Bars in Ottawa?

[CarlaSixx]

Hey everyone!

My question for you all is : What bars would you recommend in Ottawa?

See, I'm going there for a weekend next month to celebrate my birthday, and a friend wants to take me out to the bar. But neither of us know any good bars and both of us wanna have a good time at the bar.

So is there any bars that you would say are good places to go to for people that aren't used to going out in the big city?

[Tad]

What sort of place do you like? Are you mostly looking to have some drinks and talk, or get up and dance? Want pretty boys 'n girls to oggle? Want sawdust under your boots or disco balls overhead? Want live music? Be surrounded by university students or older folks? etc, etc. (I'm not an expert by any means, but I know a little bit)

[CarlaSixx]

We're looking to dance and don't want too young or too mature of a crowd. Guys to oggle at are alright but not necessary lol. Neither of us are fans of country so bars with that are most likely out lol. Ummm... That's all I can think of. Lol.
Oh! He likes house and techno best, but I'll go to almost anywhere.

[Tad]

Hopefully someone with more up-to-date bar knowledge will reply, but I'll chime in with what little I can.

The two main bar areas are Elgin street and "The Market" (which are actually fairly close to each other, both right downtown). For what you are looking for I'd be more inclined to hit Elgin Street--the Market is kind of split between bar/restaurants and cheap student bars for the most part (there are exceptions now and then, but they trend that way).

Elgin ranges from good places places to have a beer and shoot pool (McLaren's) to 'dress-to-the-nines and line-up to get in', with a lot of variety in-between. So I'd suggest go to Elgin street and roam up and down between about Gladstone and Cooper, and see what appeals to you. Oh, and I think The Fox and Feather (above Swagman Jack's) still has some appetizers on half price early (4-5:30?) and later (after 10 or 10:30). Cheap eats do help balance out the drinks!

ETA: a decent web page of places: http://www.ottawa-information-guide.com/ottawa-bars.html

also, in the market the "irish village' group of interconnected pubs is pretty cool, not so much a dancing spot as an all around cool set of pubs and bars (there are about five of them all interconnected, each a little different in character)

[CarlaSixx]

I'm sorry I'm so late to reply to this. For some reason this threasd never popped up in my unread posts section :blush:

Thanks for all the info! Elgin sounds more like my vibe. My friend actually lives in Nepean but has no problem going anywhere in the city that I'd choose to go. The last bar I went to in Ottawa was the sports bar named Tailgators. I had a decent time there except this one really drunk dude who walked up to me as I was surrounded by my friends and proceeded to insult me for my size because the poster I was standing under said something like "Rule number 44: Bigger is always better." My friends stood up for me and the bouncers threw the guy out for being an asshat, but still, lol.

Wish I could throw together a get together for people on here from the Ottawa area to meet up. It would be cool to meet some folks...

Anyone wanna meet me for my birthday? :p

[Melian]

Sorry for the late response, Carla, but here's a bar you'd probably like: http://www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com/history.html

It's basically the only one I know in Ottawa, but it's pretty awesome on the right nights. Have fun on your trip!

[Tad]

Heh, this is the danger of letting old people answer such questions :eek: Melian is right, Zaphod's is (or at least was....I assume still is but it has been years for me) pretty awesome.

A quick googling led to finding its schedule: http://www.zaphodbeeblebrox.com/calendar/index.php

And this is my acknowledgemnent that an out-of-towner just showed us up: Melian.... :bow::bow::bow: