three boars eatery

wear comfortable shoes. thisplaceis tiny, the restaurant section upstairs seats probably 20 people. since it's so small, you'll be in for a long wait. i arrived around 7pm with 2 friends and we did not get seated until about 8:15pm. luckily, the weather was bearable that night. the food and beer were both splendid. i had the hanger steak poutine. it's just too bad the dishes are mostly "sharesies" and not really full-fledged meals because i definitely would pay for a larger meal.

solid food, prices are too high for the size of portions. it's great to see a coolplacelike this in edmonton, and clearly the chef knows what he is doing. unfortunately i think the prices are too high- and while the food is very good, those of us who are also looking to maximize value of our dining dollars may choose anotherplacei eat.

bestplacein edmonton by far !!!!! i always try out new and different places, been almost everywhere in edmonton, this is my number one pick!! everything on the menu is perfect, can't go wrong with any choice . i was in heaven the entire time . so so so good! i recommend this restaurant to everyone i know.

it took me three tries to get into three boars eatery but i finally made it. after being foiled by lengthy lineups on two occasions, we got smart and went early on a tuesday at 5 p.m. (an hour after they opened). if you're into craft beer or single malt scotch or bourbon, this is theplaceto be. you'll have to fight for one of the seats at the bar though; theplaceis tiny. however, now that summer is here (more or less) the patio out front has lots more seating and its a greatplaceto sit, sip and people watch along 109 street.  upstairs in the old house is where you dine. the decor is simple and rustic and you feel like you're sitting down to a good ol' feast in a country farmhouse. very cool.  the boars are chuck elves,  brayden kozak and brian welch --  three young men with the right stuff: thoughtful libations, and dishes made from locally sourced food in small plate style to share amongst friends. the menu changes often depending on what they find at the farmers' market or get

horrible experience - will never go back. with the full realization that thisplacedoesn't take reservations, we went three boars understanding that there would be a bit of a wait. on arrival i tried several times to give my name to the disorganized staff - who assured me that no name was needed that they had a good system to know who was next and the order in which they arrived. we were told a wait time of approx 30 min. after over an hour, i noticed a party of 4 (same size as ours) being told their table was ready. these people had clearly arrived well after we had. when i pointed this out to the staff, they simply shrugged and glibly told me "too bad", and that we would have to wait "another 30 minutes". i don't appreciate having my time wasted or being dismissed by staff who clearly don't have a proper or organized system to seat their patrons. don't bother with this place, unless you want to stand around in a cramped bar, ordering drinks you can get anywhere else, waiting for a table that you may or may not get.

amazing! the guys in the back know what they are doing and the bartender was well informed and great company because we decided to stay sitting at the bar. thisplaceis extremely busy and i'm sure at any time there is a wait for a table. i believe it only has the 4 or 5 upstairs. but trust me. wait it out. you won't be let down and try the banana beer which i'm sad i didn't capture a picture of. just means i'll have to return.

have been here a number of times now. such a great place. always interesting,delicious food choices. this is definitely aplaceto check out.

thisplaceis cozy and has a great vibe and people! the service was excellent, we had the bar tender whip up so really unique drinks based on flavors we were going for. the little plates are unique and tasty and their cocktails are creative and refreshing. greatplaceto stop off for a drink!

very disappointed.  avenue online gave thisplacea great review for category "small plates". they got this one very wrong. it's july, but the only vegetables on the menu were typical alberta winter veg - brussel sprouts and beets. nothing resembling a fresh summer salad. we scoured the menu for something not sweet!!! - something without jam or honey or some kind of fancy sugar addition. we finally settled on the $20 foie gras cheese toast with bacon jam. we were assured the dish wasn't sweet, but jam is jam. basically it's a toasted sandwich with fried bread, pate, jam and cheese all mushed up, and very greasy. the foie gras could have been canned spam there was so little of it and masked with all that salty cheese and over powering bacon jam. we dared to try the only other dish without sugar - a terrine, just ok, grocery store quality, same greasy bread to go with it. wine by the glass is expensive, and nothing special. chairs and benches are uncomfortable, and the ambiance dismal. $75 for 2 glasses of wine, 2 small plates plus indigestion - never again. what a waste of money.

