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View Full Version : Review: Bookers BBQ & Crab shack



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.

Neil4Speed
03-29-2010, 07:38 AM
Yeah, Bookers has been a bit of a let down the last couple times I went. I very rarely send food back, (I can't remember if I ever have to say truthfully), but the seafood chowder I had was absolutely refrigerator cold. The pulled pork and side was alright, however their monster servings are now gone.

On the plus side, they have renovated and look allot better than they did, and the price is still pretty reasonable. We just went to Ruth Chris' for Dessert.

403Gemini
03-29-2010, 11:15 AM
I enjoy the food there, I go there for the all you can eat crab legs every month or so with some friends... but I agree the service has never been anything spectacular... average at best.

Sometimes took 20 min to get another drink (even waving down the waitress 2-3 times and asking repeatedly), when they were shutting down the kitchen they asked how many more buckets of crab legs we wanted so we each said we wanted 1 bucket each, they brought us 2 buckets (6 of us at the time)...

I guess I'll start getting there a bit earlier, but yeah, service is a damn shame cause the place has a pretty nice atmosphere. I remember one time i went the waitress couldnt even get the bottle of wine open and i had to do it...

C_Dave45
04-03-2010, 01:50 PM
So I will update this;

I sent an email to the general manager. I didn't bitch or whine...just stated the facts and that I was disappointed, but also gave credit where credit was due.

within minutes they responded, apologized for my experience and said they totally dropped the ball. They immediately offered me a GC and within two days I received a $100 GC to go back.

Every restaurant can make mistakes and have a bad night...and I was impressed with how Bookers handled this.
So I'll go back...maybe try the unlimited crab legs.

Ven
04-04-2010, 09:56 AM
The GM there is really good. If there's something not 100% he'll resolve it immediately, no bullshit. He's accessible too, he usually goes from table to table and chats for a while. That goes for the Executive Chef too, when he has time. We went on the opening night (first customers there) and have been back 4 more times since. The wife and I prefer the old Bookers, from the menu to the decor, but still really enjoy the new place. It's a great place to go. Don't miss the all you can eat ribs and snow crab!


Damnit, now I'm hungry.

Speed_69
04-04-2010, 12:34 PM
You complained because the food came out too quickly??

Talk about being picky! I could care less if my entree came out right after the appetizer. Would you rather wait an hour for your food to come out instead?

Advice for you..never go eat at a vietnamese restaurant. You'll be even more dissapointed.

C_Dave45
04-05-2010, 07:12 AM
Originally posted by Speed_69
You complained because the food came out too quickly??

Talk about being picky! I could care less if my entree came out right after the appetizer. Would you rather wait an hour for your food to come out instead?

Advice for you..never go eat at a vietnamese restaurant. You'll be even more dissapointed.

A special romantic anniversary dinner and the main entree arrives before you've had a chance to start your appetizer and pre-dinner drinks? you bet...no classy restaurant would do this. And the manager rightfully admitted so.
You obviously have no experience when it comes to fine dining. And thanks for the advice...I'll stay away from 'nam restaurants.

kevie88
04-05-2010, 08:19 AM
I really enjoy Bookers, I have had great service and great food there. I LOVE the all you can eat crab nights.

Sorry it didn't work out for you OP, but I certainly wouldn't consider Bookers a 'fine dining' restaurant. Sounds like you expected a 4-5 star plus experience from a 2-3 star joint.

ExtraSlow
04-05-2010, 08:58 AM
C_Dave45, if you want that nice relaxed pace at a lower class restaraunt, don't order your main course until your appetizer is eaten. Don't let them take the menus away.
I pull that move if I'm looking for a long dinner with the wife. Even chili's or a nammer hangout can't fuck it up if you don't let them.

Kritafo
04-05-2010, 10:08 AM
Jack FM posted a coupon for Bookers Tonight. All you can eat Ribs 28.95 you need to print off the coupon from the FB Matt & Eric jack FM fanpage.