Johnny Farina

We arrived with no reservation and they were able to seat us no problem even though the restaurant was very full!
The service was very friendly and polite, we had add-ons we wanted on both our meals and appetizer, the server was understanding and very pleasant!
The food was delicious, the starter bread, the appetizers and the pasta we had was PHENOMENAL!

Very pleased for our first time there and we will definitely be returning!

What a treat! We ordered the Greco pizza and the linguini Alfredo and we were not disappointed. The food was cooked wonderfully and the flavours were on point. It was exactly what we wanted and we were pleasantly satisfied and our cravings were met. If you are wanting a fun non alcoholic drink, I would recommend their homemade Italian soda. It was a fresh and delicious drink.

We sat at the bar on a busy Tuesday evening and ordered the white freezie cocktails. They both arrived with flies in them, 2 in mine and 1 in my partner's. We were appalled, and politely asked for them to be taken back. The pizza and pasta we ordered were good, no issues there but for a $90 fee with questionable cleanliness we won't be coming back.

Ordered a Flatbread, toppings looked great but bottom was burnt, could only taste burnt bread. Received a new order, bottom of Flatbread better but hardly any toppings. I felt as if I was being punished for returning the first order.
My friend ordered a chicken wrap, it was cut in half, half the wrap had chicken and bacon lettuce etc etc. The other half of the wrap had only lettuce and croutons, very strange. Staff brought her some extra chicken to put in the other half of the wrap. Sorry, but these things should not be happening to customers, especially what we are being charged for this food.

This restaurant is over-ranked. The food is average, nothing exceptional. Stella tastes like it a grocery store bought. Appetizers are forgettable. However, the atmosphere is pleasant and the service is satisfactory. I won't be returning for the food, but it might be worth visiting for a drink.

Excellent! We were visiting Universities while in Ottawa and stayed at Lord Elgin. The kind concierge suggested this restaurant as we were looking for an Italian restaurant walking distance from the hotel. The food was amazing! Presentation the same and excellent service! I hope my daughter chooses Ottawa U so that we can go back and eat there!)

Johnny Farina did not disappoint! The rigatoni with spicy sausage ragu was delicious, and my boyfriend loved the lasagna! We will definitely be back for more:)

The Diavolo pizza sounds a bit weird with spicy honey, but DAMN it was great. And our server Colin made out experience just that much better. What a fantastic evening!

Notre coup de cœur de la fin de semaine. Excellent restaurant tout était super, la bouf, le service, l'ambiance. Je le recommande!

Wonderful service, great food (although a tad pricey for the portion) and a nice ambience. I was very pleased with this place and will happily go back.

Had dinner here on Oct 5,2021. Good food, nice atmosphere. Had a little issue at the restaurant and the server went above and beyond to address our concern. Excellent service!

We enjoyed dinner - good service, fair pricing, tasty enough. Would go back to try more things.

I went for lunch for my first ever visit today ans was VERY impressed. We had the Tuscan Kale Caesar (the soft egg is such a great addition to a caesar) which was fresh, crispy anf very tasty. The Diavolo pizza was a superb! The flavors and care on the dish are evident. This was the best gluten free crust I've had.

Our server, Veronica, was knowledgeable, kind and professional. We would absolutely loved to be served by her again. We will definitely be back!

Diavolo pizza was so delicious - the spicy honey really put it over the top. Also best gluten free pizza i have ever had!

Had a great experience here recently. My meal was out of this world delicious! Service was also superb. Can't wait to go back!

On a adoré notre expérience! Très bonne nourriture. Service impeccable. Et prix raisonnable pour le dîner.
J'ai la maladie coeliaque et le serveur connaissait le gluten! (yeah!) J'ai pu prendre une de leurs pizzas avec la croûte sans gluten. Ils sont revenu me dire que la sc alfredo choisie contenait du gluten, mais avec mon accord ils m'ont arrangé quelque chose de très bon! Il y avait aussi la possibilité de manger des pâtes sans gluten. En plus, j'ai pris l'entrée de crevettes identifiée SG dans le menu et je n'ai pas eu de problème de santé suite à mon repas. Donc nous reviendrons, assurément! Bravo!

