saltlik banff

rudest server ever.. i came to saltlik one time while in banff for a quick bite and the food was pretty good, so i planned my birthday dinner here becuase my friends and i rented cabin in town. my party was about 15 people, and i called weeks in advance to book the reservation. when we arrived at therestaurantthey didnt have a table to accomodate enough people and we had to wait half an hour before a table was put together for us. i was understanding as i work in the industry and have worked for the joey group. when we were seating we got the rudest server i've ever had in my life. i understand that dealing with large parties is hard to handle as a server but this was just offensive how he treated my guests. one of my guests ordered a drink and he responded "uhh thats a 30 dollar drink" and another guest was ordering her appetizer and entree and was deciding if she wanted them together and he responded " il just bring them together" and walked off not letting her finish her sentance. i asked for a drink and he just put up his hand and walked off. the food was alright, they were out of some items but that wasnt even an issue. our servers rudeness continued the whole service and i finally went to speak to a manager about him. i told her he was completely ruining my birthday, i was worrying the whole night about everyone at my party being upset at how they were being treated by our server. as i have worked for this company i know exactly what their standards are and i am honestly surprised this man has a job there. no one was being rude or giving him a hard time, and he was in a mood from the moment he came to the table. at the end when we were paying one of my girlfriends was walking around the table collecting money from everyone (which he should have been doing) and he stood so close to the table several of us heard him say "look they cant even pay theyre bill" at that point she lost it and yelled at him calling him an "a**hole" and everyone at the table started clapping. so you can see i am not even exxaggerating at how much everyone wanted to call him out on his behavior. our bill was 1500 dollars and had an included tip percentage, i would never not tip a server even if they struggled with the service (being in the industry). however if i had the choice i would have given him nothing for how he treated me and my friends. the manager didnt seem to care much at the comments he made or how upset everyone at the table was. she apologized but wasnt very genuine and didnt do anything to correct the situation. i would have been happy if we were just given a different server the first time i complained. for the amount of money we spent there that night i would have expected a lot different. i will never ever eat there again.

so this evening, we were craving for some great ribs and steak. after doing a quick research, we decided on saltlik!

the first impression upon arrival was the classy ambience. the two storeyrestaurantwith an outdoor patio is perfect for a summer visit!

we ordered the bbq ribs and steak tenderloin, of course medium rare as always! we were so delighted with both dishes. the steak was cooked to perfection, and the ribs were juicy! the steak is a bit pricey but the flavour was spot on. we were a bit disappointed with the fact that it doesn’t come with a side and had to pay extra for it.. really??

other than that, the food quality is definitely on the top side, and the service was attentive.

unfriendly.... thisrestaurantis totally not baby friendly. now before you flame me for taking a baby there, my baby eats out once a week, is used to it and normally very well behaved.

when we arrived we were informed they did not have high chairs available. they they indicated that it was a policy not to allow strollers in the restaurant, therefore our baby had to sit on my lap and we were both uncomfortable.

i cannot say whether the food was good, i had to eat my food cold as my baby was in my lap until my husband finished....the staff just seemed unfriendly toward us since we had a baby with us.

clearly we should have known better when they did not have a high chair...

with saltlik steakhouse recently becoming part of the growing joeyrestaurantcollection of establishments, executive chef chris mills, along with the always enjoyable director of marketing from joey, britt, decided to host a tasting meal this past weekend. if you don't remember, i had my first encounter last year when chef mills came through edmonton on his james beard preparation tour . with memories from that meal being some of the best i've ever had, there was no question that we'd make the drive out to banff when i was invited. arriving for our one o'clock lunch appointment, sarah and i found ourselves upstairs in the cozy, wood framed dining area. the room provides guests with a brilliant view of the mountains as well as the comfort that many would come to think of when chalets run through your mind. grabbing a table right beside the action, sarah and i were introduced to the team at saltlik, while chef mills and saltlik chef,

i got the ginger salmon salad with quinoa and broccoli slaw, which i thoroughly enjoyed. the salmon was cooked to perfection, flaking away easily and soft in the middle. there was a perfect amount of ginger throughout this dish, to make it refreshing and light but still hearty with a decent amount of quinoa. i also sampled some of the elk gnocchi, which had a generous amount of slowly cooked elk which fell apart at the touch of the fork. the service was good, but our server did seem to have a difficult time splitting the various bills, but considering we had a large table that was understandable. we did notice though that generally the staff seemed a little flustered even though therestaurantdidn't seem overly busy. overall the food was great and that's what you'd expect for the price here.

