The Local - Eatery & Bar — Restaurant in Alberta

My friend and I decided to stop here for brunch just over a month ago after a hike in the mountains. Overall it was a very disappointing experience. I will say that the non-alcoholic drinks and the potatoes we had were very good, but everything else was a letdown. The service was very poor - our server was friendly, but never checked in on us. I believe we saw her a total of 3 times in the 1.5 hrs we were there. My friend and I ordered the same meal - the breakfast sandwich with fried potatoes & fruit, and a non-alcoholic drink. It took at least 20 min for the drinks to arrive and 45 min to get the meal brought out to us, and once it was given to us, no one checked in on us until we had finished our meal and had been waiting a long time to pay. No one ever asked if we had everything we needed, how the food was, if we wanted another drink, etc. I should add that the patio was almost empty the majority of the time we were seated there, so it wasn't a busy time. Now for the meal, let's start with the sandwich: we asked for it on sourdough. ~30 min after ordering, the waitress appeared to inform us that they "just" ran out of sourdough, despite ordering quite some time ago. She said they'd do the sandwich on rye instead, so we agreed (later we realized it could have been done on a croissant, which was not offered to us). The rye bread was SO dry it was literally crumbling apart before we even touched it - I'm not exaggerating, the staleness was next level, it was as if it had sat out of the bag on the counter for 48hr before being toasted, it was just falling apart at any attempt to grab and eat it. The sandwich was supposed to have bacon jam on it as well - something that caught our eyes on the menu. Both the sandwiches that were served to us did not have the bacon jam on them. Because no one checked in on us after we recieved our food, we had to flag down what appeared to be maybe the assistant manager who was informing the table near us that the item they ordered wasn't an option (nachos with half cheese) was not possible, and that "no we're not doing that, it's all cheese or no cheese, take your pick"), despite what the server had agreed to earlier. This woman seemed very unimpressed (with the nacho family and with us) that I had to assertively flag her down to ask about the bacon jam. She was not friendly, nor did she seem to care that a main ingredient was missing from the driest sandwich I've ever encountered. I politely asked if it was possible to have the jam brought out on the side, which she agreed to. As she dropped off the jam, she slurred "so sorry about that" and asked if everything else was okay. Now time for the fruit: we were given 4 little pieces of fruit. I had received 3 thin slices of orange and 2 strawberries. My friend received 2 tiny cantelope chunks and 2 mouldy strawberries. When the woman with our bacon jam returned and asked if the rest of our meal was okay, I responded "oh, just my friend's fruit has gone a bit bad" and pointed to the brown strawberries on her plate. The woman looked at it with a disgusted look on her face and replied similarly to the comment of missing bacon jam: "ohhhhh no, sorry umm...." again with NO solution to a simple problem. It was awkward. Instead of offering to replace the fruit, she just stood there, and my friend then quickly said "it's okay! Don't worry about it!" And the woman replied okay, SO sorry about that and walked away. We didn't even mention the horrible bread because we felt bad for complaining about the missing jam and bad fruit.

When I go out to eat, I expect the food to be better than what I can make myself (which is honestly a low standard because I'm not a good cook) and this sandwich was extremely dry, cold, and not enjoyable. To charge $20 for old bread, 1 tomato slice, 2 pieces of mixed greens, and bacon jam (that was not even on the sandwich), is overpriced. No cheese, no mayo, no avocado, no sourdough bread... Maybe the other food is okay, but this sandwich was so sad. That mixed with the poor service, we now know never to...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Five Stars – Come for the Steak, Stay for the Street Theater

As we were walking up to The Local, a woman was stumbling out — clearly mid-main-character moment — waving her arms like a tipsy windmill and slurring something about “don’t eat there!” Naturally, we were intrigued. A live Yelp review? In the wild? Incredible.

She then proceeded to argue with the poor manager for a solid 15 minutes out front, loudly declaring her right to stand on “public property” while giving off strong “I’ve been cut off and I’m not okay with it” energy. Honestly, the commitment to the bit was impressive. If she hadn’t been escorted out of the restaurant, I might’ve thought it was immersive dinner theater.

Anyway, once we realized she wasn’t a reliable food critic but rather just deeply in her feelings (and probably three cocktails past her limit), we went in. Best decision of the night.

The steak? Melt-in-your-mouth good. Cooked perfectly. Seasoned like the chef knew we’d just been through a Shakespearean sidewalk performance and needed something to restore our faith in humanity.

The draft IPA was cold, crisp, and local — none of that “we only serve trendy seltzers” nonsense. And the cocktails? Absolute works of art. Fresh fruit, herbs, and not a trace of premixed sadness. These were grown-up drinks for people who know what mint is supposed to smell like.

Everyone on staff was calm, friendly, and impressively unbothered considering they had a one-woman protest outside. They took care of us with the kind of grace you usually only find in movies where the small-town bartender turns out to be a secret therapist.

The 8 year old with us made a new bestie in the form of James. A polite and attentive waiter with a delightful accent befitting the pleasant dinner experience.

In short: Ignore the sidewalk drama. Go inside. Order the steak. Get a cocktail. And enjoy the fact that The Local is where the real...

Had a lovely lunch and drinks on the beautiful patio outside The Local. What a great location and addition to Canmore. It is called The Local because they believe in using as many local ingredients as possible, which I appreciate. The patio/deck is spacious and has lots of tables (with umbrellas) right in the middle of Canmore on Main Street. Great vibe and great music too. Perfect for drinks and appies or a full meal. Loved to see that they have Guinness on tap and Sheepdog, my fav local brewery's beer. My partner tried the Limoncello Spritz which was very refreshing for a beautiful sunny day. We decided to share two of the small plates for our lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the Crispy Feta cakes. There were 3 delicious Crispy feta cakes nicely nestled on a bed of arugula, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with a swish of balsamic reduction. So good! Our second dish was the tuna & avocado stack. A delicious flavour combination with the sriracha sour cream and sweet corn relish- all served with crispy nacho chips and local fresh crustini bread. Yum! The portions were great for sharing and we had plenty for the two of us. Our table neighbours ordered the nachos and they looked really tasty and were definitely large enough for 2 people. We were greeted and escorted to our table promptly and asked if we wanted to be seated inside or out on the patio. Our server, Cruz, was friendly and helpful and attentive to our needs. Joe, the bartender, is friendly and makes a mean drink, and nicely decorated with a little sprig of herbs. Don't forget to ask about their daily desserts. We lucked out and ordered the blueberry cheesecake. Perfectly creamy and flavourful with a nice graham crust. A delicious ending to a very enjoyable lunch. We will...