Love their food! A little bit on the expensive side, but the italian dishes are very delicious!

Awful breaded zucchini. The zucchini is so tiny and the breading is overwhelming. The pasta was gross, completely watered down sauce. The owner is trying to save money so they're adding water in to their sauce. Worst pasta I have ever had at any restaurant. Thank God my wife's pizza was good or else the night would have been a total failure. I'll give them some credit, they did remove a portion of the total off the bill, so I paid less, but it was irrelevant as my dinner experience was completely ruined by an amateur, horrible chef.

Most flavourful pasta I have ever had. They're pizza is also amazing. I will for sure be going back!

Even after new management, Abigail, is taking care of this establishment with much heart. Tremendous service, subtle fine touches in not only food but decor. It is a stylish restaurant experience. The olives and provolone now come gently heated with a touch of Italian parsley, the steak gorgonzola is now a delightful beef tenderloin cooked to request. Nothing by 5 stars all around.

Connor was the best server I have ever had in my life and it was on a Monday night to boot, on top of that they made the best burger I've ever had at a restaurant and the atmosphere was magical

Good food, nothing exceptional but reasonably priced given it's location in a touristy area. Staff was friendly and nice. They have different drink deals depending on the day of the week.

Great place to meet with friends, in a cozy seating on a busy Ottawa downtown street.

Server Veronica was very kind and friendly, and served us delicious meals.

My friends and I spent a birthday night at Johnny farinas. We had Conor as our server and he was just amazing! Great service and extremely friendly and patient with our drunk and rowdy group of friends. I would definitely recommend him as a server. The food also great!

Excellent pasta dishes and salads! I have been several times, and the food was always good quality! Not a fan of the recent thumping ambient music, however, some quiet jazz or classical would be easier on the ears while eating and talking. By the way, the coffee is great, and the desserts are delicious! If you love Italian, do try Johnny Farina.

Roomy dinning room with 1 side opening wall towards outside patio. Dinning room atmosphere is too dark for groups gatherings but not romance enough for couples.
Foods are ok.

Wonderful experience! Great, great food, kind staff, and lovely atmosphere. Only got a picture of our appetizer (arancini in pomodoro sauce) because when our entrees touched down we started eating right away! It was delicious, a little softer than I'm used to but very good!
The meals we ordered were Moe's pizza and tagliatelle alfredo (I added chicken). The alfredo sauce was the best I think Ive ever had, it was not the super white style western sauce you find at some other places. This sauce was rich, creamy, and had a deliciously bold flavour. The noodles were perfection!
The pizza toppings were good; though the crust was very soft, unusually soft. Almost like it needed to be 'well done'. Portions were great!
All the stuff was awesome, they had lots of runners helping the wait staff and it didn't take long to get our meals.
There was a mix of young and old families and couples. Definitely higher quality, pricier food but I wouldn't be worried about just walking in off the street.
The prices are 100% worth it.

Amazing food and service! Connor served us last night and it was magnificent, the service was seamless and the food was to die for! I ordered the linguini pescatore and my friend ordered the lasagna and we split the bruschetta and it was delicious! I've tried a lot of bruschetta and this is hands down my favourite. Last night was my first time at Johnny Farina's and I can't wait to return!

We had a great time. The food was great, the service was attentive and friendly. It was a great choice for our wedding anniversary. Thanks to Peter for an enjoyable evening.

The service was great. Every dishes portion was good except my wife dishes "Mediterranean Sea Bass" was not up to portion. The Bass fish only has less than 2 inches and only one piece. My wife was very disappointed.

Best gluten free pizza we’ve ever had. Probably the best waiter in Ottawa we’ve ever had in Peter! Absolute gem and professional.

Enjoyed the Greco pizza with the basil pesto sauce. The crust was absolutely delicious and well done. Would definitely recommend and visit again:)

This is the first time I've ever been at this restaurant and I will most definitely be back again the service was absolutely exceptional and the food was incredible, best birthday? Dinner. Our waitress Karen was very lovely, will definitely recommend to anyone looking for fantastic Italian food.

