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    Sugar Marmalade

    2.9 (58 reviews)
    InexpensiveDesserts, Chinese
    Closed 12:00 pm - 12:00 am (Next day)

    Sugar Marmalade Photos

    Business Info

    SUGAR MARMALADE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Loud
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Mango mochi thing
    Derek L.

    Everything was delicious, prices are ok for what it is The popcorn chicken was great, not too breaded or salty and was the perfect snack Honeydew Shaved ice was exactly what it sounds like and is absolutely delicious! Only gripe is that you need to pay to addon mochi aka pearl delights (some places have this by default) and it's pretty pricey for what it is - about $13 after pearl delight addon. Honeydew flavour was spot on though! Would definitely have this again We enjoyed everything and it's not bad for what you get. Would recommend for a dessert place and/or snax

    Anzor A.

    It is going to be a short review this time. 1. The food I tried was tasty, but I did not find anything special. 2. Their service was very slow and hostile. It felt like they want me to leave when I ordered food. 3. The concept is great. I would not return here unless a miracle happens and they invent something new. However, the place worth a try, what if you like it.

    I've been wanting to try this place for awhile as the photos looked amazing. The waffles were good, crispy & chewy with choice of ice cream & toppings. I did green tea waffle, vanilla ice cream, mango & pearl delight for toppings. The pearl delight (basically big white tapioca balls) were chewy but bland. Everything else on the waffle was fine. The glutinous rice was bland and had a weird texture. Almost like quinoa but more chewy and crunchy somehow. The coconut milk was nice as it wasn't too sweet and you can't go wrong with mango. Staff were nice but service was very slow even though there were only a couple of us in there. The items were a little pricey for what we got and it is a little too out of the way for something that tasted mediocre at best.

    Kathleen W.

    Happy that there is another dessert/taiwanese place in Ottawa!! They are currently in their soft opening phase so their hours of operation is quite limited (4-10pm). Thankfully when I visited (around 7pm), we didn't have to wait but the place was pretty pack. Good amount of seating but it takes them forever to serve the food so the turn around time was pretty slow. Once again, it was their soft opening so they were probably working out the kinks. Their hot foods looked amazing - I think this will be a place for taiwanese snacks/dishes. Will be back to try those ones. I ended up getting the green tea and red bean taiwanese shaved ice. It wasn't too bad but wished they didn't use the bubble tea powder in their "milk syrup" which you pour over. I was expecting condensed milk!! The mochi on the other hand was really tasty! Will be back again :)

    Mango Pancake with vanilla ice cream and cream filling.
    Jay B.

    This is a really fun desert place, my wife and I both like it. We have been to this location three times now. I'll give you the westerner perspective since I'm that half in our relationship. Yes this is an Asian desert place, but you don't have to know anything about Asian deserts to go. Most of the menu is all pictures so you can easily browse and visually select what you want. It is a "fusion" desert place so you will see things you recognize, like ice cream on waffles. They also have more traditional Asian things such as hot deserts, which I don't know if we have a comparison in western food traditions. There is lots and lots of variety, so you just need to take a look. Surprisingly its not just desert, you can also order (almost) full meals and lots of different appetizers. We really enjoy the Japanese Style popcorn chicken. Its actually just the Taiwanese popcorn chicken but with a different sauce and seaweed, but its tasty! You can get other things such as rice bowls and noodle bowls, chicken wings or whatever. Full menu online. Excellent bubble tea if that is your thing, and large. They are $5-6 each, but my wife and I share one, so romantic, and my wallet thanks me. We usually spend about $30-40 for two to drop it, so its a treat for us, not a regular thing. The restaurant in Ottawa is small and every time we are in it's busy and there is no place to wait. I also don't feel we could really just sit and linger. Its a fast turn around. So you may just want to wonder the Market for a bit and come back. They are open late, so if getting fat at midnight is your thing, or after an evening show at the NAC everything else is closed, head to Sugar Marmalade. If your a western couple don't be afraid to walk in, you will enjoy it!

    Mango pancake w/ sundae supreme
    Emily W.

