alloy

an out of the way ~ fusion surprise. excellent fare.. this restaurant produces exceptional quality fusion food items. the atmosphere is elegant yet comfortable.
uniquely housed in the industrial area of the s.e., (which i appreciate, no freakish venue costs) - truly a refreshing calgary addition to the "foody scene". romantic dinners or professional luncheons, your guests will be pleasantly surprised.
i will bebackmr. uri (owner & head chef) - well done you!

overrated. there was so much hype about alloy that we just had to check it out. i heard it was very elegant and nice inside, but i got a tacky feeling from the decor and design of alloy. it felt like we were in an old funeral home! the food was alright but nothing special. our server was great, very knowledgable, friendly and efficient.
i might gobackbut i can name at least 5 other restaurants/restolounges in calgary that i would much rather go to! 5/10

overall impression - just ok.. pork belly - we had to return the pork belly since it was literally all fat, no meat. you obviously expect a good portion of fat when you order the pork belly, but the ratio on a piece that was about 2.5 inches high was 99% fat, 1% meat - not good.

tuna - we tried the tuna after retuning the pork belly, and it was flavorless.

lobster risotto - this was awesome, and i would highly recommend.

mushroom gnocchi - this was also good, but it's a relatively simple dish.

after being so disappointed in the appetizers, we decided not to spend approx. $40 on dinner. i was really expecting an awesome meal, but based on what we tried, i would not gobackfor a while.

i

this is a place i’ve been meaning to go for quite some time. unfortunately i was wildly disappointed on all fronts. the chefs tasting menu was what we opted to go for as a table. the food itself was generally good, but by no means something i would gobackfor. four courses, with a particularly good seafood course but was juxtaposed by an exceptionally bad course of unimaginatively flavoured shoe leather tough steak.

here is my issue with this place. it’s the value part of it. the food was good, but the thoughtfulness of each dish was a bit lacking. moreover, our waitress was horrendous; condescending, pretentious, and not attentive. when asked basic questions about drinks, “is this drink boozy,” rather than getting an answer, i was fed more of a politically spun answer that was laden with cues that i was though a bit of troglodyte. “we don’t do boozy, we do balanced drinks that showcase the liquor”... throughout the meal we were never checked on, glasses of water were rarely (at best) filled and when the bill was finally delivered it was done with a curt remark, pulling the card from my father in laws hand and shovedbacktowards him.

the bottom line: from a food standpoint - it’s fine. service - terrible. for the money that you work hard to earn, spend it somewhere else.

the food is very delicious. their signature dish is the beef rib. this is fantastic. it's braised for 8 hours and served on a bed of mashed potatoes and grilled green beans.....what more could you ask for? the beef falls apart and is seasoned perfectly. the staff are friendly. the only thing keeping me from goingbackis how far away it is from everything, but certainly worth a try.

decor, presentation and concept are highlights of this restaurant. service is friendly and professional. food preparation could be improved. the food is not awful, but it isn't outstanding either. the main pork dish was cold and under cooked. many of the dishes were either over salted (eg. lobster risotto and lamb main course) or lacking in flavor (prawn appetizer, pork main dish). ordered dessert (hot brownie with coconut gelato) and coffee. desserts arrived without coffee. server came by 5 minutes later to tell us he was in the process of making the coffee. asked him to takebackthe dessert in the meantime. coffee eventually delivered with dessert. the brownie had been reheated but the coconut gelato had clearly not been replaced. dessert ended up being a $10 gloppy mess as a result.

i  had dinner here with my boyfriend about a week ago.
very nice décors, the place did smell like tuna when we came in, but the food and service makes up for it.
there's a cute little dining area outside i think would be perfect for dinner when it's a bit darker out. so cute.
we started out with two appetizers to share, the pork belly with pomegranate glaze, and the crab cakes.
there was something that tasted pickled that accompanied the crab cakes which i wasn't a big fan of. they were not bad, just okay.
the pork belly was amazing, one of the best things i have ever eaten. texture was perfect and the coleslaw that came with it, complemented it well.
 
for the main course, we both ordered the beef short ribs. it was served on top of a ragu, and a dallop of what i believe could be sour cream on it. 
i loved everything about it, everything about it just worked. my boyfriend however did not care for the ragu.

we then ordered dessert to share, the creme brulee, it was very good as well.

overall the dinning experience was good. portions are a bit small for the asking price, but quality made up for it.
i would definitely comebackjust for the pork belly.

been a few times. all times were great except for my last. our meals were presented nicely, however mine was severely undercooked. they took my mealbackand reheated it rather than providing a new dish. however, the reheated dish camebackout very overcooked.