Chairs are literally packed in. Enjoy eating directly back to back and side to side with other customers. Someone forgot a tape measure or thinks 6 feet means 6 inches

Wowww, just eating out at the patio due to COVID restrictions enjoying prosciutto pizza, lasagna and linguine pasta. Everything is just fantastic! Fair price, quick service and great patio.

Ive been to this restaurant before and I enjoy the food but I'm giving them a poor review for customer service. I called during the week to make a reservation for Father's Day. I was told they were not taking reservations which is fair. I asked what time they would open and was told 11: 30am so I planned my family's morning around this schedule which is not easy with a 5 month old and a 9 year old. I arrived at 12 and found out they actually open at 2pm. This was super disappointing not to mention inconvenient as finding a restaurant that could accommodate us is already tricky. I will take my business elsewhere.

I always loved this place for their take out lunches. In non-covid times, I would brave the impressive lines for the best soup, snadwiches, or focassia, in the core. Sit doen dinner was also quite nice, especillay for the Pub centered Elgin. Great muscls and the sevver recommended an excellent wine pairing (while respectignour budget). Hoping this place survives the pandemic, it much beloved!

One of a kind place, with one of a kind Staff. Great people and great food. What more can someone ask for? Highly recommend!

The food was amazing! Great wine but the ambience is not what we expected based on what we saw online. The bistro lounge area is half of the space. The second half of the space is basically a sports bar which is not what we wanted based on what we saw online. Also, don't get any cocktails there

Nice place, very friendly service and delicious food. The rosemary bread served as an appetizer with olive oil is really nice, and the gnocchi rosé sauce is heaven!

My wife and I ate lunch there today (April 9). It was snowy and cold outside but warm and cozy inside. We were served by a young lady who was very helpful and very sweet. I didn’t get her name, but she moved from Niagara Falls to Ottawa a few years ago. She is to be commented! The food we ordered was absolutely delicious and hit the spot! Hope to visit again for dinner!

Went here for my birthday lunch (we also had a gift card to use) To be honest we weren't expecting much since I'm not big on Italian cuisine.
Once we were seated, ordered, and our appetizer and meals arrived we were amazed how delicious everything was. They offer bread with olive oil complimentary while you wait for your meals and the bread tasted really nice.
Had the mussels for appetizer and the mussels are worth it, they are pretty large which is a good thing!
We got a pizza and pasta and they were both delicious as well. The pasta was a tad too creamy but I think it's just preference.
The service is also attentive. Surprisingly I received a tiramisu cake with a candle as a birthday dessert! Tiramisu is also my favorite kind of cake. It was nice of the waitress to do that.

We would go here again:)

What a great Italian experience! From the homemade pastas and sauces to the perfectly paired wine and atmosphere! Our waitress Paige was knowledgeable and extremely efficient. A true asset to your establishment.

Had the manicotti, other guests had rigatoni and Margherita pizza. Food was great and they provided warm fresh bread to start. Service was excellent! The waiter was great at suggesting menu items and wine pairings. This was my first time here and I would absolutely go back!

Nice place to go for a date or to celebrate with family and friends. I wouldn't take my kid there though, more so for adults only since it could get crowded and loud. Service was excellent. Food was good but could be better. Staff are friendly and always trying to make you feel like home.

Johnny Farina is the perfect spot for a tasteful authentic Italian meal. The service is amazing as well as the atmosphere, and most importantly the food taste amazing. We tried the pizza, pasta and the mussels - they were all mouthwatering. Compliments to one of the chefs Eddy!

Took a friend here to celebrate her being done university.smartest choice I have ever made.
The second you enter the resturant you are greeted and the top notch service starts.
We were seated in the loung/bar and what a great vibe. At first we felt a little rushed and its extreamly busy but we couldnt decide with all the great choices.
The best flank steak I have ever eaten in my life and the pasta is incresible. Best of all it is so well priced and we will be returning again this friday.
Stop reading this review and call and reserve your table because you will not be dissapointed.
Incresible service. Thank you for the great experience and have earned your self a new regular.

