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I had a craving for some good chinese food...but I won't go back there again. I ordered General Tao chicken, Lemon Chicken, vegetable fried rice, crispy noodles and spring rolls. The only dish that was acceptable was the crispy noodles. The dishes were tasteless, poor quality and disappointing.
The service was poor and impersonal. In my opinion, take your business somewhere that is willing to focus more on quality and learn how to smile at the counter.

-- vienwalk

Won't
Visit
Again

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Being a huge fan of Chinese and and having a Chinese heritage that came along with relatives as owners of Chinese restaurants I can say that the food taste and quality is amazing. Whether you dine-in or take-out the portions are generous, the freshness and quality superb. There is no need to leave Kanata for excellent Chinese Food. If you don't like the plain decor get the food delivered or pick-up for take-out. I am happier to have great prices and food quality than a fancy decor, small portions and mediocre quality. Who cares if the walls are plain and white - the flavors, abundance of colors, tastes, smells and textures make up for that ten-fold!

-- Elizabeth (quinfong)

Recommended

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Went with large group for Chinese New Year early celebration. THe place was packed. We had General Tao chicken, lemon chicken, baby bok choi, snow pea leaves, hot pot with tofu & scallops, shrimps, shrimp fried rice, and the 1/2 deep fried chicken. (Luckily the last one did not have the head on this time, but it had a big feather still on it. YIKES!)

-- spy

Recommended

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Every time I come I've always had good food. The service is a little slow because it's a family owned place and they don't have many servers. It looks like they are trying hard to keep up with the amount of customers, but sometimes they do really need an extra person or two.

The place needs some renovations or at least a paint job. The prices are ok for the quality of food.

Overall, it's a good place for good Chinese food, especially in Kanata.

-- iamlilc

Will
Visit
Again

Contribution Status:

I love this food, it's absolutely delicious. It tastes very authentic. I find the servers pretty good. The decor, however, is bland, and does look a little unfinished. If the place were spruced up a bit, it would definately be one of my favorites!

-- chicka88

Contribution Status:

my god!!! if you want to have a worst day in your lifetime, then go to this restaurant. I went here last month with my girlfriend, we only stady there for half hour, because we have to go to another restaurant for dinner, the food is so bad that you even can't taste for bit, so please don't even go near this restaurant....

-- KingOfFOOD

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The Rideau Restaurant is a diamond in the rough. Kanata residents are getting spoiled by having the Rideau in their backyard. The food is simply great, the staff is very friendly and hospitable and their prices are VERY reasonable not at all expensive. Decor is "Early Eggshell" with a few Chinese pictures on the walls.

If you can find a better value in Chinese cuisine within 15 miles - GO THERE, otherwise enjoy the Rideau - it's the best in Kanata. Tell 'em "QT" sent ya!

-- QTrader

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As most the reviews indicate, the food is good. Unfortunately the service and the lack of ambience are big deterres. Need to hire more staff.

-- zatisa

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Based on the food we ordered last night, I gave a rating of 8 out of 10 on the food. There are few dishes that are the chef/owner's specialty. If you order his specialty, you won't go wrong. If you order something else, the result will be different. We ordered the following:

- crab meat and fish tummy soup - our faviourite soup!
- spicy and salty shrimp - This was the best among all the dishes ordered. Highly recommended.
- deep-fry crispy chicken (make sure you ask the server to see if they have chicken that have been hang-dry, if not, don't order since wet chicken will not be good for deep-fry - that's what the lady server told us)
- pei-pa tofu (make sure you ask to have the sauce set aside. This is a deep-fried, non-greasy tofu. It arrived at our table with the sauce on top. Unless you eat it very quickly, the crispy tofu will be softened by the sauce. If you put the sauce on the side, you can dip the tofu in the sauce and the crispiness will remain)
- stir-fried beef slices with green onion and giner – good taste. But I like the chicken and tofu better
- bok-chok stir-fried with garlic – good change from other green vegetable
- seafood in a nest

I also bumped in our friends who didn't order what we ordered. It seems that they were not happy.

Anyway, if you go to this restaurant, order their speciality and you will be happy. Of course, when we came home, the MSG effect was there. I drank a lot of water at home.

-- Pearl88

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This place becomes a popular place for most of the Asian living in Kanata. My friends told us that it won't go wrong if we order stir-fried beef, garlic beef, and tofu. These three dishes are their best speciality dishes.

