Bambu Restaurant

I’d been to Bambu before and had liked it. Which is why I recommended this for a lunch out of the office with co-​workers. The service was quick but the waitress was clearly new and inexperienced.
I didn’t like the food. It was serviced on a rectangle plate which my co-​workers and I found very unpractical. I ordered ku lu pork from the lunch menu, which was supposed to be a sweet&sour pork with pineapple. My dish had 3 tiny pineapple pieces, 6 bites of pork and the rest was a gross overly sweet sauce and cut bell peppers. It was not worth the 14 $ I spent for it.
I was disappointed and will not be going again.

The service was terrible. We went there with a group of people and the waiter was rude and completely unorganized. The food alone was average, nothing extraordinary.

Excellent service, excellent food! Good portions and tasty. The atmosphere is really nice as well. Very comfortable chairs to sit on. Try the sushi rolls! I got the 20 $ spicy tuna roll with crab meat, cucumber and wrapped with avocado and seaweed. Tempura flakes on top :)

Avoid the sushi. It was supposedly fresh this morning, but certainly below average, even by Ottawa standards. Surprised it has so many good reviews on here, not one piece I had was even up to par.

Bambu looks good enough to lure in the airport traveller or T&T shopper, but the food and service are seriously lacking.
— Seated quickly then kept us waiting to be served (it was not busy).
— Draught beer not working (none of it).
— Basic items on menu not available (rice wraps).
— Water had to be asked for and then given in a dirty glass, with no apology.
— Meal sized mango salad was mostly lettuce, instead of mango.
— Stir fry was very greasy and had tiny scraps of meat (mostly noodles, onions and oil).
— Server was indifferent and did nothing to make the best of a bad situation.
I wouldn’t normally have a problem paying $ 15 for a good Pad Thai or Shanghai noodles, but here that’ll get you an oily «takeout» on a plate and no service.
Disclaimer: I don’t eat sushi, so can’t comment on that which occupied most of the menu. For me Phở Thai Fusion just down the road is way better quality, quantity and service (see my review). Even Thai Express isn’t bad.

We go to Bambu on a regular basis. I think their Sushi is some of the best I have ever had anywhere. The staff is friendly and I have never had a bad meal or service there.
Their prices are on the higher side, but I think the quality and presentation is in line with what you pay.
Bambu is one of the best Asian fusion restaurants in the Ottawa area.

It was pretty good.
We ate veggie spring rolls to start. Plum sauce was great! Spring rolls were cooked well and the filling was good also.
The waiter was very polite and courteous .
He checked on our table appropriately. Not too little not too much. :)
Had the beef terriaky. The portion was smallllllll for 15 $ they also used that weird rubbery beef some Chinese food places use. Not my favourite quality. It doesn’t come with rice either.
Not enough food for 15 $.
Also had chicken fried rice. Meh. Nothing special I’ve had better
Deserts were pretty good.
In conclusion, it was okay. No big deal. Small portions for the price. Quality was «ok». It didn’t wow me and Im
Not dying to go back there. But it was ok.

Everyone LOVED it! Went on Friday night with 8 people. They seemed a little short staffed because it took our server a bit to get to us (we were ready to order everything at once!) then the food came out fairly quick. We all mostly ate off the sushi menu– yummy!

This place has a young atmosphere and most waiters have been courteous. The food is asian fusion: a success overall.
The food is real, which is the first thing that must be mentioned when we talk Chinese food, thai or sushi. Most thai food that I’ve ordered would be somewhere between delicious and ok. Even if it wasn’t stellar, i want to emphasize that the food is always real.
Maybe I don’t know where to eat sushi, but this is the only place in Ottawa I know of, besides upscale places like Becta, where the sushi is safe to eat and authentic.
You can order dim sum any time they are open. One of the perks to the young atmosphere and concept of the place is that the diner is not constrained by the traditional meal times for food on the menu. also, you can order all at once, little by little, family style or white people style. No one judges.

I’ve been to bambu 3 times. The service is always exceptional. Love the variety the dishes I’ve tried and that are always good are the open ended egg rolls, fried shrimp won tons served with a mayo type sauce, coconut curry chicken, general Taos chicken, black bean sauce chicken (we order it served over Cantonese style noodles) sooo tasty! Shrimp Shu mia with a bowl of steam rice, beat steak Cantonese style.
The sweet dragon roll is delicious too, like a dynamite roll with yam tempura on top.

I like the restaurant, it looks like Moxie, Baton rouge type of setting but serves Chines/​Japanese food. I enjoy the Dim Sum there, especially the Dim Sum in Bento box kind of neat.

Fantastic sushi, with hamachi maki available.

