The King Eddy

Great experience! The food was tasty. The portions were generous. The service was great. The staff is friendly and efficient. The prices are acceptable. This is a great place for an «American» eating experience. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area.

Love this place, right in the middle of the Byword Market in Ottawa. Staffs are friendly, does a mean burger.
No staffs ever rush you off, you can sit as long as you like even just for a drink or a cup of coffee.

I really enjoyed the food here. I’ve had the burger and fries before which was great. This most recent time I had the loaded fries which was to die for. Fries, lettuce, chilli, tomatoes, guacamole and cheddar cheese. Possibly more I can’t remember. It was a decent price and extremely filling. We also got some wings which I really liked but my friends didn’t care for the bbq sauce. I would definitely go again to try the chicken and waffles !

King Eddy from the outside might seem like a knock-​off of the infamous American burger chain, Shake Shack. Internally, it is a different restaurant with a Canadian twist. It is an average-​price lunch and usually it will be around $ 20 – 25 for an average lunch with fries and beer. But when I went to King Eddy, I ordered the loaded fries, this menu changes on a daily basis and it was delicious! The loaded fries has a fried egg on top, chili flakes, green onions and cherry tomatoes. It was a blend of many good tastes: smooth, crunchy, crisp and a little sweet. In terms of the interior and the theme of the restaurant, I was impressed it was looks casual, clean and modern. It is attracting a younger crowd and it is refreshing place to be in. The only compliant I have about King Eddy is the service which was relatively slow but other than that I recommend King Eddy to anybody in Ottawa who wants to try something a little bit different than cheaper, more greasy fast food.

Our server seemed pretty high, but he was pretty chill so was all good.
Burgers taste delicious.
Meat is gluten-​free, so if you can’t eat wheat, you can get the burger and the toppings and the fries with no bun.
(this and the Jack Astor’s on Hunt Club are the only restaurants I know of that are open really late that have gluten-​free options)
Downside: kind of expensive; bad parking if you drive.

So we were a group of 5 at The King Eddy recently. It was Friday night/​Saturday morning (we arrived before midnight, but left after midnight). The place wasn’t that busy. We got the U-​shaped booth at the front of the restaurant, which was cool.
Everyone ordered some «greasy food» except for me, I had a salad and was made fun of for doing such, but I feel that I got the last laugh because my salad was delicious and my meal was actually healthy, haha.
I was leery of ordering a salad at a place that looks like it specializes in burgers, fries, hotdogs and that type of food, but decided to take the chance. I was so pleasantly surprised that it was awesome because at most places like this the salads are usually terrible (i.e. mostly iceberg lettuce with some token other veggies thrown in). So I had the Whole Earth Salad ($ 8.99). It had mixed baby greens (no iceberg lettuce, yay!), chickpeas, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded carrots, shredded beets, dried cranberries, pistachio nuts, and feta cheese. The dressing was a lime-​cilantro vinaigrette. I asked for the dressing on the side, and I’m glad that I did because it was really oily and I ended up eating the salad pretty much without dressing, but even without dressing the salad was so delicious, in fact I felt it didn’t need any dressing. The textures were awesome — the crunchiness of the raw cauliflower, the chewiness of the dried cranberries, the juiciness of the cherry tomatoes, they all blended together so well. The contrasting tastes also blended together well — the nippy feta cheese, the sweetness of the beets, it was so good!
The salad I had at The King Eddy rivals any salad that I’ve had at those hippie granola vegetarian places that I love so much. Yes, you heard right, this salad was just as good as (if not better than) the salads I’ve had at Simply Raw Express, Pure Kitchen, etc. I was shocked, but pleasantly so.
My husband had the «Northern Fried Chicken with Waffles» ($ 13.99). They were real waffles, not Eggo waffles, and were fluffy and good. The fried chicken was peppery and delicious. It was more Popeye’s than KFCs in style. This dish also came with hand cut fries with the skins on which were great and a coleslaw which I didn’t try. My husband was impressed with his meal and said he would definitely come back.
Our other friends had burgers and poutine. Their food looked good and they seemed to enjoy their meals.
Our server was really friendly and nice and checked up on us appropriately. He brought us lots of water (they put bottles on your table for you to serve yourself) and he was all around great.
The décor is kind of old school diner meets hipster chic. I liked it.
This place is open 24 hours from Thursday — Sunday! Other nights they close at 1am.
I will definitely be back and I will definitely order the Whole Earth Salad again!

Was really excited about this place because CHICKEN N WAFFLES.
Unfortunately the chicken was very average. The best chicken n waffles still belongs to Hooch Bourbon house.
The fish and chips was also very sub par, overcooked and too much batter.

Way overpriced $ 8.99 for a regular flavorless burger. They charge $ 5 for a side french fries. The worst was the $ 7 grilled cheese that is definitely not worth that price. The waiter was rude, but at least he gave me a discount on the grilled cheese after I complained. I don’t recommend this restaurant. 55 $ for three burgers and fries Overpriced

Not sure how this place only has 3 stars. My son and I were in Ottawa for 5 days. We ate here 3 times! I had literally the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life. If you order it, get it with King Eddy sauce and a fried egg! Unreal. My son’s poutine had the best-​tasting gravy of any poutine I’ve tried. And his burger looked really good too. To top it off, this place has a great patio that is a prime location to do some people watching near Byward market. I highly recommend this restaurant. Service was great too!

Everything was excellent, which is a rarity. Service was on point, the food was delicious, all expectations were met. Had the northern chicken sandwich, which is a lightly fried chicken sandwich, with lettuce and tomatoes and a delicious spicy sauce, coupled with fries… it was delicious.
It was a little expensive though, but on par with what you’d expect in Ottawa.
I’ll be back.

This is one of those places that I wish I loved… The place is thoughtfully designed, the music was great, the menu was clear and not overly complicated…
The food itself is a bit.. . Meh. The menu is small which can be an asset if the food really stands out and is done well. Instead you’ll get average subpar food that’s not worth the trip.

I tried the King Eddy Burger with the special in house sauce and an order of fries. An amazing burger! Cooked to perfection, meat to bun ratio was on point. The atmosphere is fun and relaxed. The service was great for lunch time. Will definitely go again!

Stopped by last night — the place was empty at 8:30 pm so we were skeptical about eating here in the first place, but we live in the Market and thought we’d try something new. The result was «OK» but I was left feeling that there were better places we could have eaten for $ 80.
First — their Ceasar (drink) is amazing. It says «Bloody Mary Style» below the drink description. I was confused by that as the description clearly stated Clamato. Ah, well, tomato, clamato.
Selection of local beers and Bridgehead coffee is a nice touch, and the feel of the restaurant is great (though it felt VERY deserted and empty as the sole customers). The interior design is amazing though, and I think this place has potential to be a happenin’ joint.
Here’s the catch though — aside from the burger (which was amazing), the food was just meh. The calamari (which was super intriguing on the menu) in a Kung Pao sauce tasted overwhelmingly of vinegar. I wouldn’t say it was «spicy» but the flavour was so strong we couldn’t get through it (and we were hungry, so that is saying something). Also we LOVE spice, so that wasn’t the problem.
I had the «Whole Earth Salad.» It sounded wholesome, and the description was healthy yet enticing, but I should have had the burger. Something about the vibe of the place should have told me that they are not the place for an «off the hook» salad experience. Actually, is a salad ever really «off the hook?» Maybe that’s my problem. Anyways, there was way too much dressing on it. Waaay too much.
The service was attentive and the wait staff were friendly. Also, I enjoyed the jams.
I guess I was just disappointed that I felt we didn’t really «get what we paid for» with the quality of the food preparation (barring the burger).
I would recommend that the owners try to model it after «Le Bureau de Poste» in Quebec City. They have a unique concept of offering ALL food menu items at $ 4.95. It gets people in the door in droves, and drinking more too *hint hint* It would really set this place apart from Zaks and everything else in the Market.
Cheers!

I’ve had a chance to come by twice now. Once for dinner and once for breakfast.
Dinner
— Burger with fries. The burger was solid, came with slabs of cheese and some lettuce and tomatoes. You can get bacon and other condiments for extra. You don’t even have to ask if I got the bacon. The buns remind me of the generic grocery store buns with sesame seed but they’re better… maybe just fresher. Would order again!
Breakfast
— Came by for the King Eddy Brunch with eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, home fries and toast. The breakfast was solid and I couldn’t finish it. Coffee is from Bridgehead (I think) but the bacon and sausage were cooked well.
Skip that dog food from Zak’s and come by the King Eddy
Oh yeah the décor is pretty cool — it’s much more clean and my friend mentioned it’s like Supply and Demand inside.
There are lots of other specials like corn dogs and fried chicken. I’ll have to check it out sometime in the near future. There is also a solid selection of local beers.
The wait staff were extremely friendly and cool both days.