sunterra market, keynote

terrible experience. needed help when i walked in. asked what i assume was the manager for help and was followed and accosted by security and the perhaps manager until i put down my groceries and left. sunterra is very overpriced. they’re trying to be like whole foods without the selection or the customer service.

this company seems to avoid hiring white people. it is illegal to discriminate on race, last time i checked. slow service and food was cold last time i went for lunch at vic park. good to have a new kensington location but again, service at this new market is also poor.

what they have on their menu is not what they make daily. i've come there 4 times to have their artichoke & chicken and they don't have it. i ask what days of the week they have it, none of the staff can answer me.

great and very reasonably priced meals on the third floor. we came for breakfast (ends at 11am) on a weekday and there was plenty of seating. i decided on a crepe and r had the breakfast bowl. the portions were huge and each dish was less than $9. you also have a large selection of drinks to choose from.

i absolutely love sunterra's deli for a quick, filling meal or snack. the clerks are a little bit curt, but the food makes up for it. i usually get the chili tofu which is my favourite item, as well as either a salad or the roasted root vegetables. i find most of the deli items to be heavily dressed and try to avoid those as i prefer the fresh taste of the ingredients. the atmosphere is calming and i never feel rushed. the upstairs eating area is comfortable and bright.
overall, an amazing place with options for all types of dietary restrictions.

sunterra only understands one flavor: salt. if it weren't for the pounds of salt they pack in each dish, the dishes would be completely bland. i am not normally averse to salt, except for the ridiculous quantities that sunterra uses.

really like this place! great for casual meetings and conversations. the view is great and it's very modernly designed. unique selection of beverages and very friendly staff. huge selection of groceries, prepared meals and desserts on the bottom floor.

i love this place. always have a great experience stopping in here for a sandwich or one of their pre-made items from the deli. the bbq chicken wrap and a small tray of mixed vegetables are my go-to (forgot to pack a lunch) lunch favourite. 

they have a bakery, a salad bar, and a restaurant. so much variety. there is something for everyone. i love whole foods and this is about as close to that as you can get in calgary.

the lunch specials are good and reasonably priced, this is a bit of a change from the grocery store which i find overpriced but convenient. the lunch paninis are usually ready to go and only 7 bucks.

very convenient location and there if you did not pack a lunch. part grocery store/bakery/ restautant/deli everything all rolled into one. they have a make your own salad bar, can order from the deli where they can heat up the food for you. hot meals right off the stove. the paninis are really good. need to grab something for dinner? just come pick up what you need before you head home or get a mid afternoon coffee and dessert. come check it out!

sunterra is a great place to pick up something tasty and affordable and decently fast for lunch or dinner. i haven't tried their market bar so this review is about their 'fast' section. i've ordered their asiago burger many times and it is a great price for a real burger (with asiago cheese and bacon) and a choice of side dish for about $8.50.

sunterra offers a fresh market of delicious wholesome food, and the keynote location is no exception. the developers have a created an eatery here that highlights the design element of the dining experience, emphasizing the use of natural lighting and wooden furnishings. one of my go-to's for sunterra is the chicken pesto panini. each bite offers a crisp piece of toasted focaccia along with a generous amount of tender chicken, finished with a savoury pesto sauce that carries the balance of the overall sandwich. definitely a great place to grab a quick bite to go, or spend the lunch hour with others!

went to market bar last week for drinks and dinner before a show. definitely a cool place, nice vibe. i liked the tvs and the pizza oven (looked gas). when we arrived we sat at the bar and were greeted promptly by the bartender. he listed off some specials, and we both had the 5$ stella - great deal! we looked over the menu, decided on 2 of the pizzas to share, but they were out of one of them. changed to the smoked salmon pizza & maple habanero ribs. they were both so dissapointing. the pizza crust was so dry, it was like eating a cracker. and there was so little toppings on it. no sauce, 3 or 4 pieces of cheese and 2 pieces of smoked salmon. it didn't taste good and was a rip off. the ribs were obviously re-heated, and weren't even heated through. when you put habanero on the menu, i expect some spice. there was nothing. it tasted like a peach/apricot based bbq sauce, overly sweet, with no heat. when the bartender asked how everything was, i expressed by displeasure but he just walked away. brought the bill, we paid and left. service was quick, prices were reasonable, but if the food sucks and the servers don't care, i won't be returning.

