cleaver

popped in for the after 9 sliders on a walk about last night,  the place was packed.  wall to wall people.  that speaks of the popolarity of the after 9 specials,  i had a lamb slider and thechickensliders.  really well done, but with the crowd there could have been more staff.  long weekends can be hell. . .

host made us feel unwelcome, but our server was nice.chickenslider was excellent, while others (chipotle cheeseburger, soft shell crab, & buttermilk chicken) were only ok. (3/5)

i came here for the first time to try one of their infamous caesars. i would say it is comparable to buying food at the stampede grounds. thechickenon the skewer was incredibly greasy and flavourless. the slider needed more of a sauce... ketchup would have been an improvement. the bacon strip was a bacon strip. the pig in a blanket was a deep fried battered sausage that was mediocre at best. the waffle was actually the best part of the caesar... it was actually better than the caesar itself. very trendy place, and i can't speak for the rest of the menu, but the server was abrupt and disingenuous.

maybe i would give it a second chance.

came for brunch on sunday. we got the friedchickenwith waffles and the avocado toast with fried egg. extremely under whelming, under seasoned, over burnt in the outside and under cooked in the inside. and of course, they argued that having bloodychickenleg is normal. anyway def not worth the price you pay for flavourless badly cooked food. the drinks are good though

i honestly went into this meal expecting to be unimpressed. cleaver was picked by another couple as the spot for our double date night and after reading a lot of the reviews i expected the food to be meh, the restaurant to be overcrowded, and the service to be rushed. i was completely 100% wrong! i'm so glad we decided to go because we ended up having such a delicious meal with really great service!

we had a reservation for 4 at 7:30 on friday night and we were seated promptly. although the restaurant is not very big, we didn't feel that our table was squished too close to the table beside us. we started looking at the drink menu and got a tiny bit overwhelmed! there were just so many different cocktails to choose from and they all had unusual names so you had to read the entire description of each drink to figure out what it was. i personally don't really have patience for that and prefer drink menus to be grouped a bit more into categories to make it appear less daunting, however the other three people in my party had fun choosing a few different drinks to try! i asked our server if i could just have a spicy caesar (my fave) and she was super nice about it even though it was considered "off menu", my fiancé had mighty craic, the others had randy granny and dose of original sin and everyone enjoyed their drinks (my caesar was fantastic).

we started with the pork and chorizo sausage rolls and they were amaaaaazing!!! seriously so good, i could have eaten them as my main and been perfectly satisfied. everyone agreed they were the highlight for sure. then we had the baked breads withchickendrippings and bacon butter. the bread was great, nice and warm. dipping it in thechickendrippings was sooo good! we tried spreading the bacon butter on as well and it just tasted like butter, didn't notice the bacon. next each couple chose 1 slider to share. we got the lamb, our friends got the chipotle cheeseburger. the lamb was delicious!! i think it was a lamb meatball, and it was cooked medium rare (which is fine by me) and it had mint leaves on it instead of just having mint sauce and it was soooo good! if you like the combo of mint and lamb you should definitely try this. our friends said theirs was really good too.

for our second round of drinks i got another caesar, my fiancé got turning japanese (which was pretty good), my friend got culture shock which was like a raspberry mojito and she said it was good, her husband got farewell to sober which was supposed to be white rum, maraschino, lime, grapefruit and while he was expecting it to be rum mixed in assorted juices it was actually more like rum with a few garnished so he said it just tasted like straight rum and wasn't enjoyable at all (she tasted it and agreed).