Working on the renewal of Elgin St, by far the best bang for the buck for lunch, delicious meals and great quality. In and out lunch bar highly recommended. Cheaper than Harvey or McDonald's.

Went there for lunch last Thursday and had the Tucson Salmon. It was perfectly blackened and the right sized portion for the size of the salad and price of the meal. Tasty combination of quinoa, greens, onions, tomatoes and cucumbers.
They could have chopped the onions and greens a little more as they kept falling off the fork.
Great service and ambiance.

I've been a few times in the past few months. The atmosphere is nice and the food is good. The reason I don't plan to go back anytime soon though is that, given the heaviness of pasta and bread, I would have expected the entrees to come with a side salad option to balance things out. Not only do they not, but there isn't the option to buy a reasonably priced side salad - they are sold and priced in larger portions as an entree. Please add a side salad option and I'll be back soon:)

Booked for a group of 20. Service was excellent. Everyone got food served within a 5 minute span. Food was excellent. Strongly recommend the alfredo. There are gluten free options as well.

Check your pizza when you get it, if it is burned, like dark burned as when I asked the waiters about why is my pizza burned like that he said they are all the same this is how they do it. It turned my plate to a charcoal bed underneath and the taste was bad because of that it was like I am eating burned bread that killed all other tastes.

Excellent restaurant. Staff were extremely friendly and witty. Food was excellent and was prepared quickly. There is no doubt that I will go there again soon.

I was ready to give them a stellar review for a quick lunch/dinner with children, until almost walking out of the door we saw a happy hour menu, which nobody introduced to us, though we came in, ate and were leaving all during the happy hour period. It upset me that we had ordered some items from that menu as “kids” instead of the “happy hour” dishes and were charged 50% more for them. Our waitress tried to explain that they were ordered “differently” (?), though I think an 8” Margherita pizza is an 8” Margherita, so why were we charged more? She eventually fixed it. Other than that - nice cozy/family/sports bar place with some vegetarian options.

To address the owner’s response: as I wrote above, the kid did order a small margherita pizza, so what you are writing below means your waiters don’t really listen to what your customers order? , and the difference on our check with hst was close to $5:) Btw I was fair in my review adding all positive sides of our experience at your restaurant, and sadly somehow in your mind I did not even deserve a “thank you” for my time writing a review from you.

Their quality has gone down recently. The prices have tremendously gone up, the waiter forgot to bring us the entrée bread and they made me paid for a dessert that only my friend ate. Because of good manners, I did not fight against this in front of my friend, but won't ever come again to Johny Farina.

Super pizza feu de bois
Les pennes de mon fils étais aldente je me pose la question encore si elle n’étais pas faite maison vue les tailles différentes
Très bon service
On a eu le droit à avoir un serveur qui nous a parler en français
Merci bcp encore

Ordered pasta, pizza and pork wings. Pork wings were unedible, pizza was extremely salty (be sure to book an appointment with your doctor after). The pasta was good. They served us cold bread, seems to be the new hype. We had to ask for water refills constantly, given the slow service. All in all, my cheat meal got ruined.

Very disappointed, went to Johnny Farinas on Elgin. Had guests staying at the Lord Elgin. Wanted to support Elgin Street. Then step up to the plate. The service was terrible there were no 4 of us. 2 people had Lasagna and 2 shared a pizza. The Lasagnas were not hot in the center. The pizza had the grossest cheese it certainly was not mozzerella sausage was or looked white very gross. They brought tea with no water. Would I go back absolutely not.

The place has a nice atmosphere and the staff and service were good. The food unfortunately was not to the same standard. Chicken parmigiana was almost cold to the point the cheese has hardened and was fully melted on top. The pasta was under cooked (not al dente) I mean still
Had a crunch texture to it. Disappointed for the $77 price tag for drinks and meal

**** UPDATE the manager contacted us and was very sincere on fixing the issue. A gift card was given to us and we shared that with a friend who visits ottawa more frequently than we do, they went and did have a good meal ****