river cafe

wonderful meal today. went for lunch today and had the feature which was hog wild boar loin, ancient grain porchini risoto, hazelnut gremolata, pickled currants, forno roasted radish, cornbread. it was very good, particularly enjoyed the currents and the radish as i have never had them before. it was warm and sunny and a pleasure to eat at the river café. service was good, perfect pace not rushed. also enjoyed deserts. tried milk chocolate pot de crème, almond florentine, with bc cherries which was luscious. also had highwood crossing canola cake, poached rhubarb, ginger ice cream. it was a wonderful combination. home made ice cream was very good. have been many times in the past for business lunches and river café is still one of the best restaurants in calgary.

i also grabbed lunch with a friend at the river café which i heard was devastated by last year’s flooding, but is picture-perfect now. the menu was so diverse and original it was hard to choose, but i ended up with tuna crudo which i loved. when i got to halifax, i tried the fireside’s new menu (although i am very sad to see all their amazing salads completely gone) and had their portobello burger with beet chips – amazing! i have been dreaming about this sandwich ever since.

artful, locally-sourced food in a beautiful setting. i've been to the river cafe a few times now and never been disappointed with my food, beverage, or service. that said, i knew what to expect in terms of portion sizes. this is not your corner diner. the river cafe beautifully presents the dishes, and quite frankly, i find the portion sizes just perfect (i'm female). on a nice sunny day, the patio at the river cafe under an umbrella is as good as it gets!

best restaurant in calgary. hands down, a personal favourite. although expensive the food is always amazing and the service is second to none. i also appreciate the wine selection at river cafe as it is the only restaurant in town i know of that has the okanagan tantalus riesling on the menu (an amazing wine). with free corkage on sundays it is a great spot to enjoy a bottle of wine and an early afternoon dinner on the beautiful patio in the summer.

lovely all around. we made reservations here for our 1st wedding anniversary.
when we arrived we were greeted with "congratulations" and prosecco on the house. they staff were so kind and attentive and the food was gorgeous and delicious.
yes, the price is a bit higher- but you're paying for the whole overall experience too.

loved it. will go again and again.

river cafe. asian inspired dishes in a cabin-like environment. soy or miso based dishes. great presentation yet not the greatest taste for its price. i do like the fresh oysters! lots of dessert menu choices as well. their house coffee was horrible!

lovely atmosphere, but not the food.... the location, decor, and whole atmosphere of river cafe is so inviting, cozy, and beautiful which i really loved.

unfortunately the food, was extremely lacking. i ordered the pork chop and my friend ordered the striploin. however the pork was extremely undercooked to the point where it was pink and wet in some places, while the striploin was very overcooked and resembled beef jerky; they were garnished with similar salads with a few pieces of arugula, few pieces of fruit or something, and drizzle of sauce. the food also took a long time to come out. i don't mind paying more money for good food, but when the pork dish was $40 and the striploin $50, i expected so much more... a lady came over (i'm presuming the manager or owner) and she saw that i barely touched my pork and asked what was wrong, and she acknowledged that the pork was very rare too; i was offered another dish and the pork was taken off the bill.

another negative was that when i first stepped into the restaurant, probably 3-4 servers and even the hostess saw me and made eye contact, but nobody even acknowledged me. i waited about 2-3 minutes before the hostess even came over, and greeted me in an apathetic and disinterested manner.

all in all, i would love to come back, but don't know if i can give them another chance with the prices.

great evening on the patio. had a fantastic evening on river cafe's patio. highly recommend the fish and game board.

my fiancee and i stopped by the river cafe while on a walk through beautiful princes island park. we decided on the fish and game board and the jolie farm rose wine. the board came in good enough time, 15-20 min, and looked delicious, but our wine hadn't arrived yet so we waited to try anything. the waitress came to our table 5-10 minutes later (so now we are nearly the 30 minute mark) to tell us they were still looking for our bottle in their cellars. we were still staring at this platter, not having a bite until we had our wine. 5-10 minutes after that the waitress told us they couldn't find it. we asked her to have the manager suggest something similar that they did have while we looked again at the wine menu. when she returned (were now talking 45-60min) my fiancee had chose a different bottle and she promised it right away. still staring at our food...
when the waitress came back another 5 or 10 minutes later she promised the wine was coming. we discussed the possibility that this one would not bw found as well and were hoping to see a manager approach us with some kind of substitute/compensation. the third and final time the waitress came back regarding our second bottle of wine, she told us they still couldn't find the bottle and they were calling the sommelier.
at this point we had been sitting there with only water, and an untouched platter of food on our tbale for over an hour and a half. we told her not to bother and we were going to leave and try somewhere else. we assured her thjs was not her fault, at which point she asked if we would like to see the manager. i had to laugh, and my fiancee politely declined. we expected to see a manager over an hour ago.
so we cant speak to the food, the water was fine. the server was polite, but the management seems non-existent and the wine selection is obviously a total disaster.
we will never waste our time at the river cafe again and would never recommend it to anyone.

a perfect spot. i have wanted to eat here for years now but never quite made it.
the decor is kind of old, upscale fishing lodge. the foods is prepared with a great deal of skill and imagination.
it was a perfect spot for our easter sunday meal.
no question, i will be back.

spectacular. words cannot describe my amazing experience here! my boyfriend and i came here for the big taste, since we've heard great things and wanted to give it a try. i was so surprised at how great the quality of food was, and it was easily the best meal we've ever had in calgary. since the set menu didn't have dessert included, we opted to order the sticky toffee pudding on their regular menu. needless to say, it was superb as well.

regular menu seem to be pretty $$$$, but will definitely come back for a special occasion.

everything was perfect. the location, the decor, the service but most importantly..the food! i got the bison burger (quince, chive aioli, brie, house cured bacon) which was perfect... my partner ordered the mountain view chicken & frisée (fairwinds feta, pear, ginger & cedar vinaigrette.) i could go on and on and on. a must check-out. we only tried the lunch menu. looking forward to going back for dinner.

i have been wanting to visit river café since it reopened after the flood. at $15 for 3 courses, river café’s big taste lunch menu provided the perfect opportunity. the dishes were fresh, light and beautifully presented. i will definitely be back for the brunch menu!

went there yesterday, thursday march 13. experienced the rudest service i've ever seen. as we were served our deserts, te hostess appeared with card machines and said that someone was waiting for this table and we need to pay and go. we paid, we were rushed to eat our deserts, mine was taken away from me before i was done and they didn't even ask. as we were going to leave the hostess appeared again to ask us to leave at once as people were waiting and were unhappy. when we were leaving, no one gave us our coats back, we had to look for them ourselves. and as we were putting them on, the hostess welcomed a couple waiting by saying, "they finally left, we are ready for you now, i'm so sorry".
this has been the worst dinning out experience ever. the food was ok, but the service was unbelievably bad. i would strongly recommend everyone to say away from this place.

really, is there a nicer, cozier place to have lunch on a winter’s day than *river café , in calgary’s prince’s island park? the imaginative and immaculately prepared food is usually beyond my road tripper’s budget. but during downtown calgary’s big taste week (on until march 16), i can savour a three-course, scratch-made lunch for the bargain price of $15.