delicious food and intimate setting. we decided to go to this restaurant for my birthday because it was right beside the holiday inn that we were staying at, also we love trying new places. making the reservation was very easy, left a message on their phone and they calledbackright away. hostess was very pleasant on the phone. we made a reservation for 6 people plus a 1 year old, i specifically asked if it was acceptable to bring my young daughter and they said of course. when we arrived again the hostess was very polite and friendly, but we found out they do not have high chairs. luckily enough we had a portable high chair in which they were more than happy to allow it. also no change tables for babies. the restaurant is beautifully decorated, nice lighting and could accomodate a large group or a romantic date. they are completly fine with kids but i did feel bad for having my young daughter there as she likes her voice and does not sit still. i would not take my daughterbackbut i would definitly gobackwith my husband. i would take an older child that can sit still and listen. the food was amazing. for appies we had the prawn tempura which melted in our mouth and the truffle gnocci which was creamy and not too strong of a flavour, it was just perfect. for the main courses i had the beef short rib which was so tender and pulled apart so easily. the meal sizes were perect it was a nice portion of food that filled everyone up, even my husband but not too much food that you have to take anything home. we felt the prices were reasonablely matched to the food and portions. no one out of our group had a bad meal, everyone was soo impressed with the flavours of their food. the only thing we would suggest is for our server to smile a little more, she was very serious and not sure if she was annoyed by us or what, but everyone else that worked there was smiling and greeting us. soo yummy, cant wait to gobackas they change their menu with the seasons!

hugely disappointing. hugely disappointing. this is my second and last time at this restaurant. my husband and i went with my sister and brother-in-law for a special occasion. i will start with the positives - the truffle gnocchi appetizer and the wine recommended to us was fabulous.

now the negatives: my sister and i ordered the same entrée - the soy miso chicken. neither of us could eat it. the chicken was overcooked thus very dry and exceptionally salty - no miso favour apparent, just store bought bottled soya sauce. the "special potatoes" were like glue and were presented by the server as "tim bits". our server did not once return to enquire if we were enjoying our meals. when she finally showed up, the men had finished theirs; she asked if she could box our full plates up for us!!! we expressed our disappointment; she took our meals away and camebackto say the manager and chef agreed the meal was overly-salty. neither the manager nor the chef took the time to respond to our disappointment at our table.

our server offered a replacement meal or complimentary dessert. since it took ages for us to get our meals, we opted for the dessert. a new (server?) served our dessert and left. she did not even ask if anyone wanted coffee!! the dessert was a joke - a "de-constructed" rhubarb crisp - an attempt at being creative but missed the mark entirely. we ate it because we were starving.

my brother-in-law felt his salmon was raw but he didn't complain. the issue is that any fine-dining establishment would have explained how the salmon would be prepared and asked if this would be acceptable. this would have ensured the customer would not be disappointed.

when we received our bill, our two barely-touched entrees were fully charged; dessert was complimentary. so very disappointing to experience such poor service and food. i accept that things can go wrong in a kitchen but the solution offered, the lack concern on behalf of management, and 5 star prices make this a do not return restaurant.

worse service ever!!!. a terrible experience!

the experience started with the server asking us if we wanted still or sparking water. not knowing she was trying to up sell us, we asked for both still and sparking. we thought that alloy probably had a filtering system that made their own water similar to other fine dining restaurants like charcut, cibo, notables, etc. we were shocked when we saw the giant bottles at our table. hindsight we should have asked if it was "bottled" water she was selling. on the flip side, she should have offered still, sparking or tap. we were even more upset to find out both bottles cost $8 each. we both really wanted to try a cocktail and a glass of wine but couldn't anymore because of the water.

we ordered appetizers that was tasteless and extremely expensive for what you got. afterwards, i ordered the fish special which was cod. it came out partially raw. when i asked the server about this, i got an attitude saying they do cook it slightly rare and offered to put itbackinto the pan without any apology. usually cod is not served sashimi style and i was shocked that it was served raw. i decided to send itbackto be cooked more and it took the manager to come and apologize for the dish. even after the dish was redone it did not taste good especially for the costs of the plate.

let's just say i will not gobackor recommend the restaurant.

amazing. i make a point of using urbanspoon every time i am looking for somewhere new to eat and since i am storm stayed in calgary i looked for places close to the hotel. this place is right off of macloed trail in calgary, north of the chinook mall. they start you off with some warm bread, hummus, and olives to get you settled. i then ordered the braised short ribs and the deconstructed pumpkin pie for desert. the food was amazing, atmosphere was great and you can tell this is a high end place. i will definitely be comingbackwould be a great place for celebrating any occasion!

