House of TARG

Love this place so much — whether during the day with my kids, for awesome reasonably priced classic games and great breakfast or at night for bands. Such a good vibe, never overly packed; but bring earplugs or buy them for a buck at the front door. It can get damn loud!

Full on pinball arcade. In 2016. Wow!

Service was awesome, pirogies was great, and video games brought me back to my childhood. Also Loved how they called me when my food was ready. Please bring back Mortal Kombat.

Took my teen and tween here one Saturday afternoon and a grand time was had by all.
This place has my very favourite games! I also loved the Punk/​DIY spirit of the ‘zine.
I’m looking forward to stopping in one evening, in time for free play, without kids.

Love me some Targ. I try to go whenever I an in town. Meet up with friends, pick up a unigirl, in a unitard, at the house of targ.
Beers, piss, perfect. Not sure about food. Was blasted on parchuttes and bud… drinking a tall boy of pabst. Somehow it was very appropriate.

FINALLY got to go to Targ last night after months of my friends telling me how great it is. I probably would have been sooner but, living in Nepean, it’s a bit of a hassle to get to.
Anyway, great joint! A surprisingly large basement bar with dozens of pinball machines and old arcade games. They’re also known for their pierogies, but I didn’t order any. I will update my review once I do. Admittedly, I’ll be a bit of a tough customer because I’m half-​Ukrainian, but I was impressed that they make them by hand. The Traditional plate, at least, is served with cabbage and beets, so that won me over!
So, if you like rock and roll, pinball, and retro gaming, you will be very fond of it.

Was at House of Targ for a Burlesque show on Sat. I’m not big on gaming but my Husband is happy with the selection and price of the games. I was happy with the price of the drinks and the cover for the show was only $ 7. Yes its loud but that’s to be expected at an arcade. The perogies are sooo good! I loved the show but thats nothing to do with the venue I have seen these performers at a # of different venues and they are always spectacular! The only complaint would be that the stage is not high enough for a show like burlesque. Great atmosphere and fun staff. I will be back.

If 80s and early 90s references fill you with a sense of nostalgia, this place is off the hook. The employee shirts nail down the spirit of 80s thrash metal album art, there are a lot of great arcade and pinball machines around, and even the music that was playing was mostly sitcom theme songs from that bygone era. The perogis are tasty and have awesome names like ‘leek and destroy’ or ‘kale em all’, a nod to Metallica. When your order is ready it is announced over a PA system in a deep, grunty, death metal voice. There’s really nothing to dislike about this place unless your expectations are out of check. It’s great for kids too! Totally recommend this place.

House of Targ has a cool, hipster vibe to it. It definitely plays into the nostalgia of the many hours this 90’s kid spent playing games and pinball in the dark of my local video arcade. It has pretty good perogies and its drink selection is okay. Unfortunately, on weekends it gets really loud and busy which makes it difficult to have a conversation. The bands they bring in on the weekend tend to be punk, which I don’t love. Also, the acoustics in the room are very poor for live music generally and make for low quality sound. The air quality isn’t great and the air can get quite stale. Whenever I venture back up into the fresh air, I feel a little relieved. I would give it 4 stars on off peak nights, but 2 on its busier nights and so I settled on 3 overall. This place is okay. I will maybe go back, just not when they have live music or at their peak hours.

House of Targ is pretty fun. They’re known for their «pinball and perogies» and I can see why. Lots of pinball games to choose from and the food is pretty tasty; my favourite perogies are the Kale ‘em All ones.
I’ve been here twice now, and both times I’ve went I had a good time. Tbh though, I have never stayed longer than an hour or so. By then, I’ve tried all the games I wanted to and it’s sort of a loud place to just hangout if you’re not playing games. I noticed also that a lot of the non-​pinball games were not working last time I went. That was a bummer, I hope they get around to fixing them.
Overall, House of Targ is something everyone in Ottawa should try out once, but you might want to plan to do something else after like walk around the Glebe and check out the market!

Oh man, how do you write a review for this place? It’s so different from anywhere else I’ve ever been.
House of TARG is a pinball bar. There are classic video games and pinball machines lining the walls. It’s also a pierogi bar. They have an all-​pierogi menu. It’s also a bar bar — they have decent, local craft beer on tap. They are also a live music venue — there’s a stage in the middle of the place. They try to be an awful lot of things!
For ambiance, it’s eclectic and fun. When your food order is ready, someone will announce it hilariously over the speakers in an ominous, video game villain-​esque voice. You can play stuff you haven’t played in years! The people who say it appeals to hipsters are right, but it didn’t repel my hipster-​phobic SO on our trip there.
For food, the all-​pierogies menu is tasty and different, but not authentic. They’ve got a range of flavours, all of which were good (including, surprisingly, the vegetarian bacon one!), and even apple pie dessert pierogies. It might be a bit much to have only their pierogies for a meal, but they’re a great and different way of offering bar snacks.
And, you know, the games. Maybe I’m just the right age, but the ability to throw down at Mortal Kombat or let your eyes go dry playing Tetris on a stand-​up machine was really fun.
This is a really different, fun place to go for a fun night. It doesn’t really excel at any of the individual things that it does, but it’s done a good job of putting them all together.

