy restaurant ... Excellent service... Delicious food..

Simply put, this is one of Ottawa's best restaurants. An outstanding place for steak. The service is top notch and the menu, even as a steakhouse, offers a wide variety that will definitely satisfy whatever you are in the mood for. <br/><br/>Elgin Street is crowded with the usual watering holes and weekend partygoers, but this place preserves the class of a downtown steakhouse and in a capital city and will appeal to the casual steak lover as well as the sophisticated steak connoisseur.

Went there on the weekend and I ordered their 12oz striploin with a house salad & balsamic dressing, and 'roasted' vegetables on the side. <br/><br/>The salad came out first. Fairly small portion, nothing special. I probably should have tried their supposedly amazing caesar, but oh well. With the steak came the roasted vegetables, which was about 3 pieces of carrot and 3 broccoli florets, and the carrots tasted more steamed than roasted. They also had beet & sweet potato chips with it, which were tasty. <br/><br/>The steak itself I ordered medium rare, and they couldn't quite get it done correctly, because the steak was so thin. It was tasty and juicy, but medium rare is was not. The steak was about half the thickness of a steak at the keg, which makes cooking it a challenge.<br/><br/>I found the decor was nice. The servers were very professional, courteous and friendly. The owner even came over to ask how everything was. <br/><br/>Overall it was a positive dining experience. However, I think for quality of food, I would prefer The Keg.

Some good, some bad - overall not as impressed as I'd expected. I've heard lots about this restaurant and its popularity, so I was excited to try it out recently. <br/><br/>First, the good parts of the experience:<br/>- We went to the place on Elgin (I think the Bells Corner location is now closed). The Elgin restaurant is very pretty and it was nice to have parking, even if it's a bit awkward to get to. We were greeted warmly and shown to our table. Nice ambience. A mix of traditional elements and more modern/light touches. <br/>- I enjoyed the Caesar salad even though it was a bit more of a garlic dressing than a traditional Caesar dressing. My companion did not like his at all.<br/>- My companion's steak (filet mignon with warm blue cheese added on) was lovely. Perfectly cooked, hot and moist. <br/>- Service was very good - not intrusive but relatively attentive.<br/>- Wine list was good.<br/><br/>Now for the not so good.<br/>- My steak was quite dry, a bit overcooked in parts and not a very nice cut at all for a filet. It was also VERY under-seasoned to the point of being bland.<br/>- No option to get bernaise sauce. I can't remember when I've been to a steakhouse that didn't offer bernaise as an add-on.<br/>- The side veggies were mixed broccoli and carrots - very bland. The carrots were okay, but the broccoli was inedible. I guess they grill their veggies on an open flame, which was very nice for the carrots (and would be for many other types of veggies), but it didn't work at all for the broccoli. It looked and tasted burned/charred and I actually LOVE broccoli, so I was disappointed.<br/>- The "stuffed" baked potato was covered with some type of rubbery cheese. If it was still hot, it might have been better but by the time we received it, it was a pretty solid piece of cheese you had to break through to get to the filling. And the filling itself was pretty bland overall - I didn't even really taste any bacon or seasoning in it, so not sure if they use real bacon or artificial bacon bits. I'm not used to having to add salt to things when I go to a good restaurant, but I had to do that for my steak as well as the potato.<br/><br/>So overall, I was not impressed. I might try it again and see if it was just an off night, but for the price, I can't help but think that there are better options for a nice steak in this city.

Als steakhouse. Was at one time the best steak house in Ottawa. How times change. Overpriced, poor quality, no value for your money. Great better steak etc at other establishments. Will not return again. This place has gone downhill. Very disappointed and felt ripped off. Should have left once I sa the high prices but in the distant past had a great steak. Not now run of the mill. Vegs terrible, bread dry. The best was the Pepsi. But I prefer coke.<br/><br/>Forget this place. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere..

Fine, but would not go back. I used to work as a Butcher, so i tend not to eat at steakhouses as I can most often BBQ a better steak myself for 1/2 the cost. Some places surprise me, but this was not one of them. The quality of the meat was good, but comes without flavour (any spices etc) whatsoever unless you add a 'sauce option' with the meat. If you are a meat purest, perhaps this will suit you - but otherwise Al's is far below the Keg or other generic steakhouses in terms of steak enjoyment. <br/><br/>Service was excellent, decore is a little odd (a fancy facade without succeeding at being fancy). Not worth your money.

Disappointed. I heard a lot of buzz about Al's Steakhouse but sadly I was extremely disappointed. The service was good, but the food was tasteless. My husband ordered a filet mignon and I ordered the filet with shrimp. Both the caesar salad and house salads were swimming in dressing. The filet mignons were charred on the outside. The shrimp had absolutely no flavour. The rice the shrimps sat on was pretty good. But the fries were limp and soggy; they look straight from a chip wagon. Needless to say I wasn't impressed especially when the prices are high and the food was not good quality. I won't be going back.

