The pasta was pretty decent and actually not too pricey compared to other spots around. The meat, though, felt a bit on the expensive side for such a small portion. I wasn’t really into the coffee either; it tasted burnt to me. Overall, it was a decent experience, but there are definitely some things that could be improved.
Moe Malone
Very expensive for the rudeness and attitude I received from owner and every worker at this establishment.
I Won’t recommend it to family or friends.
Jonathan Clarke
Overall the experience was alright, but certainly did not live up to the expectations given the number of positive reviews I had seen online. My dish (Oceana) was done well and I enjoyed it, the wine was delicious, and the bruschetta was also good. Seeing that it was a Saturday night and it was busy, the atmosphere seemed a bit cramped and was subsequently loud, but that’s not something that can necessarily be controlled. As for the service, our initial server (Katie I think) was fabulous. She was patient and very polite, especially with our 2 children. Where the wheels started to come off so to speak was when a 2nd server started to assist our table. The 2nd server was curt and impatient. It was my wife’s birthday and my wife had asked for a desert menu, to which the 2nd server snapped at her stating “we don’t have a menu, besides I just told you what they are” and then stared my wife down. I don’t know if this was intentionally meant to intimidate my wife, but it made her uncomfortable to the point of almost crying at the table. To add to this, the same server returned 5 minutes later with the bill and stated that there was a mandatory gratuity of 20% for each of the 2 bills (2 groups of 4 people), which I can understand but I would have liked to know ahead of time as a curtesy. When it came time to pay however, the 2nd server stated that she would fill in the tip at 20% and took the POS away from my mother in law and completed the transaction . My mother in law inquired why it was set at 20%, and the server seemingly very annoyed stated that because we were a groups or 8 or more, “you guys are a lot more work and harder to take care of, so we require an automatic 20%”. The whole thing seemed a bit surreal, especially since we were 6 adults and 2 kids 10 and under (who were entertaining themselves by talking to each other, until one of them fell asleep and didn’t even touch their food). Unfortunately the experience seemed rushed and uncomfortable when trying to celebrate a special occasion. The attitude given by the 2nd server to then be forced to tip 20% and have the server physically take the POS from the payee and enter the tip for them, seemed quite sketchy.
Kourtney
My husband chose this place to celebrate my birthday with friends and family (we were 8). At the end of our meal we were told that their policy was to add mandatory 20% gratuity, for tables of 8 or more - without any notice or warning. This came after the waitress was incredibly hostile and rude with our table. Slamming things down on our table, when asked for a physical desert menu, she snapped and said “I already told you what there was”. The general consensus from our party after leaving, was that it was about 9:30 (they close at 9) - and she wanted us to leave. There are so many other ways this could have been managed, but to force a 20% gratuity after treating people like that is unacceptable. You can’t just be aggressive and rude bc you know you’re getting a tip regardless. Over all the food was bland, the atmosphere was incredibly loud and cramped, and the service from Jess was horrific. The ONLY redeeming quality this place has is a server named Katie, who was with us most of the night. An absolute pleasure and pure joy. If we had had her till the end - this review might have been different.
Vi Ra
We enjoyed our evening Excellent service 👌 Great menu choices and the food was amazingly delicious 🥰 Affordable too👍 We are definitely looking forward to come again 😉
Agnes Waye
pleasant staff, portions are a good size and the ambiance is cozy and warm.
Ive only dined here on weeknights for dinner, so not sure how busy it gets on weekends.
In addition to the regular menu items, there are also special soup/pasta of the day.
Our meal was served with bread (along with oil/vinegar).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Carolina Armstrong
I have never had better service the restaurant was amazing but the server Jessica was so amazing on top of us and handled the table beside us with such class when the lady was very disrespectful. I will be back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jon Hansen
The food was exceptional, but the service and atmosphere was the main star of the evening.
Again, the food was great, but I would still eat there if they were serving hot dogs ? and chili fries with Beavertails for desert.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amanda Labadie
Overall, really nice spot. Meatballs were fantastic, eggplant parmesan was good too. Nice wine selection. Only thing i would have changed is the fried artichoke, they arent in season and it was rather tough. Service was very good!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Hanna S.Y.
The food was good but the kitchen wanted to charge me extra to sub in a veggie instead of prosciutto. And that annoyed me since the veggie is cheaper for them anyway.
Vegetarian options: Not many and they charge you to sub in veggie for meat
I don't enjoy leaving these reviews but when it cost $200 for the most lackluster meal without drinks I feel it should be known. This is an old establishment. They need a new chef with a real passion for food. I won't go into detail of the dishes but they were bland, far too casual, and done without any real love. It showed.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Lesa Jones
Always amazing ♥️ The food is always fresh, hot and delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tom Piper
Food was great. $$$ . Service was awesome
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hala Fattah
We are new to Ottawa and we visited cafe mio. The first time in Canada history horned and raised we had the manager ask us why we tipped below 15% ? And made his waitress ask us why .. that was very intimidating and not professional. You need to increase their wages if you live in a city with high taxes. Edmonton is the city of class we don’t have people who confront you about money. Whoever decides to come here I highly recommend that you don’t ! I will make sure to spread the word ?
