With patio season underway, OpenTable has released its list of the 100 best outdoor dining spots in the country, and two restaurants in the Ottawa-Gatineau region made the list. Arlo, on Somerset Street West in Ottawa, and Arôme, at Gatineau’s Hilton Lac-Leamy, were given the nod on OpenTable’s list, which included 45 restaurants in Ontario and 10 in Quebec. OpenTable says nearly three quarters of Canadians plan to eat outside at a café or restaurant patio during the warmer months this year. “As patio season gets underway, Canadians are clearly eager to dine in the sunshine. We see it in how they book, with 62 per cent choosing a restaurant specifically for its outdoor seating,” said Laure Bornet, Senior Vice President of International Growth at OpenTable, in a news release. OpenTable says its list was generated from more than one million reviews from verified OpenTable diners and dining metrics from March 1, 2025, through Feb. 28, 2026, looking at a combination of factors, such as the percentage of five-star reviews, the number of alerts set, the percentage of reservations made in advance, percentage of capacity and direct searches, and ranked by the percentage of reviews with the tag “outdoor dining.” OpenTable says nearly one in five diners (19 per cent) say they spend more dining outdoors than they would indoors. Outdoor diners average 127 minutes at their tables, 20 per cent longer than the overall average, according to OpenTable’s metrics. The City of Ottawa is offering restaurants some relief on patio fees this summer. Earlier this week, Ottawa City Council waived monthly patio fees in a bid to aid with rising costs elsewhere and encourage outdoor dining during Ottawa’s bicentennial celebrations.
