Dinner at the Canal Ritz in Ottawa, Canada

For my last night in Ottawa, I had dinner with my niece AnK at the Canal Ritz.

I wanted a different atmosphere, somewhere perhaps along the canal and so I found the restaurant online. The reviews were quite okay. Visitors were raving about the ambiance that is located on the water more than about the food. I am fine with that.

Our Italian-Canadian inspired dinner at Canal Ritz.

This is Canal Ritz during the day and during warmer months. Photo from Wikimapia.

The Italian restaurant is located on the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa and has a special parking area reserved for guests across the street. This is quite handy since parking along the canal is a bit hard to find. The best thing about Canal Ritz is its lovely terrace. You can literally dine here outdoors on the water during warmer months. But it was end of September when I was there and the outdoor terrace would be too cold in the evening, so dining was set for indoors.

AnK settled for a burger while I had their salmon. The food was quite good and the service great. We really enjoyed our meal here. The ambience was quite nice as well, and we can see the canal and surrounding trees from our table.

We however noticed that the diners in the restaurant didnâ€™t stay long enough. They were quite quick with their dinners and off they were gone? As you can see, AnK and I are very mindful about our environs, haha. This is what I actually love doing when I am travelling. I observe a lot. Like A LOT. I am your typical curious cat checking out every nook and cranny and sniffing after off the beaten tracks and trails. I like to see how other cultures differ from where I come from and where I live (or have lived and have visited). It gives me everytime an awakening experience and sets me back on the ground. We are so similar yet so different from each other. Something that we can celebrate about, right?

So in Northern America (and this goes as well for the USA), dining is somehow treated as an activity that is time-bound. People just donâ€™t seem to loosen up when they are dining out. They come in, order their food, pay and off they go. People are more concerned about the turn around of tables. I mean, how long must you stay in a restaurant? 1 hour? 1.5 hours max before your waiter politely asks you to leave?

Unlike in Europe, when people dine out, they really dine and for longer hours. It is a relaxed event in an unhurried and welcoming setting. There are no thoughts running at the back of your mind â€“ Oh, have we stayed long enough? Are we inconveniencing the restaurant? Have we tipped well?

In Montreal though, and Quebec in general as well, the dining culture is however quite similar to Europe, more slow paced and laid-back. I quite like that.

See here another entry of my dining experience in Ottawa: The Ottawa Dining Scene?