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Y B
It was okay. We had pizza and it was very average.
The pasta was pretty decent and actually not too pricey compared to other spots around. The meat, though, felt a bit on the expensive side for such a small portion. I wasn’t really into the coffee either; it tasted burnt to me. Overall, it was a decent experience, but there are definitely some things that could be improved.
Very expensive for the rudeness and attitude I received from owner and every worker at this establishment.
I Won’t recommend it to family or friends.
Overall the experience was alright, but certainly did not live up to the expectations given the number of positive reviews I had seen online. My dish (Oceana) was done well and I enjoyed it, the wine was delicious, and the bruschetta was also good.
Seeing that it was a Saturday night and it was busy, the atmosphere seemed a bit cramped and was subsequently loud, but that’s not something that can necessarily be controlled.
As for the service, our initial server (Katie I think) was fabulous. She was patient and very polite, especially with our 2 children. Where the wheels started to come off so to speak was when a 2nd server started to assist our table.
The 2nd server was curt and impatient. It was my wife’s birthday and my wife had asked for a desert menu, to which the 2nd server snapped at her stating “we don’t have a menu, besides I just told you what they are” and then stared my wife down. I don’t know if this was intentionally meant to intimidate my wife, but it made her uncomfortable to the point of almost crying at the table. To add to this, the same server returned 5 minutes later with the bill and stated that there was a mandatory gratuity of 20% for each of the 2 bills (2 groups of 4 people), which I can understand but I would have liked to know ahead of time as a curtesy. When it came time to pay however, the 2nd server stated that she would fill in the tip at 20% and took the POS away from my mother in law and completed the transaction . My mother in law inquired why it was set at 20%, and the server seemingly very annoyed stated that because we were a groups or 8 or more, “you guys are a lot more work and harder to take care of, so we require an automatic 20%”.
The whole thing seemed a bit surreal, especially since we were 6 adults and 2 kids 10 and under (who were entertaining themselves by talking to each other, until one of them fell asleep and didn’t even touch their food).
Unfortunately the experience seemed rushed and uncomfortable when trying to celebrate a special occasion. The attitude given by the 2nd server to then be forced to tip 20% and have the server physically take the POS from the payee and enter the tip for them, seemed quite sketchy.
My husband chose this place to celebrate my birthday with friends and family (we were 8). At the end of our meal we were told that their policy was to add mandatory 20% gratuity, for tables of 8 or more - without any notice or warning.
This came after the waitress was incredibly hostile and rude with our table.
Slamming things down on our table, when asked for a physical desert menu, she snapped and said “I already told you what there was”.
The general consensus from our party after leaving, was that it was about 9:30 (they close at 9) - and she wanted us to leave.
There are so many other ways this could have been managed, but to force a 20% gratuity after treating people like that is unacceptable. You can’t just be aggressive and rude bc you know you’re getting a tip regardless.
Over all the food was bland, the atmosphere was incredibly loud and cramped, and the service from Jess was horrific.
The ONLY redeeming quality this place has is a server named Katie, who was with us most of the night.
An absolute pleasure and pure joy. If we had had her till the end - this review might have been different.
We enjoyed our evening
Excellent service 👌
Great menu choices and the food was amazingly delicious 🥰
Affordable too👍
We are definitely looking forward to come again 😉
pleasant staff, portions are a good size and the ambiance is cozy and warm.
Ive only dined here on weeknights for dinner, so not sure how busy it gets on weekends.
In addition to the regular menu items, there are also special soup/pasta of the day.
Our meal was served with bread (along with oil/vinegar).
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I have never had better service the restaurant was amazing but the server Jessica was so amazing on top of us and handled the table beside us with such class when the lady was very disrespectful. I will be back
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food was exceptional, but the service and atmosphere was the main star of the evening.
Again, the food was great, but I would still eat there if they were serving hot dogs ? and chili fries with Beavertails for desert.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Overall, really nice spot. Meatballs were fantastic, eggplant parmesan was good too. Nice wine selection. Only thing i would have changed is the fried artichoke, they arent in season and it was rather tough. Service was very good!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
The food was good but the kitchen wanted to charge me extra to sub in a veggie instead of prosciutto. And that annoyed me since the veggie is cheaper for them anyway.
Vegetarian options: Not many and they charge you to sub in veggie for meat
Restaurantji Recommends
I don't enjoy leaving these reviews but when it cost $200 for the most lackluster meal without drinks I feel it should be known. This is an old establishment. They need a new chef with a real passion for food. I won't go into detail of the dishes but they were bland, far too casual, and done without any real love. It showed.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 4
Always amazing ♥️ The food is always fresh, hot and delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was great. $$$ . Service was awesome
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We are new to Ottawa and we visited cafe mio. The first time in Canada history horned and raised we had the manager ask us why we tipped below 15% ? And made his waitress ask us why .. that was very intimidating and not professional. You need to increase their wages if you live in a city with high taxes. Edmonton is the city of class we don’t have people who confront you about money. Whoever decides to come here I highly recommend that you don’t ! I will make sure to spread the word ?
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
It was okay. We had pizza and it was very average.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 5
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