The Carriage House has facilities to accommodate 8 to 70 people. Our private rooms are located on the first floor, accessed by stairs, and can be combined or divided to meet your needs.
My date and I ate there Saturday night. It is upscale and so are the "regulars". Anyone who thinks this place is snooty has obviously never been to Ottawa.
Someone mentioned the baseboard heater - i had to move because it was cooking me since i was seated directly above it. Our waiter John provided some of the best service i've ever had.
We sat in the front room on the main floor, by the end of the night we ended up meeting most everyone around us. Everyone was friendly, the service is perfect and the food is excellent. The decor is awesome too.
risotto was mushy. scallops were under seasoned,fish was full of bones and over cooked, mashed potato tasted like they came from a bag,dessert was uneventful
server where were you all nite when i have to pour my own wine ?????hope this wasnt any wat to try to attract new clientelle by participating in this taste of burlington. you dont have my vote
The food was excellent. I don't have a single complaint about the food at all. Very, very, tasty. Our server was very polite and informative , so no complaints there. The only complaints I have is everything seemed to take forever to happen, eg. cocktails, wine, appetizers, main course. It took over 3 hours start to finish. I suppose it's a price one has to pay for a great meal. One HUGE complaint that almost ruined everything was, we were seated at the front windows beside the baseboard heater which emitted an absolutely disgusting smell all night. It reminded me of sewer gas. Other people who sat near the heaters were complaining as well. I would definately recommend this restaurant, just make sure when you make your reservations, that your table is no where near the baseboard heaters!
I decided to give the Carriage House a try on Valentine's Day based mostly on online reviews (a decision I would come to regret). So now, I'm writing an online review to give a fair and balanced perspective.
I made a reservation, but that didn't seem to matter as, without even being able to mention the name it was under, we were whisked upstairs to a row of tables. The lighting was nice, and the building itself was attractive. But space became an issue. A supplies table set up in the narrow entrance to the washrooms made navigation a chore, as was going up and down the stairs (the same staircase was being used by wait staff and as a result, felt a little claustrophobic, not to mention the obvious clash of pacing with relaxed diners and more frenetic staff moving up and down).
The crowd was mostly older, and I gathered this is usually the case. You could definitely catch more than a whiff of prentiousness in the air, which I usually don't mind so much as long as it's accompanied by great dining. Alas, with the great dining part missing, it was sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Without a mention on their website (or even over the phone when I was making the reservation), they were using a special Valentine's Day menu -- special mostly for its omission of many dishes I had seen on the regular menu online. With not much to choose from, I went with the lobster bisque (the best part of the meal, though minimalist in presentation) and the puttanesca (not even on the regular menu). The puttanesca was overly spicy and was garnished with random flakes of parsley. The pasta was not consistent (some soft, some rougher). The scallops and shrimp were not objectionable, so I ate them and left most of the pasta. My girlfriend, not being overly happy with the limited selection of main dishes, went with the cured salmon and the baby arugula salad. She said it was OK, but after the meal, we went to the Thai restaurant down the street and had something more edible.
I would recommend The Carriage House to older, pretentious people who value atmosphere above food quality and don't mind going to another restaurant afterwards to satiate their appetite.
Went there for a christmas party. 20+ people. The food was excellent along with service and surroundings. Would recommend for a nice quiet upper scale dinner!
