CORNER BAR & GRILL ~ Ottawa ON

RIP - CORNER BAR is NOW CLOSED

Back in December of 2010 I found out that the Pub Puzzles had closed. I only discovered Puzzles in March of last year and was pretty happy with the wings, so I was sad to hear they entered the deadpool. 

But traveling back to Ottawa this past February, I was happy to see another pub open up in the same spot. I thought I would add some of the Puzzle photos to show you how things have changed.

The new place, Corner Bar & Grill is now a chain, having its original location down on Bank Street. They did quite a lot of renovations to Puzzles, which it really needed.

The clientel seemed a lot different too. There were business people, young people and I didn't see any of the old 'regulars' that used to haunt the place. The bartender and my server Chris, said they were trying to reach out to more of the community. The old place wasn't conducive to families and the changing demographics of Westboro (my words, not his).

Chris was very friendly, and super apologetic when they didn't have any regular Pepsi in stock (I just went with a Diet instead). He said they had only been open a few weeks and were still trying to gauge their supply and demand. Things were busy, they were staying open later because there seemed to be a demand and interest in the evening. Before long, I had my drink and my wings.

My wings came with carrots and celery and blue cheese dip. It was a creamy and tasty dip. The carrots were fresh and crisp, but the celery was a little limp.

The chicken wings came out on a long plate/platter. Fancy.

There were about 9 wings in a pound (I had eaten 1 before I took a photo), which makes them a little pricey at $1.22 a piece.

The wings were a medium in size. They were also medium level of chicken meatiness, which is good. This is what a standard wing size should probably be. They were crispy and nicely sauced. They look like there should be a little lake under them based on the fact that each wing was individually sauced very well, but there wasn't.

I went with Hot as the base sauce to try. It was a classic cayenne based hot sauce. Good, but nothing special. Every bite was familiar with my history and wings.

On the side I got a side of Smokey BBQ sauce. It was slightly smokey, and I'm sure a commercial BBQ sauce of some sort. It went well mixed in with the hot wings.

FINAL SCORE: It's hard not to compare the two establishments, so I will anyway. I don't miss the atmosphere of Puzzles. Corner's is clean, bright, and fresh. But I will miss Puzzles' wings. But Corner's are nothing to sneeze at. There may not be the same personal feel to them, but they hold up pretty well. 5.5/10

Corner Bar & Grill
344 Richmond Road, Ottawa On 
cornerbarandgrill.ca