wonderful!restaurantwas able to accommodate our walk in of 12 people right when they opened. male server (unfortunately can't remember his name) was excellent. knowledgable about the menu, made great suggestions for the kids, and was patient with our party. food came out in a timely manner and everyone was pleased with their meal. i had the duck tacos and lobster mashed potatoes. the tacos were light and flavourful. the lobster gave the seasoned mashed potatoes a nice sweetness. left not feeling overly full. all steaks cooked well. thank you, saltlik!

exceptional service and delicious food. the upper outdoor patio was magnificent under the radiating heat modules that made me feel cozy warm as if wrapped in my favorite blanket! and the food was presented spectacularly with portions generous and good value for money in tourist heavy, price heavy banff! my new favoriterestaurantin banff!

steak and serve are all good specially the rare steak is not even a little over cooked. but in the lobster mashed potato have a piece of plastic waiter apologized and explained said the lobster is definitely fresh not the plastic:). it's not good for appetite, hoperestaurantcan also focus on food safety.

went to thisrestaurantbased on the reviews but was disappointed.

the decor was nice but first thing we were told was that no sides were included in the entree.  well, that's a bad start - as it is rather deceptive as other restaurants priced that into their entree.  so they tried to appear less expensive than other similar restaurants...  ok, i can accept that, if the food is actually good.

my wife and son both got the 8-oz sirloin, medium.  the one for my wife turned out fine, but when my son complains that he has a hard time cutting the steak we first thought he was having his whines, until my wife tried to have a cut from his and she confirmed the difference.  the same cut of meat while can expected to be slightly different, but not to the point where it was so inconsistent, after all, this is supposed to be a steak house where they should be able to get rid of the bad cuts.

i had a rack of ribs and that was worse.  if there is no sauce on the ribs, then the meat is completely tasteless.  frankly, a franchise place like baton rouge had it better.  perhaps i should not have the ribs in a steakhouse, but if you cannot do it properly, then don't offer it.

we loved our meal here! at first, we thought our waiter was a very good salesman, saying that everything on the menu was amazing. however, he honestly is right, based on what we ordered. everything we had, really was fantastic.

calamari... excellent!
dry ribs... tasty but not dry. they had sauce on them.

ahi tuna salad... amazing! perfectly seasoned and tuna perfectly cooked.
hanger steak cobb salad... very good!
royale burger... very good ("friggin' a+")
spaghetti and meatballs... very good homemade meatballs.

overall, we saltlicked our plates cleaned and would definitely come again. thisrestaurantis a hot take!

horrible service. my husband and travel to banff frequently - every other month or so. we tried the saltlik once and we were disappointed with the service (or lack there of) but we thought we would give it a second chance. we arrived (when it was not busy at all) and took a seat. we sat for 30 minutes (timed it) without anyone who worked their even saying hello - though the bartenders/servers had no problem socializing with one another and what appeared to be their friends sitting at the bar. after 30 minutes of waiting (we ended up waiting for so long just to see how long we would have to wait for someone to come over to us...) we stood up and left seeing no point in staying any longer (and even if someone had come over to our table at that point we wouldn't have wanted to stay anyway) we are reasonable people but we found it difficult to be treated this way - it would be more understandable if therestaurantwas incredibly busy but to see the staff members conversing with each other and ignoring customers who are going to spend money is very disappointing. we will never return and we advise everyone we know to avoid this restaurant.

