Zak’s Diner

Don’t order the eggs Benny. Sauce is hideous and obviously comes out of a tin. Service good, coffee good.

Go see Lukas! Theyre the best staff ever, always there to help! And if anything ever happens you dont have to worry, food is delicious too!

Sunday breakfast. Half hour wait. Lots of screaming children. Pancakes like plywood. The breakfast clubhouse had about 2 tablespoons of mayo in it.

This is my go to post clubbin place! But also when I want a delicious milkshake!
The food is what you expect a diner to have ! My all time favs are the traditional breakfast (at any time!!!) the club and of courses the curly fries you have to compliment the meal with the best milkshake in the city! I love milkshakes but I absolutely love Zacks milkshakes!
The service is great they are always very friendly and bubbly ! They use the cellphones to do orders which I think is a great system and works well!
The interior is retro! I absolutely love it ! Makes me feel like Ive gone back in time to the jukebox days! It’s just my kind of place !
It can be very busy! Like a lot so either make the reservation or be ready to wait ! Sometimes the line goes out the doors and down the street! But it’s well worth the wait !
Go to Zacks ! You know you want to! :p

I’m never disappointed by Zac’s… but I’m never blown away either. More of a place you visit once in a while for the novelty of a 24 hr diner. Or after a night of drinking in the byward. Very busy during morning/​brunch and can be a bit touristy. Service is sometimes really great and you end up with an attentive server who seems happy to be there… other times your server seems like they are bored out of their mind and disappear for long periods of time, and you end up having to get the attention of another server in another section to help you. Food is satisfying, and the burger & fries, and poutine come in pretty large portions. A little bit overpriced for what it is though.
All in all, a decent place, but that’s about it.

The tater tots were fire! Place was busy, but didn’t take long to grab a seat. Was disappointed I didn’t get a glimpse of Justy Troodz. Will def come back and check out the 2am crowd.
⁴⁄₅

I went there in the evening and got their blueberry pancakes off their all day breakfast menu and it was pretty disgusting. They give a side of fruits and they tasted like they were sitting in a bucket in the back for days. I’ve tried some of their savoury items before which weren’t bad. I just would not recommend any fruit sides from there.
The place is good for big groups. Their tables are very large.

The service here was great, food was good, but above all else the décor was the best. It was a true diner experience!
Vanilla milkshake: Perfectly creamy, it felt like a bit too much for me so I probably wouldn’t get it again but it’s a must if you’ve never had one before!
We also got a breakfast plate and a burger, both were very very filling but not incredibly memorable.
I’m not in a rush to go back, but I wouldn’t be against it either.

A very nice place, but not the place for me!
We walked by at lunchtime and the place was packed, always a good sign. The service was fast and friendly.
The food was… average. We got a milkshake, burger, bbq pork, fries and rings. The pork was, well, gross, but, this isnt a bbq joint so the blame is a bit on me. The pork was chewy, which probably means it wasnt cooked long enough. The sauce had that taste that it was just mixed later and not cooked with the meat. Very vinegary, red wine or marsala (weird!)
The fried items were good the burger was good. The bread rolls were soft and boring. I would have really preferred something crustier.
All in all, i probably would go somewhere else. Ive had cheaper and better. Ah well.

These guys were so friendly and nice. I was in Ottawa for a week, and found them as a breakfast place. I called ahead for my breakfast order and walked to ByWard Market to pick it up. I got the Zak’s big breakfast. It was a pretty hearty portion. The eggs got a little hidden in the whole she-​bang but nonetheless, everything was pretty good and a great value!
Definitely recommend!

One of the many eateries in ByWard Market in Ottawa, I only popped in for a drink and dessert. Friendly services and very reasonable prices, more so because of the exchange rate between US$ and Canadian $.
It has a good vibe, mix of tourist and locals, young and old and somewhere in between.
The smoothies I have was fresh, and the apple pie was of huge proportions.
I can go back to have a drink any time.

I’ve been to zak’s 3 times now and have never been dissapointed. The lumberjack’s breakfast is very filling and had good flavours. Also, the pulled pork sandwich was very well seasoned. The milkshakes are also worth a try, havent had a better one yet. The only issue is the price, a bit high for what the food really is.

Had breakfast here with the wife for our 6^th wedding anniversary in Ottawa. Hearty breakfast and delicious! Worth the price too. We had a great server who was very outgoing. Even the other servers seem very cheery to work there singing and humming along to the music playing from the diner’s speaker system. Would love to go back if we’re ever in Ottawa again in the future.

This place has great service and an American amount of food! I mean each serving is ridiculously large!
A colleague and I needed a place for dinner our only evening in Ottawa. Since our hotel was nearby, we decided to explore this fun part of town. She was on a budget and not willing to splurge, so we opted for Zak’s Diner.
She went for the Quebequer Poutine and I opted for a burger. My burger was awesome, but it had also been 8 hours since my last meal. I was starving!
Since we were on a break from work, we opted for dessert. The diffference between Betty’s Rocky Road Brownie and the mini Rocky Road brownie was just $ 1. Obviously, we opted for Betty. And, it was gigantic (see photo). We ashamedly left so much of it behind … next time, I’m in this city, I may come here either just for dinner or just for dessert– not both!