for our main we got the cock for 2 which was an entire roastedchickenwith stuffing, bread sauce and duck fat fries. i don't know about you but i've never been able to eat half achickenbefore so it should probably be called cock for 4. it was a pretty bigchickentoo and we ended up with about 1/3 of thechickenleftover. first off i'll say that thechickenwas fantastic! super moist and very flavourful! the fries were fine, i only had a few and they weren't anything spectacular. i forgot to try the stuffing and the bread sauce so i can't really comment on that part. the only problem i had with this dish (and the reason i'm giving cleaver 4.5 instead of 5) is that when thechickencomes out it's plated in the "beer can chicken" style where it's whole and standing upright, and after you take in the fancy presentation (it even has its feet still attached) you realize that it came with a giant knife and a roast fork and you have to cut it yourself. it was a bit awkward and slightly messy trying to cut this thing into pieces and we ended up using one of our dinner plates as a platter for thechickenpieces and there were fries all over the place because thechickenkept spinning around its plate while we were trying to cut it and the roast fork was a bit difficult to use so we ended up using our hands a bit. thankfully this was a casual meal with good friends so we just laughed about it, but if it was a first date or a meal with a client or something it would be a bit awkward. and besides the awkwardness it just felt like we had to work for our meal and i got out for dinner so that i don't have to do any work! i get that presentation is important but maybe after they brought it out whole for us to look at they could give us the choice of "butcher diy" or having it cut for us. or just plate a big pile ofchickenparts surrounded by fries?

i almost forgot, we also got the mac and cheese as our side and it was really good. not the best i've ever had but definitely satisfying!

our server, who i believe is named grace, was awesome! she was very casual and laid back but was very knowledgeable and gave great recommendations. our order was timed perfectly and the entire night flowed very smoothly!

overall our meal was fantastic! we did order a little bit too much, in hindsight we probably should have gotten the 1/2 cock instead of the cock for 2, but everything was delicious so it didn't matter. the price was a bit on the high side (our bill was split by couple so each couple paid for their own drinks and all the food was split) and our bill was around 96.00 before tip, and i assume our friends' bill was pretty close to that as well. if you consider how many drinks we had (2 per person) then it makes sense though and we're not really bothered by the price. we are definitely looking forward to returning to cleaver!

we went to cleaver for the first time this weekend and made a reso for my birthday. when we arrived, we were taken to two seats... at the bar - not what we were expecting. i'm not against sitting at the bar when a resto is busy. but since we had made dinner plans for a special occasion, it killed our mood a bit and felt that cleaver should have told us this when we made the reso.

food-wise, we liked our dishes albeit a little pricey. the seared tuna is flavourful but very small plate with the smallest lettuce wraps to use. the kale salad withchickenwas spot on, very well done. the polenta chips were amazing! duck slider was ok.

overall, the service was fine with food being served fairly quickly. but we felt a bit rushed as it seemed like the priority was to turn over seats as quickly as possible. i'd give the food a 4 but the restaurant experience a 2. i might come back at happy hour as that seems to be the best value. perhaps they can win me over next time.

couldn't wait to try this place after seeing all of their mesmerizing posts on instagram. made it just in one for their happy hour before 7pm and the place was packed. very lively and lots of energy. my main goal was to stuff as many $3 sliders as i could and i achieved that goal.

having tried most of the sliders my favourites were the lamb, chipotle beef, friedchickenbut each of em tasted very unique and delicious. you can tell a lot of detail and care was put into each slider.

i also indulged in their tinker one cheeesecake which was fantastic and their raspberry brownie which looked great but honestly wasn't anything special.

i would love to come back and sample some other options off their menu but their happy hour alone is worth it ! $3 sliders and $5 any drink is unreal for what you get .

check it out!

it is always a great experience going to cleaver! their food is geared towards comfort food, but with a delightful twist. the first time i went to cleaver, it was during a 2016 burger fest yyc crawl and everyone agreed that it was hands down the best burger out of the crawl!

my boyfriend and i came one night during their happy hour ($3 sliders and $5 2 oz cocktails!). we tried all of the sliders and our favorite was the buttermilkchickenand soft shell crab! in addition to their food, they have an extensive list of cocktails that you would not be able to find elsewhere, i loved the sticky wicket and my boyfriend loved that their long island iced tea was made from scratch.

if you intend on checking out cleaver, i would highly highly recommend sitting at the bar. the bartenders are hilarious and very knowledgeable in their cocktails. they'll ensure that you will have a good time!

