North & Navy’s modest seven-item cocktail menu conceals a beverage program built on considerable technical depth and the expertise of head bartender Quinn Taylor.
North & Navy
226 Nepean Street, Ottawa
Open Monday to Saturday 5 PM to 10 PM
Closed Sunday
Opened in 2015 and housed in a Victorian brick residence on Nepean Street, North & Navy has long been recognized as one of Canada’s leading Italian restaurants. The former Beckta location retains much of the building’s historical character, creating an intimate setting for a dining room centred on Northern Italian cuisine. The restaurant’s menu moves through Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, and Dolce, while an L-shaped bar provides seating for just eight guests.
That bar is the restaurant’s bàcaro: a place where a guest can settle in for a drink and a small plate, or begin an evening that eventually unfolds into a full dinner. North & Navy is not a cocktail bar with a restaurant attached. Its beverage program exists within a broader Italian dining philosophy in which food, wine, spirits, and aperitivo culture are intended to coexist.
The seven-item seasonal cocktail menu features one classic Negroni and 6 signature cocktails, two of which are Negroni riffs. Mocktails priced from $14 to $16 use products including Noa Italian Bitter, Noa Sweet Vermouth, butterfly pea-infused HP Gin and HP Rum, and Oddbird Blanc de Blancs
Calmalisco ($22): This drink demonstrates how much complexity can be concentrated into a single glass. Spirit-forward and smooth, it carries a pleasant sweetness and a nutty character reminiscent of amaretto. Perfectly balanced. Despite the number of ingredients involved, the drink remains cohesive and immediately pleasurable.
Fiore di Sole ($20): A fresh flower floating atop the drink provides an immediate visual appeal, with floral character reaching the nose before each sip. The texture is notably creamy, followed by a progression of tart and herbal flavours before more botanical notes emerge. It is an attractive, polished cocktail that demonstrates the bar’s ability to create cocktails that are both complex and enjoyable.
Each variation of the Negroni occupies its own territory. The Negroni Classico offers the familiar combination of gin, Campari, and Cinzano. The Sicilian Wink takes a more elaborate direction with Tanqueray 10, Cueva Nueva Vermut, Campari, Varnelli Caffe Moka, and a Sicilian lemon and vanilla-scented cold cream. The Isola Favignana from the June 2026 menu moved in another direction entirely, combining pink grapefruit-infused Favignana Gin with Gentiane des Pères Chartreux, Cocchi Americano, and Dolin Dry.
Sicilian Wink ($21): This Negroni riff stays true to the classic flavour profile while adding a smooth, creamy feel to every sip, thanks to the thickly whipped cream foam floated atop. A large, clear ice cube, stamped with a motif, adds to the experience. This is a drink that any Negroni aficionado would enjoy.
Their approach to the cocktail program is interesting. It presents a smaller selection and relies on the quality of execution to justify the limited choice. But the short cocktail list is particularly impressive when the work happening behind the scenes is taken into account.
Their in-house prep includes a house amaro blend, basil syrup, wild chamomile syrup, seabuckthorn-saffron-clover syrup, a blueberry-basil balsamic shrub, warm spice syrup, and pink grapefruit-infused Favignana Gin. The menu may be short, but the preparation behind it is not.
Head bartender Quinn Taylor is central to that equation. A finalist in the 2019 National Made With Love competition, she created the current cocktail program. Her expertise is also evident in her ability to move off-menu.
The backbar contains over 130 spirits and liqueurs, with a broad selection. There are rare bottles, such as Chartreuse d’Élixir, alongside premium Scotch such as Macallan. This depth gives the bar team considerable latitude to accommodate guests who want something different from the seven cocktails on the menu, whether that means a classic, a neo-classic, or a drink built around a particular spirit.
During service, the bartender remains engaged with guests while managing a busy station, checking in, making recommendations, and maintaining conversation between cocktails. The atmosphere around the bar is relaxed, with couples on dates and friends meeting for drinks, and a range of older and younger guests. It is an environment in which the bartender’s presence becomes part of the experience.
Cocktails occupy only one part of North & Navy’s much larger beverage identity. The restaurant’s wine list runs to thirteen pages and is considerably more expansive, with a strong emphasis on Italian regions and producers. Piedmont receives particularly deep treatment, with extensive selections of Nebbiolo, Barbaresco, and Barolo, while Tuscany, Veneto, Sicily, Trentino-Alto Adige, Abruzzo, and other regions are represented throughout the list. Serious bottles include Gaja, Roberto Voerzio, Quintarelli, Emidio Pepe, Occhipinti, Foradori, Valdicava, Casanova di Neri, and other respected producers. The cellar extends into collector territory, with bottles such as a 1994 Sassicaia and a 2000 Gaja Ca’Marcanda, while a dedicated magnum ( 1500 mL) section adds further depth.
For guests planning a visit, experiencing NoNa from the Bacaro is quite different from the dining room experience. An experience of its own. Think of it as an aperitivo-led evening rather than simply the bar section of a fine-dining dinner. Sit at the bar and order a signature spritz and a small plate, such as cicchetti or Polpetta.
Polpetta ($15): The exceptionally tender meatballs practically melt apart, bathing in a rich tomato sauce, tasting of delicious beefy broth and textured like a traditional marinara. It pairs well with their complimentary quarter-loaf bread and salted butter.
In summary, North & Navy excels in the luxury of restraint. The kitchen limits itself to a carefully edited selection of antipasti, primi, and secondi, and the bar resists the temptation to produce an oversized cocktail list. It is a blessing when an experienced team has taken the time to decide what deserves to be offered.
Around last call, the bar settles into its quietest stretch. A candle’s flame arrows once off a now-decorative bottle of Nonino filled with dried flowers on an antique silver platter pushed to the edge of the bar. The navy walls absorb the room. The bartender wipes down the marble counter in slow, practiced circles.
Between my last few sips, I set my glass down and let the evening do its own closing. Seven cocktails on the menu. A wall of bottles of all sorts, all flickering with candlelight. Eight seats producing memorable conversations, and a candle still burning for whatever the next reservation might be.