Orchard Restaurant — Restaurant in Calgary

1/2 Our recent visit to Orchard Restaurant was deeply disappointing—especially given its prices and the claims made on its website. At $250 per person we paid to reserve the lounge, we expected a level of quality, service, and ambiance that simply was not delivered. The food was far from exceptional. The meatballs were over cooked and completely lacking in flavour, the chicken skewers were even more overcooked and thus incredibly tough, and the beautiful looking salad that had potential, came with the tiniest hint of balsamic dressing. While the mushroom risotto, salmon bites, and panko prawns were tasty, the remaining dishes including the desserts, were bland and disappointing. Even simple cheese buns tasted like something made from low-grade ingredients—not remotely what you’d expect at a restaurant touting “casual elegance.” The experience deteriorated immediately upon arrival. Despite having made and paid for the reservation, there were not enough chairs forcing myself and a few other guests to stand at the bar during the meal! When extra chairs were requested, the food and beverage manager, Jane, brought out a few, far too short, dirty looking chairs—completely undermining any sense of luxury or attention to detail. Our reservation was forced to eat lamb etc. with either a plate on their lap, leaned over an awkward coffee table while sitting on a couch or standing! There was about 8 people who had the “luxury” of having a proper and clean chair who could sit at the bar and eat their meal. To make matters worse, the restaurant was uncomfortably hot, sitting at 29°C throughout the early evening, there was absolutely no fans, AC or airflow. Between the poor food, inadequate seating, and stifling environment, it became impossible to enjoy what should have been a higher-end dining experience. Orchard claims to be Calgary’s “vibrant destination for Asian Mediterranean dining,” promising a balance of luxury and accessibility in a space designed for “casual elegance.” It fell far short of its branding and failed on multiple levels. I would absolutely not return, nor would I recommend booking Orchard Restaurant for a larger parties. Sure, the lights, plants and bar were stunning as advertised. Bar and front end staff were lovely; friendly, professional and attentive. Sadly, food, comfort and value, were all terrible! 2/2 (Since I can’t directly respond to Orchards reply, I’ll add to my original review. I stand by my recent review despite their attempt to reframe the facts and discredit my experience. Cost: Our reservation for the lounge was $3800 including tax and gratuity. Sorry, I was off by $12.50… $3800/16 people is $237.50 each! Setup: How you expect any person to naw on lamb like an animal standing up is outrageous. Mingling food should be bite size hors d'oeuvres! If adequate high-top bar stools, proper seating or tables for food were not available for the number in the reserved party, then that should’ve been disclosed! Patio Space: Your mention of a manager “going out of their way” to reserve a portion of the patio is a major stretch as it was still very awkward seating for any meal and thus a sad attempt at damage control. Temperature: maybe actually go and check those logs before you invalidate the lived experience of your guests — many of whom seen the very visible thermostat in person that night and commented on how uncomfortable the space was. I guess we should have photographed it as proof? Calgary is not foreign to hot weather, so AC or bare minimum fans should’ve been present. Finally, your suggestion that I should have reached out privately implies that posting a candid, factual review is somehow inappropriate. It’s not. First, I tried my hardest to be present in the moment that night despite the horrendous disappointment Orchard gave us.Second, Reviews exist precisely for this purpose; to share honest experiences when businesses fail to meet expectations. Rather than attempting to undermine or silence criticism, I’d encourage you to actually listen to it as constructive feedback to...

This was my first time visiting and we were so excited to host a surprise 30th birthday lunch for my daughter. We asked at the time of booking if we could bring in our own cake and were told yes, but would be charged $6 a slice for them to cut and serve it - no problem. We designed and ordered a custom cake with many sentimental elements and couldn't wait for the birthday girl to see it. My other daughter went early to Orchard to accept delivery of the cake but did not get to see it before it was taken to the kitchen. Lunch was okay, initial service was good but no dishes were cleared when our server came and asked if anyone wanted dessert - we were a bit confused and reminded him about the custom cake we brought. He left, still without clearing any of the remaining lunch plates, and a few minutes later we were all served cut pieces of cake on plates!!! The cake was supposed to be presented with candles provided to sing Happy Birthday and reveal the beautiful custom dessert! Not one of us, including the birthday girl, got to see what the cake even looked like because it was cut without asking. Extremely disappointing to say the least! Once the mistake was realized, our server disappeared and another person brought us each a small glass of sparkling apple juice as a consolation - most of them left untouched as 3 people had to return to work. At this point we sat at the table full of dirty dishes waiting for our bill. There were only 2 other tables with people in the restaurant so it was not busy at all and we had to search out our server to remind him we needed to leave and if we could please get our bill. He finally brought the bill and apologized, taking full responsibility for the mistake and told us they removed the drinks (all non-alcoholic) and the cake cutting fee. I was shocked that was all they offered! I told him the cost of the cake was far more than the bill so he said he would see what could be done. I understand that we are all human and mistakes are made and it's an incredibly awkward situation, but ghosting us and leaving us at a dirty table only to have to seek out someone for the bill added further disappointment to an already terrible situation - this could have been handled so many...

From the moment you walk into the place you know you are about to experience something special. The decor in this place is very eye catching and you can tell they spent quite a bit of time thinking about it and planning. Whoever owns/manages this place can definitely add "attention to detail" to their resume as everything is simply perfect when it comes to the place itself. Then you sit down and you are greeted by a thoughtful and kind person like Madeleine, who was about 50% responsible for making our experience very memorable. We started with cocktails as they were highly recommended, and we were pleasantly surprised due to the uniqueness of each one. I tried two of them, one that contains a Japanese Whisky, and another one that had rye and passion fruit, and get this: CUMMIN! I do not remember the names, but they were quite something. Then Madeleine continued with her fantastic recommendations and we had the Beat and Burrata, which you should definitely try, moving on to the cabbage, which by the way was our absolute favorite and would come back just for that. Then we had the eggplant, which was like an unexpected punch of deliciousness. Our palates were on cloud 9, but the night was not over yet, we still needed to try the main dishes, and let me tell you they did not disappoint, and by this point we trusted Madeleine with her recommendations, so we truly enjoyed the Rabbit with Pasta and then the duck. If I have to choose a favorite between the two I would take the duck, but with that I am not saying to not try the rabbit because the reality is, you probably want to try both. Last but not least we had the seasonal dessert, which was the perfect way to close out the night. Do I remember the name of the dessert? Nope, but I do remember it had blueberries, passion fruit "dust", some kind of Chantilly or similar, served on meringue. Overall it was quite the experience and I am so happy that we have such a great restaurant in Calgary. I wish this place, its staff and the owners all of the success...