Rustica — Restaurant in Alberta

Probably the best overall meal we had in Canmore.

This place is located in the Silver Tip resort area above Canmore. It's a little bit outside of the main town.

Directions will take you to the golf house as there is also a golf course located here. The building is on the far right as you look towards the mountains from the parking lot - there is no sign on the outside.

Once you enter there is a shop selling golf pro shop on the right but just keep walking down and you'll see Rustica to your right.

The restaurant is very nicely appointed and has nice big windows to gaze outside. Everything looked very clean and spotless.

We both tried ordered the set course menu for $55. It included an appetizer (soup of the day, spinach salad or shrimp cocktail), main entree (flat iron steak, steelhead trout or pasta orecchietta) and dessert (creme brulee, chocolate mousse or raspberry and chocolate sundae).

Shrimp cocktail is an interesting version and the shrimp were fairly small...although you do get 6 or 7 of them. 3 stars.

Soup of the day was Corn Chowder. This serving was huge. Bigger than most places bowl of soup for a full order. The corn chowder itself was pretty good.3 stars.

Flat Iron Steak. This was cooked perfectly and so tender and flavorful. It comes pre sliced served on some crunchy and flavorful steakhouse cut fries, carrots, bell peppers and squash. Everything served on this plate was cooked to perfection and tasted amazing! 5 stars

Raspberry and chocolate sundae- this was also very good. It comes served in a tall glass with what seemed like a really thick chocolate mousse, actual raspberry blend, vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and a cherry on top. This dessert hit all the right notes and was very refreshing after the heavy steak entree. 4.5 stars.

Finally our servers were so great. I unfortunately cannot recall their names but we were there at 1700 when they opened for dinner on Wednesday, September 18. 10 stars for the staff!

If management/owners happen to see this review I hope you share it with your team.

Update: May 2022. Went here again and it was awesome just like the first time. Added pictures of their current menu and prices. Thank you very much to our helper Steph who made the evening that...

I'm a little sad to say but it has gone downhill since last year...

My husband and I went there last year for our anniversary and it was phenomenal! We literally did not leave a single bite on the plated. The food and service was amazing from start to finish. It was so great that we said we would make it an annual dinner but after tonight's experience I don't know if we will ever come back.... it's really sad because it has a gorgeous view....

So what happened? I ordered fries as starters since I was starving and wanted something quick. When they came they were extremely salty and not fully cooked. It also took forever for the waitress to come by to give us condiments and plates... I ordered a raspberry lemonade drink and got watered down lemonade with a touch of raspberry.. to be honest it just tasted like water with a little bit of lemon juice. The lamb meal we got was super salty and the mashed potatoes seem like a big ball of hard mashed potatoes. The steak we ordered had a lot of fatty pieces and last year we never had this issue The waitress never came by to refill our drinks The dessert was very sad since we ordered cheesecake with rasberry coulee and literally there was only 4 tiny drops of the rasberry coulee...

The only positive thing about our experience is the view and the renovation but to be honest the food and service was not great for that price. Too bad since we loved it last time...

I visited Rustica a few years ago and it was one of the best meals I've had in Canada so went back again last week when I was in Canmore with my family. Whilst I understand they have renovated the menu/ look & feel to make it more casual recently I was really really disappointed and would not recommend it. The food was good (steak cooked perfectly) and the set menu does provide decent value but the service and ambience was just really poor. They brought mine and my Mum's main meals out whilst my Dad was still eating his starter which was just bad service and then when they proceeded to try and serve my Dad his main whilst his starter was still in front of him I was left wondering if the server had received any training at all. They were also playing the radio over the music system and when I asked if this could be changed I was advised it was either the radio or nothing. Which meant we were hearing ads for Subway and people calling into the radio station whilst eating our meal! Really made it feel low budget despite the bill definitely not being low... Overall if you are already at the gold club then I'm sure it's fine but I don't think it's worth a trip out which is such a shame as I still rave about the meal I had...