MODERN STEAK on Stephen Avenue — Restaurant in Calgary

Have to watch this place they bait and switch prices, they wanted $89 plus tax for an event then at the last minute they seem to scam and charge you $246.96 for two all in.

Bad business practice, feels disgusting.

EDIT 1;

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Response from the owner21 minutes ago Hello Jay,

That’s what $89 x 2 plus gratuity and GST cost.

We’d appreciate you taking down this post since it’s liable and it’s a distingusting when a person does this.

Also revenue in Canada requires us by law to charge GST on the service charge.

If you had any questions before you post something like this call the restaurant.

Thank you """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

FUNNY! =D

You have no math skills, no communication skills, no legal skills, no management skills, and certainly no business skills.*

*At least according to any common persons belief in what those are and in relation to how you replied to my review. ;)

First off, I did call. I reported the fact that just similar to how Cineplex just got handed almost $40,000,000.00 in fines when the Competition Tribunal ruled against the company and for the Competition Bureau for misleading customers by not immediately presenting them with the full price upfront and having another price at the back end, it was disgusting. Now, I'm no lawyer so that's just a commoners view but seems pretty accurate to the best of my knowledge.

I have several places where a price of $89 per person and at the end the price $123.48.

Which bring up point two, learn to add. If you were even close you'd found the number you were looking for if $112.14 which even if a ridiculous 20% tip BEFORE service was reasonable, and adding on the tip on taxes is unconscionable, you'd still be way, way off.

Exactly why is it ok for you to charge me 1% for paying my taxes?

Maybe Alberta should force places to not be allowed to confuse customers with tips on taxes and force clear disclosure. Meh, who can say.

Now in closing, what are these lies* you speak of about "revenue in Canada", am I or you confused about how words work? Are you not a liar* and I'm confused, or are you a liar*? What service charge are you talking about? First you bait and switch the price and add $9 per person, which isn't a service charge it's built into the price- after hiding, the price ends up being $196 for two and gst is added to that and a magical divine faerie adds 20% PRE-service tip to the cost and to the tax. Where is this service charge you speak of, kind of sounds like you're rambling and confused.

You want to bully me?! lol Fool, I'm a friendly carebear of love. You want to sue me?! lol Great customer service. I think I'll provide all the particulars, please, sue me;

1. I think you are a liar by your statements and while my interpretation may be wrong you certainly seem to indicate confusion or dishonesty by my standards.

*You are a liar, and, or, you are confused. Slight chance I'm confused but that would still mean a or b or a and b could also apply. I might need those beer from the event to decide.

Also note that we're discussing you being a liar in a general sense, although specifics above do have weight to indicate that you are in fact a liar, you'd have to be from another planet to not have lied to anyone ever, I'd enjoy having private investigators waste decades of research hours filling a text book sized evidentiary of all the times you may have lied in your life.

2. Bad business practice, both you, and the business.

3. It feels disgusting to treat customers like this, and the way your business operates and how you poorly perform your role is disgusting to me.

4. You effectively bait a switched the price, as I interpret it, that means I see one price, on 2+ pages of information, and then after wasting my time and energy at the last moment the price...

TL;DR - Pricey, good, but not stellar

Friends were in from out of province so we decided to have some "proper" Alberta beef. Reservations were easy, covid measures were standard for the time (masks, vaccine passport, distancing, and tables were far enough apart to not need dividers), but the overall experience wasn't ideally what we were looking for. The table itself was a high top semicircular booth, which is great for people-watching, but less ideal for conversation when set in a 2x2 configuration. Also we made the mistake of going on a Saturday night and thinking the music would be low enough that we didn't have to yell at each other in order to be heard.

The service was one of the highlights. Our waiter was energetic, very knowledgeable, and always seemed to be there right when we wanted him.

Food wise our party of 4 shared the squid-ink risotto, wagyu dumplings, and Modern Benchmark Showcase ("in-house-beef" steak platter) with mashed potatoes, carrots, brussles sprouts, and asparagus. The risotto was disappointing; grainy and relatively flavorless unless you count the nuggets of finishing salt. The dumplings were similar; mostly overcooked/dry beef, but decent sauce. The main course was good, but missed on a couple points. The beef was cooked properly (low fat cuts were more rare, higher fat ones were seared well, etc.), and every item we ordered seemed to be butter-finished, so it was pretty hard not to enjoy it. Although, by the end of the meal (which didn't go overly long) the slate serving-rock had overcooked some of the cuts. The sides were hit and miss: standard buttery asparagus, better than average carrots (the maple mascarpone was great), delicious but woefully small mashed potatoes (the size does not match the price), and brussles sprouts that are cooked beyond the point of being called vegetables. For desert we split a baked Alaska (which is amusing if you've never had flambé, a relatively large portion, and pretty safely tasty) and the chocolate cake (GF, melty, delicious).

Ultimately most things were tasty, and the complaints were relatively minor, but nothing set Modern apart from a good meal at [insert-chain-steak-restaurant-name-here], other than the higher price and slightly smaller portion size. Granted chances of getting a good meal at a chain are hit-and-miss at best, but I was expecting something better when it turns out we were probably just paying extra for more consistent ingredients and execution.

I would take clients here, but probably not...

A Valentine's Day Fiasco: Where Love Went to Die

So, Valentine's Day, the day of love, or in my case, the day of financial extortion at the hands of restaurants. Let's dive into the thrilling tale of my $119-per-person adventure at Modern Steak!

Upon arrival, I was greeted with the sight of a set menu and an automatic 20% tip added on, which i had booked a few days back. Ah, the sweet aroma of romance mixed with financial regret. With no other options available because apparently, every other restaurant in Calgary had been abducted by aliens, we reluctantly took the plunge.

The evening started with an amuse-bouche that left me questioning the chef's sanity. Arancini? Really? Nothing screams "I've given up" like serving up glorified rice balls as a prelude to culinary disappointment.

Next up, the seafood sampler for the mrs. The waiter, clearly auditioning for a role in a slapstick comedy, managed to spill ice on the table. Bravo, sir, bravo. Despite his icy mishap, the seafood actually tasted fresh, much to my surprise. However, the tartare was a different story. It was like someone had mistaken our table for a condiment buffet. Mustard overload, anyone?

Then came the corn chowder soup. Yes, you read that right. Soup on a set menu that costs an arm, a leg, and probably a kidney too. To add insult to injury, the waiter forgot to provide a spoon, leaving me to contemplate the meaning of life while staring at a cold bowl of disappointment for 15 minutes!

Moving on to the main course: steak with mashed potatoes and wilted Brussels sprouts. The steak was cooked to perfection (Rare), but let's be real, you can't really screw up cooking something for four minutes. The Brussels sprouts, on the other hand, looked and tasted like they'd been sitting in the steamer since the dawn of time. And don't even get me started on the mashed potatoes—lumpy doesn't even begin to describe it.

Finally, dessert arrived in the form of eclairs that were drier than the Sahara desert during a sandstorm. I could practically hear Jeremy Clarkson narrating a "sand job" on the latest episode of The Grand Tour.

As if the culinary catastrophe wasn't enough, the bill came with an automated 20% gratuity slapped on. Because apparently, subpar food and service are worth their weight in gold.

Modern Steak is perfect for those who enjoy the exquisite taste of disappointment and blandness. As for me, it's another venue added to the ever-expanding "no-go" list.

Bon appétit, or should I say,...