Elmdale Oyster House & Tavern

The tavern was extremely smoky — we ate quickly and had to leave because it was impossible to sit there. The smoke made our eyes burn. The chowder soup was very bad — it wasn’t even really a soup. It was more like a potato salad covered with cream and topped with two shrimp. The lobster roll was okay. The $24 steak was worth the money — it was edible and decent. The pasta was not tasty at all; we didn’t even finish it. On the positive side, the French fries were excellent, and the service was good and friendly.

The Elmdale has come along way since the Hintonburg gentrification. Gone are the smoked meat sandwiches through the pass. It has been replaced by upscale tavern food from fresh oysters and seafood to fried chicken and pork belly. I had the privilege and pleasure to sit by the kitchen and observe the masterful skill and artistry of Chef Kimo. His passion for food is unmatched by maybe his zeal for Canada. Bravo Chef! Look forward to tasting many more of your creative dishes! Also enjoyed the live music.

We grabbed dinner here on Thursday – their $2 oyster night and live music! We got 20 fresh ones for the four of us, and they were incredible. Love their source choices for oysters. Our mains (fish & chip, lobster spaghetti, and lobster + shirm roll sandwich) were great, too. The staff were super friendly and helpful. I'd totally eat here again if I'm back in Ottawa.

Had an amazing experience thanks to Kimo! His hospitality really stood out - friendly, welcoming, and genuinely passionate about what he does. The food was delicious and clearly prepared with care and skill. Had a great experience overall and the whole staff was friendly. Highly recommend!

The chowder is excellent! And good-sized too. The "cup" of chowder is more like a bowl. Very yummy with lots of good stuff in it -- bacon, bay scallops, shrimp... And the baked oysters are nicely done. The fish and chips are fine, perhaps not exceptional. The fish itself is very good, but the batter is rather journeyman. Service is very friendly and prompt. Atmosphere is energetic and rustic. We sit by the large open bay window and watch people and cars passing by. Very relaxing. I quite enjoy the meal, and would be happy to return.

I went for dinner with my mom who uses a walker to walk. The food was incredible, service was excellent. What exceeded expectations and kindness. When we were getting ready to leave- the manager I believe, offered to bring my mom through the kitchen for ease and not steps to navigate for her walker. What a kind and thoughtful staff. As we walked through the pass through- all staff were so kind and welcoming. Biggest thank you to the staff. We will be back

It has bit of a rustic atmosphere that very much fits the tavern description and makes for a good place to drop around with the gang. Service was excellent but a bit slow. The food was quite good and we enjoyed oysters followed by a lobster spaghetti dish and fish and chips. The cheesecake was delicious.

We celebrated an anniversary with dinner at Elmdale tavern. Came on a Thursday night for 2 buck a shuck and knew that there would be live music. We shared 5 different appetizers - a dozen oysters, the tuna ceviche, the beef tartare, mussels, and calamari. I'd say my faves were the oysters, tuna ceviche and mussels!

A nice spot in Hintonburg, with lots ofindoor and outdoor seating as well in the summer. Lots of seafood options, and a few options for those who don't eat seafood like steak. The staff is very friendly and kind , very attentive. If you come early in the evening on weekend, you won't have any issues getting a table It has the same owner as whalebone , so if you enjoy their restaurant downtown, you will enjoy the spot as well It is a spot that is a casual dining experience without being pretentious, while also being a nice date like spot for a more casual person

Elmdale is probably one of my favourite resto bars in Ottawa. It's just the right balance between fine dining and dive bar. By that, I mean Elmdale offers amazing food that's a couple bucks cheaper than their sister store, the Whalebone, but also isn't pretentious. From an accessibility perspective, the inside has a few steps, and the washrooms aren't accessible. The patio isn't much more than a parking lot, so it can work for people with mobility devices so long as they understand going to the bathroom may be an issue. The indoor restaurant is also a little cramped in terms of navigating space. The bathrooms are also gendered. For vegans and vegetarians, this may not be the right for you to, as most of the menu is fish and meat based. I'm all about the oysters, fish and lobster rolls at the Elmdale. There are few things I enjoy more than sitting on the patio of the Elmdale with some oysters and a beer. My only issue is that I've already been twice this summer and it's only June.

