A Michelin-starred chef with restaurants in Paris, Dubai, and Hong Kong just opened a restaurant inside the Chateau Laurier. Down on Armstrong Street, a Nashville hot chicken spot is already getting CTV coverage. Ottawa’s first Uyghur restaurant is doing hand-pulled noodles in New Edinburgh. And Olive Garden is coming back to Westboro after nearly 30 years.
If you still think Ottawa’s food scene is boring, you really haven’t been paying attention.
The biggest opening Ottawa has seen in years
On March 21, Akira Back opened inside the Fairmont Chateau Laurier at 1 Rideau Street. Quick bio: Seoul-born, raised in Aspen, former professional snowboarder turned Michelin-starred chef. He runs 28 restaurants on four continents.
Ottawa makes it number 29.
The restaurant seats 109 with a sushi bar at the centre, plus two private dining rooms for groups of 12 to 16. The space is dark and moody, lots of plum and burgundy with gold accents. Bold artwork painted by Chef Back’s mother lines the walls.
“I’m excited to bring my culinary vision to Ottawa,” Back told the Ottawa Business Journal. “It is thrilling for me in a city so rich in culture and history while also being the nation’s capital.”
The menu is modern Japanese with Korean and global touches. The signature AB Tuna Pizza comes on a “wafer-thin” crust with ponzu aioli and tuna sashimi. The 48-Hour Short Ribs use Australian wagyu slow-cooked in galbi jjim marinade. The Nazo 9 is a mystery box of nine chef-selected dishes, revealed tableside, for $135.
Mains run $39 to $89, with the Wagyu Picanha at the top. Signature rolls are $23 to $37. Open daily, 5 to 10 pm. Reservations through OpenTable.
This is not just another hotel restaurant. A chef who could open anywhere in the world picked Ottawa’s most famous building.
What else opened
Akira Back gets the headlines, but a lot has been happening around him.
Late 2025 brought Antheia to Somerset Street West in Chinatown, a tasting-menu spot from Chef Briana Kim. In New Edinburgh, Altay Flame became Ottawa’s first Uyghur restaurant, with hand-pulled noodles and Central Asian lamb dishes.
On Preston Street, Karahi Boys brought halal Pakistani cuisine to Little Italy’s main strip, joining Ek Bar. Solomon’s Oven, a Syrian bakery on Wellington West, began making Middle Eastern specialty breads. Lotus of Siam brought authentic Thai to the Glebe.
And then there’s Nunna’s Hot Chicken at 45 Armstrong Street. Hand-breaded, Nashville-style, halal certified, spice levels from mild to Carolina Reaper. CTV Ottawa featured them in mid-April as a new spot already thriving. One Google review: “BEST DAMN CHICKEN I’VE EVER HAD.”
Uyghur, Pakistani, Syrian, Thai, Nashville hot chicken, modern Japanese. Phew, that’s quite a selection added to the Ottawa foodie scene so far in the past few months.
Not everyone is making it
Ottawa lost some good ones this year too.
Tosca Ristorante, the Italian place on O’Connor Street downtown, closed in April. Play Food & Wine, Stephen Beckta’s small-plates restaurant in the ByWard Market, shut down in January. While La Squadra in Gatineau is gone too.
A national study earlier this year warned that thousands of Canadian restaurants could close in 2026 as costs rise for numerous reasons, and customers spend less. Ottawa of course, is not immune.
That makes the new openings feel more deliberate. Nobody is opening a restaurant in this economy on a whim. The people setting up shop in Ottawa right now are choosing this city on purpose.
What’s still coming
The old Yangtze space at 700 Somerset Street West in Chinatown is getting a new tenant. Owner Chris Xie is opening a Chinese restaurant in the building that housed Cantonese dining for over 40 years. Chinatown BIA executive director Yukang Li called the location an “anchor” for the surrounding businesses.
Olive Garden is also coming back this summer with a Westboro location, the chain’s first in Ottawa since the late 90s.
The “boring” thing is over
As we mentioned in other posts, Ottawa’s reputation for food used to be “pretty good for a government town.” That’s getting harder to say with a straight face these days.
You’ve got a chef who runs restaurants on four continents setting up at 1 Rideau Street. You’ve got diverse cuisines in the city now that weren’t here two years ago. New spots continue to set up shop, while our national industry loses restaurants by the thousands.
Next time someone tells you the Ottawa foodie scene is boring, just send them the Akira Back menu.