House of Targ has a wonderful (hipster) charm and draws a colourful cast of (hipster) punk-​rockers/​students/​hippies/​etc.
The immediate feeling after entering is welcoming. It reminds of my Lola’s basement in Toronto. Dingy wooden wall panels and dark lighting hiding the imperfections in the dry wall/​plumbing and electrical. That being said: I had a great time here!
I went on a friday night, for some live music and dinner. The Kale perogies I enjoyed with my date were splendid and came with an ample heaping of dill sour cream, pickled beets, and sauerkraut.
House of Targ is what it is, and it does that very well. There is an infectious vibe in the basement, and for me, it translated into a curiosity for all the pinball gizmos and arcade games.
This place is really loud, especially when the band starts playing. That being said, the sound system is meh, and it distorts the vocals a bit. But who cares?! With all the bright lights, thumping bass, and people cheering it doesn’t matter what lyrics the singer is singing. Just dance, drink hipster beer, and play pin ball.

My boyfriend and I visited House of Targ on Hallowe’en as a fluke because our 9:15pm Rocky Horror at the mayfair was sold out. We needed something to do until the 11:55pm show and we had been wanting to check out this place for some time now.
I have to say we were so pleasantly surprised at the level of awesomeness. The $ 10 cover for free play of the games was a great price and the staff and security were some of the nicest folk I’ve seen around the city. The bartender was really apologetic when she couldn’t make a drink I wanted and offered up a different option which I thought was lovely.
Music was great for Hallowe’en however we did not stay for the band. Neither of us are fans of live music in bars. They played all the Hallowe’en classics and added in spooky noises which was a lot of fun and added to the atmosphere.
The games were a ton of fun and as mentioned it was a free play night. We got the chance to try out most of the games and everyone was very understanding when it came to wanting to play so we didn’t have to wait long to play the ones we wanted. The Addams Family pinball machine was basically the coolest thing of my entire life with the THING hand reaching out to grab your pinball. Amazing. We also loved PACMAN and TETRIS.
We didn’t get a chance to try out the food but we will be back for that.
The only complaint for the night was the unexpected fog machine that they left on too long. It was so foggy that we couldn’t see the games at one point and it gave me an asthma attack which I had to promptly go out for air to recover from. We mentioned this to the doormen and they said they would tone it down which helped.
All in all, it was a random adventure that we ended up going here and it made for one hell of a good time. If you are into trying something new and you like the vibe that a place like Zaphods gives only with awesome vintage games. check out House of Targ!

The idea sounded fantastic: video games, pinball machines, beer… what could go wrong?
And I must say that this combination turned out great for the first half hour I was here. I did have to pay $ 5 cover, but I wasn’t sure what for.
The fun was over when the Moterhead tribute band started playing. So that’s what the cover charge was for! :(
It’s really hard to communicate (especially when you’ve put $ 6 worth of quarters in Double Dragon) when guitars are playing heavy metal, this voice is screaming «The ace of spades!!!» and green dust is being sprayed into your face.
I didn’t enjoy it. The games don’t make up for the discomfort my eyes and ears went through. And they need better air conditioning. And they need an ATM instead of making people walk down two blocks to the TD or Scotia Bank.
Never coming back.

I went here for a Unilocal Event and I’m glad it was held here because I doubt that I would have ever ventured into this place on my own.
It is next to Framed on Bank St. It’s really easy to miss. You have to go down a steep flight of stars and House of Targ is down there. It’s rather dark down there. On one side of the room there are pinball machines and on the other side arcade machines.
They have a full bar but the only food items they serve are perogies. They have many varieties though (i.e. cheese, mushroom, kale, sauerkraut). They also have dessert perogies (filled with apples and deep fried, then drizzled with caramel sauce and placed in a pool of what tasted like melted marshmallow fluff). The dessert perogies are very reminiscent of the old fried McDonald’s apple pies (sigh, I miss those). The perogies are made fresh and you can see the staff making them in their open kitchen. The dessert perogies were by far my favourite variety.
House of Targ feels very «old school.» It’s like those pinball places in the 90s. It’s much less seedy than modern day arcades though.
We were there in the early evening and it was for a private Unilocal Event, so I don’t know how this place gets after 9pm (when apparently they start to charge a cover).

