alloy

outstanding food. this is a very contemporary restaurant. the atmosphere is very contemporary, the food is exstremely creative and delicous. the wine list is fantastic and the service was great. it is very expensive but well worth the money.
the contemporary but lively atmosphere makes it a greatplacefor a date or party, not the best for entertaining clients. there is no real lounge either. i will definatley go back.

wow, wow, wow! loved it! went for lunch, and had steak frites and was very pleased with quality of meat and the frites where delicious - i realize it’s unusual to comment on fries, but they were really good!! placeis tucked away and unassuming, but as you walk in, it is very classy and you instantly forget where you are. we didn’t sit in the patio, but looked very nice as well. i will be back!!

this is aplacei’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 go back for. 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 shoved back towards 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.

i love theplaceand ambiance. the food was great too. nice and friendly staff. i would like to try here on summer. this is a niceplaceto celebrate special occasions.

alloy-us to take you on a journey

alloy - govna! originally we were both a little nervous meeting ken and crystal from instagram... being that they operate a cross fit gym... and we just had ice cream for lunch... but it was an absolute pleasure!

webster’s dictionary defines “alloy” as “a substance composed of two or more metals or of a metal and a nonmetal intimately united usually by being fused together and dissolving in each other when molten”… we can only assume the visionary behind the name was going for the alternate definition of “a compound, mixture, or union of different things”, and i gotta say, a lot of different things were being compounded here.

right when you park you think to yourself, “hmmmm, this is likely aplacefor a murder or diabolical plan to occur”. when you walk in you feel like you are on the set of “mad men”, compounding both style, class, and a subtle hint of fear. the combinations didn’t stop there! the flavor combinations were exceptional, tuna and cantaloupe, vanilla and duck, and olives and hummus! it was a non-stop flavor explosion.

now, everything about it was high on all fronts, however, to be fair to our readers, this is very much one of those “quality over quantity” places. we did the tasting menu and it was phenomenal but the price tag was also one of the more exceptional yet. definitely worth a try, but i want to make sure our readers know what restaurant they are getting themselves into!

alloy would be highly suggested as a classy date or a celebration of a historic event (anniversary, bonus, or kids moving out) but i would caution inviting all your friends for your birthday party, because they may hesitate in footing the bill for you. however, for our readers seeking some of calgary’s classiest establishments, check this 4.4 gem out!

follow our instagram (@a.couple.of.couples) and our twitter (@foodie_foursome) for more reviews!

p.s. if you are out of hand towels at your house you can easily steal some from alloy... the paper towels in the washroom... felt like the finest silk linens from egypt.

i  had dinner here with my boyfriend about a week ago.
very nice décors, theplacedid 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 come back just for the pork belly.

they should be stripped of the terms "fine dining". i had ordered the lamb for $46 dollars. my food came out luke warm and the quality of the lamb is maybe something you get at local mom and popsplacethat has mediocre food at best. the lamb was chewy and underseasoned. the sauce that went with it was great but there wasn't enough sauce on my plate. our group was 12 people and everyone agreed that their main dish was "barely ok or unacceptable"

our waiter was great, my only complaint was that in a high end restaurant, if the customer is unharppy there should be a discount on the bill. our entire table didn't enjoy their mains and there was no discount. to be called fine dining there's a certain level of class and character when it comes to reputation of good food. thisplacehad no good food and made no effort in character to make up for it hence i believed it' should be stripped of the the right to use the term "fine dining" fine would be the last adjective i would use for the food, but i did enjoy the atmosphere.

been here a few times and the restaurant inside is amazing, but that's about it. the service was beyond slow, our waiter rarely checked up on us, our water was maybe refilled twice. food was fast, but mediocre considering how much they charge per plate. honestly i wouldn't have minded the service if the food was amazing. the best part was the free hummus. overall everything was just very average. it's a cuteplacefor a date, but that's about it. not sure if i would come back.