atmosphere is good, service was excellent. the food was good. there candied bacon was a disappointment, needed more maple candied coating, the bacon was hard and cold, not what i had expected. the kale tempura was light and crunchy which i enjoyed. the sliders was ok. we ordered the duck, soft shell crab, pork and buttermilk chicken. the pork slider was actually pulled pork and not a slice of pork loin or a chop, the sage i could not even taste, if they added fried sage leaf or a sage infused aioli....it would of been great! the duck was also shredded with crispy bacon and cherry ketchup which was good. the softshell crab was good and fried lightly which i loved. the buttermilkchickenwas good. we  also ordered the duck fat fries with truffle oil and garlic and parm, the truffle oil was lacking so that was a disappointment.  overall the promo they habe of $3 per slider was well worth it. but at $8-12 is a little high for a ok slider. the music was good and its a nice place to hang out

i have been meaning to try cleaver for a while now - and so glad i did! we went with friends and had amazing cocktails and food. this has easily been put in the top 10 for me. our server was very knowledgable about the food and drinks, and gave us great advice on how much food to order, flavours of each of the dishes, and tons of great suggestions. we had thechickenwings, lamb, squid, and beet salad to share - each was incredible but the lamb was to die for. for our main we shared thechickenand strip loin - both extremely well done. the gravy, herbaceous bread pudding and fries completely make thechicken- so incredible! we were too full for dessert but the menu sounded great. definitely will be going back to cleaver soon.

after much anticipation, we were surprisingly disappointed. we started with the kale tempura, which had way too much batter and was basically thick deep fried batter with pieces of soggy kale - not appetizing at all. we also ordered the beef and cheese sliders. they looked fantastic, but really lacked flavor. now the good news. we ordered the strip loin steak which was flavorful and cooked perfectly. we also had the parmesan kale salad which withchickenwhich was also rich and flavorful. portion sizes were also really good. at the end of the day, my low rating of cleaver was based on the fact that only 2 out of 4 dishes were satisfactory. one other note - staff were prompt and friendly.

i went there for the first time with my friends for my birthday dinner. it was pretty busy even during construction. service was fine. the food was unique but it was pretty awesome :)! but i gotta say the drinks are pretty interesting...most tasted awful. i'll be back for the food though! try out thechickenand trio sliders soo goodddd :)

having been to cleaver five times now, i feel like i have a good sense of what the place is. starting with the food: consistently good, not "knock you out" good. one of my visits was a work event, so i ended up getting the chance to sample quite a few things then. i'd say thechickenisn't bad, but the beef is fantastic. they also make a flatbread with brie that is amazing. the fish and chips was quite good, but suffers from the general lack of good seafood as i didn't think the arctic char was particularly special. i very much liked the tempura kale - although it's hard to go wrong tempura-ing anything, really. tried both salads and enjoyed them thoroughly.on the drinks side, this might be the most inventive, creative drink menu in the city. highly recommended that you try the "slap yo mama" (the names are also creative), which is just whisky and pineapple juice, but with an ice cube containing thai chilies that spices up the drink as it melts. they also make an excellent manhattan, but at $17 a pop, you probably don't want to get addicted to those. on the whole, i think cleaver is a touch overpriced as the food quality doesn't quite reach the level you'd like it to overall (though it certainly isn't disappointing). however, it's a must-visit just for the cocktail menu.

cleaver makes two wicked sliders. we order the trio ($24) the soft shell crab was hot, meaty and full of goodness. i was surprised that i thought the buttermilkchickenwas as good or better than the crab slider. the two layers ofchickenwas crunchy and juicy. the cucumber ribbons added a lightness to the burger, and the slices of apple added a sweetness.

great service. went here for dinner with a friend and had excellent service. i ordered the trio sliders with two beef and one chicken. when the beef sliders weren't to my taste(they are made of wagu beef and that's not mentioned on the menu) the server took them away and didn't charge for them. she didn't try to justify the flavour or tell me i was wrong, she simply took care of it. i really appreciated the service and attention to satisfaction.

thechickensliders and salted caramel dessert were to die for. can't wait to go back!