80ATE Indo Chinese Fusion House — Restaurant in Calgary

During the Ramadan of 2022, we kept forgetting to get a reservation and finally got one in time to bring the family for a buffet.

None of us had been in the building before but our first reaction upon entering was a bit of surprise at the decor. I guess the asian restaurant and lounge that existed before was a nice place. They had maintained much of the decor but there were sections closed off and could have used some attention to bring them up to full usage. Two of our family noticed an 'old' smell of cigarettes masked by odour absorbers which is sad because the inside was fairly nice with nice tables and interesting decor. A coat or two of paint and some minor fixes could easily restore the place to its hinted former grandeur.

As for the food, it was a typical East Asian style buffet with a Hakka twist so it had common foods like sweet and sour chicken, some noodle dishes, and some Hakka foods like Manchurian chicken with a distinctly Indian fusion. While there were no amazing standouts, there were no bad foods either. The general reaction was the food was 'ok'. However, my wife was praising the rice and the soups so maybe OK+. It was all halal so having another halal fusion place was a good thing.

Typically in buffets it's hard to do everything right so I applaud the effort. The fact that nothing was really screwed up is still a victory.

The variety of foods was good with some Indian dishes mixed in including a surprisingly decent Chaat Papri. They had tried pakoras but I don't know if they had been sitting under heat lamps too long as they were a bit dry.

They provided several ok desserts including a good fruit salad. Finally, the whole family was a fan of the the fact that they provided unlimited scoops of a variety of ice creams which was super popular for us and somewhat unexpected.

The staff appeared very young - almost as if the family kids where running the evening. I could see that they were trying hard with the restaurant fully booked and they were very responsive to our requests. They even asked for specific feedback on the foods which they graciously took without getting defensive. Given the fullness of the place, I think they did a reasonable job in remaining attentive to the customers while ensuring an orderly experience at the buffet. Good job, kids!

Because the place was so full, it was actually quite loud with screaming babies and stuff. This was a family event so that is to be expected (and possibly even encouraged), but a combination of wood walls and a somewhat enclosed space did seem to make the place a little louder than it should have been.

For us, I'd like to try the place again after Ramadan to see what a more normal experience might be. There was enough fusion cuisine to intrigue me to see what they do with the place in the future. They were actually a downtown restaurant that relocated to the the International Ave and I hadn't tried them before. I'm glad I did, but I really want to give them another chance in a less chaotic (albeit happy) dining experience scenario.

Living in a suburb rather than near this place, we have access to other Hakka food so that alone is not worth a drive to 17th SE. In fact that food closer to us has been a bit tastier although the selection was more restricted. It's more likely that if I'm in the neighbourhood or seeking a buffet cause I don't know what I want to eat, then this place easily fits the bill.

But for God's sake, change the old Dragon Gate sign to reflect the new name or switch the name of your restaurant to Dragon Gate (at least that one doesn't seem like it's in...

Awful Service Sinks the Experience at 80 ATE The food at 80 ATE Indo Chinese Fusion House might have been decent, but the service was an absolute disaster. It single-handedly ruined the entire dining experience for our family of five.

Here's how our night went downhill:

Parched and Plate-less: We practically played hide-and-seek with our server just to get basic things like water. Forget about plates – we received a mismatched collection, as if they were scraped up from the bottom of a lost-and-found bin. Tissue Rationing: Apparently, napkins are a luxury item at 80 ATE. We were "blessed" with a measly five for the entire table, forcing us to constantly beg for more. The Service Ghost: Our server seemed to exist in a parallel dimension. She took forever to respond to requests, and thanking her for anything felt like talking to a brick wall. Multiple attempts to express gratitude were met with a chilling silence, not even a flicker of eye contact. We seriously questioned if she was capable of basic human interaction. Look, food is important, but service is the heart of hospitality. At 80 ATE, that heart is clearly missing. The experience left us feeling frustrated and frankly, insulted. Who wants to spend their hard-earned money on a meal riddled with such incompetence? We definitely won't be returning, and strongly advise anyone else to avoid this place unless they enjoy feeling invisible and...

Went there last night on the basis of high google rating. However, I think its overrated, at least with the experience that we had. First, the idea of taking order through ipad is nice but didn't like the experience as it took way more time to order than it should take. I missed the experience of personally talking to the servers about different menu items to find out more about them whereas here we had to ask server to come several times to ask what we wanted. Plus the software isn't great. Secondly, the order took about half an hour to get to us with about 5 minutes delay between the noodles and manchurian arrival. Third and most important is the food. We have been to many Chinese restaurants but this was the first one where chicken in all dishes was shredded from leg or thigh part. Usually white pieces of chicken are put in soups and noodles. The hot and sour soup tasted fine but I think there was a lot of tomato and garlic in it. The mild spicy noodles were extremely spicy that we couldn't even eat half of the dish. The manchurian was served with cilantro dressing, which again is not a typical chinese way of serving. Lastly, the teenaged girl servers with one under 10 aged girl were very polite and active but I think there is a need of more experienced staff. I hope this feedback helps you to improve. The review is based on opinion of myself, my wife...