Last Best Brewing & Distilling — Restaurant in Calgary

The manager Shane is an AGGRESSIVE, rude and dangerous individual that should not be managing a restaurant or working in any type of hospitality. Tonight, Shane called the POLICE on my husband for no reason. If I could give Last Best Brewing a zero I would.

My husband stopped by for a beer tonight, and was seated at the bar (with a 2nd chair reserved for me). He ordered a beer, then left to use the bathroom. When he came back to the bar, he noticed his work backpack had been moved, and his seats given to other customers. This is when Shane, the manager, walked up to him and instead of seating the customers elsewhere, he attempted to move my husband to a different seat. My husband refused (due to the obvious terrible service), and voiced his displeasure of them touching his backpack without his permission, and also giving up his seats. He declined being re-seated, and told Shane he would just leave. Shane then began BERATING my husband and accusing him of not paying for a beer he NEVER RECEIVED. My husband tried to explain that he had not received the beer, but Shane continued being aggressive with him and went as far as to physically block the exit with his body, preventing my husband from leaving. Shane then decided to call the police and lied to the officers, telling them my husband was drunk and refusing to pay his tab (which was a complete lie as like I mentioned, he had NOT received the beer he ordered).

It was not until after calling the police that Shane decided to use his brain and check with the bartender - who I assumed confirmed that my husband had not received his beer, because once the police arrived, Shane decided to drop the matter without an apology to my husband. When I finally arrived, I asked to talk to the police and Shane because I felt this was completely unacceptable and frankly DANGEROUS that Shane lied to the police in order to try to get them to arrest my husband. After continuing to argue with me in front of officers, Shane stormed off mid-conversation because he did not want to admit he was wrong. Once he left, the police officers apologized to my husband and I for the situation.

Imagine how insane it is to not only call the police (before checking with the bartender), but to also LIE and accuse someone of being drunk (who hadn't even taken a sip of alcohol). Shane is a dangerous, lying and idiotic individual that should not be a manager of any restaurant. It should be a crime to call the police for no reason, and I can not believe a manager would decide to take that course of action instead of first checking with their staff. I will never come back to Last Best again, and I suggest anyone reading this should not either.

To Shane the manager, you are a complete fool and a bumbling idiot. Next time use your brain, act like an adult, and don't beckon the police as if they're your...

So, I have been going to this establishment for a while now, and it was good, until my experience tonight. I got off work and was at the Last Best bar and had my work bag down near the stool, after waiting for sometime I ordered my first beer, waiting for my wife to come meet me. Once I made the order I went to the bathroom and got back to both my stool taken by another patron, and my bag moved and placed on top of the bar counter. The patrons did not want to move after asking, the manager came by and said "we can move you to another spot". With the lack of speedy service I wanted at that point to leave, and meet my wife and go home. This is when things got crazy. The manager, I believe is called Shane stated "I cannot leave, I have not paid my bill", fair enough, I told him I did not receive my first order, and didn't feel obligated to pay. I did not have any tab and have not received or consumed anything, I thought I was fair in my request to leave. Shane then proceeded to follow me to the door, and block my exit. Then Shane called 911, he said to 911 verbatim, "I was heavily intoxicated and was being aggressive". At this point I choose to stay and wait for the police, at no time did I swear or act aggressive towards Shane. So, after the call is concluded with 911. Shane and I exchange words and after a couple minutes, he THEN verifies my "tab" and story with the BARTENDER. At this point he says I am ok to leave, when I leave the cops are arriving, they go in, and he tells them its a non issue.

Basically, Shane (manager) is the type of person to lie and try and use buzzwords such as "intoxicated" "aggressive" to weaponize the police against you, I cant help but wonder if someone else were in my situation, that the police would be so relaxed on responding to this sort of call over a situation the...

This USED to be THE place that all industry people would go to after work for Fernet and cool shots and cold, delicious beers. Now, I'm not sure what to come back for.

Booked a table of 12 to celebrate a family member finishing school. Calling and speaking to someone took a bit since the number listed on Google brought me to a voicemail.

The food was good. Delicious pub style elevated grub. Nachos and Korean chicken burger were great.

The service, however, was abysmal. Our server's demeanour was good, but she was barely around. Beers and drinks sat empty for over 20 minutes at some points. No water offered, we had to ask for it initially and for refills multiple times. We sat by the kitchen and kept seeing a manager(?) In a suit just chatting with our server in the kitchen. No sense of urgency in him during what I would consider a dinner rush. When our food was on the expo line, they let her serve it all herself, no assistance or offers of assistance. When it came time for the bill, we asked for it and waited 15 more minutes for her to return with it. We were told one bill but split payments were ok. No problem. The debit/credit machines are all still old 3G ones. Took a few tries to get it to work and they're so slow. Again, no help from management to take multiple payments even though they were right there standing around and chatting. Grab a machine and help out your staff! Payments took an additional 10ish minutes.

Overall, I'd still order a Last Best beer or LB Gin cocktail if it was on the menu somewhere else, but I don't think I'll ever return to dine in. Such a poor experience for a place that I would consider used to be an institution in this city. Now it's no better than...