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Order The Paddy Mac and you would not guess it came out of a brewery. It is a proper double smash burger — two thin patties of local Angus chuck seared hard, fresh cheddar, sauteed onions, and a house sauce — the kind of thing a dedicated burger counter would build its name on. At Nita Beer Company it is the anchor of Smashin Kitchen, the food side of a working craft brewery on Colonnade Road in Ottawa's south end. The beer is made a few steps from where the burger is griddled, and the whole point of the place is that you order both.
The burger lane leads, and it leads with intent. Alongside the Paddy Mac sit a plainer Smash Burger and a Double Smash, an unusually central burger program for a brewery — a first order rather than a token pub option. Around it is the kind of menu that keeps a table busy: a fried chicken sandwich dressed with Sam's spicy chipotle and mayo, a steak sandwich of thin beef, provolone, and hot peppers on a homemade bun, a chicken club, and Turkey on Toast for the plainer appetite. Loaded nachos come with pico, hot peppers and olives and an option to add chicken or beef, and there is a burrito for anyone steering off the bun. The poutine arrives built on St. Albert cheese curds, the Ontario detail that tells you the kitchen pays attention to where its parts come from.
The rest of the menu is built for company. Personal eight-inch pizzas run from cheese and pepperoni to a meat lovers and a veggie version with green olives and hot peppers, an easy common answer for a table of different appetites. Vegetarians do better here than the burger-forward billing suggests, with the veggie pizza, a grilled cheese, veggie nachos, and a pasta salad bowl all on the regular menu. Beyond the counter, the brewery keeps an online shop for its cans, so a visit can end with beer to carry out as easily as a burger to sit down with. The kitchen also keeps its own hours, posted separately from the taproom's — the tell of an operation that treats cooking as a real shift rather than a bar snack.
The beer came first, and it came from one person's long study of it. Andy Nita formed the company in 2014 after years of learning to brew and refining recipes, and he still carries the title of Chief Beer Officer; Bridget Carey runs the financial and operational side of the business. That founder's habit of experimentation runs deeper than the core lineup: local reporting has followed Nita's revival of Cronk, an 1840s drink pulled back from obscurity into a modern glass, the kind of side project a brewer takes on for curiosity rather than volume. The same appetite for trying things carries to the kitchen, which rotates a Burger of the Month and a monthly pizza board rather than freezing the menu in place. The draughts on the current board are the steadier everyday range: OPA, a balanced IPA; the Ten12 blonde ale; a brown ale called 5 Fingers; and the Perfectum stout — the beers a burger actually wants beside it.
None of it is trying to be a destination on the beer alone. It runs Tuesday through Saturday, a south-end Ottawa taproom better suited to a weeknight burger than a special occasion, and it treats both halves of that order with the same care. That is the honest read on Nita: a working brewery off Merivale that decided the food was worth cooking properly, the beer poured within earshot of the griddle.
Nita is not just a beer counter with a snack list. Smashin Kitchen brings burgers, pizzas, Poutine, Nachos (Add Chicken or Beef), and sandwiches into the same room as the house draughts.
The strongest visit plan is built around The Paddy Mac and OPA - Balanced IPA. One gives the kitchen a named food anchor, while the other keeps the order tied to the brewery's own draught list.
The official team story and local coverage both frame Andy Nita as the beer lead behind the company. That founder-led beer identity gives the taproom more character than a generic casual room with taps.
This is Restaurantica’s own read — synthesized from publicly available sources across diner signal and editorial research, last updated July 2026. It’s our interpretation of the evidence, not a crowd average — and placement is never for sale.
Nita's strongest identity is the brewery taproom itself: house draughts like OPA - Balanced IPA, Ten12 - Blonde Ale, 5 Fingers - Brown Ale, and Perfectum - Stout sit beside a food menu built for drinking in.
The burger lane is unusually central for a brewery taproom, led by The Paddy Mac, Smash Burger, and Double Smash Burger rather than a token pub burger. It gives the food side a clear reason to lead the order.
The Paddy Mac gives the menu a true anchor: double smash patty, cheddar, sauteed onions, and Paddy Mac sauce with enough personality to steer a first order. It is the dish most likely to define a first Nita food visit.
The pizza side makes Nita easier for groups, with Cheese Pizza, Pepperoni Pizza, Veggie Pizza, and Meat Lovers Pizza covering different appetites without pulling the visit away from the beer. It turns the taproom into an easier mixed-order stop.
The menu stays in a casual lane: burgers, sandwiches, personal pizzas, nachos, and Poutine can be combined with house draughts without turning the stop into a splurge. That makes the brewery feel easy to use on a normal weeknight.
Restaurantica’s write-up above is synthesized from broad public signal — community reviews add the first-person layer. Share the nuances of your visit to Nita Beer Company in Ottawa: the standout dishes, the room, the service.
Write a reviewIt is a brewery taproom first, but the Smashin Kitchen menu gives it a real food identity. The best read is beer plus casual food: house draughts, Smash Burger, The Paddy Mac, pizzas, nachos, sandwiches, and Poutine in the same Colonnade Road room.
