Grazers — Restaurant in Calgary

The animals are cool…but the food is luxurious! Our first time at Calgary Zoo and we wanted to take in a full and beautiful dining lunch experience. And the AC was an attractive option too in the hot heat of a summer day. The zoo has tons of walking so coming here for your lunch is something I would definitely recommend. The menu had so many delightful options we had a hard time deciding but ALL of the dishes we ordered ended up being incredible!

The service was good. The layout was a little awkward with the bathrooms being right by the kitchen door so I felt like I was constantly seeing almost crashes from the staff and people just coming out of the bathrooms. But the restaurant itself is finely decorated, we enjoying the TVs showing close ups on some of the zoo animals. The kids menu had coloring and animal trivia. And the cocktail menu had so many local and unique drinks.

Onto the food! The kids had chicken fingers and fries, portions were large and it came with ice cream as a dessert. We ordered the Lethbridge Farms Pork Belly ($19) Chinook honey spicy gochujang sauce and crunchy noodles - amazing! Tender and so flavourful! And the other shareable we ordered were the Brussel Sprouts ($16) maple bourbon, pickled red onions, almonds, pomegranate seeds, zoo-grown pea shoots, and smoked paprika, aioli. - magical! Wow the flavors were elegant and so elevated! The fresh pea shoots were also on the Pork belly and I loved them so much. And From the Garden we also ordered the Poke Bowl ($21) and added tiger prawns ($9): crispy tofu, avocado, edamame, red cabbage, mango, soya ginger lime emulsion, togarashi aioli, and zoo-grown microgreens. Fresh! And flavourful! A very filling portion. It seems like you can’t go wrong with anything...

I've usually had nothing but great things to say about everything the zoo has to offer, however I didn't have a great experience at Grazers when I went. The staff were friendly enough and we were seated promptly, but it took the server 15-20mins to come greet us, after visiting the table beside us multiple times. I ordered a $5 jungle juice which is supposed to come with ginger ale and a lime, which it didn't. There was absolutely no fizz and was overall disappointing. I don't know if my meal was supposed to come with a soup or small salad but it wasn't mentioned or offered. I unfortunately forgot about this until after we left since we had to wait so long for service and my mind was elsewhere. I ordered short ribs with the mushroom ravioli and was underwhelmed. The ravioli had very little stuffing and the sauce was very watery, the meat was delicious but overall it's not a dish I would eat again. My daughter had chicken fingers with fries followed by a cup of dirt (oreo crumbles and gummy worms over vanilla ice cream). The only complaint I have about her meal is that a small plastic tab from the ice cream container was found in her ice cream. This could have been a choking hazard, but since I already paid while she was eating it, we didn't have a chance to talk to anyone about it before leaving. The rest of her meal was well prepared, a nice portion size, and she seemed to really enjoy it. Grazers has a nice atmosphere but for how busy it was, the service was lacking. We may give it another shot, but for now I think we will be sticking to the...

Brought my 2 year old daughter and husband here to have some lunch before having to have a long drive home. Greeted by the hostess which was super friendly. But our waitress Dawn didn't seem as friendly right from the start. Husband ordered the meal cesar salad with chicken, daughter had chicken fingers and fries and i ordered the fish tacos with the side of soup. Fish tacos were good. Even though i only ate 1 of the 3 as i was drinking my soup of the day (vegetable soup). I bit into a rubber band. Not sure if it was a hair elastic or what, but was not impressed. Told our waitress and she seemed annoyed. Im assuming she was irritated that she had to deal with the situation and tell kitchen staff and having to apologize. Which she did; but, honestly didn't even seem sincere. Saying its an elastic band from broccoli. As we walked out, she only said "bye" under her breath. I mean come on, at least pretend you're apologetic. Now i have to make another stop for food before the drive home. Which defeated the purpose of us eating there in the first place....