cleaver

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

during poutine-week i went on a poutine crawl with a group and our first stop was cleaver, but i almost wish we'd saved it until last because it was so good it set the bar super high!

the location itself is almost so blended in that you don't even notice it at first, but once you get inside it's clean and bright with lots of wood and mirrors.  it's got a nice feel to it but it was rather loud as it filled up.  the tables were set already with paper menus and a mug full of popcorn between theplacesettings.  the popcorn itself was good, with a nice smokey-cheesy flavour.

the poutine we had was curds, treacle-gravy, whiskey duck, with parmesan duck-fat fries.  the fries were well seasoned but a little limp but the cheese on them was delightfully gooey.  the gravy was delicious, with great duck fat flavour unfortunately it was a little too thin so instead of coating the fries it just pooled at the bottom of the bowl.  the duck meat was perfectly cooked pulled similarly to pulled-pork which blended well with the fries.

all in all i would eat that again for sure, though i haven't tried anything from the regular menu yet.

if you’re a party of 2 people and you’re looking to feel rushed, unwelcome and pressured to order, eat and get the heck out of there in an hour or less, this is theplacefor you! after 2 such episodes in a row, although i enjoy the food, and would probably like some of the cocktails if there was time for that and some wine with dinner, i will not be back at cleaver, nor will i recommend to anyone i know. they have zero interest in your overall experience.

what's the hype at this place? nothing! we went here the other night , our drinks / cocktails were good but with the $$$$ yes, you expect that it should be good. theplacewas busy and so our waitress that didn't even bother to check on us after we got our food. duck and tempura sliders are disappointment unless you like very salty food and so the other sliders. no customer rapport in this place. we love supporting local business but definitely not this one... found some not nice review on other site too which is not surprising. i want great quality food so this is not theplacethat i will go to.

if i could give them negative stars i would.

thisplaceis the absolute worst.

 we went there for my birthday dinner. we booked a table for two, got seated at the bar, was told it was a three hour wait for a table. so we just took the seats they offered us. sitting at the bar for what was supposed to be a nice birthday dinner wasn't nice at all.

not a good start.

took a solid 15 minutes before our server came to take our drink order; when my partner ordered a cocktail and a glass a prosecco so we could have a toast, she straight up said "no, you can't order two drinks", stating something about it being 2 oz. pours. all while the two people directly beside us had a cocktail and a glass of bubbly each in front of them.

next up, the menu is incredibly unclear, and the server looked at us like we were nuts for asking her questions about it. sorry. it was our first (and last) time there. she also had no idea how to explain any of the food and was very rude/condescending about. so we ordered the steak tartare to start, it's a pretty straight forward dish. we sat there and watched the guys beside us receive course after course of what looked like really great food. even the people who sat on the other side of us were getting their food. we still had not seen ours, nor had anyone been by to check in. also, at this point, our drinks were empty for about 30 mins now. completely unacceptable. especially while seated at the bar.

finally, after about 45-50 minutes, our server stops by and is all surprised that our tartare had not come out, saying something about the kitchen being backed up--- yet everyone else around us was getting their food.

so i asked to speak to the manager. man was that ever a mistake. she comes over with the fakest smile, and oh! she "conveniently" has our food.

she didn't even apologize.

she tried to force us to take the tartare, when we said 'no, we're incredibly unhappy now, please send it back' she tried again to get us to take the food and to "hang out". we told her that everything has been incredibly unacceptable, she didn't seem to care at all, we just wanted to leave. so she says she'll bring us our bill and we say "we;d really appreciate it if you would comp the drinks" and she flat out said "no". so we once again tried to explain to her how awful our experience had been and that the least she could do is cover the 3 drinks on there (i ended up getting a glass of wine after 30 minutes of waiting, which i didn't even get to drink but was forced to pay for) she said she wouldn't be doing that, so we said we were going to leave the bill for her to deal with, and she then threatened to call the cops on us if we did leave. so we were forced to pay our bill, which now i really wish we hadn't done and let her call the cops and see what they have to say about wasting their time over $42 after what they put us through. this was the worst experience either of us have ever had at a restaurant. three days later and i'm still upset by it.