   

the server was very nice and did his best, it's just too bad he hasn't got better food to work with.

i have yet to eat here but i visit the bar every once in awhile when i am craving a sip of pappy (so far i have only found 1 otherplacethat serves it). the staff is great! very knowledgeable about their product and so friendly! i will continue to stop by here for a drink and perhaps even try their food one of these days! haha

three boars eatery is a small restaurant two blocks off whyte avenue on 109st. it’s relatively small, and the outside kind of looks like a small house. they have a little bar on the main floor, a little eating area upstairs, and a little patio during the summer. i’ve been here a couple of times now and one thing that i really like about thisplaceis that their menu changes very frequently. a lot of their ingredients are local, and therefore changes with the season, hence the dynamic menu. another thing i like about three boars is...

disappointment. i really wanted to like this place: the atmosphere, the name, the saliva-inducing food descriptions, and of course the high rating on urban spoon. nearly every dish we had was a massive disappointment... whether it be heavy handedness with seasoning or simply too much time in the oven this food was poor in execution.

before i describe where the dishes went wrong.. i must commend tbe on the roasted cauliflower. i really enjoyed it. good seasoning, perfect tenderness in the cauliflower, and the lentils were divine. my only complaint is the fact that i wanted more despite the massive serving because it was so good.

now that this is done....

we started off with the mexican-flavoured potato bar eats (i forget the exact name). they were topped off with green onion, cilantro, an avocado cream drizzle, and a combination of smokey seasonings. to put it in a slightly exaggerated analogy- if the chef's hand was mt. vesuvius, the lava was salt, and the poor ancient italians were the potatoes... this dish, is the mt vesuvius of the culinary world. (too soon?) even the creaminess of the avocado couldn't taper the saltiness of the potatoes.

next came the okanomiyaki (spelling??) and the brussel sprouts. the okanomiyaki (ok for short lest i keep butchering) is a giant version of a takoyaki but with a mixture of seafood and pork. it is served in a cast iron skillet. if i was to create a ridiculous analogy for my experience with this dish: you know when large dogs are puppies they have these clumsy looking giant paws. for puppies, this disproportion works. in this dish, it doesn't. this dish was simply too much dough and not enough flavour or meat. i was so excited to eat this but i remember taking one bite and feeling bad for getting my fiancé to order it. food simply shouldn't make you feel bad for ordering it. with shopping, buyer's regret helps you save money when you decide to return the item the next day. with eating out.... yeah....

the brussel sprouts. i love roasted brussel sprouts. when done well, the nutty flavour of the sprouts is enhanced by the smokiness of the roasting. the outside leaves are crispy while the insides are tender. perfect balance of texture and flavour. at tbe, these were some of the worst brussel sprouts i've had at a restaurant. they were simply way too sweet, so sweet that there was a puddle of the honey glaze at the bottom of the small bowl they come in. despite this sweetness, you can still taste the acridness of the burnt sprouts. since this review is a stream of horrible analogies, why stop now? it's like when you wake up with a pimple and it just so happens to be your wedding day, the day you take your graduation photo, or the day you agreed to meet with your friend who likes to take selfies. the first thing you think of is covering that pusy bad boy up with makeup. but as you apply more and more makeup, the worse you look all together. with no amount of concealer, capable of concealing it. this is the experience of this dish.

lastly, we ended off with the beef chuck and polenta. this dish was actually not bad. i liked it, but it still missed the marks on perfect execution. the beef was just a little overcooked. it was still juicy and tender, but would have been perfect if it was taken out a tad sooner. the polenta was pretty good too. i can't remember much about it tbh but i remember enjoying it. the roast vegetables that came with the dish were simply way too overcooked. yes they were burnt and mushy. i forget what vegetable it was (it wasn't something that you would find at your basic grocery store ie: peppers, onions etc). i remember when the waitress was describing it i was so pumped to try one (it was so organic food market/exotic sounding). excitedly i grabbed one and put it in my mouth. let's just say i have absolutely no idea what that exotic vegetable is suppose to taste like because it was so burnt that, that is all i tasted. the roasted beets with this dish also had that familiar acrid flavour. beets! a dish rich in sweetness and rootiness tasted burnt. gah.

