ScotiaBank Place

This is an old review, back when it was still called the ScotiaBank Placae.
The place is in the middle on no where. Its not near Ottawa as the team’s name suggest, and I was looking for a Scotiabank ATM, and they didn’t have one.
I came here to watch my Ducks play the Sens, and hired a bus from Montréal to take us here. Tickets are easy to come by, unlike ACC or Bell Centre, and we scored club seats for ½ of what we paid for nosebleeds at the other arena.
The set up at this arena is weird. Lots of doors, and I got confused on how to get in or out of the building.

Ugh am I ever unimpressed with this place. Went to the «Canadian Tire Centre» last night to see Drake with my boyfriend. first and foremost, this arena is a pain in the butt to get to, it’s in an unusually isolated area and would have been better housed downtown.
the sound was less than mediocre, it was very hard to hear anything other than a loud explosion of sound, there was no distinction.
we had general admission tickets and stood off to the left of the stage, not bad, but I feel as though the general admission area should have been placed in front of the stage in the centre. why pay extra for it when others have better sight lines for less?
the prices were ridiculous but that’s at every stadium so I can’t really complain.
staff weren’t very helpful and seemed to all be pretty ticked off. I understand dealing with so many people can be super stressful, but it is your job, so maybe don’t be such a-​holes about it.
also all but one ATM was working in the entire place which was awful for us. we had to run around the stadium a few times to find the working one.
also, the bathrooms are atrocious. absolutely.
Just wanted to have a good night but my experience here was less than enjoyable.

Man, I love the Sens. Despite, Alfie left us, I’m still a fan of the sens and the newly named Canadian Tire Centre. Pizza is only 5 dollars a slice and the sens play great most of the time! Referring back to Round 2 vs Pittsburgh. :(
Also, the 417 is backed up like CRAZY after every single game, so if you want to beat the traffic, get out in the middle of the 3^rd and put the game on the radio.
Go Sens Go!

I was there for Sens vs. Habs playoff game 4!
Had a wonderful time.
If you have ever been to Scotiabank place before you know how wicked it is!
Always a little chaotic, but overall, superb experience!

This place feels almost like a second home. I’ve been here for at least 5 or 6 events a year including Sens games, concerts, skating events, graduations, monster truck rallys (ya heeeeeear), and more. While Ottawa might not always get the hugest names, when the big acts do make it here, it’s an amazing venue.
While working as an intern for the Ottawa Senators Foundation a few years back, I got the chance to see a lot of the behind the scene work that goes into running this stadium, and it kind of made me love it more. The staff here are amazing. Think of the craziness of concert and hockey games — the people, the drunks, the loudness. The people that work here are just lovely and knowledgable.
I know people hate on the location of this place, but my guess is the and was cheap back then, and the people in Kanata love it. It’s really not that far if you’re anywhere west of downtown, but I can see how anyone downtown and east might have trouble. There are special event buses and often shuttles from restaurants to concerts and games, so keep your eyes peeled for them.
The stadium itself is awesome. You’ll often hear people say there’s not a bad seat in the house, which I think is true. I’ve sat on the sides, on the top row, front row, on the floor and in the middle (literally even viewpoint) and they’ve all been good. It’s always clean, there’s a million bathrooms and the layout is really easy to find your way around.
So why the minus one star? The prices. The food and drinks are super pricey (as in $ 5 for a slice of not so awesome pizza). Parking is crazy, and it can take some time to find a spot. That being said, most stadiums have expensive parking and food, so it’s something I grin and bear.
Expect to spend a long time getting out of the parking lot and if you can avoid it, don’t take the 417 after a game or concert.

This arena is an awesome place to see a hockey game. It’s well organized, the seating is spacious and the view from almost any seat is really excellent.
Parking can be tricky, but they always do a good job of staffing the lots and streets to control the flow of traffic. Price for a friday night IIHF game was $ 12 — pretty reasonable.
It would be cool if the location was closer to downtown, but honestly, it’s fine by me as I’m normally coming in from Kingston for events.

