Caesar's Steak House & Lounge — Restaurant in Calgary

I must be honest: the steak was delicious, but the attitude of the waiter and manager was extremely poor! We have reasonable suspicion that the manager harbors strong racial biases. I don't believe that if the customers were locals or any visible majority, they would have been treated the same way.

We ordered five steaks, two appetizers, and a soup, totaling eight items. Four of them were wrong, including three steaks with incorrect sides and doneness. We were certain we ordered only one soup, but the waiter insisted we ordered two. When we asked for extra cheese bread, they took our plates away without giving us new ones, so by the time our main course arrived, the bread was cold.

But!! We could overlook all the food issues. What truly matters is how we were treated with extreme disrespect and insult. We came to this restaurant to celebrate my friend's birthday, but many items were incorrect, so we complained to our waiter. When we informed him about the mistakes, he was indifferent and unapologetic, simply saying they would remake the items. Firstly, we were not trying to get anything for free, nor did we want to waste food. Secondly, his attitude suggested that making mistakes was normal and acceptable. So we decided to speak directly with the manager.

Our intention was to highlight the poor service and hope they would be more mindful in the future. We specifically chose this famous steakhouse for the birthday celebration. We initially brought a cake and were told no outside food was allowed, which we understood and respected. We asked if they could store the cake in the fridge, to which they agreed.

When explaining to the manager that our birthday celebration was ruined due to all the issues, we mentioned the cake to prove it was indeed a birthday. The manager misunderstood, thinking we were complaining about not being allowed to bring the cake in??!! We were baffled by this misunderstanding, as we had already accepted the no-outside-food policy without issue and thanked them for storing the cake. When we tried to explain, he repeatedly interrupted us, saying, "You stop! Don't speak, listen to me first!!??" This was outrageous!!??

As a restaurant owner myself, I have never seen such disrespect from a waiter or manager towards customers. We expressed our anger and felt disrespected due to his constant interruptions. However, the manager claimed he was insulted by us?? He believed he was handling the situation politely (when he was actually very rude and disrespectful), and couldn't understand why we were unhappy despite his (indifferent) apology.

He was emotionally out of control, so we decided to pay the bill and leave. The bill included charges for the wrong steaks, extra soup, and cold bread. If the manager and waiter had addressed our concerns politely, we would have paid without issue. But we received incorrect food and were treated rudely and disrespectfully, so we refused to pay for items we didn't order. The manager threatened to call the police if we didn't pay and claimed our complaints and defense of our rights upset him??!! Excuse me??!!

We wondered who the customers were. We came to your restaurant, paid for your food and service, not to serve and please you. Does your restaurant's service philosophy imply that no matter how poor the service is, customers cannot be unhappy or complain? If they do, the manager and waiter will get upset and argue with the customers, claiming to be insulted?

Everything we experienced today at this restaurant was disappointing, absurd, and infuriating. However, I have to say the steak was really good! But if you are a visible minority, be prepared for discriminatory treatment and the need to "serve"...

I am truly disappointed with the attitude which they treat their customers. From the start, the employee at the front desk who answered the phone was rude, patronizing, and unhelpful when I tried to inquire about my concerns. I attempted to arrange a time with the front desk over the course of two weeks to speak with the manager, but every scheduled meeting was missed without explanation or follow-up. It’s disheartening to see such poor customer service from a large establishment in Calgary. This experience has certainly left a negative impression, and I hope they take this feedback seriously to improve.

*EDIT IN RESPONSE TO CAESAR'S REPLY

Normally, I prefer to avoid debating in reviews, but I cannot stand by and let misleading and incomplete responses go unaddressed. The reply from Caesars does not reflect the full picture, and I feel it’s important to clarify the situation.

In response to the cancellation policy: when we called to cancel our reservation, we explicitly asked about anything else related to cancelation we needed to be aware of to which Caesers told us no, implying that there was no cancellation fee. Given this information, we trusted the employee’s word rather than a very small clause buried in the fine print of an email. Despite all this, we were empathetic about the situation and understood that both parties have been hurt, our main goal was simply to reach a reasonable compromise. Unfortunately, our attempts to work things out were met with complete disregard.

Hostility and Threats of Negative Reviews: It’s completely inaccurate and misleading to suggest that we approached Caesars with hostility or threats of a bad review. In reality, we made multiple attempts to contact the manager in a professional and diplomatic manner. Despite this, we were met with rudeness from staff and were ignored for over two weeks. The claim that we issued "threats" is entirely false. The decision to leave a negative review came only after our repeated efforts to resolve the issue had been completely disregarded.

Failure to acknowledge our concerns: When we finally reached the manager, they didn’t even ask us for our side of the story before filing a report. The purpose of this report was to account for the entire situation—so how could the report accurately reflect the events if our views were never spoken? The fact that we were not given a chance to explain our perspective speaks volumes about the lack of care or respect in their handling of this matter.

I didn’t want to take a discussion which should have happened privately to the internet out of concern for both our privacy and Caesar's employees, but when Caesar's response completely ignored our side of the story, I felt it necessary to share our experience. As a former multiple time customer, I’m truly disappointed by this treatment and can confidently say I will never...

Visited Monday June 26th 2021@~1730hrs I want to start off by saying that the food was amazing! The steaks were tender and cooked to perfection right in front of us! Shout out to the chef in the glass booth, it was awesome to see a master at his craft work and then enjoy the fruit of his labour in front of him! What also really made it the best experience was the service. When we showed up, we realized we were severely underdressed "D'oh!" haha. It's been a few rough years and my dad who has terminal cancer was wearing a bright red bandana to protect his newly bald head and jersey shirt (just as an example). Our appearance did not seem to matter to the staff. They smiled and welcomed us, and in our opinion, even though we were not seated at a booth which is normally considered a better seat, we feel like we got the best seat in the house, right in front of the steak chef. Our server Mike was phenomenal, he deserves so much praise. He took the time to recommend items, he even pointed us in the better direction in terms of what cuts of meat to get, even if they were less expensive than the highest priced cut, he told us why we should go for a different cut and he did not steer us wrong. For example, going from the bone in ribeye to the regular ribeye which came to the same price in the end because he reminded us that we could ask for a bigger portions. All the servers that had interactions with us were amazing, one even suggesting how to finish off the shrimp sauce with our garlic toast, they all just made us feel welcome. Even though the place is high end and we didn't look the part, Mike and the team made us feel comfortable and welcomed. Would highly recommend the ribeye, Neptune steak, the pan grilled shrimp and the apple pie. Ribeye medium rare with an extra char on the outside (Chicago style) is the way to go. Sides like mushrooms and asparagus can be shared, they are big enough. Hope if anyone reads this is motivated to go, you might have to break open the piggy bank if this is not something you save your money for, but it is worth it! Clearly the staff reflect the leadership, the manager would even come around and pour our water from time to time. Great service made the food taste better. Thanks for making this a lasting memory! It had been a long time since it was just our dad and his kids, we all felt some relief that evening from our mothers passing last year and our dads condition, Cesar's really helped the laughs and good times flow and for this we are eternally grateful.

Sorry if the review went a little sentimental in the end haha, but this place was...