Was in the Byward Market area and selected Zaks for our dinner. The inside seems like frozen in time from 60s and 70s. Most of the walls have frames with lines on the and all of them are funny.
Started off with Four Cheese Poutine. The grave is vegetarian and fries although thinner than I would like the Poutine was good. The gravy not too runny or salty. The chef did not skimp on cheese I must add.
Ordered a Mac n Cheese burger with veggie patty with a salad and Grilled veggie wrap with mashed potatoes. The wedges Mac n Cheese were gooey and crispy on the outside. The burger patty was chickn flavour. The wrap was good with perfect veggies inside. The mashed potatoes were fresh made and not made from a box. The gravy was the same as the Poutine. The salad was ok, but a generous helping.
All in all good place to go. Seemed to be a favourite spot for a lot of University Students. Half the tables were full of them.

The food and service was good! Very loud so good for families and young kids who don’t mind. Overall it was good though. Food as described and arrived quickly.

Pricey? Yes, but is it worth it? Yes! You do NOT need to order appetizers, as the main courses are more than enough. I ordered the buffalo chicken wrap, which was very good. For sides, Zak’s switches it up allowing you to pick onion rings, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My buddy got one of their famous milkshakes, which (although also pricey) are worth. Very rich, but not too thick so that you can’t drink it through a straw. Give it a look!

My boyfriend and I were visiting during Valentine’s day weekend and were walking around Byward Market for a place for dinner. We didn’t really care about finding a nice romantic place, so we ended up stumbling into Zak’s.
We were both pretty hungry, but there was about a 15 minute wait. It was packed with teenagers. We ended up getting seated in a HUGE booth which was meant for a party of 6. The waitress was nice and very attentive.
We ordered and split the veggie burger and a poutine. The veggie burger was not good at all. Something I could have made using a frozen patty. The poutine was pretty good and satisfying.
Would recommend coming here to try their poutine, and if you wanna have the vibe of a 50’s diner. Wish I had ordered a milkshake to try too!

Has always been a favourite since my high school days! Would always go here for the curly fries and nachos! They make a mean quesadilla as well… And most everything to be honest :) just…
Don’t go for the guac… Kind of a sad excuse xD
Milkshakes? Breakfast? Anything really? They can help you out :) and they’re open aaaaaallllllll the time ;D
Cool staff– gadget thing works guys :) (and they’re really good at getting your order right if you tell them exactly what you want)
Only thing! (Aside from the GUAC) is that their poached eggs aren’t made traditionally (in water with vinegar) they’re made in the «poaching pan»

I had breakfast here this morning, it was one of my last stops before heading back to Montréal after celebrating Canada day in the capital. I love the idea of all-​day breakfast places and since our hotel was very close by, I figured this would hit the spot. Unfortunately for me, I was disappointed to see that they were offering a special Canada Day weekend menu that was reduced to about a third of what they should normally offer, with higher prices. That’s when I felt like I landed in a tourist trap of sorts and not a low key diner favored by the locals. With no back up in mind, I wanted to try Zaks anyways.
My omelette was good, but not amazing. Cheese and tomato slices were melted on top instead of being incorporated in the egg which I found a little strange. My bf ordered a breakfast burrito but the pita was doughy and raw. Flavor was good though.
You see everyone getting milkshakes so you think they’re going to be amazing, they are huge too, but really you’re just dishing 6 bucks for some melted ice cream with a squirt of whipped cream. Most of their flavors are syrup based unless you get banana then they actually blend the fruit in. My first choice was mango, but it tasted like plain vanilla so I had to switch. I’m surprised their strawberry shake isn’t made with real fruit either, as it’s in season.
Breakfast was filling, food was alright, service could have been faster. Our server never even offered us coffee or tea, despite it being included in the meal.
For two people, 52 $ for eggs, potatoes, toast and «ice cream» sure seemed like a lot. I won’t be back, and certainly don’t recommend this place on holiday occasions, menus and prices aren’t representative of their potential.

Comme si vous étiez sur la Route 66 mais à deux pas du parlement fédéral canadien. Situé dans le quartier du marché, c’est un lieu très populaire avec les élèves d’écoles secondaires ou lycées. Portions généreuses, mets savoureux, c’est pas mal du tout.

Mmmmm en voilà des bons burgers. Chez zak’s on se retrouve comme dans les séries US dans années 70 avec la déco colorée (turquoise et rose). Aussi avec le café à volonté le matin ou burger avec milkshake le soir. Alors concernant les burgers, ils sont bons. Pas trop sec, juste ce qu’il faut. Mais c’est gras et faut bien se dire que c’est américain ! (sauf qu’on est au Canada). Leur milkshake est trop bon ! Ils font pas mal de saveur et quand ils servent le milkshake c’est un grand verre… + le reste du milkshake dans le shaker qui a servi à sa conception ! J’avais pris un milkshake Menthe-​chocolat et je n’ai pas été déçue. Totally delicious ! Sinon les horaires d’ouvertures de Zak’s Diner sont très larges, ils font aussi bien le petit déjeuner que le diner tard le soir. C’est assez pratique pour les après soirées où on a besoin de manger ^^