I took a trip last February, with the main purpose of catching my old hometown Oilers versus the Senators.
We won in OT ;)
But what an arena. It’s been a while since I had the chance to step into a 10,000+ seater, and this is a special one.
My dad and I took the 100 (I think) express bus out to the shopping centre just short of the arena, grabbed a few drinks and then off to the game early.
I can confirm the weather can be bitter in the area especially. Luckily the arena does have a small gathering area available to it, prior to the gate opening. Stood around with about 300 — 400 Nordique fans. and then were let in.
I can’t deny I stood in awe a bit to the sheer size of the arena. and just kind of soaked it in.
The seating was comfortable, and it was Chris Phillips’ 1000^th game so they were each adorned with a commemorative towel.
Was impressed to find that they allowed me to snap a few photo’s of warmups which most spots don’t allow. The attendants were very accommodating of goof ball fans like me just wanting a few pictures of Smytty’s flowing locks.
The game was great, and the crowd was very welcoming. Ended up sitting next to a rowdy bachelor party, and we had some fun throwing barbs back and forth. The crowd was about 20% Oilers fans (which happens with one trip to the town every three years), 25% Nordique fans, and the rest hometown fans.
I had an absolute blast and would love to come back to see the Oilers again!

First of all, the location of Scotiabank automatically costs it two stars, the tagline should be «Scotiabank Place-​What the bloody hell were they thinking when they built it out here». It’s a pain to get to by car (traffic bottlenecks and chaotic parking) and a pain to get to by public transit (unless you enjoy half hour bus rides in a packed, loud bus.
Now the main complaint is out of the way, the place itself isn’t that bad of a building. The seats are comfortable and it can generate a good atmosphere, when the people of Ottawa feel like cheering. It’s also decently well laid out, I have been in rinks and stadiums with much more cramped and crowded concourses, and the food and drink selections are very good, although they do succomd to the scourge that plagues all stadiums, the ridiculous mark up. At least you can get tall cans of Creemore or Heineken for your $ 9.50.
This would be a 4 star rink if they put it on a big truck and moved it downtown.

I don’t know what it is but I dislike stadiums and arenas outside of the downtown core of a city. Is it the commute? The fun afterwards? I’m not sure but ScotiaBank Place has the same problems with other stadiums and arenas I’ve been to in the outskirts of a city.
I’ve been seated all over the stadium here and the views are always OK. I mean it’s what you’d expect from a newer arena. The acoustics in the arena are OK. I’m not sure if it’s the acoustics or the fans but it doesn’t get extremely loud in here like other arenas.
The food and beer are standard 200% markup from anywhere you’d buy it and really dirty, grungy washrooms are located around the arena.
I think my biggest gripe with this place is the parking lot. They’re pretty organized when you get here for an event but when it’s over it’s pretty much a free for all and all rules of the road are thrown out the window. If there are people directing traffic during this time they’re definitely not doing their job.

The parking situation is horrendous. They are too cheap to pay the parking staff an extra 4 hours at minimum wage to direct traffic out of the lots, and because the typical ottawa driver is an ahole, it’s every man for themselves
The food options are terrible.
The sound for concerts are terrible.
It’s a nice stadium, but all of the above just makes it a bad experience.

Fantastic home to the Ottawa Senators. Great facilities for refreshments, merchandise, calls of nature and of course, watching the main event!

Well… what am I reviewing here. The place as a whole? The food? The team that plays here or the events that are hosted here?
My reviews always use very plain language and cut right to the meat. Its a NHL sports arena. It hosts the Ottawa Senators. Its almost impossible to get to and then get out of in a timely manner because of where it is. Once you are there… the seats are comfortable, all seats have a good sight-​line. The foods is the typical food that you’ll find in any sports arena… with a few exceptions like smoked meat and roast beefs stations that are far and few between. Buy your beer from the «speciality beer» stations for something other than Canadian (a.k.a — anything with flavour)
A final word to the team… at best they are «Very Good» and at their worst they can be «VERY bad»…but they are the home town team so GO SENS GO!