Elmdale Tavern was a staple for a buck-a-shock before COVID and I am happy to say that tonight was our first night back. Now a toony per oyster on Thursday, but still well worth it! Quality They have a limited menu and I think we literally have tried everything, no bad experience but we have a few favorites; other than oysters, our go-tos have been the lobster roll and the poke bowl. We have also been upgrading all our fries with their parmesan truffle fries and oh is it worth it!! It comes with a garlic aioli/mayo and it's heavenly. Service has always been impeccable and always making you feel welcomed... Love how they now have a little terrace on the side too! Great local business all around (they are a sister restaurant to the Whalesbone... Also a must try (both locations), but tavern feels more cozy, food and ambiance are more... well like a tavern!) They also offer take out, same menu, same quality... Solid 4 start all around!

I love this place! My friend recently showed this to me as an avid seafood lover, I was really excited to try it. The service was amazing, we were seated at the bar and it didn't detract from my experience at all which was a pleasant surprise. The server/ bartender was quick and very knowledgable about the drinks and the food! We ordered oysters to start and I don't have a picture because they were gone so quick! Delicious. They even explained to us that it's tradition to pour some whisky into the oyster shell after you eat it and take like an "oyster shot". My main dish was hen and my friend got tuna crudo. Both were fresh and delicious. Full of flavour. I had such a good time at dinner I decided to go back later in the night for when they change into more of a club vibe. I wasn't disappointed then either, super fun karaoke with an amazing DJ AND OYSTERS ALL NIGHT BABBBY. This place is dope, check it out.

Open Tuesday to Sunday, The Elmdale Oyster House And Tavern has a variety of nightly specials that you will want to try such as fried chicken night, cheap as f*ck lobster night, buck a shuck and retro steak night. I visited on a Tuesday night to try their fried chicken. As part of the fried chicken night, you can get half a chicken served with gravy or hot sauce for $22. I opted for the gravy and it might be the best fried chicken I've had in Ottawa. The chicken was super moist, but the skin expertly crispy. While the portion of fried chicken is massive and is perfect to share, it is so delicious you will want to eat the entire order to yourself.

Cozy, somewhat dark little spot to grab some fresh seafood! I tried the oysters (on par with Whalesbone), salmon gravlax, and mackerel. The dishes were presented beautifully and had a good mix of flavours to balance out the seafood. You can taste the freshness!

I come here 3-4 times a year And the seafood is always fresh & delicious, however, my most recent visit left a bad taste in my mouth. My waitress' attitude was unacceptable (rude, short, sarcastic). Due to this, I won't be back and I do not recommend this place. The other Whalesbone owned locations have a much more welcoming environment should anyone be looking for seafood.

This is not what it used to be - a relatively inexpensive pub with a nice neighborhood vibe land atmosphere, with some good ( and sometimes really good inspired dishes) well priced fare. It has become expensive and totally out of synch with the inferior quality of the food. Service is mediocre to boot

I've gone to the Elmdale quite a bit and have really enjoyed the music, oysters, etc. Unfortunately, not only are they often quite understaffed, but the staff they do have may decide to completely ignore you and chat with friends or the customers they feel are cool enough to deserve their attention. It's Hintonburg. There are plenty of better places nearby that don't act like it's a favour to take your money.

It's a bar menu, but one of the best I have had the music and set up is that of good old pub pumping a great mix of tunes. The food was great, no question.

This place has none of the things in the regular places that I would visit...but has all the awesomeness that everyone one of those places should have. This place is a dive...wait, A DIVE! Situated between Tennessy Willems and Hintonburger it's an easy place to miss or walk by. There doesn't see to be anything appealing about it. On the inside it's a large bar with furniture that I would best describe as...do you remember when you were a poor student and someone threw out a piece of furniture and you thought about dragging that piece of furniture back to your dump of an apartment? That piece of furniture you didn't pick up might have ended up here! They have these awesome older tables and chairs. Inside is also a handful of TVs and a pool table. The bartenders...some people might find strange but they're friendly as hell and very accommodating. I've had some good conversations with them. One of my favourite things is that they allow the Tennessy Willems and Hintonburger patrons to come eat here when the other places are full. They just don't allow you to bring in external drinks. I make it a habit to come here instead of staying at the other 2 places now because they're awesome like that and I get a drink here. I'm not sure why but I've never asked about their selection of beer. I try to get the worst beer possible at dive bars and this place doesn't disappoint me! This place also doubles as a music venue which I still haven't come by to experience yet. If you're thinking about day drinking, you could do much worse than the Elmdale but mind you that you'll be with the regular day drinking crew and some people definitely can't handle that! NOTE: This place was recently bought by the awesome people over at Whalesbone. I hear they're going to keep it in tact with a few upgrades and of course, OYSTERS!!!