who doesn’t like breakfast food, and some days you don’t want to make breakfast at home. diners & other popular breakfast places are usually really busy on a weekend. this is when marketbar by sunterra comes in. i was not aware that the sunterra keynote had this. my girlfriend suggested this place & it was like finding a hidden gem (maybe it was just us).  it has a big sitting area and very fancy inside. when you walk in you see the bar to your right & a dining room setting to the left. as you go further in, it gets brighter and more of a cafe setting (self seating on both sides).  they also have an outdoor patio, which we couldn’t experience as it was gloomy and windy. the service was quick & efficient. order, pay, receive a table number for your order which they will bring out to you.

probably one of the most disappointing sunterra experiences i've had, that meaning i've had more than one bad experience. i could go on and on about the inconsistencies, lack of quality and deception that sunterra market never fails to offer.

in the year 2010 they advertised their infamous yogurt cups as having fresh fruit, despite the fact that they were and are currently using frozen fruit in all yogurt cups. the trick? the fruit dethaws by the time an unaware customer decides to purchase it. this is straight up propaganda at its finest.

every single thing you buy in the deli is made days in advance. if you think that $10.00 precooked bbq chicken breast is going to taste delicious and fresh, then you have no idea what delicious and fresh is.

so what is fresh at sunterra? technically everything, they just don't serve everything to you fresh that day. it's a marketing ploy that many are unaware of and unfortunately when employed by sunterra market in 2009, i was subject to many situations where clientele questioned the freshness of sunterra's product and i was basically told to flat out lie. for example when a woman approaches the deli and asks if it was fresh made today, i was informed to always tell her yes (even if the product i'd be selling her was made 4 days ago). so what's the catch? they make everything fresh daily but they serve it at a later date. so although everything in the deli was being made fresh daily, the product being sold was not the fresh product made on that day. following me?

anyways let's talk about my disatisfying experience i encountered today after buying a few groceries and eating in the market bar upstairs (which was nothing spectacular... i had the turkey dinner tonight and parts of my turkey were pink). i thought it would be nice to treat myself to something from the bakery. i saw a lovely looking dessert with a cream of some sort (possibly a mousse) sitting behind the glass in a chocolate cup. i asked the girl working what was inside the chocolate cup, and she said it was whip cream. i mean clearly it was not whip cream, it was a coffee color and there's no way a bakery would use perfectly good chocolate cups and fill it with only whipping cream. i was a little taken back. and then a gentlemen beside me asked the same woman "i'm trying to lose weight is there anything in here that would be good for me to have?" and she said "you can have anything in here, it's all ok" and he replied "no way all these are ok, you're lying to me" and then walked away with his wife. 2 sales lost in 1 minute of her time.

a couple minutes later i was able to find the manager, or supervisor (i'm unsure of his rank) however he was a short bald man (wearing more business attire ie: white collar shirt and tie) who when asked to speak with a supervisor, took it upon himself to help. i never got his name so i can only assume he was a superior.

when i explained what had happened, he basically acted like he didn't care. i'm telling him about how his staff behind the bakery are unknowledgeable and he tells me "well they aren't trained in knowing weight loss products" and i said "they clearly aren't trained in any of the products you have for sale". either way, i pointed out the dessert to him and he told me it was a tiramisu mousse, further proving the fact that his staff lacks knowledge in product, and he just still didn't care.

first of all, if i am running an establishment that deals with food, i'm going to want my staff to know about what they are selling, and if not, i'd hope there would be tools available for these employees to know what they are selling (a sign for example in the front of the case distinguishing what dessert it was would've been perfect). if staff are really lying to customers about what's in a product it could result in serious problems. for example, let's say i bought the chocolate cup with what she told me was whip cream, took it home and ate it and died from an allergic reaction all because i thought it was just whip cream when in fact is was a tiramisu mousse the whole time?

but let's face it, the real icing on the cake is the fact that the manager of keynote sunterra straight up didn't care at all about the lack of knowledge his staff has, he wasn't apologetic for the treatment i received, and above all his lack of care for serious potential liabilities is outrageous. he is putting sunterra market at a serious risk by not hiring thorough and competent staff, but overall it reflects more about him and his lack of care for his career.