Mati

The Mati table that knows the menu orders both ways: oysters and Yellowfin Tuna Tartare from the raw bar first, then a fifty-ounce Tomahawk or a Wagyu Tasting Plate from the charcoal grill. The crudo side and the grill side share top billing on the same list, and the central bar between them runs cocktails through the whole evening. The Preston Street address sits inside Ottawa's Little Italy, in the building that used to house the Black Cat Bistro, and the dining room has been working this two-sided shape since 2017.

The Seafood Tower is where the duality lands in one order. The hot side carries lobster tail, U-10 Atlantic scallops, jumbo black tiger shrimp, and fried calamari; the cold side adds East Coast oysters, lobster wonton tacos, the Mati Roll with sliced salmon and spicy mayo, tuna crudo, and cocktail shrimp. Beside it on the dinner menu, the Charcoal Grilled section runs Canadian prime steaks, the fifty-ounce long-bone Tomahawk, lamb, and A5 Japanese striploin from the Wagyu Beef list. Grilled Whole Branzino with brown butter and capers, Lobster Linguine with PEI mussels in lobster-butter cream, Spicy Vodka Rigatoni with whipped goat-cheese ricotta, and a Wagyu Burger with duck-fat fries fill out the mains. First Bites give the table a way in through Burrata, Arancini, Braised Meatballs, Sourdough Service with marrow butter, and Yellowfin Tuna Tartare with avocado, maple soy, and taro chips.

What that menu says is that the kitchen has decided not to choose. Most Mediterranean restaurants resolve into either a steakhouse with a few small plates or a seafood concept with one steak option; the two-sided menu here keeps both anchors in play through the same reservation, the same evening, the same table. The crudo station and the indoor charcoal grill are both visible from the dining room, so the cooking reads as part of the place rather than something staged out of view. The lunch menu runs prix fixe with a Steak & Crudo plate that compresses the whole concept into a single midday course.

The building itself carries some of Ottawa's recent dining history. The Preston Street address held the Black Cat Bistro for years before Mati took it on in 2017, and the renovation kept a sense of the older bones while building in the central bar, crudo station, charcoal grill, and the brass-and-walnut design language the restaurant runs on now. Sidecar, the downstairs private bar, and the Oval Room, the smaller upstairs private dinner space, give the property a layered shape — a single reservation can route through any of three rooms depending on the night. Mati is also the upscale sister restaurant to EVOO Greek Kitchen, which puts the Mediterranean throughline in a local context rather than treating it as a fresh import.

The way Preston Street uses Mati is the clearest reading of what it is. Tuesday through Sunday dinner books for date nights and birthdays; Wednesday through Friday afternoons fill in through Aperitivo Hour, with lower-price oysters, Duck Fat Fries, Arancini, cocktails, and a Champagne & Frites slot from three to five; Sunday brunch keeps the kitchen running for Fresh Baked Croissants, Lobster Grilled Cheese, and Shakshuka before the dinner shift opens again. Sidecar and the Oval Room handle the business dinners and the larger celebrations. A guest who learns the calendar can use Mati five different ways without leaving the same address.