Quite tuesday night and we walked in without a reservation. Our serve staff was great. Ordered oyster Caesar. The radish on my oyster was so over powering and the drink was bland. I could be biased after all the drinks I had in Miami but still I was a bit disappointed. We ordered escargot, tuna avocado toast and warm Blondie for dessert. The tuna dish was great but over salted. I was too tired to send it back and wait. Escargot was great dish. The place plays some great music and I would come back on a weekend but only if they can improve their menu. Also..it is a tavern.where are the onion rings????

This is a bit of a strange place. It looks like a standard pub/bar, but definitely has a hipster vibe to it. The food quality is certainly not standard pub fare. The oysters were fantastic, as was the lobster dish. Granted, the prices were expensive for the amount of food received, but the quality of the meals were above any pub I've been to. The beer and alcohol choices are outstanding as well. I would recommend this place!

Probably the best restaurant in Ottawa. Great atmosphere, fresh oysters and please try the tuna crudo. Great selection of beer but what makes this place is the staff. They are smart, knowledgeable and always ready for a laugh. Do yourself a favour, sit at the bar and let them decide where they will take you. You will be happy.

This place is total crap. They let you sit in line for an hour because they like seeing people waiting, even though the place isn't really that good and not really that full. Talk about a bunch of trailer trash people thinking they're the creme de la creme. Avoid this place, you can find a similar spot anywhere on elgin without having to go through this bs.

Decades ago I lived directly across the road from the Elmdale and I can tell you that it wasn't the sort of place most young, single woman went to. I definitely never ventured through the doors despite my my penchant for what my mum deemed as 'the wrong side of the tracks'. Last night I was out with some old friends and a Ska band called Rude Boy was playing. Well as the band stated at one point, they're neither rude nor boys. Oh well. :) I was hoping these 'soccer dads' would at least have dressed the part but this isn't a review of the band so I'll leave it at that. We paid an $8 cover which in MHO is a great price for a live band even if they're mediocre. The staff here (two young guys on the bar) have possibly the biggest grins of any bartenders ever. The washrooms are clean. They have a selection of local beers on tap - I tried the Hogs Back Ale in memory of my youth spent adventuring around Hogs Back Falls. The room isn't big and a pool table dominates one side. It filled up with a variety of young to middle aged people. My girlfriend and I got up to dance to one of the few songs that was actually fast in hopes of picking up the momentum - no such luck. We then stuck around for what turned out to be a seemingly never-ending version of Stir It Up and one other guy also danced. Hmmm Ottawa, why so uptight? Well we left after the first set but I'll still say this is a sweet spot to be adventurous if you want to check out some live music, have a tasty pint and perhaps a pickled egg. If I lived here I'd definitely be game to risk the paltry cover in hopes of catching a good show. Cheers! PS - they don't have Scotch here as they said nobody ordered it. Weird.

Not bad. Kinda scuzzy place that serves kinda high-end food! I had the pickerel, which was great. Wished there was more beer and bourbon selection, though. We left right before it started to turn into a super-loud dive-bar....which, I've heard, happens weekly.

The seating is very uncomfortable and our server seemed to be having a miserable day. The manager (at least we think he was the manager, he never actually told us) basically told us not to stick around after they attempted to run our gift card via email since we hadn't printed it, when my drink wasn't even done! The bathrooms were messy, the music was unpleasant. The food was good, not great. My husband's steak was very fatty. And to end it all, when we left, the hostess ignored us, waited until we were out the door to shout "thank you!"

Went there last night as a surprise Father's Day gift from my wife. As the name suggests it is a tavern and if you get stuck on the ambience and expect more from a tavern you need to pull your head out of your ass and go somewhere else. Started off with a Caesar which was probably the best one I've had in the city. We had the oysters which were awesome and the bread they bring to the table is made in house and was fantastic. The waiter recommended the tuna toast and it was easily one of the best things I've ever eaten. It was chunks of tuna and caramelized onions with chunky fresh avocado served on a smoky grilled piece bread with a fantastic under tone of lemon, it was spectacular. We were going to order the hanger steak but were too full at that point and had a nice walk home.