do not go here.

just don't do it. and don't go next door to gringostreet either.

go anywhere else.

in order not to be disappointed on a friday evening, and to ensure my husband had a great birthday treat, i made a reservation for cleaver through open table 1 week ahead of time. i confirmed with open table the day before that i was going to be there for my 7pm table. we arrive at 7pm and clearly there was not a table available for us - theplacewas buzzing! the hostess had a few conversations with some guy and after 10 mins of waiting by the door we were brought some 'complimentary' prosecco. it was good but didn't help with the wait. we were finally seated at 7:35pm a full 35 minutes later than expected. as we sat they gave us a complimentary appetizer to ease the pain of having to wait for our 'reserved' table. another 15 minutes went by as we yet again waited for our server to introduce them self [which they never did]. we ordered food and watched as the table next to us left for the evening, squeezing themselves through the very narrow table gaps! the staff were very busy and the food going back and forth looked great, unfortunately none of it came our way. the table next to us was occupied again and they placed their order. our appetizer eventually arrived and coincided with next doors table's appetizer too! the food was delicious but at this point we had been in the restaurant for over an hour. next to come was our main course. another 30 minutes later mine arrived all by itself. being the polite person i am i didn't want to dig in until my 3 other table companions had theirs. i gave up after 5 minutes as my pasta was going to be cold. uncomfortably i started on my food! two dinners arrived about 10 after mine and again was delivered along with the table next to us. my husband who ordered the 'coke & fries' arrived last. not quite sure how or why all our food options weren't delivered at the same time, as they managed to deliver everything at once for the table next to us [trust me you are so close to the other diners you can’t help but notice]. one of our orders included a side of tempura kale, this did not arrive until after the main course was finished, and i mean quite a while after! at this point the table next to us had finished and paid and were about the leave!! so this prompted a conversation with our server - he was polite but when asked why we waited so long for everything when the table next to us arrived after us, eat their complete meals before us and left before us, his response was that they cook each food individually to avoid it hanging around under a heat lamp, and the 'erratic' way in which our meals arrived is the way they do it at cleaver!!!

so if you want to wait over 2 hours for a table you have reserved and have food arrive at completely different times to the people you are eating with then cleaver is theplacefor you. cleaver will not be theplacefor me, as unfortunately the service and/or the kitchen table priority is not acceptable :(

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 with chicken drippings and bacon butter. the bread was great, nice and warm. dipping it in the chicken drippings 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 roasted chicken with stuffing, bread sauce and duck fat fries. i don't know about you but i've never been able to eat half a chicken before so it should probably be called cock for 4. it was a pretty big chicken too and we ended up with about 1/3 of the chicken leftover. first off i'll say that the chicken was 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 the chicken comes 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 the chicken pieces and there were fries all over theplacebecause the chicken kept 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 of chicken parts 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!

i came here during a work trip and got in just before happy hour ended.  there were some real good deals to be had.  i think i paid $3 for each slider and there were so many kinds to choose from.  the ale was nice and cold.  i think my favourite dish was the calamari, zucchini, and shrimps - priced at about $16.  the whole atmosphere was very crammed but lively.  i'd say theplaceemptied out after happy hour ended, which was a shame, but i guess it was a weeknight so that is to be expected.  really cool place.  i wouldn't call the food to be the best but there's enough variety to make up for it.  definitely a nice addition to the red mile.

couldn't wait to try thisplaceafter seeing all of their mesmerizing posts on instagram. made it just in one for their happy hour before 7pm and theplacewas 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, fried chicken but 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!

november 2017 

stopped in for brunch with some girlfriends and we ordered:

drinks: 
1) pitcher of sangria $20
-they only had red wine sangria but that wasn't a problem for us. 

