Jim's Driving School, Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario (613-731-1777)…read more What a great school! Very Professional. Sophia the Office Manager is very pleasant and excellent to work with. She helped us out a great deal. The course my daughter took was 30 hours on line theory and 10 hours of actually driving. The price was very competitive. The Driving Instructor was Gihad Qassem who was also excellent. My 16 year old daughter said Gihad was very professional, funny, knew how to teach, and made the driving lessons very enjoyable. My daughter took her G2 Driving test two days after passing the Drivers Education course, SHE PASSED the first time, so Jim's Driving School and Gihad must be doing something right! We highly recommend Jim's Driving School on Bank Street in Ottawa.

I took in car lessons with them, my instructor was very patient and very organized. I passed my…read moreroad test with them. I highly recommend them.

My mom has been going every morning for years. Today, June 23, 2023, I decided to sign up so I can…read morelift weights and get back into shape. I'm 50 years old. We'll see how this goes. Today I signed up for the free three day trial. so I can use three days over the next week. Went right to the weight room and I lifted weights for a while and then ran on the treadmill. It's a great room. So many machines. I don't even know what most of them do. It's a great relaxing atmosphere. I'm going to start going every morning instead of my usual jog along the canal. Oh, and my dad goes every month for a talk they have in one of the rooms with a speaker for mostly retired people. It's great. I've gotten to some of those.

No, if you are a fancy gym user…read more I have been to Cherry YMCA in Toronto and it was just perfect. This YMCA has a really old and dark gym space with a really old equipment. Another thing is that it's very dirty over the place. I would say that there some other options like GLife or Elgin Fitness if you need some new equipment. If you are ok with old machinery then go ahead. The monthly prices range from $45 to $70. Unfortunately, it is very sad about gyms in Ottawa.

We are very disappointed with this school. We paid for extra in car training (15 hours vs standard…read more10 hours), but it is taking forever to get the training done. Our instructor is new to the area and lead us to believe that my daughter would be receiving weekly training and she would be ready to do her test by the beginning of March, but we still have 5 hours left to go. Also, we have been asked to meet up at the Walmart parking lot in Barrhaven for 95% of the lessons (we live in Metcalfe). When I asked to have my daughter picked up from school in Manotick for lessons, the instructor agreed, but it has not happened yet.

I attended a short course in tarts, and it was incredible. The service was over the top. We were…read moretreated so well. While we waited for the course to start we waited in a beautiful lounge area. The kitchen was so well stocked and the support staff was so helpful (students). The chef was also on the TV screens so we didn't miss anything. It was just a great course. We made and took home two tarts - and I am excited to make them at home as well. Just fantastic - I will be back for more courses. The parking was also super easy and they gave us an apron to take home - super cute!

The chef treated us like royalty and was very gracious to make a ganache birthday cake with gold…read moreflakes for my 91 y/o father. All the dishes were excellent and the flavours were tantalizing. The French Canadian cuisine was presented us in the most artistic way. All of us are still in awe! I'm coming back for sure!!!

I had a bad experience at Alliance Française in Ottawa, although I've heard good things from other…read morepeople. I had a received a credit towards any class or private classes after cancelling a course (they don't do refunds). I emailed the school multiple times to set up private classes and no one ever got back to me. I finally I went in person and spoke to someone who took my availability and said she would email me later that week to set something up, she never did. Nor did she answer my emails politely asking for an update. About three weeks later I went in person again and she finally set up two private classes. I had specifically asked for someone who speaks with a European accent, and they gave me a teacher from the Caribbean. Not a big deal, she spoke very clearly, but for an $80 session I thought it was a bit weird that they wouldn't grant my request. The first class I asked the teacher if we could focus more on conversation and listening, and I could make a note any errors I was making. Since I was studying to take the TFI French exam, she said we could make that the focus of our next class and she would bring all the teaching material to go over the following week. The next class she didn't show up, I waited and eventually had to ask the reception to call her and she showed up 30 min later. She didn't bring any of the coursework for the TFI exam that I was looking forward to reviewing, and she had nothing prepared. I figured we might as well do conversational French again, as I wanted to take advantage of having a native speaker. But she insisted on spending our time writing on the board. I explained that I know how important verb conjugations are (I practice them at home), but that I would like to work on my speaking and listening skills. She reluctantly agreed, but her attitude changed and she started acting bored and irritated with me. It got so bad I eventually just walked out. Needless to say, I'm not planning to go back. I am now using a service called italki to speak with native speakers over Skype and I am much happier with it. Good luck to everyone in their language learning adventures, I hope your experience with AF is better than mine!

From the owner: Alliance Française Ottawa is a language center, an exam center and cultural center that offers…read moredifferent francophone activities to the community, in addition to the library and Culturethèque (online library). It is also a language center that offers French courses for adults, companies, and government employees. The organization is part of a wide international network created in 1883 whose missions are to promote French language and Francophone cultures around the world. Found in 134 countries, the Alliances Françaises are non-profit organizations founded locally. As such, Alliance Française Ottawa is a Canadian association founded in 1905.

pretty good , intensive but enjoyable . Very good experience and organized and methodical.read more

It's been great so far! The intensive course feels like it drags on because of the session length…read morebut overall great course so far!

