Bridgehead

Rude staff. Some are nice. But generally the staff are rude. My experience with this coffee shop is the worst. On another occasion. I have been asked to leave, the reason, it’s not a place to be using your computer… not more then 10 minutes! I’m Polynesian, I just happen to be the only visible minority that day.

I had a delicious peppermint hot chocolate here, with plenty of real, delicious whipped cream on top. I also grabbed an almondine to go with it, based on the recommendation of the staff member. I didn’t find the service great (she barista just slammed my hot chocolate on the bar and didn’t even acknowledge my thank you), but the hot chocolate was divine, and the atmosphere was lovely.
If you like a hot chocolate that isn’t as sweet as say, Cadbury, this is a good choice. You can taste the bitterness of the chocolate –yum!

Super kaffee
Sehr freundliche bedienungen
Und ein tolles ambiente
Und es gibt wlan
Ich habe einen cappuchino getrunken und einen double chocolate cockie gegessen
…
Der kaffee kommt aus einer eigenen Rösterei und das schmeckt man sogar.
Dieser kaffee ist wirklich richtig gut gelungen

Here are just a few of the wonderful things about Bridgehead:
* Their products are organic and fair trade whenever possible
* They always have soy milk to put in your coffee (oh and regular milk & cream too of course)
* Tasty tasty soups and sandwiches (try the extra-​old cheddar sandwich; enjoy it for me because my dairy allergy means it’s off the menu for me)
* Wifi (free for an hour with purchase; ask for the code at the counter)
* Compostable «plastic» take-​out containers
* Local business … but with several locations
* Egg nog lattes (seasonal) are made with Cochrane’s Dairy eggnog (soooo good)
* Homemade lemonade in the summer (also soooooo good)
* Much better coffee than Starby’s or Second Cup (plus see above re fair trade)
Here is the major downside to Bridgehead:
* I have moved to Montréal and they only exist in Ottawa. My friend who moved to Toronto from Ottawa also has a similar complaint.

I usually rave about Bridgehead, but lately I’ve been a little disappointed. While their new customer loyalty cards are really cool, the coffee (regular not lattes, espresso, etc) is not great. I find their blends well not really good. I like this place for their chai latte. Very good and their gluten free lemon and zucchini/​walnut loafs are good but pricey. Their salads are meh, and well the rest is not gluten free so I cannot write about their pastries. Service is good, but it can be slow to get a latte, especially at the Elgin location. I go here quite often since it’s next to my work, but I’m cutting back and saving my pennies for chai lattes instead of buying a regular coffee that I won’t drink.

This Bridgehead is slightly less pretentious than the one on bank so I’m giving it 4 stars. I never sit down here to drink my coffee so I can’t say whether or not the WiFi is good.
The food here is generally pretty good, I like their curry chicken sandwiches and I’ve had a few different types of soup that were good (chick pea, tomato basil). The coffee is what I find amazing. I could easily drink their mocha crush drinks forever. Their warm beverages are ok, but mocha crushes are so good, they blow iced cappucinos, frappucinos, chillers, etc. completely out of the water.

Ben B is absolutely right about the lack of cafes in Ottawa. I’m hoping more open up that don’t have the cafeteria feel to them. Bridgehead is no exception though some of their products are much better than some of their competitors.
Out of all the Bridgeheads that I can think of in town I think this one might be the worst one and it’s not bad per se! It’s always packed, cramped and it’s smaller than the rest (including Dalhousie) and really feels like some of the commercial coffee shops in town. If you’re looking for a place to work this might not be the place for you so hit up one of the other coffee shops or maybe track down your own secret location in town! ;) If you want a great people watching experience than this Bridgehead ranks right up there with the best of them.
Spike D has also pointed out their annoying wi-​fi policy!

Dear Bridgehead,
These two stars are for your sad and silly policy for connecting to wi-​fi. Otherwise you are a five (?) star place.
But, I hate having to get a little slip of paper from the counter with the magic number, going back to my seat and discovering that the log-​in code doesn’t work.
This is worse than the Second Cup wi-​fi which lets you on more or less easily but logs you off every 10 minutes. Harrumph
I know you like to do things your own green, organic, way but take a page from the Starbucks book and give your customers one click, unlimited wi-​fi access. It seems to be working for them.
By the way, since we’re talking, those squarish metal stools you insist on are noisy and uncomfortable.
So long, and thanks for the nice lemongrass tea.

I’d love to be proven wrong, but it doesn’t seem like Ottawa has many independent cafés, huh? Maybe I’m just not looking in the right places, but by all means guys, help a Unilocaler out!
I ended up at the Bridgehead to avoid the typical Starbucks and Second Cups that run rampant in every city hoping for a unique little community destination. While I definitely wouldn’t call it that, the Bridgehead was a decent alternative.
The décor, oddly enough, looks just like what you’d get if you crammed Starbucks and Second Cup together and added a couple vintage-​y chairs in the corner. The staff were fine but definitely not warm and fuzzy. The coffee, again, was fine but nothing outrageous.
A little oldschool to have to request a wireless code that only works for an hour, but hey — I guess it did the trick for this visit.

Ottawa is extremely lucky to have this business.
Bridgehead is the alternative to other national and international coffee and tea chains. The business prides itself on being fair trade and local.
I find their hot products to be a bit strong and I prefer their rival over them when it comes to hot beverages but in terms of atmosphere and their food products I’d choose Bridgehead.
This Elgin Street location is one of the busiest you’ll find in town. It’s small and often packed with a crowd of students quietly studying, small meetings of people from the community and people darting in from the office to get a slice of Bridgehead.
My only complaint is that this location is often impossible to get a seat or at least a seat where you’re not sitting RIGHT beside someone.
Try their yummy triple berry muffin if you want a snack and in the summer time they make a really great raspberry tea crush (it’s a berry smoothie that will give you a frozen fruit headache if you drink it wrong).

During my one week stay in Ottawa I became quite the Bridgehead fan. Fair-​trade AND oh so good. I recommend their chai tea latte (just the right amount of spice) and carrot cake (icing to cake ratio = PERFECT)! I appreciated the fact that their «to go» forks are not the little flimsy annoying kind, but rather nice and sturdy*. The staff were friendly and kind and the atmosphere was cosy and kind. If I lived in Ottawa I’d stop by Bridghead often (over Starbucks)!
*Small things like this go a long way in my books. How am I suppose to enjoy yummy carrot cake if the fork is making the process frustrating?!

I checked out Bridgehead on a Saturday night, with laptop in tow. Expecting the coffee shop to be empty, I was surprised to see each seat packed with people studying, reading or talking in small groups. I agree with the previous reviewer that the coffee is pretty strong, but I asked for it to be extra-​sweet and hazelnut flavored, and the barista behind the counter happily obliged. If you like strong coffee, this is the place for you.
Friendly staff, nice cozy atmosphere, free wi-​fi is a huge plus.

Bridgehad is a popular coffeehouse in the Ottawa area. A great feature for those socially-​conscious individuals is that it has 100% fairly-​traded coffee.
While I’m not a huge coffee drinker myself, the coffee here was decent, though a bit too strong. I did really enjoy their lemonade smoothie on a sweltering late-​summer afternoon; very refreshing. Their baked goods were somewhat limited but tasty. The service was great.
They also have free (in most locations, but definitely this one) wireless connection.