I won a bag of YOW Popcorn from a raffle ticket that I bought at a gala in support of Army Cadets a…read morelittle while back. The company donated the prize. I really support businesses that support organizations that help our youth build self-esteem, give them a sense of purpose and belonging, and teach them skills that will enable them to become productive members of society. (Imagine Whitney Houston singing "The Greatest Love of All" for the rest of this review...You know how it goes: "I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they possess inside...") Lol. This is big for me, so they kind of already had me from the get go, but personal philosophy aside, the popcorn is also very good. The bag I won was Sriracha Lime flavoured. It had just the right amount of spicy kick and was bursting with flavour. Truth be told, my husband devoured 99% of the bag, lol, and my assessment is pretty much based on licking my finger and scraping up the flavour from the bottom of the bag, haha. Oh, and my husband also told me it was delicious ;) I had never heard of this company before, but I discovered that they are relatively new. They supply popcorn to some local restaurants and bars. They can also put your logo on the bags, so good for brand promotion for an event or something, but also as wedding or party favours. I've never been to their location, but it's on Bentley, which is in an industrial part of town.

I was co-organizing my girlfriend's baby shower and about a week before the event, she mentioned…read moreshe wanted to have some fancy popcorn to give away to guests and I immediately thought about YOW. It was fall, so they were offering extra small Halloween bags with a 10-bag minimum order. I thought they'd be perfect and inquired about size, pricing, and if they had any discounts for bulk orders. I got a response the next day from Fiona, the co-owner, and who advised that the extra small bags were roughly 2.5-3 cups of popcorn and that yes, they do give discounts on large orders of small bags, normally starting at 50 bags or more. This wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so I ordered one extra large bag of sweet cinnamon kettle corn and one extra large bag of the seasonal pumpkin spice cookie caramel, with no special stamp needed (free), and delivery to Barrhaven. I also asked if they could advise on expected delivery time. (I was cutting it pretty tight with the baby shower!) Fiona was quick on the response, method of payment, gave me the expected delivery time, and contact number of the other co-owner, Michael, who personally dropped it off himself. There was a bit of a mixup on time (I thought he'd be dropping it off in the morning, but he thought it was in the early evening), but we got it sorted quickly and I got it just in time. The extra large bags hold about 30 cups each. After opening each of the giant paper bags, I saw that one extra large bag equaled one large plus one small bag. I portioned them out into mini cellophane bags I bought and tied on a little personalized baby shower tag with twine. Some has sweet cinnamon kettle corn, some had pumpkin spice cookie caramel, and some had mixed flavours. They went really well together and regardless of what bag people chose, they commented on how delicious the popcorn was. Good thing we had plenty because people kept going back for more! I definitely recommend them for goodie bags and other special events. Thank you, Fiona and Michael!

TL;DR/The Short Version: Health Food store. Good prices, comparatively speaking. Good selection of…read moreproducts. The Long Version: I've been a fan of Healthy Planet since they opened their first Ottawa location at Trainyards. They subsequently opened a second location in the Kanata Centrum and now this location on Merivale is their third in Ottawa. It's the space that used to be a Swiss Chalet but stood vacant for quite some time. They just had their grand opening late November 2024. Healthy Planet is a health food store. They sell lots of organic foods and environmentally friendly cleaners, skincare, cosmetics, etc. They also have a vast selection of protein powders and supplements. Their prices are generally lower than other Health Food stores in Ottawa such as Kardish and Natural Food Pantry. The space is large, brightly lit and well organized. In terms of cosmetics and skincare products, their selection is greater than the location at Trainyards. Otherwise, I'd say the selection is the same. Customer service was good in that while I was wondering around, one of the employees asked me if I needed help finding something, which I didn't, so they went back to what they were doing. One thing that could have been improved is that the cash register that cashed me out had a defective point-of-sale machine, or defective wires or something because it froze during my transaction and I had to stand around and wait. The cashier said that it wasn't the first time it happened, it happened earlier that day. Other registers were fine, he said it was only his register. There were some registers that were not being used. Management should have shut down that register, moved the cashier to another register and fixed the problem. Anyway, I went shortly after their first day of opening, so I guess I'll give them time to iron out the wrinkles. Lots of free parking in the shared plaza parking lot. (216)

From the owner: Largest Health Food Store in Canada. By Canadian, for Canadians. Proudly Canadian.read more