Booking to do your road tests and Walkley? Think again…read more When I went here to do my Written test for my G1 Test, I had no problem with passing the written test, and I had no issue with waiting times, the person I was with at the main desk was for the most part nice, and the people at the part to do your written test were for the most part nice. However, don't let that fool you, I just did my G2 Road test yesterday, and I feel like the examiner I had took me a bit too seriously when it came to my turns, whenever directed me to turn left or right, he repeated the same directions twice, which give me a sign that he probably thought I was putting my turn signals on too late, however... That wasn't the case, last time I checked, you're supposed to only signal when you get to the intersection you intend to turn in and never do it at intersections you're not even going to turn in because then pedestrians and other vehicles will think that's where you're turning instead of where you ACTUALLY intend to turn, additionally, the examiner I had was just hard to understand because he had an accent. But none of that was the real issue. The issue I have with this place is, the area is just a bad area to do road tests in, especially during rush hour, people always do things improperly and do the wrong things, which was part of what intervened with me screwing me up my road test, I won't say why I ended up blowing my road test, because it was actually something I didn't know. In conclusion, 2 stars is my rating. I looked at the drivetest center in Whinchester, and based of what I saw, the one in Whinchester looks way more promising for road tests then this. Good luck to those who hopefully pass.

tl;dr/ examiner #386 at walkey drivetest in ottawa needs to be fired asap…read more just got out of my g2 road test at walkley test center in ottawa and my examiner was genuinely terrible. examiner #386 was genuinely the worst person you could ever have sit in a car with you. aside from his insanely cold demeanor and rushing you and giving instructions suddenly and like genuinely being the most miserable, unwelcoming, and anxiety inducing individual i have ever met, his reasons for failing me were absurd. while one or two reasons made sense and i do not think i am a perfect driver whatsoever, there were many things he said that were absolutely wrong and had no reason to fail me for whatsoever. we came to an intersection and my test was at 8 AM when school kids are walking around and getting to bus stops etc. i get to the intersection and there is a traffic director with a bunch of school kids behind her. she crosses halfway through the road and then sees a car (it arrived at the intersection before me) and she turns back to the sidewalk again which was very strange. i let the car go and then i had the right of way, but from the left side of the intersection another car arrived, did not fully stop at the stop sign/was still rolling and persisted on crossing the intersection before me. obviously because there was no other choice but to crash into the car, i let it go first even tho i had the right of way. the examiner said "you had the right of way, why did you let the car go?" and i told him i would have crashed into the car what was i supposed to do? and he just did not respond. we were also in the school zone near the walkley drivetest and as far as i was told the speed limit was 30 because pedestrians snd school kids would be crossing. this guy got mad at me for being too slow and when i told him it was a school zone he said "the school zone sign was knocked down so i don't expect you to see it, and therefore i expect you to go at 40-50". are we serious right now? he also kept insisting i wasn't going the speed limit but i am certain i was. i also do not mean this to be discriminatory in the slightest but this guy had the THICKEST accent ever i could not understand a word of english he spoke, and on top of that he was wearing a mask so his voice was super muffled. i'd have to ask him to repeat his instructions again and again which was really annoying when i had to focus on the road. i know other people who had this same guy as their examiner and they all had the same experience. he tells them to do things that compromise your safety and don't make sense as long as you follow the rules by the book, which is REALLY dumb because you are supposed to use your judgement when driving and only drive when it's safe. it was better for me to wait and not risk crashing/running a kid over than to be in a rush especially when there is no reason to rush. i filed a complaint but i also wanted to make this known because so many people i know have had very unpleasant experiences with him and i think he needs to be fired immediately.

Booker BEWARE! This…read morecompany is a huge scam, We (my daughter) booked this company (Baseline location) for her drivers ed experience, after making the full payment and waiting over a week and book in-class sessions, we received a text to reschedule her in-class at 11pm the day before (due to lack of participation), my daughter booked that week off being in a PSW environment she had to get other to cover her shift to complete these mandatory sessions, she went in the next day and the lady working couldn't find her a better time there for my daughter asked for her refund to be able to book elsewhere to accommodate getting the session done while off. Lady said refunds are completed by the owner in another country (a lie) after many phone calls and yelling matches and name calling and me try (her mom) finally we got a refund days after the confrontation with said dude who was the irrate person. He's unprofessional, rude, abrupt, disrespectful. After threats of the BBB and a legal action we finally got our refund at 11pm at night! This man is scamming our young people ! BEWARE !

Fortunately I am not a student at this school because when I called to inquire, the guy answering…read morethe phone was so rude, talked over me and hung up on me. So I took the registration for 2 people to Young Driver School, and signed up for the most expensive course at Young Driver (which is twice what I was willing to pay at Universal Driving). That is to say I am willing to spend money on a good program, and clearly Universal Driving School is not one. I read the review from other people and I can confirm the experience is bad. When it comes to driving, you want a good school that care about teaching you how to drive safely, and tend to your concerns rather than someone who is just after your money.UsefulFunnyCool

Wow, I don't even know what to say as I write this. I called in with a simple question, "Do you…read moreoffer Direct Billing for Veterans" Whoever answered could have easily just said no, but instead he said "We are not interested in that" "Why would we take people's garbage?" Then hung up on me. This was one second ago so these quotes are verbatim. What an insult, in this day and age...to a Veteran who injured his back serving this country. I hate to quote Donald Trump but this was just sad. To anyone reading this I suggest going ANYWHERE but here.