CattleBaron Steakhouse NE - Airport — Restaurant in Calgary

looked up steak houses open in Calgary NE. not many left to find a place to have nice Fathers day dinner on saturday night. But then found this quickly read the reviews and said ok ... I called and asked if i needed a reservation. Was warming told "come on down! we have room". As we got there parking lot looked full and i was worried but in going inside options were given for restaurant or Lounge, well playoff Oiler Hockey game on and Stampeders BC. Lounge it is! Hostess brought us to the lounge and it was great to feel The Atmosphere was nice. tv's strategically tuned to both games. Volume was at a nice level that you can speak and still hear the game not overbearing. The specials were written at the front clear and concise. When the server came and said hello just our luck it happened to be the server that was written about in the review i read it said she was amazing.. ill was like oh man ill see about that.

Service "CASS": & management team well the review i read was not a lie Hands down Cass was the best service i have had in Calgary in about a year. She was kind and funny and gave the specials and made suggestions of cocktails and food.

She was easily running what seemed to be the whole lounge with one bartender who was steady and busy. She wasn't fake and had a balance of professionalism with the flare of her own personality. Talking to guests, striking up conversations, thanking them for coming in, and was genuine. Clearing and resetting tables in between courses. The rest of the staff was very team based that you could see management and staff running food and drinks to other tables and helping hands make for lite work. I must commend the FOH as you all worked effortlessly and showed no signs of any problems (I know its a restaurant; there must have been some somewhere)

Food: Ribs, Beef Carpaccio, Special Serloin with blue chees and prawns, Ribeye with prawns. cheesecake.. Great job overall kitchen. Carpaccio is so tasty melt in your mouth. pair it with a great CABSAUV (very much like a favourite of mine from the Fall menu of Chef Rob Feeny's Cactus Club) came out hot and delicious. Ribs were delicious the main side dishes were cooked to perfection, as were the steaks to the correct temperature. the taste was divine. Great portion. enough for the take home box. The only thing that was weak was that the Cheesecake was pretty small and wasn't anything to brag about. Great Job BOH... with steady food coming out all evening. i personally didn't see any food going back nor did i hear anyone barking from the kitchen.

But this was definitely well worth the cost and frankly it was cheaper and better tasting than the usual Chain Steakhouse (that goes by the name of what you call barrels that house Beer)

Fantastic experience overall, we will definitely come back. Being a former Hospitality business consultant, I have what people who dine with me say High standards and expectations. I write very few reviews on google or yelp as I tend not to sugar coat things.

Thanks again to CASS and team at CattleBaron for a great...

My wife and I went for a a little dinner date night. Short version: I would go back.

Food: Everything tasted really good. I had the Beef Carpaccio to start. Honestly, it's a monster serving for a starter. I felt like there was too much greens (arugula, i think), not enough capers, but! The horseradish aioli was delicious, and everything combined with the crustini was really good.

My wife had the escargot, and she offered two opinions, mmmmmmmmm and not mushroom capped. I asked her if that was an issue, and she said no.

We shared 4 oysters as well, and they are quite good!

Our mains consisted of the 8oz filet mignon with mashed potato for me and the prime rib with double baked potato. My steak was very tender and tasted really good, though it was just a little less the med rare and there was no nice crust/sear on the steak so the texture was a little off, but it didn't detract from the flavour. Mashed was mashed. Not bad, not amazing.

The prime rib was excellent. The double baked tater was good. Veggies served with both were cooked yet had a nice crisp texture ... a dash of salt really made them sing... odd they weren't seasoned in the kitchen but whatever.

Dessert, we had the marshmallow brownie. Decadent, chocolatey, and heavy. Being diabetic I only had a few bites, and my wife had her share. We both enjoyed and took the rest of the brownie home.

Service: we didn't get the server's name, but she was adequate. Not super personable and chatty, which I enjoy at the start and end of the meal with a server, but she was nice and professional. We didn't see her much, whether at our table or on the floor, and it was quite busy, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe she was running food or something. She did check on us a few times and didn't linger, so, all in all, I was happy with the service. Side note: we got a table by the windows on raised chairs. It was not my first choice but surprisingly comfortable.

Atmosphere: it's not bad. It's a little dark. The lighting fixtures could use a modern update. The longhorn thing could be moved to an elevated shelf and some plants or something put where it currently sits. The dining room needs a splash of light/colour. Music was at a good volume that you could still talk but loud enough that you couldn't really hear other tables. It's cozy in a dated way.

Price: it was very expensive, given our order. But everything is expensive in 2024, so it didn't feel like we were being gouged or paid too much for what we got, given the current prices of things in general. Pre-covid, before tip, I'd imagine it would have been $50-$60 cheaper.

Verdict: not a budget friendly restaurant, but for a good steak dinner, it did the job. I would recommend and...

Rather than leaving a review I had emailed the establishment with no reply so feel it necessary to leave a review it very disappointed Our experience was very lovely to begin with as in drinks, appetisers. Server was on par. Most of the mains were very good however my ribs were nothing like they were described as in fall off the bone. They were extremely tough and even a knife struggled to rip through them. The server immediately offered to replace them. Within about 15 minutes I had recieved my second order, I had eaten the baked potatoe and the family had finished their meals. The assistant manager came over and diligently watched as I tried to cut through the ribs again. Again they were very tough. I was asked if I wanted anything else however at this stage we were about 40 mins in and I did not want to eat a meal on my own whilst the others had finished. This is all understandable and we are not great complainers however with the calibre of your establishment we were suprised to see that the ribs had not been removed from the bill. We thought it most unprofessional and strange that the server was peeling 30 dollars off his roll of cash in his pockets to give to my son in law who had paid for the meal. We asked the server if he was going to be reimbursed for the cash and asked for the manager to come and speak with us to ensure he was not going to lose the cash. My family operate remote mines in the hospitality field and they were shocked that we had not been approached by the manager to speak to us about the not once but twice returned ribs. Not once were we asked if there was anything they could do for us, at which we would have said no as we hate making a fuss. The ribs should have been removed from the bill immediately after the second return. The manager thought it was perfectly fine when we questioned her and she never once asked us how we enjoyed the other meals, did not find it tacky that the server was peeling us dollars from his pocket, not one apology and it was a 2 minute conversation and we left. In fact had the server not approached us my son in law would never have noticed, he paid the bill in good faith at the desk and came back to the table. We honestly felt like we were an after thought. Surely with an establishment to that calibre a better approach and care to your customers could be offered, especially...