Commercial Hotel-Blues On Whyte Pub — Local services in Greater Strathcona

I rented a monthly room here upstairs on January 18/23. I brought some stuff to the room on the 19th and made sure to shut out the lights because i’m always respectful of someone else paying the electric bills. I came back on the 20th only to notice the light was on in my room. As i unpack my things, i notice an old Samsung S3 was missing that had approximately 975 song downloads on it. On Saturday the 20th, I encountered a chance meeting in the hallway with Heather, the resident chambermaid who proceeds to tell me she only has 20$ to her name and she doesn’t know whether to eat or get drunk with it, along with the fact that she is behind on her rent there as she lives there also. I stayed about three months there and befriended another resident who also told me that loose change had gone missing from their room and they now hide their change. On April 1/23 at 12:45am, this Heather walks out of the bar 3 sheets to the wind and calls me “Horseface”, whatever that was all about??? Also, they have a handful of ATM machines in the bar that are supposed to charge $3.75 per transaction, i was charged $4.75 on 3 occasions with the statements to prove it. I complained to someone, and in her uppity attitude reply stated, they’re not our machines. I called the company who supplies the machines and spoke to a woman named “Agnes” who said she would bet back to me and never did. Just my experience here at the Blues On Whyte/Commercial Hotel. Oh and one more thing, I actually left the Samsung S3 battery for Heather in the desk drawer when i moved out and if she reads this, she...

Pros: the patio vibe is amazing, there’s lots of seating, it’s clean, there’s shade & sun, the live singing was really good, there are multiple servers, the bus boy was great & kept our table clean, the drinks were tasty, there are water misters on the patio which were unreal for the hot weather!

Cons: the waitress we had — prices were first listed to us when we were ordering, then when the waitress returned with the drinks, the prices were all of a sudden higher than what she had originally stated. The waitress also didn’t return any change & took everything as an automatic tip which caught us all off guard. I asked receive to change back, she did the math wrong when giving me my change & was gone before I could say something. When the waitress returned with another drink, one person at the table gave the exact change of $7 (a highball was said to be $4.25, and then the charge became $7.00 when the drink arrived), the waitress then stated “oh seven dollars on the dot, could I have 0.25 cents more to cover the tip out?” It was honestly shocking to experience. We didn’t feel comfortable speaking up after being treated like this. We all like the location, so it’s unfortunate this...

I love this place, it is getting bigger and better all the time! They have expanded into their old parking lot which is now part of an outside patio. The way this works is; you can come in off the main street, which is Whyte Ave, from either the main bar, the VLT bar, or into the outside patio. You have free rein to travel through all 3 venues with your drink, and they have live music in the bar, and out on the patio.

The VLT bar has Its own music and TV's going; there are a couple pool tables in the main bar, and they have an on-site ATM, as they don't run tabs, it's cash & carry only.

The music is usually blues inside the venue, and other acts on the patio. On the day we went, it was during the Blues Fest in Edmonton, so no blues bands were playing there at all, just an FYI.

This place is always packed, so be prepared to stand and wait for a table inside, if your interest is seeing the band there. The patio is quite spacious, and they have a smoking area and a vendor on site selling their wares. All in all, it's a great way to spend a night on Whyte Ave for the older generation, but all ages attend here. Good vibes all...