    First of all, the menu is HUGE here. There's everything from traditional Chinese desserts to savoury food like popcorn chicken and ginseng chicken soup. However, I don't think it's a positive thing because most things here are hit or miss. It also takes forever to choose what to order since there's at least 10 pages of menu to go through. I think they should try focusing on and perfecting certain items and cut down the number of options. I've been here a number of times and I've mostly ordered desserts. The mango pancake w/ sundae supreme is a tasty treat that's not too sweet. It's filled with mango pieces and whipped cream and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The strawberry shaved ice is also great. My friends and I thought that each order of shaved ice was going to be enough for one person but we were wrong... Each of them were enough to feed three people! The presentation is very "instagram-worthy". The texture of the shaved ice is airy and not too icy, just the way I like it. It also comes with a small glass of sweet cream to pour on top. I'll definitely be returning for more of the shaved ice soon! Last thing- do not order the bubble tea. The tapioca pearls are always either extremely soft or inedibly hard. If you're craving bubble tea, you would be much better off going down the street to Sharetea. The service is quite slow most of the time. When it first opened, I thought it was the case because it was always packed, but even when I went on a not-so-busy day, it still took a while for our food to come. On several instances, one order would come 15 minutes before the other order. Other than that, the service is mediocre. Nothing noteworthy.

    Kim B.

    We brought the kids here around 4:30pm on a weekday. It wasn't too, too busy just yet (as it did get busier as we were leaving). The food came out quite quickly and tasty. Not the most convenient location for finding parking, but overall it was a good experience. However, we probably would've appreciated if they had a little better service manners. No explanation was given on how to order, and when we were ready with our paper filled out the waiters walked by us multiples times without acknowledging if we were ready or not - as we waited patiently with our menus closed. In the end, I had to bring my order up to the servers standing up front while they chatted away. Some improvement needed.

    Inside the restaurant.
    Jennifer P.

    My mom loves Taiwanese popcorn chicken, which is something still rare in Ottawa, although easier to find now than say a year ago. Anyway, when I heard that Sugar Marmalade opened up a location in Ottawa, I knew I had to take my mom there. So we went there for lunch today as a belated Mother's Day celebration. They just opened a couple of weeks ago, so they have a "grand opening special" on now until May 29, 2017 where you can get 30% off your bill if you post pictures of their food on Facebook or Instagram. You just show it to the cashier when you go up to pay. They are only accepting cash right now, but I think they will accept cards later. So we both got the Popcorn Chicken with Rice $8.99. My mom loves taro so she got the Frostbite Taro Drink $5.49 and added red beans to it for an additional $0.50. I got the Golden Royal Drink $5.49. We got our drinks first. My Golden Royal Drink consisted of fresh mango chunks, pieces of aloe, and yogurt-flavoured popping boba in mango juice. It was rich and creamy and full of mango flavour. My only complaint is that it wasn't cold enough. I had some of my mom's Frostbite Taro Drink and it was basically pieces of taro and brown sugar jelly in a taro slush. She initially wanted to add tapioca and red beans but it was about 12:15pm and they only opened at noon so they said their tapioca was not ready yet. At least that suggests they make their tapioca fresh every day. I'm not sure how long it takes to make tapioca, but I was surprised that it wasn't ready upon opening (i.e. I thought staff would come early to make the tapioca as part of their setting up) since a lot of their desserts have tapioca in it. Anyway, so she just added the red beans. Her drink was much colder than mine since it was a slush, and it was also rich and creamy. Our food was also good. In addition to white rice and the popcorn chicken we also got 2 pieces of broccoli and half a marinated egg each. The popcorn chicken was delicious. Super crispy on the outside, but moist on the inside. The batter wasn't too salty. They give you some sweet chili dipping sauce which was good and not overly spicy. I was just slightly disappointed that it didn't come with fried basil (as traditional popcorn chicken usually does). Nonetheless, I enjoyed the chicken. The rice was ok, a bit on the dry side. The broccoli was just steamed broccoli, but it made me feel more virtuous since I was eating vegetables, lol. The marinated egg was tasty. It's totally hard boiled, so not like the egg in ramen. The place is super clean and modern looking. Staff are very attentive. They refill your water as soon as it's running low and they are always available if you need anything. It's obvious that they are new because they had to ask their manager lots of things, but they are really nice, polite and friendly. As we left they all thanked us and said goodbye to us in unison, lol. Overall, the food and drinks were really good and quite reasonable in price, and totally a steal with the generous 30% off grand opening special. Hailing from Toronto, I'm really glad to see all these GTA chains entering the Ottawa market. I'm also glad to see more diverse ethnic cuisines in our nation's capital. Their specialty is actually desserts, so I will definitely be returning to try some.

    Chelsea T.

