LOCAL Public Eatery 8th Avenue — Restaurant in Calgary

Perhaps it was a busier night than it seemed, and the staff had more on their plates than the dining room reflected. Still, I believe our experience could have been handled with more care and basic hospitality.

My partner and I were seated at the first booth behind the host stand and waited over 15 minutes without being acknowledged. There was no apology or recognition that we had been overlooked. In fact, our server didn’t crack a smile once. We genuinely felt like an inconvenience to their side duties rather than welcomed guests.

We ordered drinks and an appetizer, only to be told later that the item was sold out. Again, no apology- just a flat question about whether we wanted something else. I had to request a menu, which was surprising; it’s not fair to assume that customers are familiar with all the options. We settled on chips and salsa, which then took another 20 minutes to arrive. By that time, I had finished my drink and was hoping to order another, but we didn’t see our server again for quite a while.

By the time we finished the chips and my partner also finished his drink, we had waited another 20 minutes with no service in sight. I eventually had to flag down the host to get help. When our server finally reappeared with the bill, there was still no acknowledgment of the poor service, let alone an apology. The interaction was uncomfortable and left us debating whether to leave only the minimum tip.

I’m honestly shocked that someone who shows such little regard for guests, especially in terms of basic courtesy, is employed at a franchise of this caliber. Our experience was genuinely disappointing, and the lack of accountability from our server played a major role in that. This situation absolutely needs to...

We really enjoyed our food and the ambiance at local! They have a separate gluten free fryer which is great! Their menu is also super varied and decently priced. Parking nearby was $2 for the night.

Unfortunately our service was extremely lacklustre. We had made a reservation for 7:30pm on a Friday night - it took six phone calls across two days to get through (calling at off peak hours) and their email seems to be largely unmonitored (I emailed on a Monday, emailed again on a Tuesday and finally got a reply Tuesday night but by then I had phoned in to book).

On the night of our reservation there were five fire trucks blocking intersections and roads around the restaurant so it took us some extra time to get parking. We arrived ten minutes late and the hostess told us she gave up our reservation - no call, no text, apparently no grace period? Luckily they were still able to seat us. We ordered food and drinks but our server disappeared for a large portion of the night and we had to wait an extended period to get the bill.

For us this was an important dinner with a work colleague and his wife so we were frustrated that the restaurant wasn’t very professional. I’d come back for something super casual like drinks or appies but not a dinner where you need reliable service. We should have clued in when it was so hard to make a...

Came here at noon Sunday that also happened to be St. Patrick’s Day so they had some decorations put up. Place was not super busy so there was ample seating. Sat down and our server gave us menus. Being as it was St. Patrick’s I ordered a Guinness, and my partner ordered off their non-alcohol menu. Drinks came fast and we ordered our food.

I ordered the Diablo Burger which has pickled jalapeños and some spicy sauce. The burger was medium spicy which I appreciate because I only really mind a kick of spice. And the size of the burger was a fair size. Fries were pretty good, not too salty and crispy and they gave a good amount. My partner had the Local Burger which was a simple burg with all the fixings and tasted good as well.

We also split an order of friend potato’s skins appetizer with the group we were with. They were really good and could almost be eaten as a meal. Super savoury and had a lot of fixings.

Price was fair for what we got. There was a weekend brunch menu that had reasonable priced beer, so if you Minus the premium beer and it’s fairly decent.

Overall a good place to eat if you’re in the area and would most likely come back if I’m in the area. It’s also extremely close to TD Core shopping center...