Nickels Deli Grillade

Okay, let’s get down to it. I have to say, that I came here realistically thinking that it was going to be an okay experience, not much more, not much less. It was my step-dad’s birthday, so naturally, since that he and my mother are both HUGE Celine Dion fans (and French Canadian), they felt that Nickels was an appropriate venue. (For those of you who don’t know, Celine is part owner of this restaurant chain). The place is nicely decorated with lots of sports memorabilia — mostly hockey and pictures of hockey players, and it’s pretty family oriented, they even have a kids menu. We had a reservation, and were immediately seated. The place was not too packed, which I thought was somewhat surprising for a Saturday evening. The waiter was very polite, and even spoke English, which is a definite plus, as this sometimes is not always the case in Gatineau. We ordered our food (we were 7 at our table) and waited… a very long time. On the bright side of things, it was very nice to catch up with the fam jam, but by the time the food got to the table, I was borderline hangry… like seriously. I would say the food came a good 55 mins after we ordered, I understand that this is not the waiter’s fault, but a heads up would have been greatly appreciated — I would have whipped out a granola bar or something to contain the hanger! So our food comes, and we pretty much devour everything… actually inhaled is probably a more accurate term. The food was okay, rather bland, but it was served hot. Once that dinner was done, the staff surprised dad with Celine Dion’s chocolate cake (this piece was huge!) and sang him a happy birthday. The cake was all right — definitely not my favourite, but dad enjoyed it, and that’s what mattered. Let’s just say that I would not choose to come to this place myself, but for my dear step-​dad, I definitely would come back to celebrate his birthday if he chose to return.