Went for a much anticipated dinner with friends recently to the flagship restaurant of Beckta.We have eaten at his various establishments many times over the years.
The location is great and the dining areas are quite lovely. Staff were friendly and well informed.
Menu was interesting with good choices of fish,meat and seafood. Great wine menu as expected, both by the glass and the bottle.
Now for the food. We all chose different main courses and found them disappointing. Mussels were declared delicious, fish was dry but salad tasty, risotto good but short on shrimp and the tagliatelle with chicken too salty to eat. We were not charged for the latter but it was replaced, at my request, by a very simple green salad, for which we were billed.
Overall, a very disappointing experience.

Beckta is a place to enjoy, relax and above all appreciate... The food, wine, music, house. The tasting menu takes about 3 hours. The 3 course menu about 2... Everything very fresh and delicious.

I had always wanted to try Beckta due to its reputation but on my visits to Ottawa it was always a bit inconvenient due to my hotel locations and schedule.I had frequented his less expensive restaurant, Play, in the Byward market and had always been happy. This time, after getting to my hotel in the Elgin Street area I discovered that Beckta had moved right on Elgin Street in what was previously a roast beef place. I chose to eat in the Wine Bar as I had no reservation. I was surprised with the size - there was bar seating and more tables in two rooms. Service was good, friendly and very competent. Upon tasting my first glass of wine and not being happy, they brought me a different selection without a fuss. My salad was OK but nothing spectacular. However my flat iron steak with friyes and oyster mushrooms was delicious. While I had always been pleased with the hanger steak at Play, the flat iron steak was superior although pricier. The frites were perfect and was served with an aioli and the mushrooms were also quite good. I'm not sure what the accompanying vegetable was but it was stringy. The only real downside to my experience was the lack of a great selection of wines by the glass. There were 9 whites and 9 reds but many new wine bars take advantage of enomatic machines so that they can increase the numbers and varieties of wine by the glass. A better selection of wines would have enhance my very good experience.

6 of us dined in the wine bar section, not the main dinning lounge. There seemed to be a lack of servers maybe. When we did get service it was great. Food was not as good as it should have been. Nice atmosphere though. Maybe it was an off night.

The building is gorgeous and service is very good, but the food is not nearly as good as expected. The salad was very bland. The portions are small. The desserts tasted as if the sugar was forgotten. Very disappointed and probably won't return.