2) mimosa $7
-the other girls really enjoyed being able to select different fruits (grapefruit and pineapple). both said their drinks were delicious.

food:
1) s'mores & nutella french toast with maple syrup and strawberries $15
-4 slices of french toast completely smothered in nutella and maple syrup.  there's toasted marshmallows on the top and some strawberries on the side, but almost like an after thought. the dish was still delicious, but at the same time, when you smother something in nutella, it's pretty much guaranteed to be delicious so then the question becomes, was each slice worth $3-$4? 

2) breakfast poutine, house bacon, cheese curds, fried egg, spring onion and hollandaise $12
-this was actually perfect for the one friend who didn't feel like brunch food and got fries.  it is literally a giant bowl of fries with an egg on top. 

3) full irish, bacon, sausage, black & white pudding, mushroom, tomato, eggs and brown bread $20 
-this was quite a bit of food and my friend was a bit disappointed as she realized after this dish that she is not a fan of black and white pudding. that being said, if you are, this would be the right meal for you! 

4) buffalo chicken, hot sauce, celeric slaw bennies $15
-not overly spicy and delicious

service was amazing - the hostess provided regular updates as to when we might be seated; our server was friendly, came back to check on us frequently. 

overall it was a good brunch but i would reserve my visits to cleaver for their happy hours. 

february 2017:

this review rating is specific to their happy hour.

after salivating over cleaver’s instagram posts about their happy hour sliders, i finally found a chance to try it out.  i’m not sure why thisplaceisn’t busy before 7pm because their happy hour specials are amazing - $3 sliders and $5 drinks (which includes any of their cocktail creation that are regularly priced from $11+). 

we ordered the following sliders which each came out as a fairly good portion :

chicken (buttermilk fried chicken) – it doesn’t have it in the description, but this was actually a bit spicy but still good

lamb – also spicy although they did specify there’s harissa (north african hot chili pepper paste) but so much so that it over powered the flavor of the lamb

duck – disappointing as it was a bit dry but i did let it sit there for a few minutes as i ate other things

soft shell crab – amazing! if you love seafood, then you won’t be disappointed with the crab legs sticking out of the bun.

sides:

double dipped duck fat fries with truffle and parmesan $10 – you can’t go wrong with these fries

drinks:

sticky wicket – spiced vodka, st. germain, yuzu, peach, orange blossom, topped with prosseco and a torched marshmallow…. yes, you read correctly, a torched marshmallow

the restaurant is fairly small with both open kitchen and bar – both are fun to watch.  in the summer there’s a small patio right on 17th so that could be fun to sit out on during a warm day. 

would definitely recommend going for their happy hour (sunday to thursdays before 7pm and after 9pm)!

 

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 buttermilk chicken was 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 niceplaceto hang out

really neat restaraunt and concept. the menu is really cool and there is a lot of variety! perfectplaceto go with a group of people - share and try new things. the cocktails are really unique- i enjoyed the spicy red thai chili cocktail- as the ice melts the drink gets spicier and spicier ! we shared "the cock" which made for good table conversation. i really enjoyed the yellowfin sashimi style with passion fruit sauce and chips ! i would definitely go back, there were a few other items that caught my eye to try on another day !

hidden gem. i don't know where to start. cool staff cool cocktails and hallelujah great food. no really food here is undescribable and great value for money. i love the vibe and the bar is a serious cocktail bar. try the monk and mexican and loved the pizzette 
bestplacein calgary to dine and drink.

i've seen a lot of places open in the past year but none as original and unpretentious as this one. everything here is done to a great level of detail. amazing staff and very warm service to go with their amazing selection. 
i came here with my girlfriend for the first time. we tried the trio of sliders and finished our meal with one of the vegetarian pizzette. we could not stop eating. a lot of food and amazing value for money. i certainly recommend trying the soft shell crab slider. oh so good. so we though let's give a cocktail or two a try. we could not stop we each had three cocktails you favorite was "slap your mama" a very innovative and evolving cocktail. they infuse the ice so the drink never loses taste or intensity. 
i recommend thisplaceto everyone and we certainly will be back.

having been to cleaver five times now, i feel like i have a good sense of what theplaceis. 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 the chicken isn'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.