i am not one to write reviews but on my second attempt to try the saltliki i felt a warning to others maybe warranted. first time there the hostesses were very pretentious when i came in for lunch. i was dressed casually and was treated poorly i believe as a result. i left thinking i would never return. years later i thought of giving thisrestauranta second chance on new years eve(2013-2014). i had my usual amazing time in banff until once again going to the saltlik. second attempt with reservations booked a month in advance, still resulted in a similar experience. the hostess started by telling us that we needed to be out in an hour and half. that may have been acceptable but this was how we were greeted (and yes we were on time). as well, the waiter expressed the same opening sentiments to our table and then slid the menus on the table without acknowledging us any further. terrible terrible service as he took our orders without any eye contact or follow up in any way, and put a bill in front of us while we were still eating our main courses. when we asked to see the dessert menu the waiter immediately turned and left once again slid the dessert menu on our table without any comments or eye contact. i usually tip very well (the food was good, no complaints) but i will never return to the saltlik. i've had the great fortune of travelling quite a lot, and experiencing great food and great people in the service industry both in fine dining restaurants through to fast food places. the saltlik however remains on my top five worst places to go. feel bad writing this but it's true.

trip wrecker. for the first time in 13 years i planned a romantic trip for my wife and myself, this trip was centered around a trip to the saltlick as it was a big part of our trip. our reservation was at 8:30 and we showed up early by 10 minutes, the host seated us almost immediately which was a great start. unfortunately it went completely down hill from there, to start our waiter barely acknowledged me but was completely focused on my wife, and ignored my order, he moved right in close to her and when she moved back he came in even closer!! both of us were disgusted!!! this was just the start of a down hill slide, he pretty much threw my cutlery down and when he placed hers he had his arm on her chair and went painfully slow my wife asked me if i noticed how close this creep was getting and said "that this guy is making her very uncomfortable and he's creeping her out!!
we picked 2 apetizers and the first choice was "all out" so we settled on the pei mussels, which were barely cooked and lacked any kind of flavor, we were both dissapointed. my wife ordered "chicago style" for her steak and that didn't happen.
we told the host that we were going out for a smoke after only eating 1\2 of our appetizer and when we came back our table was cleaned up and our drinks were gone, an honest mistake but actually added insult to injury making our dining experience a little worse.
overall a big letdown, we really enjoyed our meal at the saltlick in calgary and were looking forward to this dining experience which we were planning on going back and trying the kobe beef burger (which actually isn't real kobe beef)
didn't even get to speak to the manger as i waited to pay the bill and just wanted to get out of there! my wife and i were both not impressed at all and really if this little troll tries to hit on the wrong guy's wife he's gonna get trouble.
when i finally paid the bill after not seeing a manager the waiter seen i only left a 10% tip which i shouldn't have even did and rolled his eyes at me and turned his back totally dismissing me!!!!! i'll bet it would have been a lot different if my wife was paying the bill and i'll bet she would have ripped a strip off of him!!!
overall a bad experience fodd was overpriced and not what we wanted, we just threw out our leftovers because of that. over priced and there already was a tip added!!!! if i would have known that the little creep wouldn't have gotten a dime! i would not recommend thisrestaurantunless you want ot go there to get laid!!! two thumbs down and a very big letdown, word travels fast!!!!!

first time diner. we sat in the rooftop patio. quiet and cool from the scorching sun. absolutely delicious. our server was very polite, informed and made some excellent suggestions. my husband and i ordered the 30 oz steak (2 different cuts), lobster mashed potatoes, lobster tail, grilled asparagus and a vanilla creme brûlée for dessert. everything was amazing. my favourite was the lobster mash, which the server helped me choose over the truffle mac & cheese. he helped my husband select a wine to pair with the steak and to his tastes. my husband isn't a dessert person but he wouldn't stop eating mine. will definitely visit thisrestaurantagain!

the food was ok, but what altered my opinion on thisrestaurantis they changed the tip amount that i had written on the receipt, must've been when we left the restaurant. was stunned to see this happen. anyone know what the tip percentage is now? i would've been fine with them telling me what the tip is but to go and change the amount on the receipt, just bothers me.