cleaver

lamb. nice portions and tender, accented with indian flavour.

new fave calgary restaurant. i've been here 2x since it has opened and both times have been fantastic. great atmosphere, creative and delicious dishes, great service cool cocktail menu. can't wait to visit again!

great dinner. had a great dinner with friends at cleaver. we enjoyed all of the dishes, which we shared - kale chicken salad, feta and bean bruscetta, selection of three sliders and the tuna wraps. we finished it up with the salted caramel fondue which came with donuts and homemade marshmallows - amazing! the atmosphere was great, and had no issues with the service. others have complained about the price, but we got a lot of food for a reasonable price. would definitely return.

this is a jewel on 17th avenue...adds a huge dimension. only open three weeks and busy, vibrant and all the hallmarks of an excellent place to enjoy very creative food and a wonderfully high level of service. i have read all of the reviews and am surprised at the negative ones....must've been a very off day and for a new place, ya gotta cut them some slack. it's a six to nine month break-in period. cleaver is well on their way to a top position in calgary.

very dissapointed - a reservation of 6 asked to leave in the middle of dinner to accomodate another reservation of 10. our experience was terrible, as before we even received our main course, our waitress informed us we would need to leave in 18 minutes to accommodate another reservation. we had a reservation for 7 people for 7 pm, and they told us this at 8:18 pm. at no time did they apologize or try to make the night better, they actually gave us 2 more warnings that they had to ask us to hurry up because they asked the next party to wait. excuse me - we were celebrating a birthday and engagement, and for a restaurant to ask you to hurry up before you dinner arrives, is unacceptable. we even spoke to the manager to let them know that we wanted to enjoy our evening. worst service policy ever - completely unacceptable.

we couldn’t say no to a last-minute late-night dinner at one of calgary’s newest restaurants, cleaver . tucked onto 17th avenue, this is upscale gastro-pub dining at its best. to start, we ordered from the must-try cocktail list—the clotted cleaver is a delicious adult milkshake while the bad egg, mad yolk will suit a wide variety of palates. to satisfy our hunger we chose a couple of small plates (juicy lamb chops and well-spiced seared tuna), and then added a trio of sliders for a perfect meal for two. you’ll want to leave room for dessert: who can say no to a house-made marshmallow and donut salted caramel fondue? —laura lushington cleaver, 524 17th ave. sw, calgary, http://cleavercalgary.com © copyright 2014 comments note: to post a comment you must have an account with at least one of the following services: disqus, facebook, twitter, google+ you may then login using your account credentials for that service. if you do not already have an account you may register a new profile wit

amazing food/atmosphere. hands down the best tuna dish in town!!! to die for drinks!!!!

i have been reformed. after hearing (and reading on urban spoon) less than stellar reviews about cleaver, i was reticent to give it a try when my partner suggested we go.

boy howdy, am i glad we did! i'd use a lot more exclamation marks to give full effect to my enthusiasm, but i find that tacky. like emoticons. moving on:

we chose to stick with the small plates as we love tapas-style eating and so that we could have more room for cocktails (after cocktail, after cocktail...). i don't know if i could pick a favourite because each dish was so well executed. the flavours would pop in your mouth with incredible layers making the first "mmm!" followed by an "mmmm! oh my god!"

lemme put it this way, i don't write reviews for restaurants (but i use them religiously) but i knew last night i had to spread the good word. i text some friends who were original nay-sayers of cleaver to tell them they have to come back and try it again. although, admittedly, i'd love to downvote this restaurant so that no one will come and it'll always have a seat open for me.

10/10 would eat until my pants burst again.

terrific atmostphere - food is only decent.. atmosphere is among the very best in calgary - i really want to see this restaurant thrive, but need to course correct some things: red wine was served far too warm, polenta while good was overly seasoned, the chicken tasted like the oil needed to be changed (some fish after-taste) but was a good slider, beat salad tasted standard and had way too much dressing, steak salad was good. unless some things change with the menu and quality i would only be back for drinks some late night sliders.

overpriced and not that great!. stopped by last night to have a diner with couple of my friends. we have ordered a whole chicken and couple appetizers to share. after asking our server about some ingredients that were describing the menu items, we still did not understand what are we about to order. staff definitely needs more training on menu items. the chicken that we got was delicious, however we had to carved it our selves, and just because the tables are way too small that was next to impossible. we all got a round of drinks, however when it was time for the bill, we were choked to see that belvedere is priced twice as much as everyone else on 17th ave. have it for. two appetizers, a whole chicken, and a round of drinks was $200 for just 4 of us. don't think i will be coming back for food, or drinks. :(

not allergy friendly. just a warning to those of us with allergies who appreciate when restaurants can accommodate with allergy friendly meals - this is likely not the place for us. my husband and i walked in to take a look at their menu. the place was gorgeous and looked like exactly the type of menu and atmosphere that we become loyal to. we asked the hostess/server if they have any menu items that are gluten free. she simply stated "no, the chef doesn't believe that her meals should be changed or altered in any way." for those of us that have a love of food and already struggle with feeling "different" or "left out" because of allergy related health conditions, to have a restaurant be unwilling to help/include didn't give me a great first impression. i hope they reconsider because it seems like a place with a lot of potential. there are several restaurants in calgary that serve beautiful wholesome food and the staff are exceptional at helping you enjoy your meal regardless of your health issues or allergies. the sad thing is that there probably were menu items on the menu that i could actually have eaten, had someone been willing to take the time to show me, however, there was no effort made to earn me as a customer, i was simply told "no."

an excellent one of a kind resturant.. the food is unique tasting and delicious. the presentation is outstanding. we will definitely be back to try the other dishes on the menu.


-----06 aug, 2014-----

definitely a must try and will be back again resturant. the presentation is excellent and the taste is unique and fabulous !! we ordered the lamb chops and it is perfectly cooked (tender, juicy ) and the sauce is delicious. the bone marrows is another taste teaser, that is if you like the richness of bone marrow. the tempura kale is again unique and the ginger sauce is great. this is a dish i would say you would like to share with at least two other people for tasting. the eggplant dish is my least favourite one because we were both really full by then. but we managed to finish off with sticky toffee pudding, with lots of sticky sauce !!!

i'll definitely be back with friends and family.

not a fan. have driven by the restauatnt a few times curious to know what was going to open up. first impressions were great, loved the decor and vibe. once seated, we attempted to order three different things which were all 'sold out'. this was the first week of being open, should inventory not be sufficient and if required resupply every other day to ensure freshness, so that everyone can sample and share everything? once we finally decided on a few dishes that were available to share, our views did not change a whole lot. the lamb was ok, but just ok. the tbone was extremely thin, tough and flavorleas the sauce was very acidic and had no real bizazze. the soft shell slider was a great concept but again lacked any sense of flavour profile as it just had mayo and lettuce on it. the polenta/mushroom was our side. the mushrooms were fantastic but the polenta tasted like cream of wheat cereal. unfortunately, we could not compliment the dishes with any decent wines as the wine list was minimal at best. instead i opted to try one of their featured beverages which was actually very good. overall,we are not fans at this point but might return in a few months time to try again once more feedback is shared about flavour profiles. one other comment was to the service staff. it would be nice for the staff to be "more open to feedback and suggestions" as when we shared our feedback she just made excuses rather than to really listen and pass on comments. as well when we asked to take the rest of our steak home, she hesitated and warned that we must refrigerate it as soon as we got home?!

cleaver’s menu is packed with salivating meat entrees that are as good as they sound. throw in its comfortable seats and trendy interior and you could have one of the next late night foodie hotspots in calgary .

amazing!!! for the peeps that understand!!