I’ve been here on many different occasions for a wide variety of events, including an ice skating show, a concert, a basketball game, and too many Sens games to count. I’ve also sat at 100 level, 200 level, and a private box at the very top of the arena.
I’ve always had fun at every event I’ve been to, regardless of my age. The arena itself is a good size and organized pretty well. As a huge plus, even though it can literally be packed with tens of thousands of people (I’ve been to a Sens game with 18,000+ people), the washroom lines go really quickly. probably because everyone is just trying to catch the bus or get out of the parking lot.
The arena itself is great, sound system and fans included, but the location is just so terribly inconvenient. It takes forever to get to by bus, and a fortune to cab to.
Speaking of fortunes, the beer and food will cost you an arm and a leg. I’ve had a few beers, some type of lime wine spritzer, nachos, a hot dog, and Lone Star’s Smoked Brisket Sandwich. Every time I order drinks or food, I’m always out at least a good amount of money and never full. The only problem is that with the amount of time it takes to get there and attend your event and get home, there’s just no way I could go without eating or drinking something, even if I did so beforehand.

I’m going to get the negative comments out of the way right off the top — why did we build our largest stadium on the edge of town in a field again?
You will find that the biggest headache about going to a concert or game at ScotiaBank Place is the traffic situation. If at all possible take the bus since the city has shuttles that go directly to the arena and you’ll probably meet some crazy fans on the bus who you can talk hockey or music (depending on your reason for going to the arena).
Driving to the arena can be a huge headache because everyone is westbound on the 417 unlike other major cities where people are going to the downtown arena from all different directions. Leaving the arena presents the same problem and is sometimes worse since everyone is going eastbound and pretty well all at the same time. Do not under ANY circumstances try to take a taxi to this place. You’ll have to give up your first born to the taxi driver — the fare will be crazy unless you’re going to just Kanata.
Now that we have traffic and geography out of the way we can review the actual arena. It’s great. One of the best. It’s very impressive and can get quite loud. The concourse is wide and easy to get around in during intermissions.
There is a family restaurant attached to the arena but the food options otherwise are your standard pizza, hot dog, beer options as most arenas.
I’ve never had a bad experience at this place and I’m not even a Sens fan — probably because my team always beats them in their arena :)

I’ll start by saying I have no point of reference for stadiums.
We went to see Roger Waters’ The Wall and it was epic.
As far as the venue went, the seats were comfortable, the staff friendly, helpful and things were run efficiently, handicapped parking was handy and affordable.
The free wifi was nice too!

I have to agree with everything that Todd V says. I will go one further and add that even the standing room is good. I usually hate standing room and only took it because I am from Boston, my son is a huge Sens’ fan and it was all they had for one of the two nights we went. They have a ledge to lean on and to put your refreshments (Canadian beer) on. and vendors make it all the way to the top so you don’t have to miss the game getting refreshments (Canadian beer) lol.
The crowd is the most friendly hockey crowd I have seen anywhere, and though you might get teased for wearing another teams shirt (except maybe the Leafs lol), it’s much less serious than in other arenas I’ve been to. No booing the U.S. anthem either, they have way too much class for that nonsense (unlike Canadiens fans). I highly recommend making the trek to see some good hockey, in a friendly place, in a suburb of a great city.

Despite the myriad name-​changes (Q: What was wrong with the Palladium? A: [Insert slag against corporate sponsorship here]), ScotiaBank Place stands as the arena for the Ottawa Senators and the larger venue where any «big» acts that come to Ottawa perform. This is where you can see the New Jersey double-​header if you’re lucky, that being the New Jersey Devils followed by Bön Jovi the next night.
In terms of hockey configuration, this is a standard new-​arena design as seen all over the NHL but I get the feeling that this was one of the flagships. They’ve done a fantastic job about ensuring that there isn’t a bad seat in the house. And truly that is the case. I’ve sat in arguably the worst seats in the house and still feel involved and part of the game. The corporate boxes are well appointed, roomy, and provide ice-​level sight-​lines. They’d be great if it wasn’t for all the suits.
The restaurants they have on site are decent enough and certainly no worse than any franchised sports bar you’d happen into. I can’t speak for the concert side of things, but I’m told the acoustics are dandy. I don’t know about that. Once when the Sens were up 8 – 1 on the Leafs I couldn’t hear anyone from Toronto. They must check that out before Coldplay shows up.