Hooley’s Pub

We came for the yuk yuk’s dinner and a comedian package. The food was awesome and the staff was friendly. Great experience!

Food was satisfactory at best. Atmosphere was mediocre. Service was terrible. I will not be coming back here. I don’t recommend it.

the wing night at this place is absolutely the best wing night in the Elgin street area. They are cheap and they are unreal.

I’ve been here 3 or 4 times and in my opinion the tacos and nachos were good and the price of the beer is OK.
But the 5 dollar burger (I think it’s their tuesday special) was really BAD. Extremely oily and hard to eat… it’s sad cause it was such a good deal.
I might come back, but not on tuesday!

Brownie balls were bland.
Music was too loud to have a conversation.
Never returning.

Catering to the young professional and university crowd, Hooley’s is always a great pub to get some food or head for the night. Highlighted by a different special every night, one can definitely find a good time here. Large selection of wings and great deals on beers. The patio features wicker couches with comfortable orange cushions and has a comfortable ambiance that features a little country in the city.

Have been to this place a few times both for happy hour and for late-​night partying and am not impressed with either.
The mixed drinks taste so watered down — I’m convinced there was no actual booze in my rye & ginger. The onion rings were covered in far too much batter before being deep fried resulting in giant mutant rings that were difficult to eat.
Finally, the place kinda looks like a dump with the lights on — couldn’t get out of there fast enough to go to a much nicer-​looking bar like Sir John A or Lieutenant’s pump across the street.

This is a decent sports bar that caters to the university/​young professional crowds. It’s a large space that offers lots of seating for big groups. Our group didn’t have any trouble finding a table for 15+
The food menu was good, but it was nothing memorable. The nacho plates were very gooey and filled with lots of toppings (almost too gooey for my liking). I think they’re perfect for sharing. The fish/​chips were good and the batter wasn’t too thick. The fried chicken was tasty and crisp, but super greasy.
Our waiter was friendly, but given it was a busy night the service was slow and the staff was forgetful. When our food arrived we didn’t have any cutlery/​napkins. We also asked for a take-​out container and never received one.
The décor is pretty shabby, especially the back of the bar. The tables are sticky and the chairs look tired. I recommend getting a table near the front.

I’ve been to Hooley’s a few times:
— One time, me and my friend waited forever and they waitress never even took our order!
— One time, they misrepresented their free Hot-​dog special. On the promotion board outside, it says ”Free Hot-​dogs!” On the menu, it says ”Free hot-​dogs” *with purchase of a drink. But, in reality, you get ONE free hot-​dog with the purchase of your first drink. It should be noted that, this same night, D’Arcy McGee’s was offering free Oysters — with no limits! Look, if you’re so cheap that you can’t afford to offer more than one free hot-​dog to your guests, then fine. But say so — at least in the fine print.
— Another time, I saw an extremely awful hypnotist. I didn’t buy anything, so I can’t complain about the service this time! :P
— Another time, I went to Yuk Yuk’s downstairs. By this point, I already decided to boycott Hooley’s but I decided to make an exception for Yuk Yuk’s, even though, I knew that this particular location had some sort of business relationship with Hooley’s. Not sure of the exact relationship but the menu said ”Hooley’s.”
I ordered some cheese balls that were listed as $ 6 on the menu but when I got the bill, I was charged $ 8. I pointed this out to the waitress who apologized and offered to fix it, but didn’t receive any compensatory discount or anything. By comparison, if you get overcharged at the cash, at a grocery store, you’re supposed to get that item free! (up to $ 10).
As a consumer, very few things irk me as much as misrepresentation. And Hooley’s is a repeat-​offender for this. I could almost sort of understand, if it was super expensive to re-​print their menus, but this is definitely NOT the case. Hooley’s menus are cheap photocopied pieces of paper, from a cheap bar!
There are plenty of other places to eat and drink in Ottawa. Forget about this one!

Wow. In 2008 I wrote a review that tore Hooley’s apart — boy how things have changed.
It’s still coming into its own and coping with increased business. I see this as a good thing. They are getting noticeably busier lately, and I think that is because they’ve drastically improved their drink menu, food menu, service and all around décor.
Don’t expect five start dining. That’s not what they are trying to be, nor is that something that would work for them.
The food menu is a bit higher-​end pub fare, with burgers they make themselves, duck poutine, edamame beans etc. In concert with the food menu is an original cocktail menu. Try the jalapeño margarita, Lindbergh Lemonade or any of the other signature drinks on the list — they’re quite good.
Lastly, I have to give credit to the service I received the two times I have been there lately. Attentive, quick, friendly… that says it all.
This is a great place to watch the game with plenty of TVs, but not so many that it will cause people to have seizures.
Judge for yourself, but they have won me back.

My guest and I arrived were thirsty and hungry after a long day of work. We went to Hooley’s because the outdoor patio seemed nice and it was near our hotel. We were shocked when Hooley’s charged us a cover charge even though there was no live music, no specials and the place was mostly empty.
Being overly hungry we paid the cover and waited 10 minutes for a server to take our order even though there were only a few people in the whole building.
When our $ 18 pitcher of beer arrived we were told the kitchen closed even though the waitress gave us menus and said it was open just minutes prior. We were upset. We drank our beer and listened to music that was loud and sounded out of tune from poor quality speakers.
When leaving I told that very bored girl collecting cover charges that we were disappointed that the kitchen was closed and the poor service and we requested our cover back. She refused saying that since we had a drink they had no obligation to refund our money. I really didn’t expect her to since everything else was a disappointment but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
There is too many other cool bars nearby to ever go back again.

