Annabelle's Kitchen Downtown — Restaurant in Calgary

Let me start by saying this: the atmosphere was lovely, the food was solid, and the service was friendly. We were a group of six seated in a small, intimate section of the restaurant — a separate room with its own entrance and bar. It felt like a hidden gem, and our server was also the bartender, running the entire space solo. Clearly someone the restaurant trusts with a lot of responsibility, which made what happened next even more disappointing.

The bill came to around $350. As we passed the payment machine around, with me being the last to pay, I happened to glance at the itemized receipt and noticed a 20% automatic gratuity had already been added. Curious, I asked the rest of our group if they’d seen it — and turns out, every single one of them had already tipped on top of the auto-grat, completely unaware it was included. Not one of us had been told.

When I brought it up, the server quickly backpedaled, saying it must’ve been a mistake and that auto-grat is only applied to parties of eight or more. Then he went back to the POS and removed the gratuity himself, redoing the payments.

Now here’s where it gets shady: I’ve worked in restaurants for over 15 years, and I’ve never seen a system where a server — not a manager — has the power to add and remove auto-gratuity. That kind of access is usually restricted for good reason. There is no way that a restaurant would give any server the ability to quietly tack on a 20% gratuity themselves, and hope no one notices. Sorry dude, that's not a "mistake" — that’s a calculated move. And the fact that the server/bartender then went to the POS and removed without any manager assistance tells me a) he obviously has the authority to add/remove these gratuities himself, and b) he knew exactly what he was doing despite apologizing saying that this was an accident citing that it only normally applies to groups of 8 or more... Maybe he thought it was a gamble that we wouldn’t catch it since the rest of our party had four cocktails each. While the rest of our crew didn’t notice and tipped 20% on top, sorry, I did notice. And it really ruined my night, hence the garbage review.

Also — the cocktails? Mediocre at best. Serving a $21 Old Fashioned without a king cube like we’re at a Denny’s? C’mon. If you’re going to charge cocktail bar prices, serve cocktail bar quality.

We had a good time until payment came around and were ready to tip generously, but instead, we left feeling like we almost got played.

Won’t be back — and we’ll be warning friends to keep an eye on their bill too because that is super sketchy. Well done, hope it was...

STILL HUNGRY!!! I took my colleague and a client to Blink this past week. It was the first time any of us had been there. So, let's just get to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. THE GOOD -The food was very, very tasty. I ordered the Arctic Char, and it was delicious. Presented well - almost too pretty to eat. -I enjoyed the ambiance - the older buildings in downtown Calgary have great charm. THE BAD -I said the food was good, right? It was, but there just was not enough of it. I'm not a heavy-weight eater, but this girl still wants to be satisfied. Fish in itself is not normally a hearty meal, and so you need to give it more substance with ample sides. I do not, I repeat, I do not want to spend close to $30 to be hungry. I was literally licking the herbs off the plate. -We waited 45 minutes for our food - and this, over a business lunch hour just is not good. Does delicious, quality food take time? Absolutely, and I don't mind being patient in a fast-food world, but this was just too long. 20-30 minutes max. THE UGLY -Our pretty-boy host was either having a bad day or a bad life. I give people the benefit of the doubt as we all have crappy days, but the first face that greets you in a restaurant should make you want to sit down, eat, drink and stay. The sight of our host almost made me turn my heels and leave.

Will I return? Not on my own volition. I will not be taking clients, friends, family or random strangers ;) here again. For the same amount of money or less, you can have a full, happy tummy, be served quickly and with a smile in several other downtown places - Pampas, Moxie's Grill (yes, I know it's a chain, but downtown location is good),...

Annabelle's Kitchen downtown is one of the best eating experiences I've had in Calgary.

The reason the quality was so high was that each ingredient maintained it's distinct and unique flavor. For instance, our pizza had pears, gorgonzola cheese, cured bacon and arugula on it. Asides from the arugula (which I could care less about) each individual ingredient tasted strongly and uniquely, and when combined it was delicious, especially considering the bread also complimented the dish. The same was to be said of the salad with grilled peaches (unique yet they managed both a sweet and slightly savory flavor) and the whipped focaccia where both the bread, cheese and honey had distinctly different flavor palettes but still combined magnificently.

Of the three factors I consider for food (quality, price, and quantity) quality is the one I value least, but this blew me out of the water with a 10/10 rating. Price wasn't great for me, but it also wasn't crazy either, and when factored in with the quality it was very understandable and not overpriced (which means to most people, it was pretty cheap, 8/10). The quantity as well was pretty admirable, on it's own it would have gotten a pretty decent rating to me (8/10). Both of these items are VERY rare to be found at a place were I also value quality so highly.

Seriously impressed at this hidden gem. Glad to have...