Smash Daddy - Barrhaven

Let's clear the air first: the "30+ years of Pho" tagline is a stretch.

Gyubee Japanese Grill on Merivale is not trying to be the most refined room in Ottawa, and that's precisely the point.

Vanier doesn't need Starbite Resto to be precious about anything, and from what research consistently turns up, it isn't.

Sandy Hill doesn't ask much of you, and neither does NOX — but that's the whole point.

Little Italy in Ottawa has a way of producing restaurants that lean on nostalgia as a substitute for ambition — the red sauce, the Frank Sinatra, the sense that Italian-American sentiment is doing more work than the kitchen.