This place is a solid 3 ½ stars IMHO, if only I could!
I really didn’t expect to have so much fun in this place — it is, after all, «just» a pinball parlour… But it is a surprisingly large space, containing loads of old-​time machines, which run on quarters and on dollars. There are at least a couple of «Tournament» Machines. It’s suitably dark down there! It was very reminiscent of the pinball parlours of my youth. Ok, now I’m giving away my age! LOL!
One of the things I liked about this spot is that it has a modern spin: they make their own perogies, right from the dough! We watched them rolling out the dough, in the open kitchen behind the bar. Whodathunk that perogies and pinball went together??! But they do. These guys make their own perogies and they are fried. Dieters, beware! They offer 5 or 6 different flavours. They were really good! And they’re not the small perogies I’m used to eating. When you place your order, they make them fresh, then when they’re ready, they announce your name over the loudspeaker («Jana D, your order is readyyyyyy!») in a funky deep sort of zombie voice, just like you would expect to hear at the Exhibition! Funny.
Targ also offers a variety of alcoholic and non-​alcoholic beverages.
And you can find free parking around the neighbourhood.

Was hoping to go play some classic video games from days gone by. Was blasted with terrible sound and atmosphere. I didn’t expect house of targ to be great but at least decent due to the line up of arcade games. Small cover collection guy was extremely rude to me and swore at me. I went to try and spend money there and wasn’t able to because of the music which was at a damaging decibel level for hunan ears. I won’t be back and I wouldn’t recommend house of Targ to anyone not on some sort of melted sudafed products. Awful. Good service is important guys, even if I don’t have piercings or tatoos, I am a customer willing to spend money. Also barfing customers outside may have been over served. Careful guys liability of service is on you.

Craving perogies? Love pinball? Get your butt over to Targ now.
I have eaten a lot of perogies in my life — at the CNE, The Royal, my aunts, fried perogies, steamed perogies, cheese perogies — this list goes on. I can honestly say these are the *best* perogies I have had. Ever. My mouth is watering just writing this review.
We ordered standard regular perogies for our first visit. Mind blowing. Can’t wait to try some of the ‘advanced level’ perogies. We did manage to try to dessert perogies — they reminded me of the hot apple pies you get at McDonalds — except better. Fantastic.
For the rest of the joint: It’s in the basement, so there’s a cave like feel. Simple concert — targeted food, games and music. Guesstimating there’s about 30 machines. (Bring your quarters with you. Presumably they can make change for you too — but it’s a great way to get your loose change used up.) You can get beer. At about 9p they want you to either pay the cover or leave — and they are quite humorous with their announcements. Wide variety of people there, everyone fits, so check it out (and check out the hours before you head over — they are non-​standard.) If you do make the mistake of heading over and finding them closed, check out Quinn’s across the street and north a few store fronts. (Targ is very neighbor oriented — they will tell you the same thing, which is fantastic — love seeing cooperation between businesses. And I love both of these businesses.)
Try to find a copy of their newsletter. Well done.
My one question: How are they going to stop damage to the machines from drunken beer swilling and spilling players? Just wondering.
Great weird fun place — go here.
Would I recommend: Yes, whole heartedly.
Would I return: Yes! Can’t wait for my next perogie fix.

Was extremely excited to venture to this new place in Ottawa. Pinball and Perogies with live music, a perfect combo. The pinball was fantastic, although a bit expensive at 1 – 2 $ a game. Perogies were nice as well.
Then, the music. Its a basement joint with concrete walls. I am not sure the soundman knows what he is doing but the place is LOUD. I dont mean good loud, i mean massive resonance/​reverberation loud. It was unbearable and we had to leave after 20 minutes. This is coming from live music junkies and a guy who knows sound.
They need to turn down the volume or get something on the walls that absorb sound so its not so boomy and loud. You can’t hear anything in the music there. Simply awfull.
Fair warning, you will have very sore ears in no time at all. Bring earplugs. ITs sad, I’d live to frequent this place but just can’t with the sound.

This funky underground joint has pinball games, classic video games, perogies, and punk music.
I adore this place. The games are all original prices: lots of pinball and video games cost only a quarter.
The perogies are delicious. They have traditional, but also mushroom, onion, and even a sweet version. The employees are tattooed and fun. I love to come for games and some dinner before seeing a flick at the Mayfair.
It’s right on the corner of bank and sunnyside. $ 15 for a full meal of 12 perogies. Free lemon water in the corner.
I love this place.