Mercato Mission - Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

Mercato Mission Restaurant: A Symphony of Italian Flavors

My family and I recently dined at Mercato Mission Restaurant in Calgary, and it was an unforgettable experience. This is, without a doubt, one of the best Italian restaurants we've ever visited in Calgary.

From the moment we walked in, we were captivated by the inviting ambiance and the promise of a delightful culinary journey. The fresh, high-quality ingredients used in every dish were immediately apparent. The service was impressively fast, yet maintained the utmost quality throughout our meal. Our waiter, Tim, was exceptional—attentive, friendly, and ensured we had everything we needed for a perfect dining experience.

We began our meal with their Antipasti, savoring the Grilled Octopus Carpaccio with fried Brussels sprouts. The flavors were perfectly balanced and set the tone for the rest of the evening. Moving on to the Primi, we enjoyed the Linguine and that night's special, the Rigatoni. Both dishes were exquisite, bursting with authentic Italian flavors that transported us straight to Italy.

For our Secondi, we ordered the Bistecca, and my goodness, the beef was cooked to perfection—tender, juicy, and absolutely delicious. Each bite was a testament to the chef's skill and dedication to quality.

To cap off our culinary journey, we indulged in their Tiramisu. It was heavenly, a well-mastered symphony of flavors that left us in awe. The Tiramisu was like the gran finale of our dining experience, perfectly balancing sweetness and richness.

Mercato Mission is a must-visit for anyone who appreciates fine Italian cuisine. We can't...

Tl;dr Not kid friendly, front house of staff extremely rude, although the food was good, it was quite pricey. Did not have a very good experience. Basically the vibe I got from this place is "we are to good for anyone and we dont need your patronage". Dont think we'll be back.

Had a really hard time getting a reservation here for some reason but was pretty excited when we were finally able to secure one. We noted that it was for 2 and had requested a highchair or booster seat at the time of booking.

Upon arrival the hostess did not even acknowledge or greet us in a kind manner. Not to bring the race card up but we are visible minority and she seemed quite rude to us idk maybe I'm just overthinking it... Asked our reservation and proceeded to point to the high top they had reserved for us. At first were we puzzled cause clearly it was not accommodating for a highchair or booster. She then proceeded to say that when we booked we should have specified that the minor was young and needed a booster or highchair (which we did when we booked). She then continued to say that it was indicated on the booking that it was a minor and that a minor could be any age. Basically like "here's your table. You want it or not ?" Not a good start.

We were pretty close to walking out but decided to make it work. Luckily the server and the food was pretty decent. For two of us and our toddler our meal came out to be about $180 with tip. Youd think that the front staff would be a little more accommodating.

The meal itself was pretty good and our waiter was nice as well. (The only reason we didnt give...

This once was one of my favourite restaurants but unfortunately have had two awful experiences in the last week. On the weekend we were trying to show our foodie friend, who just moved to Calgary, one of our favourite spots and our dinner ended up taking 3.5 hours. Our drinks took forever to be delivered to the table as well which made the gaps between courses even more unbearable. They ended up throwing in some “extra” mushrooms with our steak but our entire table was so tired of the experience everyone just wanted to leave. Tonight, another group of friends chose Mercato to celebrate a special occasion. Thinking that my experience earlier that week was just a one-off, I was happy to give it another try. We had a reservation for 8pm but once we arrived they told us our table wasn’t ready yet. We ended up having to stand at a smaller table for over a half hour while they figured out where they could sit us. They blamed it on them being so busy and popular which was not the excuse we wanted to hear. It’s not our fault as a paying customer with a reservation that they continue to overbook the place and treat people so poorly. Nothing was offered to our group to make up for this situation. After these last couple of experiences in such a short period of time I would highly recommend staying away from this place until they can figure out how to get back to the customer service that made them successful in the first place. I will definitely not be going back...