Rather than going downtown to eat Chinese food, this place becomes the natural choice for us living in west end. The owner is one of the cooks. So, you won't see the owner outside.

For the decor, this place has no decor. Just plain white wall. It is okay if the food served are great. I can live with that.

-- suimono

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Rideau restaraunt is by far the best chinese in Kanata. Try there amazing General Tso and you will never be able to go back to the junk served by there competition. There staff is very friendly and helpfull. The beef in black been sauce chow mein is to die for. If you like american-ese chicken balls and fried rice the food is so-so. But if you truely apreciate real authentic chinese food, you'll love it. Ask your server what they recomend off the menu on the whiteboard on the wall.

-- Skittles

Contribution Status:

Food is good, but very very disappointing in decor. Also, I wish the owner would afford to buy a few more baby and toddler seats, rather than have the customers bring them in (as we all don't have portable baby high chairs) or have to eat with our enfants in our laps.

-- taste

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We ordered takeout from Rideau Restaurant last Saturday since we didn't feel like going out to eat. Ordered Garlic Spare ribs, deep fried chicken, and spicy assorted meat & shrimp with vegetables.

The food was good. We cooked the rice ourselves even rice was provided with the food. The meal at home was great! If you are bored with take-out pizza, ordering Chinese takeout is a good alternative. I recommend Rideau to every one.

-- Goodie

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Can't complain too much for the price and the food. At least Kanata area has two Chinese restaurants which I can go without complaining.

However, I will recommend the owner to spend some money on decoration if he wants to steal some customers from Fortune Express.

-- AndrewBrown

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Fantastic food. Prices are greate. The place needs some touches. I recommended this to my friends. You should visit at least once... You'll love the food.

-- sousan_n

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This restaurant has been very consistent when I've eaten there. Pretty decent food, much better than many places that I've been to on Somerset Street.

My only real complaint about the place--besides the poor service when it gets really busy, as others have pointed out--is that the owners could make much better use of the space in the restaurant by adding some more small tables along the back wall. It's much easier to get a table if you're in a large group of 6 or more, from my experience. Also, if you're in a smaller group, they can sometimes try to force you into sitting at a small table. I visited once with my family (4 of us in total), and we tend to order a lot. It took some wrangling and haggling with the staff before they would let us sit at a slightly bigger table, which we did end up needing to accomodate the dishes that we ordered. This wouldn't be such an issue if only they would put in more tables!

-- paraparamedic

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The food is very good, authentic and innovative. However, it is a bit pricey. The decoration of the restaurant is extremely spartan - it gives the impression that it is not finished! Service is also a bit slow probably due to a shortage of staff.

-- Libertine de Montfort

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If this place is closer to where I live or where I work, I'll definitely go there more often. In terms of the food serve and the price that they charge, it is definitly on par with the restaurant on Sommerset. I especially enjoy their flat noodle dishes, one of the betters one in Ottawa.

-- Eat_Alot

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This is my favorite restaurant in Ottawa for overall value and consistent quality and service. I wish we lived in their delivery area. Dine-in and take-out menus are different, but you can order from either anytime, or even substitute ingredients (chicken vs beef, for ex). I've tried a bigger variety of dishes there than at any other restaurant in my memory, and have repeated almost everything I've tried. I asked the staff what their favorites are, tried them, and found my favorite (crispy beef szechuan).

-- kimbo23

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A friend of ours of Chinese background recommended this restaurant to us. We have been once and order take out three times and been extremely satisfied with the experience. How you know a good restaurant is if they can be consistent in the quality of their offerings. The Rideau Restaurant has been very good every time and we have had the opportunity to sample several different dishes. The take out portions are generous and offer, in my opinion, one of the best values in town (quality/price). It is understandable that decor and ambience can be improved; however, the key for me is the food and they excell at it. I highly recommend this restaurant; it is even worth a trip from downtown just to try it.

-- ach

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Excellent authentic Chinese restaurant like those on Somerset but in the west end. Most items are actually listed in Chinese 1st and then converted to Canadian. Portions are large and prices are very good. My favorite chinese restaurant downtown in the Mee Kong on Somerset but this place in just as good. Atmosphere could be improved from the white box that it is and the service can be borderline satisfactory when this place gets busy, and it does, but other than that I would strongly encourage a visit for dinner. You'll be pleasantly suprised I think. Be sure you check both the Take Out and Eat-In menus because they are different and in both cases, some items are on one menu but not on the other (a nuisance).

-- stevie_d