Absolutely exceptional!. My dinner at Al's last night was excellent. My steak is always cooked to perfection, my salad is always flavourful with the right amount of dressing, my vegetables always have a unique yet satisfying taste to them, and my desert is always sweet and on point. The service is absolutely satisfactory, I never wait longer than 15 minutes for my food. I do not understand why people would prefer to go to The Keg or Moxie's when they have a perfectly exquisite locally owned steakhouse in their midst. It baffles me! Please try it out you will not regret it!

Great meal! Went to Al's steal house yesterday. We were a party of 7 and everyone enjoyed their food. The crab stuffed mushrooms caps were to die for and everyone's steak was cooked to their liking. The mouth watering steak and the creamy garlic mashed potatoes definitely met my expectations. Service was good, the waitress was very attentive. Not long after we got our food, the manager followed up with our table to ensure everything was to our liking. Overall, great first experience at Al's on Elgin!

Never again. Had not been t.... Never again.<br/>Had not been to Al's in about 5years and went with a small group yesterday. So disappointed. <br/>The server was absolutely horrible and the place looks run down. The decor hasn't changed in years and the waterfall isn't working anymore. The Cesar salad used to be THE best Cesar in town and it's turned into a generic boring Cesar (add and extra 3$ to substitute from the garden salad).<br/>My husband and I both had a rib steak and although some fat is expected to give a nice taste to the steak, our steak was full of huge chunks of fat and tasted very blend.<br/>Overall extremely disappointed and will never be going back.<br/>I should add that one of our guest was vegan and no staff there knew what to suggest on the menu. They ended up serving him a medley of vegetables and charged him the full price for a steak salad (21$). The plate was literally worth 3$. We asked to speak to the manager who refused to budge on the price because the price was reflecting the fact that the vegetables had to be cut and it cost them money to do that!!!! until we told him we'd spread the word and wouldn't be back, and after a 5 minute conversation, he rudely grabbed the bill and brought it back showing a 5$ discount.... Overall bad service, bad food, bad atmosphere and horrible management.

Never ever .... 50 minutes later I got a well done steak when I order medium , the manager try ton convince me that it is medium in the middle . I acute half of the steak and still well done .... He just said : oh this is a thick steak and this is why !!!!! See pics for what a medium cook look at this restaurant

Delicious. I went to Al's last week and loved everything about it. Our service was absolutely attentive to our every need. She recommended several lovely bottles of wine and we nabbed one of them right away. It was light, fruity and had no after bite... the server listened to my request and gave me exactly what I enjoy in a fine wine. <br/>The food... well, WOW! The escargot was deliciously garlicky with a layer of lovely cheese on top... every single one was mouth-watering! The garlic dressing on our salads is #1. Wow! I just love that garlic dressing and regardless of anything, nobody has ever duplicated that delicious flavour! Our steaks came out perfectly cooked to our liking. I had the filet and my partner enjoyed the rib steak.... let's just say we left with big smiles on our faces! We'll be back again and again! A great dining experience. Ottawans .... get out there and try Al's ... you will never be disappointed! :)

Great Meal!!!!. Went to als for the first time in a long time and it was unbelievable. my steak was super tender and flavourful the baked potato was good and my onion rings were great! I havent had their famous salad dressing in a while and when i tasted it, I fell in love. I bought a bottle to take home. all around great experience, both food and service. will be back more often!!!

This restaurant was totally overrated. Recommended by some friends, we went here for a family holiday dinner. The food was awful--stuffed chicken you can barely cut through, burned steaks, underdone vegetables that taste of cheap butter. This is NOT a high end steakhouse. At best, it's a place to have dinner on a Thursday night. I couldn't be more disappointed.

Steak. I agree the food needs a certain touch...a little sexier presentation would be good. I like how they treat the guests, manager is always asking if things are ok...service was great each time ive been there, will go back for sure

Won't go back. My first and only experience here was terrible. We waited 25 minutes to get menus. After we placed our order we waited 30 minutes for our meal! The food arrived and was bland and mediocre. After we finished it was a good 20 minutes until our plates were cleared and we were never offered refills on our water or asked if we wanted more wine (we each ordered a glass). There are much better places to go for a steak in Ottawa.

Very bad service. I will never go back to this restaurant again either location. I have been to much better restaurants in Toronto that didn't charge half as much for so so fare, and let us not even go into the service. You get better service at McDonalds. We complained about the service and believe it or not, it got WORSE didn't believe something like that was possible but it did. I wasn't asking to be served like a queen, just not like a fast food restaurant. The waitress couldn't give me any ideas or speak to someone who could about what I could or could not eat (i'm a celiac) she just said i'd stick with the steak (of course it's more expensive) we would wait 20 to 30 min. for our dirty plates to be cleared, but first waited 30 min for a drink order to be taken. Then, at the end of the meal, instead of taking plates that had been empty for 20 min, she takes the plate from someone who is still eating. The management (owner) offered us free deserts, so, when the waitress came back she asked if we wanted coffee or tea, not if we wanted to see desert menus. We had to ask for those. Then (yes it keeps going), A lady with us asked for chocolat cake, when it came it was their "special" a mousse cake, we said that was not what was asked for she said oh we don't have chocolat cake. Couldn't she have said that in the first place? WILL NEVER SET FOOT THERE AGAIN, WILL GO TO TORONTO FOR A GOOD MEAL FIRST.

Bad steaks. Four of us had steaks and they were all cheap cuts - fatty(not well marbled), fatty,! and tough. Als is expensive and there are much beter places for the money in town.

Very disappointing and overpriced steakhouse. My New York strip was well cooked but pretty tasteless. My wife's seafood was equally bland. For the price, we expected so much more.

Worst Steaks in Ottawa. We were 4 people for dinner. It was one of the most disappointing steak dinners we had. For the price of the meals we expected much better. The 16oz NY strips we ordered were not lean as they should be but rather tough and very fatty. It was as though the restaurant bought cheap cuts of meat and tried to pass it off as A1 cuts. On top of that, the fire alarm went off several times during our dinner...possibly because the cooks were burning the cheap steaks in the kitchen...??? The Keg and any other restaurant is a better choice. Think twice before you waste your money here. I will not visit again.

Ourtragoeus, horrible steak!!. I have dined a number of times at Al's over the years and have generally found the meals to be well prepared and served, but the price a little high. Well, not any more. Recently, Mar 23, 2012, my son and I ate at the Elgin St. location and we were both very disappointed with the quality of the rib steaks we ordered. The cut was quite thin and mostly fat...quite aweful, and at a price of $40!! per steak. Outrageous! I politely raised this with the waitress, who was an excellent server whom requested that I discuss this with the manager which I did. He did not offer an apology or explanation as to how could they possibly show such disrespect for the customer by serving such a terrible cut of meat and at a such a high price! His only response was to insist that he buy use a drink. I refused any form of discount/credit as I certainly will not be back anytime soon! The Keg, Hy's, Baton Rouge, even the chains like Montana's serve a far superior product...

Al's on Elgin. Service was average. Had the 16oz NY, and I found it gristly and bland. Salad was basic, but predictable. Wasn't particularly busy for a Sat night at 8pm. Couldn't get reservation for Keg manor, so this was runner up. Dissapointed. Traditionally better than this last visit. Not sure I'll go back anytime soon.

Really terrible. I went to Al's in Bells Corners (sorry, there isn't a separate page) for dinner last night - it was my in-laws 40th anniversary and there were 7 of us. We'd made reservations 2 months out and informed them of the special occasion. <br/><br/>I will preface this with the fact that this place is more expensive than the Keg. That fact alone makes me sick to my stomach because while I wouldn't normally go to a chain (or out for a steak dinner for that matter), you expect something of fairly high quality given how much you pay. <br/><br/>While there are too many bad things to list, I'll treat you to some of the highlights. <br/><br/>From the get-go I knew this place would be a problem. Most of the restaurant appears to have been renovated sometime in the past 10 years. We walked in and the place appeared to be half empty. Depite this, they seated is in some old school party room they had off in the back, where we were joined by a group of 40 rowdy folks celebrating something or another. I don't blame them, they were just having a good time, but a HUGE FAIL for management. I love having to shout across the table during a "nice" night out. <br/><br/>Unfortunately this set the tone for the rest of the meal. When we sat down, there were already pitchers of their salad dressing and bowls of some sour cream and chives mixture sitting on the table, which was a bit off putting. <br/><br/>The server interrupted us twice during odd moments - once when we were giving gifts and the second time when someone was making a toast. For the life of her, she couldn't remember who ordered what. Really awful.<br/><br/>Appetizers were pretty tasty - I had the french onion soup and others had the escargot - both kinda difficult to mess up, so that was good. <br/><br/>The steaks themselves were good cuts and cooked properly. However they were completely bland (I was grateful for having ordered the blue cheese sauce on the side). The steamed veggies on the side had just hopped out of the freezer and the starches were boring beyond belief - bland mashed potatoes, bland baked potatoes, bland rice... you get the picture. <br/><br/>Apparently this place was a big deal back in the day, but under no circumstances would I ever recommend this place to anyone. When you're paying this much for a steak house you expect top notch service, food and atmosphere, and they missed the mark at every turn.