I'm trying to cut down on sugar and I don't normally have a sweet tooth, but of course, I've…read moresuddenly been craving sweets. Figures! Maybe because I know I should be cutting back. We always want what we can't have, right? I decided to look into Carb Free Baking Co., who were behind the Carb Free Cafe that used to be in the Byward Market. I had eaten there a few times while I was doing keto and it was always great. I know they have places where you can buy their products, such as Fitness Depot at Trainyards and Johnny Farina's downtown, but they're a bit of a drive for me, so I was happy to find out they deliver. I think you can also pick up in Nepean during certain hours. For others watching their carb/sugar intakes, there's no nutritional labels on the products (some are on the website), but there's a list of common ingredients on the website, which includes almond flour, coconut flour, whey protein powder, all nuts, erythritol as a sweetener, eggs, cheese, coconut and MCT oil, vanilla, cocoa, lemon juice, and various sugar-free syrups. All products are sugar-free and gluten-free, and 5 carbs or less per serving. Though it doesn't always specify how much, note that fat content is high, as they're meant to be keto-friendly (i.e. high fat, low carb). So don't judge me, but I went a little crazy with the purchases. I bought 4 slices of banana nut loaf (2 orders of 2 slices each), a 4-pack of maple-pecan cinnamon buns, cookies 'n' cream cake (2 slices per order), and a variety pack of donuts (6 donuts). Don't worry, I shared with my husband :) We put them all in the fridge right away so that they wouldn't get too warm and melty. I also stuck two slices of the banana bread in the freezer for future cravings. I warmed up one of the slices just slightly as a rich and delicious breakfast that kept me full for quite awhile. The maple-pecan cinnamon buns were wonderful as a warm breakfast or snack as well. They're smaller but decadent. The dough is just a bit salty, as I believe they use fathead dough (made with eggs and mozzarella), but it wasn't too salty and balanced the sweetness of the icing. The cookies 'n' cream cake was so good, even though I don't even normally like cake in general. Not too sweet, great balance between the chocolate chips and cookie parts and the cream. The husband really enjoyed this one! The donut flavors change weekly, but the one we got had Dynamo Nanaimo, Lemon Drop, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Hazelnut Crunch, Chocochip, and Strawberry Fields, all pretty self-explanatory. Notably, the Lemon Drop quite tart and refreshing (also comes with a slice of fresh lemon on top), and I liked that the Dynamo Nanaimo came with a piece of a Nainaimo bar on top that was really good, but the Chocolate Peanut Butter was my favourite. It also came with a piece of a chocolate peanut butter cup on top that I could've easily eaten a ton of! The Chocochip was definitely the plainest, the Hazelnut Crunch had a hazelnut in the middle but otherwise didn't have much hazelnut flavour, and the strawberry fields was nice but faint as well. Since they're specialty products, they're definitely not cheap and rang me up just over $100 (including tax and $9 delivery). Even still, I was happy to pay it! They're delivered the next day by Gopher, a third party, and I think some if not all are previously frozen, but it didn't affect quality whatsoever. Everything was so good and really satisfied my cravings for awhile (I swear I didn't eat them all at once).

Came in on Saturday to sandwich with the wife. Farmers pick is the absolute best place to get a…read moredeli cut sandwich in ottawa. When you go there's usually a line up but the team in the deli section are pretty quick. Lunch or dinner farmer pick is an amazing option for a good meal.

I recently moved to the area and I am very disappointed with the neighborhoods grocery store. For…read morehaving the name farmer I was shocked there is nothing plant based/vegan. I understand it's a deli and prioritizes meats and cheese, but to not even have a small section for alternative diets in 2024 is crazy and really limiting their customer bases. I now have to travel further to any other food store to do groceries and won't go to multiple stores so they are missing out on hundreds a month from me and I'm sure many others. this store is charming and all the workers I encounter are so very sweet, they also have plastic bags which I swear are extinct now haha. The 2 plant based items I found in the frozen section were $20 which is 0.9% more than loblaws and loblaws is 0.3% more than Walmart . Please be more inclusive to diary allergies

So glad they open in barrhaven so convenient. great…read morecustomer service and quick service. They have a decent variety to choose from. I go there every month

Live in Barrhaven, or close by? Love cheese? Really, who doesn't love cheese!?!?!?! This is THE…read moreplace to go. Selection is huge, prices are very competitive. Service is friendly and knowledgeable.

What a cool store that I never knew existed! Hungry Ninja sells primarily imported snacks from Asia…read moresuch as chips, candies, and ramen, but they also sell Asian groceries, such as sauces, oils, vinegars, miso, kimchi and the sorts. They have the largest selection of exotic KitKats I've seen here in Ottawa. They sell bags for $6.99, which depending on the flavour have 9-14 mini bars. They also sell individual bars for $0.99 each. So you can try one before committing to an entire bag. They also have a large selection of Kracie Popin' Cooking' DIY candy kits! They are $5.99-$6.99 which is about half the price of places like Sugar Mountain and Sweet Escape Candy Emporium. Sure, you don't get the nostalgic candy store vibe here, but you save $4-$6 per kit. My little nieces are addicted to these kits, so I've scoured the city for these, lol. If you are a mochi-lover, they have a lot of mochi from Japan. Many grocery stores only carry mochi from Taiwan (and specifically the brand Royal Family), so if you want something different, you can check out the variety here. They sell Wong's Ice Cream (from Toronto)! This brand sells Asian-inspired flavours like Vietnamese Coffee, Thai Milk Tea, and Korean Banana Milk. In addition to ice cream, they sell other frozen goods too, like Korean dumplings, croquettes, and Tteokbokki. They have some bubble tea plushies at the back, as well as those happy/sad reversible octopus plushies. Staff pretty much leave you alone to browse. They were efficient at checkout. They are located in a strip mall. There's free parking in the strip mall parking lot. I definitely recommend checking out Hungry Ninja if you like imported Asian snacks :)

Worst customer service ever. I placed multiple orders over the last year, each well over $100. The…read moreshipping alone was 1/3 the cost of the order, however because they have unique items I can't get in my city I had no problem paying for it. When I received the last two orders (both of which were placed in September), I noticed that multiple bags had expiry dates of September and October of the same year. They were meant to be Christmas gifts for the Healthcare Workers at the Hospital where I work, so obviously they would be expired by then. There was no mention of the expiry date online on any of the items I purchased, nor did they mention anything before they sent me the items. The first time I contacted them they told me to send a photo of the items and I would receive a refund. I did this, but then I was told I would have to return the items (and pay for the shipping myself), show them a photo of the receipt and then they would issue me a credit for that amount. ...What??? Why would I have to pay for shipping AGAIN after paying a total of $60 the first time? What kind of business sells edible products that expire within weeks of shipment? This is mind boggling to me. I have told potential customers about my experience and will share this review in the hopes that others don't end up having to go through the same thing when they go to purchase stocking stuffers or Christmas gifts. There is something not right about the fact that this place is selling perishable food items without being transparent about the expiry dates.