entree was fine - decor, appetizer, service and dessert was terrible.. out of the 5 elements i look for in a restaurant (atmosphere/decor, service, appetizer, entree and dessert), alloy scored a very low 1 out of 5. my wife and i ate there at 6:30pm on a tuesday night. theplacewas mostly empty but our entire meal was well over 2 hours. the atmosphere/decor screamed "cheap chic" and the music was above comfortable conversation loud (likely to compensate for the empty seats). service was very slow, terrible and infrequent. we ordered the pork belly and scallop for an appetizer. two small pork bellies (about the size of a loonie each) and a single scallop (appetizer for one?) about the same size. plenty of garnishment to accompany the $16 disappointment. the entree was the loan bright spot for the evening - pork tenderloin and short rib. i much preferred the short rib (my wife enjoyed the pork tenderloin medallions) which was a decent portion and tasted great. the dessert was nothing short of terrible. the "spicy" chocolate souffle was similar to something produced in an easy bake oven and my rhubarb was nothing short of a joke. boiled rhubarb on a tablespoon of what appeared to be rhubarb sauce, with a ball of ice that was lightly flavored with what i could only guess was strawberry and a bed of what appeared to be granular brown sugar. to my terrible waiter's credit, he agreed that the dessert was terrible (his least favorite) and didn't charge me after i tasted a little bit of each item and then pushed the food around my plate like a 5 year old who just wanted to be excused.

the favorable reviews and critic responses (ie. avenue magazine) are puzzling to me. an off night (perhaps a thursday, friday or saturday) doesn't explain the terrible appetizer, dessert and uncomfortable decor.

to sum it up, alloy was a typical try-hard calgary restaurant. unlike notable, model milk, teatro, cucina, borgo et al, alloy wants to be fancier and more sophisticated than it is. flower pedals on my dessert and 75% garnishment on my appetizer? let's start with timely service and something that is edible, correctly portioned and tasty and work from there.

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. thisplaceis 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 coming back would be a greatplacefor celebrating any occasion!

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 it back but 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 came back until 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 affordableplacewith less pretentious food, and doesn't serve raw flour to you.

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

a spectacular meal. my husband surprised me with dinner at alloy for our 5th wedding anniversary. although theplaceis rather unassuming from the outside, the interior is beautiful and reminiscent of cherry blossoms. we were given complimentary champagne by our server and the service throughout the night was amazing. the menu is spectacular and we found it difficult to choose but we had the the calamari, the roasted tomato soup, and the crab and shrimp corn fritters to start. all of them were delicious, but the calamari was my personal favourite. for our mains i had the shellfish and my husband had the broek pork. the scallops in my dish were the most perfect i have had to date and i really enjoyed the dish as a whole. i am not a huge meatatarian by any means but that pork chop was devine!!! also, the pork main is quite large. even though we were ridiculously full, we still went for dessert and the peanut butter and chocolate desert was amazing. this is a beautiful restaurant with amazing food! foodies' delight!

thisplacewas disappointing at best. the food was not bad, but it was not good either. not one mouthful made you exclaim, " oh my god that's good!" the portions were as a host embarrassingly small. as i listened to my quest joke about asking for double portions. our server did nothing to enhance our experience. she did her job... and that's it. for a new years eve experience i would never go back. my quests left hungry and joyless. this restaurant must have been designed by a chef, the front of house was open and noisy. it was hard to hear my quests in conversation. the staff seemed confused and should have staggered the reservations so there would not have been a huge ugly line up apon entering and leaving. for the money they charge i will never return, nor would i recommend this restaurant.

not a warehouse, give it a try - very nice!. thisplaceis in a very strange location. the first time i tried to find it i drove past it several times :) it looks like an industrial warehouse or something until you pull up.

once you get inside it is amazing. it is very pretty and the service is great. i always find the bill surprisingly high for what we order but have never left disappointed.

the menu is always changing so i won't bother recommending anything specific to you. i have loved everything i have ever ordered and the wine menu there is always amazing.

i came here for dinner on a friday night to celebrate a friends 30th birthday. i drove by theplacetwice before i found it. they're located next to timbertown. we were offered pita, hummus and olives to snack on while we decided on our meal. i had the ahi tuna starter which was excellent. the tuna was mixed with various herbs and and a drizzle of curry oil. the wonton chips that were served with it were a bit on the oily side though. i had the duck for my main which came with a breast, duck confit ravioli and bitter greens wih a cherry sauce. the breast was done well and the duck confit filling in the ravioli was quite good. i did find the pasta portion of the ravioli to be a bit too thick - it would be better if it was thinner and more delicate. the bitter greens were great although i could've done with less sauce. for dessert i had the white chocolate and strawberry tiramisu. it was good but it was more of a trifle than tiramisu. i did not enjoy the pieces of white chocolate throughout the dessert though. it seemed odd to bite onto hard chunks of chocolate in a smooth and creamy dessert. since it was my friends birthday they took her dessert off the bill which was a very nice gesture. the service was excellent! our server emma was attentive and kept our waters topped up all night.