C_Dave45
03-29-2010, 07:21 AM
We decided to spend our anniversary downtown Calgary and stayed at the Palliser. Planning a special dinner we scoured the net and asked around for the best "steak n seafood" place. She loves Lobster, I love my rib eye's. And some live entertainment would be nice.
The hotel recommended "Bookers" (http://www.bookersbbq.com/). We looked online and they seemed to have everything. The "menu" (http://www.bookersbbq.com/CMS/uploads/6.pdf) looked awesome and had both our favorites. Using "opentable.com", we made reservations for 8:00, since the band started around 9:30 -10:00. Within seconds our confirmation number was emailed back to my blackberry...."wow, this restaurant is right on top of things". The rez even had a "special request" field, where we asked for a "quiet table off in the corner somewhere".
We arrived at 8 and quickly seated at a table right smack in the middle of the restaurant. :( Oh well...no biggey, we'll make the best of it. Mouths watering at the thought of our favorite meal, we open the menu to discover...they had changed the menu months earlier and had done away with both the Lobster and the rib eye steaks!! :eek:
So, by now its too late to go anywhere else, we order anyways. (its now 8:05....the time plays a factor). At 8:10 our appi's arrive with our drinks. (note: pre-dinner drinks). We take a spoonfull of the seafood chowder, (mmm very good) and a swallow of our drinks. We both go to the washroom for a couple of minutes. Coming back to our table she comes running up.."Oh good, you're back...because you asked for a rare steak, its already coming out". WHAT?!!!!! BOTH our entrees are coming out NOW?? So at 8:15 Im sitting at a table with a full bowl of chowder, a highball, and my main entree!!. I can't even have a glass of wine with my steak! Eating as slow as we could, we were finished our "romantic" meal at 8:43. At least an hour before live entertainment. The desert menu had no appeal, and by now we were quite disappointed with the whole experience. So we cab'd it over to the Keg for their awesome cheesecake and coffee. The waiter there even "comp'd" our cheesecake. Should've gone there to begin with.
Bookers overall:
Food; good
ambiance: good
Service: poor
restaurant: poor organizational skills...keep up to date for you online menus, pay attention to your "special requests".
*edit* (after very quick response from General Manager)
Bookers really stepped up to the plate and made a good impression of handling their mistake. As I said, the food we DID have was good. atmosphere was great, and the situation was resolved by the restaurant. Will be going back for sure. Kudos to Bookers.
The hotel recommended "Bookers" (http://www.bookersbbq.com/). We looked online and they seemed to have everything. The "menu" (http://www.bookersbbq.com/CMS/uploads/6.pdf) looked awesome and had both our favorites. Using "opentable.com", we made reservations for 8:00, since the band started around 9:30 -10:00. Within seconds our confirmation number was emailed back to my blackberry...."wow, this restaurant is right on top of things". The rez even had a "special request" field, where we asked for a "quiet table off in the corner somewhere".
We arrived at 8 and quickly seated at a table right smack in the middle of the restaurant. :( Oh well...no biggey, we'll make the best of it. Mouths watering at the thought of our favorite meal, we open the menu to discover...they had changed the menu months earlier and had done away with both the Lobster and the rib eye steaks!! :eek:
So, by now its too late to go anywhere else, we order anyways. (its now 8:05....the time plays a factor). At 8:10 our appi's arrive with our drinks. (note: pre-dinner drinks). We take a spoonfull of the seafood chowder, (mmm very good) and a swallow of our drinks. We both go to the washroom for a couple of minutes. Coming back to our table she comes running up.."Oh good, you're back...because you asked for a rare steak, its already coming out". WHAT?!!!!! BOTH our entrees are coming out NOW?? So at 8:15 Im sitting at a table with a full bowl of chowder, a highball, and my main entree!!. I can't even have a glass of wine with my steak! Eating as slow as we could, we were finished our "romantic" meal at 8:43. At least an hour before live entertainment. The desert menu had no appeal, and by now we were quite disappointed with the whole experience. So we cab'd it over to the Keg for their awesome cheesecake and coffee. The waiter there even "comp'd" our cheesecake. Should've gone there to begin with.
Bookers overall:
Food; good
ambiance: good
Service: poor
restaurant: poor organizational skills...keep up to date for you online menus, pay attention to your "special requests".
*edit* (after very quick response from General Manager)
Bookers really stepped up to the plate and made a good impression of handling their mistake. As I said, the food we DID have was good. atmosphere was great, and the situation was resolved by the restaurant. Will be going back for sure. Kudos to Bookers.