Model Milk — Restaurant in Calgary

It's been 9 years since we first had a meal at Model Milk. We received a gift card and needed to grab a meal with our family.

The restaurant was packed. Funny enough, the first thing the host said to us was that our table wasn't ready, which was exactly what was said to us 9 years ago. Today, it was a quick turnaround and a table was available (we wait 30 minutes 9 years ago for our reservation).

We had a wonderful server who really made the night. He was attentive and knowledgeable about the dishes served. We asked what the popular dishes were and he stated the Shrimp Toasties, the Burger, the Hot Chicken, and the Striploin.

My wife ordered 6 East Coast Oysters. She said they were fresh and had no sand. She enjoyed them.

The Shrimp Toasties were the highlight of the night. Had we known how good they were, we would just order a bunch of Shrimp Toasties only! The bread was toasted and buttery with fluffy interior. The shrimp was a perfect compliment to the amazing bread.

We got Skinny Fries for the kids. They were crispy and flavorful. There was not much of the listed toppings, but we didn't miss them much.

My wife wanted to try the Calamari Friccasse which was very tender with plenty of sauce. The flavors were intense and bright.

My wife also ordered the Albacore Tuna Crudo which was a very interesting combination of flavors with the orange citrus flavor bursting along with the fresh tuna meat.

The final appetizer that my wife ordered was the Cheesy Donuts which looked like deep fried pastries topped with ham. The cheese is mild and has a delayed noticeability. It was interesting, but certainly not our favorite appetizer (Shrimp Toastie for the win).

I got the Burger which came with a medium cooked patty. The burger was amazingly juicy. The sauce did remind me of Big Mac sauce as my wife also noticed. The fries were delicious and similar to the Skinny Fries appetizer.

My wife and niece got the Charcoal Grilled Alberta Striploin. It was one of the highlights of the night. The beef was perfect and flavorful. This is only second to the Shrimp Toasties in terms of excellence. The Crispy Kennebec Potato was a block of shredded fried potatoes. Combined with the au jus, the potato block was a great alternative to fries.

Finally, for dessert we got the Made By Marcus Sorbet (Mango) and the Model Milk Apple Pie. The kids found the mango too sour, but that's normal for sorbet. It was good. The apple pie was delicious and pretty big. The vanilla ice cream was perfect for the warm apple pie. Definitely get the pie!

My wife also got a Cappuccino which she enjoyed to end the night.

Overall, the meal was delicious...

My girlfriend and I went to Model Milk to celebrate Valentine’s Day. We informed our server of my girlfriend’s peanut allergy and were assured that it would be no issue. We usually check menu items to avoid those with peanuts just as a precautionary measure as to not have any possible mix ups. We ordered the warm potato buns, the shrimp toastie, the scallop crudo, and the 18oz ribeye. None of these appeared to have peanuts and we were not advised by the server that they usually include peanuts and they would be substituted.

The buns and the toasties were delivered with no issue. Buns were the best part of the meal. Scallop crudo was delivered by our server with a crumble on top which was said to be crushed almonds and safe for her allergy. Upon inspection the almonds were actually crushed peanuts, luckily I was able to catch this before my girlfriend touched or ate any of the dish. Truthfully, we were a little shocked as we had both never experienced something like this, even in fast food restaurants, let alone a restaurant positioning itself as higher end.

After informing a member of the model milk staff, we were offered a replacement. We probably should have left after this as we were both on edge for the rest of our time at Model Milk. This caused us to be wary of the side salad that comes with the ribeye. It was delivered with another crumble on top by a different server. When we inquired about the ingredients, he was uncertain and had to confirm with the kitchen. He also said he believed normally it was covered with peanuts. This didn’t instil confidence in us and so when it was stated to be just deep fried garlic we were hesitant to eat it.

We ended up asking our server to replace the salad without any crumble, which she said it was up to us.

Overall, our experience was not good. We understand Valentine's day is a very busy night but don’t think service should be impacted to this extent where someone is put at risk. If we were told that it would be too difficult to accommodate a food allergy we would’ve just left and had no issue as we have done this at other restaurants.

Aside from the allergy issue, the food was pretty average. Atmosphere is nice though. Would not recommend based on...

This is a really nice upscale restaurant serving trendy food with some locally sourced ingredients. Although there are individual entrees available, our server suggested sharing plates with our table of six adults (3 men and 3 women). There were two main dishes, chicken and steak, that our server suggested be shared by four people; we ordered one of each plus seven of the small plates. We tried the calamari, summer peas, brioche, and kale among others. We all thought that the summer peas were the best dish of the evening. The calamari was also quite good. The porterhouse was priced at $110 (market price). Each of the six of us received a very small slice each, the balance was bone and fat. I don't recall the weight of the cut that the server quoted us but being dry aged, much of that weight must have vanished. It was the size of a typical single serving in most restaurants. The flavor was good, not great; something that an average home cook could easily surpass on their home bbq with a basic cut from a supermarket. The fried chicken was also good but not great. Again, each of the six of us only got a small sample. We decided to skip dessert and walked down the road for rolled ice cream to avoid further disappointment. In general, the service was very good to excellent, and our server was very pleasant and attentive. Those who had cocktails found them to be well made and tasty. We were all mature adults and none of us mind paying a premium for a delicious evening meal out. In the case of Model Milk, we unanimously decided that none of us would return. Although a couple of the dishes were quite good, we found it to be disappointing overall, and a poor value. Perhaps the "large plates" option would have been a better alternative. I unfortunately could not recommend an evening...