Alloy — Restaurant in Calgary

It's "fine dining," with the emphasis on "fine." Fine as in "mediocre, average, inoffensive, or unexceptional."

First, the menu never changes. I've been there multiple times over the last few months and it's always essentially the same rehashed dishes, maybe with one or two minor changes. Nothing seasonal, which is bizarre in a city that has such distinct seasons. Hummus and pita bread is a very weird way to start a meal at a restaurant like this, especially with the prevalence of empty garbanzo bean husks on the plate. Do they have nobody that can bake half-decent bread?

Second, the menu makes no mention of sourcing. This means that they likely order everything from Sysco, an international company known for having no quality standards (I've seen the truck in the back of the restaurant from the 39th Ave station).

Restaurants that use excellent sources mention that on the menu. Alloy just has "pork" and "beef," which likely means that they're getting the cheapest of both that they can find on the market and then drenching both in enough clumsily-seasoned sauce that the quality of either is unrecognizable. After trying those dishes, I can say that I was tragically correct in that assumption.

Third, the menu isn't even executed properly and the plating doesn't seem to have evolved since 1985. The gnocchi I had were the consistency of arts and crafts glue, drenched in obviously fake truffle oil and far too much dairy The short rib is offensively seasoned and comes with a "tomato balsamic reduction" that compliments the entree about as effectively as having Gilbert Gottfried yelling into a megaphone tableside. The peppercorn and cherry tomato barbeque sauce with the fillet was outright disgusting, and the filet itself had obviously been cut without resting long enough. The brownie was bland and embarrassing, barely tasting of chocolate. The cheesecake was roughly the same quality that I can get from the freezer at Wal Mart. Every single plate had thumbprints on it and looks to have been plated with the grace and finesse of a high-school cafeteria.

Fourth, they don't seem to have anyone that can identify a corked bottle of wine. Two of the times that I've been there, we ordered a bottle and it came out corked. There's no excuse besides ineptitude for a corked bottle to be opened tableside and not detected by the server.

Fifth, I overheard a short guy in a garish suit talking with a male Latino server about how funny it was when the server threatened a homeless person with a baseball bat.

Not funny. Not cute. Not fine dining. I'd be embarrassed if this were my restaurant....

My friends and I booked a reservation on a Saturday evening. We are celebrating 2 of our bestfriends 40th birthday and had planned to have dinner here. We weren't tend to for at least half an hour since our party arrived. 8:50 and still no appetizers (they close at 9 pm). When we were finally asked if we were ready for a drink. We asked if they have a "slushy drink" because we weren't familiar with the cocktail option they presented. The waiter Jorge asked the bar if they could make something like that for us and said no. Which is understandable. I have eaten in a lot of places where they only have specific drinks, and that is fine. But the thing is, the bar tender starts mocking us. One of my friends pointed out that she saw and heard the bar tenders talking about us and laughing about us wanting a slushy drink. Our waiter wasn't very welcoming. Maybe it's just a personality thing, and that just how he is. When taking our orders, one of our friends asks if the pork belly can be shared. We are not worried about the price. We do this all the time where we shared our appetizers because most of the time, we never finished it. But instead of just letting us know whether it's enough for us to share or not. He replied with, "Well, we can probably cut it in half." When my friend ordered pork chop, she was asked if medium well is okay and my friend asked for a well done. Our waiter replied with, "it will be dry but okay." Is that really necessary? A simple okay would have been fine. We ended up canceling our orders as we didn't feel good being there anymore. We haven't even received our appetizers, and the waiter said our mains are on the grill already. Overall, the vibe we were given was a group of ladies who didn't belong in that restaurant and couldn't afford to eat there. My friend tried talking to the manager about how we were treated, and the way he was talking to us was he couldn't care less about what we have to say. He just said a bunch of empty words with that aura of "i don't really care." No apology was given. The place is nice but the service was not acceptable. Very...

If I could give this place ten stars, I would! I can’t believe I’ve lived in Calgary for 15+ years and only just had the pleasure of dining at this Calgary culinary landmark.

Everything from the ambiance, decor, food and service was absolutely incredible.

My date and I started with the hummus and pita bread (which I didn’t know they brought out as a complimentary starter). The pita bread was so pillowy soft inside with a nice crisp exterior— making it a perfect vessel for the perfectly seasoned velvety hummus.

Upon the recommendation of friends who have dined here previously, we had the gnocchi and short ribs. They were featuring a pork belly that particular day, and pork belly being my absolute favourite protein, I had to have that also.

The gnocchi was THE BEST gnocchi I’ve ever had— each mouthful was an absolutely decadent dream on my palate— I’ve never had such delicious, pillowy morsels of perfection in my life, and I have eaten at some notable restaurants in NY, Toronto, and Vancouver. This gnocchi dish was absolutely divine!!

Next came the pork belly, which was a summer feature. I hope it becomes a permanent menu item! The pork belly was cooked to perfection and the dollops of black garlic sauce gave the dish a moorish umami flavour. The pickled shimeji mushrooms were a nice touch— it cut through the richness and made it a perfectly balanced dish.

The short ribs did not disappoint—massive chunks of beefy perfection served with a velvety mash that eased the palate after tasting the robust flavours of the reduction. I am salivating as I type this review.

The wine list is vast and even though I can’t recall the wines we had, they made for perfect pairings with our meal.

Lastly, it’s nice to dine at a restaurant that has not lowered the standard of service after covid. Further on that note— there’s a reason why this gem of a restaurant has a loyal following. It’s a great date spot, has amazing food and impeccable service.

I can’t wait to dine...