Met Our Expectations-Al's Downtown.. We received a gift certificate to Al's for Christmas and had been waiting for the right time to use it. My wife and I decided on yesterday. Reservations for 5pm with a 'street-front' table.<br/>We ordered one entrée of Calamari with their home-made seafood sauce. Main course was a 5oz Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes, and 12oz boneless rib steak with baked potato and sour cream. Both medium-rare, served with a side house salad and Al's garlic dressing, and seasonal veggies with the main. House wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot.<br/>- Calamari was tender, breaded lightly and nicely seasoned.<br/>- Salad greens were fresh and crispy, with just the right amount of dressing.<br/>- Steaks were cooked to perfection, juicy and tender.<br/>- Veggies were not cooked, but warm and still raw.<br/>- Bread rolls were cold, not warmed at all.<br/>- Service, from Andrew, was excellent. Glasses were kept filled, food arrived promptly, and there was no pressure to leave after we were finished. <br/>- Bill was $85 including tip which we found to be in line with our dining experience.

This was my first visit to Al's Steak House. Being the fortunate recipient of a gift certificate to this restaurant, it was time to give it a try! The restaurant on Elgin Street exuded a reserved hipness with the background of eurobeat lounge music in a clean modern ambiance. On a busy Saturday night attentive waitstaff attended to guests ranging from their mid-20's though to their 60's. During the evening, the manager stopped by each table to ensure the guests were enjoying their evening. Being a steak house, we ordered steaks! The main course included a house salad, which was served first. The filets were flavorful and properly cooked - presented with a selection of nicely cooked vegetables and a baked potato. A wine list and a dessert menu presented good selections and make this restaurant one that is recommended. Al's Steak House is not "fine dining" and it is not inexpensive, but it is a popular restaurant that offers good quality.

Need steak? al's is a good place to find it. they also have old school stuff like zucchini and dip, escargot, iceberg lettuce and blue cheese dressing. need steak? got steak.

Questionable service. The service at Al's used to be impeccable; that has changed. The servers are admittedly younger and more attractive than they used to be, but the quality and efficiency of service just isn't the same. Combine that with a resistance to change (especially in the menu and presentation of meals) and it looks like the beginning of the end for a once fantastic restaurant.

Go there..., if your 75 and you like blandness... Or if you like to eat at 4 pm, although they don't have the early bird special, in Ottawa this is as close as you can get to that style...

Great steak!. This is a classic steakhouse and you can always rely on it. It can get a little expensive, but well worth the treat. My advice is don't sit close to the door in the winter. There is a bad draft from the door. <br/>Other than that, great service, great food great experience.

Delicious!. I recently had dinner at Al's Steakhouse on Saturday to celebrate my husband's 38th birthday. We were greeted by friendly hostesses and our server was attentive and knowledgeable. I ordered the salmon with mashed potatoes - absolutely delicious with the leek sauce! My husband ordered the 10 oz black peppercorn filet with cognac sauce, which was cooked perfectly. We had an excellent experience and will be sure to return!

Great Steak. I visited Al's on my first trip to Ottawa. I wanted a great steak, and I wasn't disappointed. I had the 10 ounce Filet cooked rare. It was a great cut of meat and had lots of flavor. A colleague ordered the liver and suggested I try it. He's a fan of liver and claims this place has some of the best. Let's just say I'm still not a liver fan, but it was the best liver I've ever had because I finished it. I could taste the liver, but somehow it was not an overpowering taste.

Don't waste your money. We came here on the request of the in-laws for father's day. The place had sentimental value for them as the venue of their first date, and the service was attentive, but that is, unfortunately, where the positives end.<br/><br/>This place can be summed up in two words: overpriced mediocrity.<br/><br/>I ordered the orange roughy, which arrived as a hollow, greasy, deep-fried chunk of nothing, topped with bits of deep fried something else. Chris ordered the steak (it is a steakhouse, after all) and was sorely disappointed by an inferior, sinewy cut and lack of seasoning.<br/><br/>The ONLY reason I would ever go back, would be for my in-laws. Because I love them, and the memories they have of this now sad relic make them happy.<br/><br/>The bill was $120 and change. I would have reckoned the actual value of what we ate at a quarter of that.

Used to be good - now just outdated and lower quality than newer establishments

Underwhelming. Despite current advertising campaigns, Al's Steakhouse has gone downhill throughout the past decade. Our most recent visit (and hopefully, our last) had us treated to overcooked potatoes, over-dressed salad and underseasoned (not seasoned at all) meat. For a steakhouse, you should think they'd get that part, at least, correct. Just a bad experience all around.

Unfortunately a sad affair. Not at all the experience I had envisioned , the meat was uncooked, potatoes were badly mashed, and above all the service was horrendous. Never coming back.

I have dined at Al’s several times in the past and always enjoyed it. On this occasion, however, I was very disappointed. The service was poor and the meal not very good at all. I am prepared to hope that this was an isolated case and I will probably give the place another try in the future.