    Came on a quiet Sunday afternoon to try out some Taiwanese snacks. The service was ok, we had to wait around a bit before someone came to take our order, and we had to get our own menus. We had the eel toast, covered in cheese and sprinkled with bonito flakes and seaweed, as well as the original waffle with strawberries, whipped cream and ice cream. The eel toast was surprisingly delicious. The waffle was a bit lacklustre - the waffle was kind of cold and chewy, rather than warm and fluffy. It was an ok experience, and I will probably go again to try some of the other items on their menu.

    Wall!
    Mimi J.

    This place was really spacious and warm, and perfect to enjoy something sweet after getting dinner downtown. It was quite full and most clientele were Asian students. Their menu is expansive and you will find something to your taste for sure. What I enjoy is that the desserts are not too sweet; I had the black glutinous rice with seasonal fruit (for a prettier Instagram photo, ya know) and the milky coconut on top of the rice was nicely sweet and the fresh fruits cut through the slight sweetness, so each bite was a good medley of flavours. Service is attentive and they will come over quickly if you try to flag them. The cutlery and bowls could be lighter, they were heavy to hold, but that is personal preference. The interior is really fun and decorated well, and adds to the atmosphere. I imagine it would be even cozier when they open the doors at the front to make way for an open patio! It would be even better if prices were slightly lower, but they are fair given the quality of the food.

    Japanese fries
    Cindy H.

    There's no place like Sugar Marmalade in Ottawa! They have an extensive menu that includes Taiwanese appetizers, desserts, meals and specialty beverages. What we ordered: - Japanese fries (which are made with the crispy krinkle cut variety and topped with bonito flakes, roasted seaweed, mayo and teriyaki sauce). I liked this appetizer, but my husband found it to be too fishy. Plus the curling bonito flakes makes him nervous. - Popcorn chicken (this was ok; it wasn't bad, but I was expecting it to come with fried basil which is how they typically serve it in Taiwanese shops we've been to). - Banana milkshake (SO. GOOD. Not too sweet, very banana-y and super refreshing). - Taro sticky rice in coconut milk with boba (didn't like this too much. The rice was mushy and I ended up picking out all the boba since it was overly sweet). - Chocolate waffle (this had chocolate ice cream over a large chocolate egg waffle, topped with fresh banana slices, chocolate chips and a drizzle of chocolate syrup). Good for chocolate lovers, which I'm not, so my husband happily finished it by himself.

    Beef noodles
    Wendy M.

    I've been to the Toronto Chinatown location and thought it was pretty good, so I was super excited when it opened in Ottawa! The place isn't very big to begin with and they crammed a lot of tables and chairs in the dining area to seat more people, so be prepared to be very close to other tables. I've been here 3 times already -- once during their soft opening and twice during their grand opening (they had 30% off your bill!). The last time I went, the girl sitting behind me flipped her hair a couple of times and I could feel it against my back... that's how closely they crammed all of the furniture together! First of all, do NOT come here in groups larger than 4 or 5 -- during busy times it's very hard to find a table that will accommodate more than 4 due to the size of the tables. The first time I went (during their soft opening), we were a group of 6 and we waited 45 minutes to an hour for a table which was ridiculous. A lot of people who came after us got seated first simply because they were only groups of 2 or 4. The waitresses also weren't very good at allocating tables to groups... hopefully that has since improved! Second of all, the service is pretty bad. We had to repeatedly ask for water refills and the waitresses seemed pretty busy. The only redeeming factors about this place are the cute décor and some of the food. I've tried enough things here to have figured out what is good and what isn't -- the green tea shaved ice is a personal favourite, and so are the beef brisket noodles. The sundaes are pretty good too, as are the fried fish sticks, but everything else that I have tried was just mediocre or just plain bad (bubble waffles, durian and mango drinks, mango sago desserts, rice dishes, Japanese and Taiwanese popcorn chicken). I suspect the rice dishes are prepared beforehand and then frozen and heated up because the carrots in the curry were literally mush. The price is average for Ottawa (cheaper than Honey Town though), but I probably would only come back if my friends really wanted to try it.

    Tequila C.

    I thought it will has same standard as the one in Marhkam. It is totally disappointed. My friend ordered the Papaya black grass jelly, the bitter papaya ruined the whole dessert. I am ordered the house special black grass jelly mixed, the tapioca is not even cooked, it still hard inside.

    Cotton shaved ice - strawberry

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    Page 1 of 2

    Sugar Marmalade - desserts - Updated June 2026

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