As you walk in the door, you are greeted with very nice décor. You can tell this place has put some money into decorating this place! (However, the fact that this place is all windows, makes for a chilly breeze that comes through) ***Word to the wise — Dress warm!!!***
I came for lunch with my boyfriend. We sat down and opened up the lunch menu. The prices for lunch were average and there was a decent selection. I ordered the coconut curry chicken, and he ordered the chicken pad Thai. Both fairly standard options.
When the food came, I was shocked that the server didn’t even give us the right meals when the restaurant wasn’t even busy. He gave me the pad Thai and him the chicken, when it should be the opposite. Clearly wasn’t paying attention or didn’t care. Terrible… Also, the food came strangely quick. We both had our meals in under 10 minutes. I always find this odd, as freshly cooked food should take a little bit longer to prepare. The chicken had that rubbery feeling that it may not be fresh, and had perhaps come from a bag. I may not be correct but I found it to not have the texture or consistency of fresh chicken. Not to mention, it was a little bit bland. The vegetables that came with the curry were undercooked, and seemed to be cheap options. It would have been nice to see some quality vegetables rather than your standard green pepper and onion… Oh, it also had potatoes. I found this strange for curry.
I am a huge lover of pad thai. When I took a bite of my boyfriend’s pad thai, I honestly didn’t really care for it. It didn’t taste authentic at all. It tasted more like an international version rather than the Thai version. Plus, I can guarantee that they use ketchup in their sauce (like many restaurants who cut corners). Lets just say, if you are a pad Thai lover, don’t order it here.
The food was nicely presented and the lunch portions were generous.
Positives: nice décor, nice presentation of food
Negatives: poor food quality, and bland tastes. Cutting corners when preparing food… Un-​attentive staff…

Been here several times — been different times of day and with a variety of group sizes all to say this place is hit and miss. Sometimes the food is really great — well cooked, flavourful and nicely presented. Other times its undercooked, bland and plain. I don’t get it —
Overall the space is funky and well done — but I still find it a big space that feels a bit cold and lacking in character… I wish I had better things to say but the consistency just isn’t there.
²⁴⁄₃₀

I feel like authentic Chinese/​fusion places are hard to come by in Ottawa and Bambu does a decent job. However, most who come here are just sucked in by the fancy atmosphere.
The food is delicious, but the small portions and expensive prices make me skeptical. If you are here though, definitely get the lemongrass porkchop dish and anything with seafood. The beef noodles are pretty good and definitely authentic (but again on the pricey side). Wait time on food is a little on the long side. We definitely waited a good 15 – 20 minutes after our app for just our main to come (and the restaurant wasn’t busy). :(
It’s a good place to takes guests or a romantic date. This might be one of the only Chinese restaurants in Ottawa that spend money on décor/​presentation and that’s definitely the reason why the prices are on the pricier side when it comes to this type of food. Service is great, but it’s a little annoying that an none of the waiters actually know anything about asian culture or too much about the dishes…
Overall, I like the restaurant but the price just doesn’t make it worth it.
Bambu, I’ll trade that carved rose garnish for another piece of porkchop. ;)

Great Asian cuisine without having to travel to China Town. While I love me some Mekong, it’s nice to have a place near by that delivers the same consistent, high quality and dare I say it tasty meals. Have to have the Hot and Sour soup every time
Also love the fact that they deliver to Riverside South, where I live

Great restaurant. I love going here. The menu has a lot of the normal chinese takeout dishes only at such a higher quality. I’ve never had a bad meal here.
Love the shimp in lobster sauce, the shrimp and vegetable tempura and the northern style spicy chicken.

Asian fusion restaurant with a hefty price tag.
Been here 3 times only because our friends chose it, but I would never choose to eat here on my own.
The prices are just insane for what it is. My suggestion is go to an authentic Japanese restaurant one day, next day go to a Thai restaurant, next day go to a Chinese restaurant for a better food experience.
If you really want to try an Asian fusion restaurant, perhaps wait till the next time you visit Toronto and check out Spring-​Rolls which is, in my opinion, 100 times better.

The décor is trendier than the typical Chinese restaurant, but the food is fairly standard North American Chinese/​Thai/​Japanese fusion. We had the vegeterian wraps and salted crab for appetizer (both very good). The main courses consisted of Salt & Pepper Tofu (not bad, but we’ve had better), the Hunan Beef, General Tao Chicken and Vegetable Chow Mein. Although all dishes were tasty, they were heavily sauced and fairly oily, in the tradition of North American Chinese Food. The fried bananas were nice, but not outstanding. Service was also decent.
Overall, if you’re in the area and looking for a bit upscale/​trendy Chinese to visit with a group, it’s worth a taste, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary.