Oriental House Restaurant in Ottawa

best Mapo Tofu in Ottawa

My husband and I love this place. Ive been going here for 5 years now. Once, when I moved away from the neighbourbood and tried another Chinese restaurant, the difference was incredibly disappointing, so Im back and staying! This is why: the food is plentiful, fresh, reasonably priced and well cooked. Kudos to the chef - hes good! Im always impressed that even the vegetables are never overcooked (broccoli a nice bright green, carrots a strong orange as they should be). We always order combos for pick-up and theyre always ready fast. The owner and her daughter are lovely ladies, polite and friendly, a pleasure to deal with. Cant eat indoors right now due to COVID restrictions, but they have a nice spacious dining room, too. We tried eating in once and enjoyed our meal and the servers good service. The restaurant is located below street level, so there are stairs to contend with, for those who may find this challenging if planning to visit. Update 2024: Our last 2 meals there were not that great. The food was not prepared up to their normal high standards (veggies not fresh, shrimp not deveined, steamed rice seemed old). Ive been coming here for 8 years and will be going back one more time because I want to give it another chance - theyve earned my loyalty over the years with normally excellent, fresh food and wonderful camaraderie.

The food is amazing! Family owned, casual place. The decor is dated but go for the delicious food and friendly service.

I ordered takeout for dinner. The preparation was fast. The food was delicious and great portions. Moreover, the staff was friendly.

Too good Nice welcome Nice atmosphere Fast

Take out fast and quality food

The food is awesome. Shanghai nooders are the best with sate sauce on the side and sesame oil. The noodle soup selection is great, very filling also feels very healthy. Im a flavor is great but see if you ask for sate sauce and hoisin... It ends up better than Pho....

Very nice and decent, thank you for a delicious marathon-eve dinner

A gem! Great service and great food.

Small restaurant, surprisingly good taste. Chicken ball is good. Rib is good. Beef stir fry is good. General tao... thats a very northern version of general tao. Just please dont close, you are the only cheap and good taste chinese food near downtown

The is the best place for great food on Elgin street in Ottawa. The are always fast great for money too. The menu is from 3$ Kid-friendliness: Lots of chairs and table for big families

Ordered dinner for two for Take out and no surprises here - food was consistently enjoyable and was delivered to our in timely manner by friendly courteous driver. reminder to let restaurant know to hold off on plastic cutlery and soya sauce if you don t need it.

Food was very quick! Delicious, and authentic, I enjoyed my food very much.

We had a take out. Food was ready quickly. Wonton soup meal looked amazing, but sadly tasted as if someone just used tap water for the broth. General Tao chicken was greasy and too salty.

So exceptionally good, tasty, hot, and a tonne of food at a reasonable price

Oriental House is my absolute favourite restaurant in Ottawa. I eat there every time Im downtown (which is about once a week for work). The food is pure comfort. I cant explain it. Im always hesitant to try something new because my favourites are so good, but whenever I do, it is just as amazing as what Ive had before. Id recommend: beef with broccoli; crispy beef; chicken balls; crispy wontons, wonton soup... but seriously everything is delicious. Its family-owned and it shows. I go there a lot and from what I can tell they treat every customer as well as they treat their long-time regulars like myself. Because I go during my work lunch, I often eat alone and its such a pleasant environment to just enjoy a great meal. You get it. The best restaurant in Ottawa.

Great food, incredibly small portions. The food is great but you better double up on an order for 1 because it wouldnt fill a toddler Food

Amazing Christmas Eve dinner. Delicious food!

Great selection of delicious food at reasonable prices. Very nicely furnished too; great atmosphere. Our server wasn t exactly Miss Congeniality*, but still polite and professional. *Miss Congeniality a colloquial English slang term for a person who is friendly and sociable . So I m jokingly saying that my server WASN T particularly friendly and sociable. But still nice, polite and professional :)

I ordered a chow mein and it was so disgusting. It was soggy, not crispy like advertised. It had zero flavour. I see the owner of this restaurant replying to reviews, with the excuse that its because they dont use MSG. Ive been to countless asian restaurants that are MSG-free and delicious . I make stir fry at home all the time without MSG that tastes better than this place. What a joke. In reply to the owner: i ordered the chow mein and ate it 5 minutes later at my hotel room. Another excuse that doesnt apply

Delicious food, tasted fresh, not too salty or oily. Nice staff as well!

Decent vegan selection and friendly service. Awesome place to take a group. Vegetarian options: Vegan options. Tofu. Food : 5/5 |

Delicious food and fast service. This was a great find.

Very friendly staff, quick service and tasty food

Great Food!

The quality of the food leaves a lot to be desired, on top of being overpriced. Mixed veggies were a greasy tasteless slop, and the same with the tofu. You could get a better quality meal from the Chinese fast food place at the food court for a cheaper price. I have tried and reviewed many local restaurants, but this was unfortunately the worst one out of all of them.

Delicious food, friendly service and affordable price. Many choices of vegetables and meat. Nice place for family dinner or friends gathering.

Sadly the fried rice was flavorless and the vegetables in it were not fully cooked.

Excellent Chinese food restaurant. Service is perfect! Has many regulars. Only issue you have to go a set of stairs to enter restaurant, not wheelchair friendly.

This is a dream location for any introverts..a quiet nook, right downtown, away from the noise! Food is great, staff are friendly, prices are very reasonable! Great spot even just to warm up and have a snack! It is downstairs however so not negotiable for those with complicated mobility issues. Not sure about Parking on Elgin(Maybe city hall?) Enjoy your visit. Its a dream place for all introverts... a quiet corner, right in the city center, far from the noise! The food is excellent, the staff is friendly, the prices are very reasonable! Great place even just to warm up and have a little snack! Its down by alirs stairs not negotiable for those with complicated mobility issues. Not sure about parking on Elgin (maybe City Hall?) Go there!

We dropped in for lunch today. This restaurant has been a part of Elgin St for years. Always outstanding food and service! Today was excellent and a great price. Thank you!

Very good service and very tasty the different dishes.

Tried their general Tao today. As a general Tao connoisseur, I must say, this is definitely a 2/10. The chicken was soggy as if it sat in a pale of water and not even spicy at all. The rice is gross, and the egg roll was flat with not much filling inside. The plum sauce also tasted sour. Complete waste of $25. I wouldnt even feed this to my dog if she was starving.

I love this place! Great food, amazing service. helpful and reasonably priced Food

Great Chinese Food! Very reasonable prices. Dinner for 2 B!

Ive dined here three times and it tastes great, highly recommended.

Very good food best Ive had so far.

Great food and service

Good food, ribs were very good. Portions were generous. Price was right. Worth the visit.

Very nice people. The lady on the phone is super professional, the order is always accurate and they always have the food ready when I get there. Singapore Fried Noodles for the win.

Great sizing for the price, I was really satisfied that I got a good portion for the price. I had more than enough for leftovers and it was still hella tasty the next day. The Singapore noodles were delicious. I also got the Salt Pepper Shrimp and Squid asking for no squid and they followed perfectly. It wasn t too salty either which is something I was afraid of. I would say the Chicken Fried Rice was kinda dry but still very much edible. Will definitely be going back! :)

Love it

Really good food. Excellent service!

Fabulous food and service beautiful lunch area

The main dishes are good but I have ordered twice and all the fried rice I ordered was burnt each time which was disappointing. Fast delivery though.

Super recommended, delicious food

Amazing place amazing food wow to go again and afain

Yummy

I think I found myself my favorite Chinese restaurant in Ottawa. Just yum, cant write more for I fear Ill drown in my own saliva

Me and my wife always order from this place as we live close, delivery is quick and portions are well worth what you pay for. Thier driver is always kind, and happy to see us... we are always happy to see him as well. Whenever we order from somewhere else we regret it and wish we could have had Oriental house.

Having moved from Montreal back to hometown Ottawa to say I m shocked at the poor quality of catonese in this city is a gross understatement. And that goes for sushi, and Mexican too! After trying 5 now including Oriental House. What the hell Ottawa! You call that Gen Tao are you kidding me it was not crispy it was more like soft saggy deep fried rubbery bland chicken grizzle. Ive had better Gen Tao at the foodcourts. So disappointed after shelling out $75 on a seniors pension the rice was bland, the egg rolls over done and not even filled to capacity for $2.00 a pop, garlic spare ribs fatty, sweet sour chicken balls hard over fried. Never again will I waste money on Chinese food here. I bought for 3 it was unedible for 2. I ate it not to waste my money.

best chinese!!! defenitely the #1 spot in ottawa hands down

Decent Chinese food. We ordered here because it was a block away and we didn t want to pay delivery fees. The food was decent. I would have preferred open ended egg roles, but the old school ones were good but not crispy enoughZ Chicken so guy with pineapple sauce was a flashback to the 80s for me and was quite delicious. Sweet and sour pork was as expected. Nothing out of the ordinary but tasted good and well priced. The chow Mein was a hit with most, and for the money, was a large order. They were fast and courteous for pickup. Only issue I encountered was the website for ordering never seems to work, and when I called l, the only person available to take orders had a strong language barrier and kept repeating that they didn t know how to work the computer. Took longer to place the order on the phone than it did to eat our food.

Lamb was not good

Was visiting my cousin and his wife who were visiting Ottawa and staying at The Business Inn round the corner. Wanted something for lunch which wasn t burger or other greasy food. Stumbled upon this restaurant and was decently surprised.

Excellent place. Clean. Friendly. Good food at a good price.

I love the fried noodles soup bowl with mixed veggies

First time customer, I ordered online, quick and friendly delivery service and the best, fresh tasting Chinese food that I ve ordered. Everything was crisp and delicious. I ll be a return customer for sure.

The food was good and the service was nice

food taste is average. I paid $6 for extra tofu, there was a total of 7 small pieces. food was bland, not good , not bad. ingredients seemed soggy. we wont be back Wheelchair accessibility: not wheelchair accessible, its in the basement

The spicy chicken rice is so good

So many choices for dinner and customizable options to meet dietary restrictions if needed. My dish was very fresh, tasty and healthy (not too much added salt, different from many other local restaurants!) We ordered take out and were surprised with how fast the service was and how friendly and welcoming the staff were. We waited for a short time at one of the tables-the restaurant is spacious and has beautiful ambient lighting in evening. Next time Ill be going back to dine in!

wonderful sweet owner always delicious food and clean comfortable seating

Absolutely love this place. I go here almost every week with my girlfriend, and its always good. I dont know if the food is authentic, I dont have experience so I cant say, but its definitely the best chinese-canadian food Ive had. The prices are great too, about 16 dollars is a solid filling meal for both me and my girlfriend. The server is also very kind, and the food is served decently quickly with super generous portions.

Delicious food! Always very hot and fresh when I get it. The best selection for combo plates (and tons of food included). I love the C6 combo plate and the Lovers Delight combo! Really good chicken balls and chicken fried rice. Just got the chicken wings for the first time and omg they were heaven! Our fav go to spot for Chinese! Also, the friendliest staff! You cant go wrong!

This place is unbelievable, Their prices should be double. The beef and 3 kinds of mushrooms is amazing, the mushrooms are like steak. General Tao chicken tender ...... Tofu tender, But make no mistake its chicken. Portions very good your order will have weight to it. In the Ottawa area this is the best oriental cuisine for a 500 miles.

The service is quick

Good food, good value and friendly environment. I would definitely recommend.

Best taste hands-down!!! Everything was full of flavor and didnt have that watered down taste like other places. Quick delivery and order was still hot at our door!! Definitely my new go to!!

This was one of the best chinese food I had in a long time really good...great service... Fast delivery... Will for sure order again ... Thank you !!!! its a must try

Ive been ordering from this restaurant for many years and its always The best Chinese food fresh and abundant and great delivery drivers always polite and quick

Great fresh food not in China town. They will make it spicy if you ask. A landmark, convenient and fast friendly service.

Food didn t taste the best, we ordered right when they opened so you would assume everything was fresh. I think they just gave us the leftovers from the previous night.

The waiter that served me was great but I did not enjoy my meal. It was quite salty.

Very good food and quick service. Friendly service as qell

Very good food, quick and friendly service

Oriental House serves fresh food with no msg. Very good and tasty food. Great customer service. Very polite. Reasonable prices. If you havent tried Oriental House, you should give them a try. May God Bless the staff and the owners. All the best. Cheers.

Typical NA Chinese restaurant serving the Westerners. Food is ok and the staff are friendly.

Beef and flat noodles were amazing!!!!

Very good food and good service.

Claims to open at 11:00 AM but every time we try to order for lunches no answers the telephone. We have tried now on 5 separate ocassions, no voice mail either.

Great price, very friendly staff. The waitress was super attentive and ready when we needed her. She was patient while we finished our food. The atmosphere was nice, and clean. Overall a great experience. We will be back.

Was searching for a great Chinese restaurant from a long time now and finally found it ! The prices and the food were mind blowing. 2 plates and 2 pops for 35$. You cant beat that ! They even give us a little chocolate treat with our furtune cookie and mint !

The waitress was very nice and friendly. But the food was tasteless and a bit pricey.

Best szechuan chicken Im the city Spring rolls are delicious. We always order extra to take home.

Have never eaten in but have recently tried takeout on two occassions and both times very disappointed. Customers that praise the Restaurant have Obviously not eaten elsewhere. Bland and boring.

Very disappointed...

The staff here are the nicest! And the food is pretty yummy, too.

Delicious...

Inexpensive, and the staff is very friendly. Great spot, if youre not looking for anything fancy.

Great food and great prices! Try the pot stickers, they are amazing!

Awesome

The place was pretty quiet when we went there. We had Shanghai chow mien, seafood hot plate, mapo tofu, BBQ duck, and Buddhas delight. The seafood hot plate had too much veggie and not that much seafood. The mapo tofu is pretty tasty though. The place is pretty clean and service is very quick.

Best Chinese food Ive had in ages. We had the Buddhas delight and Tofu with Black Bean dishes and both were excellent. Worth getting past the construction outside.

Prob the best chinese Ive had in years. The fried rice was amazing...slightly crispy on edges and not soggy or overcooked. We ordered c-4 and c-8. I was thoroughly impressed with the speed of delivery. From the time I called until they were at the hotel door it was 20mins and that includes about a 5min conversation while ordering. I had questions about what some of the dishes were and had them answered happily. Will definately order from here again next time Im in Ottawa. They did however forgot to include the almond and fortune cookies which we were looking forward to.

Great food!

Its great. I eat here all the time

The food was amazing, honestly some of the best Chinese food Ive had. The portion sizes are very big and the price is good! I will definitely be back again!

This place is a hidden gem. Although ive never actually sat down for dinner in this place, ive ordered out multiple times and was always glad i did! One of THE best spots in ottawa for egg rolls, if not THE BEST PLACE for egg rolls in ottawa! Always fresh to order and good pricing

We ordered takeout. Delivery was very fast. The beef chow mein was probably the best I ve ever had. It was a little pricey, but worth it for sure.

Simple. Clean. Great prices. Cozy atmosphere. Very down to earth place.

Food looked great but was very bland.

Absolutely dissatisfied. I used to ordered from Oriental House 8 years ago. Back in town and what a disappointment. Rice burned. Sauce for chicken ball water down. The chicken in the almond guyding was not looking good at all. The egg roll no taste and saggy. Never again. This was the 3 times we have ordered and always disappointed. It used to be amazing. What happen.

I ordered a deep fried tofu. It honestly tasted like water and the texture was just weird. The sauce that came with my vegetables had absolutely no taste. I dont know if it was a bad night for the restaurant but based on this I dont think I will order again.

Duh

Good food and love the owners! Very nice people!

Attentive & friendly staff & good food. Found this place while searching for Chinese food near our hotel. The staff greeting us are very all friendly & attentive. We ordered wonton soup, lemon chicken & egg fu yong plus Chinese tea. Food is really good & fresh, & the chef is kind enough to serve the lemon sauce & the batter-fried chicken separately - so that they wont be soggy after awhile - good thinking! The waitress is also kind enough to inform us the people here likes to go their egg fu yong with gravy (its a western thing she told us) & it is up to us whether we want gravy too (at that point she already brought out a bowl of gravy in case we want it - which we politely decline). Rice portion is huge too! Will definitely come here again if were visiting Ottawa again! Highly recommended!

Big fan, food is terriffic and fast delivery

Very bland. I opted for special foo young and beef satay but both dishes were fairly tasteless. Quality was fine but not worth the calories. Really disappointing. I was in Ottawa on business, hence the meal was covered by employer so it was free. It was just really disappointing.

Been ordering from these folks for almost 20 years. Tried others, but I just love these guys and their food. LIFER!!!

Great food and service!

The foods decent for what it is (North American Chinese food, prepared well and served hot), the staff are happy youre there, and the atmospheres better than you might expect from a basement room. Im taking off a star because they seem to add mysterious delivery charges to the tab, and because the menu in the window is several years out-of-date. (Prices and dishes have both changed significantly. Its a bad look.)

Fast service and tasty. The menu offers plenty to choose from on top of the daily specials. Theres room to eat as a group.

The food is quite enjoyable and for the money you pay not bad. The atmosphere in the restaurant is Asian and has a cosy feel to it. The service is great and always very friendly and they go out of their way to make you feel welcome.

Food was good, but have eaten at better places. Not much to offer for vegetarians.

Good food, good prices, great service. I have been eating there for years and the food and service has always been consistent. Their take out and home delivery menues and service are excellent.

Pretty good food. Not authentic Chinese. But good old fashioned Canadian Chinese food. Egg roll is good too.

Ordered a few dishes for takeout. Lemon grass chicken and shrimp was nice. Rest was pretty bland, we went to the pantry to add seasoning. Dish tagged as Spicy was not at all. It was okay overall and fast but other places have much more flavorful dishes.

Great and fast service. Very friendly staff! Delicious food and good prices Will definitely return

Its good if you like it and know how to taste Chinese food, delicious Chinese tea and a phenomenal atmosphere for a dinner as a couple.

Very expensive the food is not edible for humans and Your bathroom will be destroyed. I haven t even mentioned the fact the dining area smells and so does the food and the staff stalk you from the kitchen. DO NOT GO IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A LONG LIFE

Underrated restaurant. An unknown gem.

So good.

Good food and fast service even though they were extremely busy.

I ordered the food. Then the food was brought to me. I put it in my face. I enjoyed. 4/5 would recommend.

Amazing food. Remember to ask them to make it spicy.

Totally American Chinese cuisine

love this place, has the best hot and sour soup in town

Fast delivery - 25 minutes - fresh food - high quality and portions. Highly recommend.

Were it not for the service, they would have recd only 1 star.

Great service. Enjoyed our meal. Friendly staff. Make sure youre hungry.

This is Canadian/Chinese food, it was good... not outstanding. Ironic since the food is better suited for take out than fine dining but the surroundings are better than Chinatown restaurants

Decent food, always hot, and decent service. A great option when its late and you dont want to cook. I love the private basement location so i can really relax after a long day at work.

My family and I were visiting from out of town; googled restaurants near by and took a chance on the Oriental House. The wait staff was so accomodating and helped me order from the menu according to my gluten intolerance. Everyone enjoyed the meal and I would definitely recommend to anyone in the downtown area! The asparagus crab soup was... MMM++

Excellent. Staff are always friendly when I come to eat. Hours of operation are great too. These guys are always open when most other stores are closed. The food is really good as well, quite enjoyed the bbq pork slices and wonton soup. Great prices!

Unfortunately 0 stars is not an option. The delivery person could neither find my address nor follow instructions when I gave them - I literally met him at McDonalds because he could not follow TURN RIGHT over the phone. The online menu days free delivery, they charged $5 delivery on the receipt. And the food was disgusting and I actually threw it in the garbage. One item liked like vomit in a takeout container. I will never order from here again.

The food, the grossest i ever had it had a strange taste general tao chicken was soggy and it didnt taste like chicken, the chicken fried rice had barely any vegs or chicken in it and no flavor but the strange taste the veggie dish was the only thing i could eat but still was turned off the egg roll was just a lump of meat in it and first we got the hot and sour soup but could not eat it i never had it that way before so we got the wonton soup still bad!!!!!!!!!!!! I will never go back there! and there was one of there kids yelling the whole time :(

Decent food. Good lunch specials. Located in the basement. Not wheelchair accessible.

Food and service is really bad. I visited the place with my wife for Dinner. They couldnt provide even a proper bill for food.

Great food and very reasonable prices. We ended up getting takeout from here twice during our 3 day visit to Ottawa.

This is the place to get good chinese take out/delivery if youre downtown!! thanks from the bank of Canada guys :)

Have to admit, I was kind of iffy about this place, but once I had their food I was impressed. They make an amazing Shanghai noodles.

Five stars for good food, good prices, good sized servings and excellent / friendly and fast service. This was our first stop in our first family trip to our nations capital city. As a seasoned Chinese restaurant patron, the traditional flavours were there but the entire experienced (ie: the setting) was a bit westernized. This place is located minutes from Parliment Hill and from our hotel. It wasnt overly crowded on a sunny Saturday summer evening. This will be our go-to spot for this trip. Im glad we found it!

Very good food and great customer service with a smile!!!! Across the street from my new, favorite hotel so well be seeing you again!!!!

A great place for dinner which is usually not very crowded.

Awesome food , excellent service, totally clean, absolutely recommend this restaurant in Ottawa.

Good food.

Pretty decent restaurant

Great place to eat.

The food was decent but considering the number of Chinese restaurants in town I wouldnt necessarily go back.

Awesome food good pricing great service

The food was good, however, I was looking forward to the almond cookies and fortune cookies and they forgot them. :(

The spring rolls are the best I have had in a long time and also a great price. LOVED the Singapore noodles. The prices on the online menu have not been updated in a while, but the real prices are still quite reasonable.

Stopped in for General Tao takeout. I thought, how bad could it be? This was the worst General Tao Ive ever had, and Ive eaten a lot of General Tao. The chicken pieces were rubbery and coated with a brown mush that mustve been deep-fry breading at one time. The sauce was a tasteless brown goo. The pieces of pepper and onion seemed fresh, and the steamed rice was alright. Staff was very friendly. Avoid!

Oriental House? More like The Oriental Basement. Food was ight though!

My rice tasted burnt. General Tao chicken was soggy. Never again. Wasted my money.

Great food

Just what it looks like. Not bad, not good.

Ive been twice, the food was really mediocre at best both times. We ordered some dumplings, General Taos and some other dishes. It was all quite bland. Maybe Ive just been spoiled by Toronto Chinese food. Wont be returning here

I honestly dont know how this restaurant can have any close to 3 stars. I went here by myself cuz I was just craving chinese food. I got the snow pea medly with white rice and an egg roll with the option to upgrade to a spring roll and fried rice. I asked for both upgrades and she brought me my plate with white rice instead of fried. I told her that I had asked for fried rice and she said..NOTHING. So I said, Could I maybe just get some fried rice on the side? Without a word she took my whole plate away and I had to wait another 15 mins for my food.. But thats not even the worst of it. I still had a full plate of food but I needed to go to the washroom. I didnt want to leave my bag behind since I was alone so I took it with me. I went up to my the girl there and asked where the washroom was. When I came back..my table was completely CLEARED and my food was GONE. I was offerred nothing else, received NO discount or anything and still had to pay full price. I did not leave a tip. I will not be back. And I do NOT recommend this place.