Caffe Zucchero Espresso Bar

Amazing food. And the staff are wonderful. Ask for Tony!

This place smelled like pure heaven when I walked in. Like baked lasagna and other pasta dishes. However I ordered the soup of the day which was prosciutto cabbage… I’m not a huge proscuitto fan, I’m slowly trying to force myself to eat pork… But I figured I’d try it anyway.
It came to about $ 6, which is a bit much for soup, if I wanted to pay that much for soup I would get phở which is about 4x larger than the serving I got. It came with some good bread, however the soup itself was terrible. I expected it to be salty and rich, but considering it was made with two pretty distinct, strong tastes it wasn’t rich or tasty at all. It had an overwhelming bitter taste, extremely gross. The prosciutto was cut up into little tiny tiny pieces but the cabbage had HUGE chunks in it, hugeee! Like an entire leaf in one part, come on, I don’t want to have to cut up my soup with a knife and fork. Anyway, saved it for my boyfriend hoping he’d like it but he didn’t.
Man, maybe I need to go get me some of that lasagna before I really rate this place, but if it’s anything like the soup it will be disgusting and a giant waste of money.

Not that impressed. Thought it was way overpriced for what you got. We went for lunch and had two panini sandwiches, two pop and a cup of soup. the bill was $ 32.00. Are you kidding me! The panini was ok, the Bella Parma was generous with the prosciutto but had very little cheese and one leaf of basil per side. The vegetable lentil soup had nice fresh flavours. Granted having been exposed to real Italian cooking… I’m talking make the sauce in the garage every September kind of Italians, this place left me a little disappointed.

I’m not from Ottawa (I’m from DC) and arrived in town and quickly looked for a good local place to eat near my hotel. This one came up in Unilocal and I’m glad I found it. The sandwiches were amazing. Highly recommend it.

Great spot, no lineups, good coffee and espresso, Italian-​style. Also, delicious lunches with daily specials. Glad to have it across the street from work.

Been in search of good coffee all over Ottawa and stopped in here for this and a snack to go. Lunchtime and the place seems to do a brisk business. I ordered an americano with less water and the very friendly server immediately asked if I wanted a long espresso… Ah finally… someone who knows coffee. It was full bodied and rich. Not as smooth or the best I’ve had in my never-​ending search for the best coffee, but ⁴⁄₅.
I ordered the parma panini with boccini cheese, prosciutto ham, fresh basil and olive oil. It was very good, fresh with lots of everything. Unfortunately the herb foccachia bread was far too salty which detracted somewhat. I’d suggest a different bread if you order the same.
All in all though, reasonably priced (just over 10 $ total for both), fresh, very good coffee and friendly staff. I’ll be back.
No credit cards (debit or cash).

Yes it’s located to next to a strip joint… but so what this is a bustling place to get a hearty italian lunch in the dreary downtown Ottawa. I love their daily soups, panini sandwiches and their crisp salads. Reasonably priced with quality ingredients means this café is a favourite among the gov’t workers/​business crowd downtown.
Haven’t been in awhile, but I every time I go back to Ottawa I make it a point to hit this place up if it’s open. Plus check out their tabletops-​they are a collage of magazine clippings and photos!