so as you can tell i was very disappointed. i wanted to like thisplaceso badly. but the execution simply did not match my expectations, the style lf the restaurant, or the high price points. if i am going to spend $40 on a dinner in edmonton, i hope to be blown away or leave happy. unfortunately, i was simply blown away by what went wrong and left very unhappy. so to end off this lengthy review.....

i would compare my experience eating at tbe to when i went to watch the first hobbit. after watching lord of the rings, there is no possible way that the hobbit can go wrong. this movie had the perfect set-up, perfect world, and clearly the technical foundation to be killer. well... as i'm sure we all know... something definitely went wrong.

huge disappointment. i had heard from one friend who said this was their favoriteplaceto eat in the city, and from others who have heard by word of mouth, great reviews. so, on a whim, and for my husband's birthday, i decided to make reservations.
we got there and theplaceis quaint, but very small. we ordered devils on horseback, chicken wings, pulled pork poutine, chicken and pork terrine (pate), and brussel sprouts, all items highly recommended by the server.
the devils on horseback were ok. i'm not a big fan of dates to begin with, so i had a tough time eating more than one. the flavors were different - smoked bacon, blue cheese and the sweetness of the dates... it didn't really blow my hair back or anything.
the chicken wings were ok. savory, sweet, and a bit spicy... i love cilantro and lime, and the wings weren't mushy or slimy, but rather crispy, which i prefer. again, nothing that really wow'd me (i've had better wings at a pub).
the pulled pork poutine was not good. it had an odd flavor to the pork... i can't even describe it, but after one bite, i refused to eat anymore of the meat. the gravy tasted like pork au jus with some cornstarch mixed in... maybe it was flour. i don't know and i really don't care. it was an incredibly unpleasant flavor overall. not to mention, using small spanish baby potatoes might seem like a "cool" or "food art" kind of idea... well, it's not. the plate looked like a hot mess... at least the flavor matched it.
the chicken and pork terrine was decent. the first batch of toast was overdone so it was like eating croutons, but the second batch was toasted perfectly - by far the best part of the meal - perfectly toasted, buttered baguette slices. the pickled veggies with the seeded mustard was a nice touch and went well with the spread. this was probably the best dish we ordered.
for drinks i ordered the house made soda. it was quite tasty and lightly sweetened - it reminded me a little bit of root beer, which was nice. my husband ordered the german lager and their stout (it was 17% alcohol), both which he found to be decent.
the service was ok... the server was very knowledgeable of the menu, but i was rather surprised at how little concern she had when we sent back half of the poutine and asked for the brussel sprouts to go. call me old fashioned but i like it when a server cares about my dinner experience the entire time i'm there.
when i received the takeout box of brussel sprouts, i caught wind of a very strong and unpleasant odor from the box... so i left it outside on the picnic table.
i don't consider myself to be an overly fussy eater, nor would i classify myself as a "foodie", but i found thisplaceto be pretentious and tried way too hard to mix flavors that just didn't work. maybe their "hipster" clientel enjoy it, but your everyday eater like me would rather hit up woodwork, nineteen, or dare i say the cactus club.
i'm not sorry to give thisplacetwo thumbs down and a solid 3/10. i will never go back nor would i ever recommend thisplaceto my friends and family.

i went with my family and we shared about 5 dishes. my favorite was the devils horseback with is dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon. the rest of the food was mediocre. the kicker? $40... yes $40 for a small, thin piece of steak which consisted of mostly fat. thisplaceis overrated and overpriced. the steak wasn't even good. i would not recommend thisplacenor will i be returning.

wait staff killed the mood. a group of us went there on a saturday night. the atmosphere seemed nice enough however the wait staff was less than pleasant. no one came by to see if everything was ok. the menu was interesting but some of it was non descriptive. we had to ask for a dish to be remade because there was an ingredient that one of us was allergic to. our server seemed hassled that no one wanted the dish and we had requested it to be made without the ingredient. it helps if you smile. there was was one server who had a smile and didn't seem disconnected from the clientele. it is aplaceto experience something different but it is a bit overpriced for the food portions especially if the concept is to share. the drink menu was awesome though.