Jean Albert’s

**NOW CLOSED**
After being to Jean Albert’s numerous times for different meals and occasions, I thought I would put my two cents in. and then I realized it is now CLOSED. After serious unprofessionalism and constant blatant bickering, where diners could actually hear the arguments in the kitchen between the owners, LeRoy and Jennifer, Jean’s slowly cut down on their hours of operation and menu items available (also due to needing new appliances), and eventually turned into LeRoy’s, with LeRoy being the sole owner. The exterior had a new sign and I believe the inside was renovated as well, however, a very short time later, it closed its doors for good, confirmed by the owner that it was due to divorce.
Although there is no longer a restaurant, LeRoy still offers some of his most popular items under the name of LeRoy’s Little Catering Company.
See menu here:
It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t offer some of the items that were a huge hit at the restaurant, like the breakfast pizzas with a hashbrown base, blackened catfish, the wings with a ton of different homemade sauces that were to die for, and, or course, chicken and waffles. The mac and cheese and sweet water cornbread are fantastic! If you’re lucky, you can find LeRoy at Ritual Nightclub, occasionally selling chicken and waffles on a stick (totally awesome), and maybe some wings. Too bad that the freshly squeezed, tequila-​spiked lemonade freshly brewed spiced iced tea with rum are no longer available!

FYI — I heard that this place just closed for good. Sad, I enjoyed the food.

On our quest to find delicious southern food, we stopped by Jean Albert’s. We ended up chatting with the owners for a good 15 minutes about how they began their restaurant and they were very passionate.
The catfish was delicious, and the ribs were pretty good as well! It’s a place that I would definitely go back to.

Food was excellent, service was too. Had the fried chicken and collards, can’t wait to go back and try something else. Seriously tasty hot sauce as well!

Who doesn’t love southern style soul food and some real fried chicken?
I’ve come here when it first opened and more recently and not much has changed but I haven’t really opened up on trying more items from the menu. I’ve stuck with the fried chicken, some pulled pork and mixed up the sides.
I wasn’t a fan of the pulled pork fries. I’m not sure what it was but I wasn’t a fan of it. The fried chicken is ok nothing special but for a city lacking in awesome fried chicken this place is tops that I’ve had here. There’s some REALLY good fried chicken in Ontario and they’re still not as good as what they serve down south. This place probably has that same gap as places in Ontario but might be the best place I’ve tried in town. None of the sides I tried were particular memorable but they were definitely not terrible.
The service has been good the few times I’ve been. I probably won’t be coming back anytime soon but if I do have a fried chicken fix this is were I’d go in Ottawa.

I love the concept of this restaurant — down home southern style soul food. It’s certainly unique in Ottawa.
On the plus side, Jean Albert’s is in a cute location, it has friendly service, fantastic lemonade and tasty corn bread. The big minus, however, is the quality of the food.
Each dish we tried failed to meet our expectations. We started with the fries smoothered in pulled pork. Sounds delicious, right? Wrong — it had little, if any, seasoning and arrived at our our table at room tempurature. Next we tried the fried chicken and half rack of ribs entre which was served with sides of collard greens and mac and cheese. The ribs were only ok and the sides were absolutely tastless. The fried chicken was good but the pieces were small. I expected more for the $ 30 entre price tag.
If you’re craving good food, you’ll be disapointed by Jean Alberts.

Fantastic service, fantastic homemade lemonade, and even more fantastic fried chicken. Off the beaten path for non-​centretown folks, but definitely worth the visit.

I have been here a number of times, and have never been disappointed! The pulled pork sandwich is excellent, love the mac and cheese and candied yams. If you are feeling seriously hungry try the fries smothered in pulled pork. Fried Chicken is good but not the best I have had. service is not always the fastest but their southern hospitality trumps that.

Stopped in here today for a quick breakfast after walking by here and being completely surprised that there was a soul food restaurant in Ottawa. And am I glad I stopped. Had a creative concoction known as a breakfast pizza which is a hash brown base, topped with egg and then with other fixin’s such as bacon, or ham etc.
I can’t wait to try a dinner here and test out the evening soul food …

If you feel like fried chicken and want something MUCH better than KFC, this is the place. A friend recommend this place and it was a bit of a walk from her place, but well worth it! I had the fried chicken and peach cobler, and it was amazing – I understand why there’s an obesity problem, especially in the South – there’s just so much to choose from and you want to keep eating.
The owner is originally from Detroit and an absolute character (make sure to ask Leroy about the «yo fall» insurance).

Jean Albert’s is a welcome addition to this neck of Centretown. Occupying a former Thai restaurant on the cusp of Chinatown, this spot is attempting something completely new in downtown Ottawa – traditional American soul food.
Having just opened over Easter weekend, there are some kinks on the service side to be worked out, but the staff are friendly, the atmosphere is decidedly southern nostalgia and the menu offers some refreshing choices. It was impressive to see a full dining room at 7pm on a Wednesday.
The fried chicken, a soul food standard, is simple and delicious. Dinner servings include a choice of two sides – the mac and cheese is a must try and the corn bread is a tasty spin on a southern classic.
Looking forward to the launch of a coming brunch menu soon.