You Know What Really Grinds My Gears? Now with 3x more gears...

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I didn't realize they changed but it has been about a year since my last visit. I would guess they saw an opening in the high end steakhouse market in the NW and decided it was a good business opportunity. We only have The Keg along with Nick's and neither of those are really high end places, in my opinion.

Nick's is just okay, but I agree it isn't high end. It's very "northwest" (aka just kinda blah and ####tier than everything the south side of Calgary has to offer). Perfect for the northies, really.

The Keg isn't a high-end dining experience, either, but it's an absolute sweet spot for me as I lean more casual. The food, though. OMG. It's my favourite. I love getting the filet mignon with twice baked potato, wedge salad, etc. That's a magical meal. So while it's not fine dining, the food is always consistently outstanding. Best chain I can think of.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Nick's is just okay, but I agree it isn't high end. It's very "northwest" (aka just kinda blah and ####tier than everything the south side of Calgary has to offer). Perfect for the northies, really.

The Keg isn't a high-end dining experience, either, but it's an absolute sweet spot for me as I lean more casual. The food, though. OMG. It's my favourite. I love getting the filet mignon with twice baked potato, wedge salad, etc. That's a magical meal. So while it's not fine dining, the food is always consistently outstanding. Best chain I can think of.

Heads up loser. There are 2 da kegs in the NW. lol

Longview Steakhouse is better than the Keg and it's even further South.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Nick's is just okay, but I agree it isn't high end. It's very "northwest" (aka just kinda blah and ####tier than everything the south side of Calgary has to offer). Perfect for the northies, really.

The Keg isn't a high-end dining experience, either, but it's an absolute sweet spot for me as I lean more casual. The food, though. OMG. It's my favourite. I love getting the filet mignon with twice baked potato, wedge salad, etc. That's a magical meal. So while it's not fine dining, the food is always consistently outstanding. Best chain I can think of.

The Keg is the Swiss Chalet of Steak Houses

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Longview Steakhouse is better than the Keg and it's even further South.

Have you been here

https://silverslatearena.com/steak-house.php

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Heads up loser. There are 2 da kegs in the NW. lol

Longview Steakhouse is better than the Keg and it's even further South.

An ideal choice, if you like booking your dining experiences a year in advance. They also have a mythical B&B and the breakfast is supposed to be outstanding? Any CPers ever experience the B&B?

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Have you been here

https://silverslatearena.com/steak-house.php

No. is it good?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

No. is it good?

Negative

I hear a lot about it from my Mother in Law.

She is 80

I don't trust her restaurant choices.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Negative

I hear a lot about it from my Mother in Law.

She is 80

I don't trust her restaurant choices.

hmmm i'm going to check it out then. If an 80 year old recommends a steak house it must be sooooo tender... lol

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

It doesn't mean anything, that's just nonsense. "Next level" means "change your restaurant concept?"

I will say brunch and lunch still seem more or less as before. I wonder if this is a thing where they determined people didn't want to pay "above Earls" prices for a quality sit-down dinner without a theme of some sort attached to it. Either way I will try it eventually it's just... there are already good steakhouses and I liked NoTable as a less "niche" thing.

I also enjoyed their old menu and still have a gift card to use. Biggest gripe is they don't have an espresso machine so can't get espresso martini's or any good coffee drinks. Seemed odd a pretty fancy place didn't have an espresso machine and only served drip coffee

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Heads up loser. There are 2 da kegs in the NW. lol

Longview Steakhouse is better than the Keg and it's even further South.

Yeah, we let you guys have some of our nice things, but we certainly don't want any of yours. I think Nick's expanded into Cochrane? Makes sense for the brand for sure.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Flacker

An ideal choice, if you like booking your dining experiences a year in advance. They also have a mythical B&B and the breakfast is supposed to be outstanding? Any CPers ever experience the B&B?

I haven't but I think I might try to; for one thing if you book the B&B you get a reso at the restaurant for dinner too.

I have eaten there twice. They've both been a very good experience and the whole atmosphere is great. It's also incredibly reasonably priced for the whole experience and especially in light of the exclusivity. But despite the hype and the impossibility of getting reservations, the actual food is not, like, out of this world amazing, as steak goes. It's just very, very good. You can get a meal of roughly equivalent quality at Chairman's, for example, and nothing Longview serves is at the level of what you could get at like... Jacobs in Toronto, just in terms of the quality of the beef - of course noting that you can spend $500 or more on a single steak at a place like that. They're different categories.

Longview does seem to be incredibly consistent though, as well same experience every time which is impressive. Like I say I've only been there twice but I know a bunch of people who do it every year.

[fotze2]

My wife did culinary at SAIT after two degrees. Worked in the industry. I will never eat a noble business. He should call his next restaurant Doosh.

[Weitz]

Longview might be the most over rated restaurant I have been to. Waited the outrageous time for a reservation and was really underwhelmed.

[curves2000]

Steakhouses and steak in general is still incredibly popular for dining these days even at non traditional places. Always has and always will be. A lot of restaurants aren't doing great these days as it's death by a thousand cuts so to speak but with steak you know what you are getting.

A lot of places are just a total rip off these days from any sort basic value perspective, trying to justify menu prices on non traditional metrics.

Although I have been a few times to Notable, their primary thing was chicken and how much can you realistically charge for chicken on an on going basis before people start to wonder what they are paying for?

A 10 oz steak is a 10 oz steak where a lot of places will really skimp on protein (ie food cost) and try to make it up with other low cost items.

[Table 5]

I had no idea Longview had a crazy long waitlist when I ate there randomly a few years ago on a drive down to Waterton. I just walked up and asked for a table. It probably helped that it was just me and I was on the early side of dinner. I agree that it was really good, but I'm not sure I'd call it anything extraordinary either. I still prefer the steak from Vintage. A little more hit and miss, but I do like the Keg too for what it is.

Originally Posted by Sliver

Yeah, we let you guys have some of our nice things, but we certainly don't want any of yours. I think Nick's expanded into Cochrane? Makes sense for the brand for sure.

You might be surprised, but Cochrane has some good gems. Aama Nepalese, My Greek Plate, Pascal's Pattiserie...

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Table 5

You might be surprised, but Cochrane has some good gems. Aama Nepalese, My Greek Plate, Pascal's Pattiserie...

Mehtab East Indian is really good out there.

[Fuzz]

Never go to Keg's near Universities or the like. All the staff will be students, and in my experience are not very talented steak cookers. The one on 11th downtown used to be good.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Nick's is just okay, but I agree it isn't high end. It's very "northwest" (aka just kinda blah and ####tier than everything the south side of Calgary has to offer). Perfect for the northies, really.

The Keg isn't a high-end dining experience, either, but it's an absolute sweet spot for me as I lean more casual. The food, though. OMG. It's my favourite. I love getting the filet mignon with twice baked potato, wedge salad, etc. That's a magical meal. So while it's not fine dining, the food is always consistently outstanding. Best chain I can think of.

I like the prime rib at the keg with horse radish. I don't really bother with high end steak in Calgary though. Not hard to DIY a quality steak, so I prefer trying different stuff when I go to high end places.

[habernac]

Cattle Baron isn’t terrible.

[Wormius]

I thought Mr Mikes was the Swiss Chalet of steaks.