The people working there all seemed like they were on drugs. I ordered my burger with things off it (such as pickles, etc) and when they messed up I watched my server pick the things off and throw it in the garbage. He touched my food with his bare hands, probably after he touched cash and everything. And I ordered my burger plain for a reason: If picking things off was a good enough solution, I obviously would have done it myself. It was disgusting.

I came here for a friend’s birthday a while ago. I think after this experience I truly know bad service. I ordered a Halifax donair and a coke and my boyfriend ordered the same. The service was the worst service I’ve ever experienced in my life. The first time the waitress came she didn’t take half of the table’s orders, my half of course… So half of the table got their food 20 minutes before we got ours, when she gave the other half of the table their food, we ordered our food, and then by the time we got ours my friends had to wait for us because they were ready to leave. She also didn’t say anything… We flagged her down and told her our order and she just nodded and walked off.
Not to mention for some reason the server kept coming over and bragging about how great of a server she was and how shes been doing this for years… It was weird. Everyone came to the conclusion that we weren’t going to tip her, even the side of the table that DID get their food, simply because although the restaurant was fairly empty, it took a good 20 minutes to flag the waitress down when they wanted refills of their beer, wine, etc.
Oh and I feel like I don’t even have to mention that the donair was pitiful, don’t know what I expected ordering a donair from a pub.

I’ve only been here on Monday’s for their 35¢ wing night! Their best flavour is the Halifax Heat. It’s glazed with sauce, but well worth it. Might be the best distinct flavour in town. Still on the search though… A great place to catch a game.

I’m really surprised at the lack of sports bars in Ottawa but when there is an event we try to hit up Hooley’s. They have a bunch of tvs throughout the place and Monday nights they have a good wing special. The wings aren’t the greatest but for 25 cents each it’s an awesome special.
They have a variety of flavours and recently changed the wing orders to 8 at a time.

Hands down, the BEST wing night in Ottawa (on a Monday).
25 cent wings = $ 2.50 + drink.
The wings are usually jumbo and deliciously breaded. You can order from a range of sauces such as, mild, medium, hot, honey garlic, BBQ and Halifax Heat with is considered one of their special sauces for $ 1 extra. If you’re into tzatziki and hot sauce, try the Halifax Heat. If wet, gooey wings don’t appeal to you, their dry rubs like cajun, salt and pepper and dill are also offered, but asking for sour cream or sauce on the side is $ 1 extra.
I would suggest getting there early on a Monday night. Not only because you will have to line up with other cheap students looking for the deal, but you’ll be bumping into all the NFL junkies who are also cheap students who drink all the Kokanee dry :(

This place can be all over the map.
Last night myself and friends had a blast there after dinner. The music was great, we caught the end of a baseball game on one of their big screens and then the dancers in our crowd enjoyed the large dance floor.
I know because they have a live band that cover is logical ($ 5 last night) but sometimes they’ve been known to charge more than $ 5 and in that case it’s just not worth it.
On busy nights or after work on Friday (half price apps) or Monday (cheap wings) the service can be a bit sketchy. Sometimes you don’t see your server for a while and it seems they’re a bit stretched thin on busy nights. I was there for the World Cup final and there were about three servers in the entire place!
Overall you never really know what you’re going to get at Hooley’s but last night and most recently I’d say it’s more a three star «pub» (actually a bar) than the two I would have given it months ago.

I have been to Hooley’s a couple times over the past few weeks for dinner/​drinks after work, and will not be going back. All the times I’ve been were during the week for dinner. Never on the weekend, and never late at night.
Quite simply, the service is horrible. Today for example, it took at least 10 minutes to have our dinner orders taken after our drinks were brought to us. A friend joined us later on, and after 15 minutes of him waiting, I had to get up and go get the waitress’ attention so she would come take his order. She was not very polite when I went over to her. She may have not liked my waiting for her while she was at another table, but for the past 10+ minutes she had not even glanced at our table.
This seems to be a common theme. When the wait staff are going between the tables and the kitchen/​bar, they never look at your table to see if you need anything. A couple weeks ago we had a friend join us a little later and that time as well he had to get up to get someone’s attention after 10+ minutes of being ignored.
It seems like the staff are truly stretched thin. Particularly when there is Monday Night Football. I suggest management hire more wait staff for the dinner shift. Maybe then they will have the time they need to provide at least some small modicum of service.
Lastly, my friends meal arrived cold tonight.
***UPDATE
Because my friends are fond of this place, I have been back once. Funny enough there was one stellar staff who gave us good service, but it was some guy who wasn’t even our server. Since my friends go there regularly they seemed to know him.
I ordered the grilled cheese, which was supposed to be a gourmet sandwich. While they make a legit effort to do something different, it’s not very good. If you want a really good gourmet grilled cheese sandwich then go to Bowich.