Went to their Indie dance night, hosted by Queer Mafia, which was supposed to be a throwback Zaphod's night. Music was mediocre at best. Maybe 30 minutes in a security person approached our friend and asked her to leave because she was "too drunk" and he had seen her "wobbling". Ridiculous claim. She'd had one beer. Talked to the manager, who "trusts his staff" and refused to reassess the claim. We were then graced with the presence of the event manager, who was actually the wasted one. Super disappointing experience in what claimed to be a gender progressive and "safe space". If you want to get mansplained why you're getting kicked out of a bar for the first time by a 20 year old dude and his super supportive boss, def come here. Not a chill venue or somewhere they treat you with basic human decency.

Terrific experience from start to finish! Food was excellent (Butter Baked Oysters were out of this world), and our server was most helpful by suggesting food choices for a slightly picky 12 year old (as well as wine choices for the not picky grown-up types!). If you are interested in dessert, try the Blondie. Wow! We will definitely be back the next time we're in town.

Upscale tavern does a nice job of blending the old with the new. Interesting menu, and good sharing options with a focus on oysters. Hope to be back with friends for an evening of live music and munchies.

Many moons ago, this was a smoke-filled, unwelcoming tavern that was avoided by most. Today, this is one of Ottawa most interesting, and best live music venues. Looking to hear some live music in Ottawa - check this place out. Quarts on the menu, a pool table, and great ambience.

I love the original Whalesbone and I REALLY wanted to love this place. I have given it at least 5 chances and I am consistently disappointed by the food. Two times that I have been one of my friends got sick after. This may not be related to the restaurant, but they seemed to think it was. The last straw for me was the last time I went and I ordered a fried oyster appetizer app (not good) followed by fish and chips. The fries were so old and dry that they were not even edible. They tasted like they were from the day before and microwaved. When I order fish and chips there are 2 ingredients and if they can't even handle the simplest thing in the world to make - fries - why would I trust them with oysters? If you want good food and oysters, go to the original Whalesbone.

The staff was great and very out going. More then just "hello" what can I get you. We arrived late and only had oyster but oh so good.The music was great and got the dj's card however lost it dancing. Been back twice where is djsoulcial, what nights? 3* for the service and a 4th for the music.

On the plus side, I enjoyed the environment; very cool treatment of old tavern space. Oysters were terrific. Quality of the meals was fine. On the minus side, as a choice for dinner, the place is beyond noisy and the portion sizes for the main courses are shockingly small. My $36 striploin steak described as "8 oz" appeared to be half that, and was cut into three pieces. A companion (a chef himself...) said he must have got the other half. Our meat was served with a handful of sweet potato fries and ONE BROCCOLI FLORET. My partner's curried walleye was delicious, she reports, but small. Really small. It was advertised as being garnished with chick peas. I counted six of those. She's certain there were 12. It's not about wanting huge portions; it's about not being gouged. Our bill for four people with one $40 bottle of wine, no coffee or dessert, was $300. Not happy. Mentioned it to the server, got a smile.

Good food. The price point is about $3 too high on everything served. Not as cute as the sister resto - the Whalesbone.

We made reservations for 4 people on Saturday evening for 7pm. for my husbands birthday. Upon arrival we were seated and promptly told by our busboy that the table we were sitting at was reserved at 9:30pm. The ambience was cold with wooden booths and no cushions what with feeling rushed due to the time line we had to eat and enjoy. So we got up and left. The "Young" hostess said "Oh.. were you not told this when you made your reservation"? They missed out on $350 that we spent elsewhere. Turned us off completely and we will never return for this reason.

So disappointed! The only reason you get a one is the oysters were good. The service from the moment we walked in the front door was bad...told we had to be out by 830 . The halibut was very small, dry and tasteless for $32. The puree was just as bland and the potatoes very salty. Our waiter was Arrogant and the food runner wore a filthy baseball cap. The restaurant itself is dark, dingy and very loud making it hard to have a conversation. After spending over $300 we were reminded to leave because the next party was there... We were finishing up our wine and desert having to abandon both. We made a reservation over a week in advance and were given the worst table in the place.... We are Hintonburg residence who dine out very often and are asked for recommendation regularity. Elmdale oyster tavern is off the list!!!!!!

I liked this place. Nice atmosphere. The food was good but I found it a bit pricey and I wasn't full at the end. Luckily they gave free bread and butter so I stuffed my face with that. The bread and butter are really good. I'd go back but I'd check the menu online first because they do change it once in a while.

Checked it out last weekend when it reopened. It's a cleaned up, much cooler version of the old Elmdale Tavern...solid menu, tasty beers, good crowd, warm staff. Hintonburg's gem became pure gold :)