terrific atmosphere really unique decor and ambience. micheal our server was fantastic! we shared the pork belly starter which was seasoned perfectly with just enough crispy skin to make it perfect. the short rib main was everything as promised and then some. i'll he goingbackfor sure.

pricey but good food and well presented. my pet peeve is being asked on arrival if i want still or carbonated water to drink. i fell for this trick the first time ordering the fizzy stuff only to find it tacked on my bill for $7 at the end of the night. would gobackfor special occasion only and maybe i would feel ok saying 'yes ' to the fizzy stuff!

most disgusting starch dish i have ever had. we went here as a party of four: overall the service was subpar, and the food was not worth the money.... also, there was a weird smell all of us noticed upon walking in. we all concluded it smelled like a dirty bathroom in the entire dining room. something that concerned us all about the facility (maybe a toilet blew up somewhere).

1) service: i had told the hostess on the side that we were celebrating a birthday, and she assured us the waiter would be informed so we wouldn't have to mention it in front of the birthday person. she said they would provide a complimentary dessert with a candle. it never happened. we were even charged for the dessert we ordered. the waiter was inattentive and unsociable. he took our order, and served without us even checking in to see how the food was. i waited the entire meal for him to come by so i could tell him something was wrong with my food. he never came until it was too late to even bother complaining. the restaurant wasn't even full, and it was a monday night. among the worst services at a fine dining restaurant we have ever had.

2) food quality: we each ordered a different dish. i had braised beef short ribs that came with a squash cannelloni as a starch, and a broccollini veggie side. the beef short ribs were very good (but how can you really mess up a braised dish?). the meat fell apart nicely when you cut into it, and the broccollini was cooked well. but the cannelloni it came with tasted like raw flour, filling and all. it was weird because the pasta shell was really mushy and overcooked, but the whole thing had a very weird, off-taste to it. i have never tasted any starch or pasta dish that bad before. it was awful. i even had my fiance try it, who usually eats almost anything, and he hated it. i wanted to like it so much (i love cannelloni or any pasta, squash or potato puree - so how can you go wrong?), but i have never had anything from a restaurant taste so disgusting in my life. we likened it to raw flour, as if someone mixed raw flour into the filling?? i made sure neither of us touched it anymore because i was worried we might get food poisoning from the cannelloni. i usually don't send food back, but this time i wanted to send itbackbut the waiter never came to check on us, so i just finished the beef and vegetables and left the entire cannelloni (i didn't want to make a fuss especially with our friends around). but he never camebackuntil it was time to take everyone's empty plates. he never even mentioned or asked why my cannelloni was pretty much untouched. i was really disappointed in the service. i never had a chance to even express to the waiter how i was served raw flour in my starch dish. i let him take it away without saying a word, because it was getting late into the evening.

the rest of the food: the pheasant, like other reviews stated, was dry and tasted like chicken. apparently the yam puree it came with was good though. overall our party rated it not worth the $33 they charged.

the featured fish dish (steelhead trout), was okay but nothing to sing home about for $30. anyone could easily take a piece of store-bought salmon, stick it in the oven, come out with something like what they served. it tasted like a cheap piece of salmon.

the broek pork was actually pretty decent. i usually don't go for pork chops because they are often tough and dry. but this one was pretty tender and nicely marinated. it came with a tasty side of braised kale. this was $29, and probably the best of the four dishes. my beef short ribs would have been my favorite if it wasn't for the gigantic piece of raw dough in the middle of the plate that pretty ruined my palette and the entire dish.

dessert was okay, it was the chocolate and peanut butter pate. the menu said it came with roasted peanuts, but there wasn't a single peanut. they did sprinkle little flower petals all over the dessert which frankly made it really annoying to eat around.

oh, and before i forget, their appetizers: we got the duck duo (duck pate and duck chorizo sausage), which was super pretentious - the pate was not good. i have had much better elsewhere. this one tasted too 'livery' - a good pate (especially foie gras) does not have that strong liver taste. even if its made of fattened liver, it should taste smooth and rich, not bitter. the chorizo duck sausage didn't taste like anything special. not worth the $16 they charge.

the shimp/crab corn fritters were decent, but overpriced. 5 balls of little fritters for $15... okay but not a great price for what you get.

overall: like other people, we agree its not worth the money. there are some decent dishes, but with all of the hit and misses on their menu, i wouldn't eat here again if i can help it.

the first time i went to this restaurant should have been a red flag, when they coated my steak so heavily with peppercorn, it burned my throat and mouth. i couldn't even taste the actual meat, and sadly couldn't finish the dish - i hate wasting food.

all 4 of us regretted coming here. we wish we went for a nice affordable place with less pretentious food, and doesn't serve raw flour to you.

also, the smell of rotten toilet didn't help.