Bootleggers Sports Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Calgary

My wife and I went to Bootleggers last night to watch a football game as we were spending the night in Calgary on a business trip. The server was receptive and attentive and was the only enjoyable aspect of our visit. We arrived half an hour before kick off and intended to enjoy a laid back evening of enjoying football and appies. We sat at a table near the front door and shortly after being seated, one of the patrons walked by our table aggressively talking to himself and aggressively swung open the front door to go outside. He returned after a short time and in proceeding to his table bumped the chairs of 3 or 4 other patrons without any care. About 15 minutes later, the same patron aggressively talking to himself was headed outside again, this time breaking the hinge of the outside door as he exited. This patron continued to leave and enter aggressively 3 or 4 more times. My wife then noticed there was a shirtless man in the parking lot fighting another patron. The two patrons fighting were members from the same table and one was the who had been entering and exiting aggressively. A third patron noticed there was a fight outside and notified the manager of the fight. The manager went to the parking lot and asked the patron to put his shirt back on. During this time the one patron re-entered the bar and proceeded to his table followed by the manager who then allowed the shirtless patron to come back into the bar this time wearing a hoodie. At this point, it was clear none of the staff or the manager had any concern about the other patrons enjoyment or safety. My wife and I waved our server over to cancel our food that was ordered and made the server aware of why we were doing so. The server apologized profusely and expressed to my wife and I that she was uncomfortable as well with the two patrons being allowed back into the bar. While the server was getting our bill the manager came over to our table and apologized for what had happened, offered to box our food, and said "There's nothing we can do we are just a staff of female servers. This patron will be leaving, we had to allow him back in to pay his tab." It was quite obvious as both patrons were back at the table enjoying their drinks that they were not simply paying their tab. My wife and I were taken back at this answer, myself especially as a former bar manager of 10+ years. I don't buy the managers explanation as a $100 to $200 or even $300 bar tab is not worth the safety and displeasure of the rest of the patrons of the bar. We arrived at 6:30pm and were two of no more than 15 patrons in the bar at that time. The male bartender was easily able to be aware of the clear over serving the patron had been given and the managers explanation is disgraceful and simply embarrassing. It's nothing short of irresponsible of the manager to not have male security or staff present. It was clear by the hi-vis being worn in the bar by patrons that this is an establishment frequented by trades people. In saying that, I in no way mean to discriminate the people of the trades as I managed bars that catered to a wide range of clientele. It's foolish to not have male staffing when your establishment attracts a predominantly male crowd. It makes me uneasy to think about how careful my food is being handled, how clean the barware is, and how sanitary the ice machines must be if managing the simple safety of the patrons is too complicated of a task for this manager. Save your money for an establishment that cares about its patrons. My heart goes out to the staff that have to provide for this families while working under...

Was out for my friends birthday, saturday june 28th, 2025 @ 9pm just in case you need to watch a shift on camera. everyone was having a good time. Waited for the fights to be over and then some good old karaoke. Things were decent. I still work in this industry because i enjoy this industry as well as legal. So I notice things. I'm not sure of our servers name she didnt have a name tag nor tell us, or let us keep out copies of our bills. We told her before it was busy how we wanted our bills separated total bills should have been 2 bills 2 people on one and 3 one the other. So we thought cool someone that is organized. Took over an hour to get water. You don't need to slow service for water. Once she got a one large group we weren't important anymore. This is not the first time here but, this night was different. And nothing like I have ever witnessed. Not only did my one friend bus our table, of plates and glasses over crowding. After our last round of drinks we requested our bills. After not being handed a proper bill, after the first of 2 bills was paid magically a third bill for our table appeared. When we only asked for 2 at the beginning of the evening. Whatever it got paid no tip. Now if no one on this planet knows the acronym of tips. Needs a little education because our experience turns right here, TO INSURE PROMPTED SERVICE!!!. Tipping should never be expected especially if guests have done your job for you. I'll irritate bussing our own table/over an hour for water. This is the kicker your floor manager now comes right when my one friend goes to sing and this is and should be fireable for both server and manager. Which I just saw your new openings on indeed an hour ago. The manager now allows this server to call us all racist for not tipping but we did tip just not to her liking, and then the manager with her server state we need to leave. Well at 15 dollars a drink paid for I'm finishing my drink. As a paralegal I know I'm well within my rights. Now has someone who is well educated. Your manager and server causing such a scene, causing harm and defamation of character, and did this assuming we were all white trash. Good job for creating a quality experience, everyone of us have mixed kids, and or are a mixed person as such myself. So your server and manager need a dictionary on what racism is because well not tipping is not one of them. And for a Manger to allow such behavior is the problem of why an always busy bar is dying. I remember boots being busy all the time. Right from the day it opened as boots. Such a sad way for a place to take a turn. For a manager to cause harm to guests for allowing such horrible entitled behavior to unfold. I tried calling to speak to a owner not a manager and the phone just magically hung up. But, maybe someone was finally getting a glass of water so no one could speak with me. So after over a week of telephone tag, I'm now posting this here to prevent more people from being racist on a tip for the service they receive. And a loud message not everyone should be in management. P.s. If I can teach a 60 year old never in this industry to bartend, and be a house hold favorite. You can teach your staff about...

This place will offer you a little more than what you would expect from a pub and is short in some areas that I just couldn’t get over. I feel that if there was a little consideration on behalf of the management, this place could be an attractive destination.

Walking in, the parking lot is dimly lit and has a seedy feel. When you walk in the surroundings and decor are great with dark woods and stones and we’ll compensated with lights placed just right.

It’s a wide open space but the layout is thought out from the pool tables and VLTs to seating areas and karaoke room.

The wait staff seemed to start off well. We showed up with a table for six however the pub was far from capacity.

Our service started out strong but quickly faded and we were left waiting to order drinks.

I was hungry and decided to order a spinach dip while waiting on the rest of the group to decide. It came out with side plates so we could share which was great. Three of us tried the dip but were sorely disappointed. The chips seemed stale and the spinach dip was disappointing to say the least. I tried to finish it but couldn’t. I picked up fast food on the way home because I wasn’t going to waste money on more food I would waste.

While catching up with our friends we noticed the karaoke setting up. While some of the singers were fun to listen to, we could barely hear our own conversation. The karaoke room funnels into the main area and just drowned us out. We thought a barn door between the areas would be a great fix for that concern. I could tell from anyone in the main area that the karaoke was a bit frustrating especially when trying to have a conversation. Even the wait staff seemed to get a little annoyed.

I might go back for a wing night because I remember them being decent in the past, but I would have to have more of a reason or occasion to make the trek to...