Prairie Dog Brewing — Restaurant in Calgary

Long, long, long time patrons of this brewery here. Been coming since many years before we had our daughter who we took tonight. Definitely loved the food, the points rewards system, the beer and the service; once upon a time. Came tonight, was met with a long wait to be acknowledged or seated despite having nobody in front of us. Looked pretty slammed to have such few number of servers on, but we waited and tried anyways. Ordered 8 ounces of brisket, to be split between my two year old, my fiancé and myself as they had run out of ribs, and had switched the coterie special from smoked chicken to fried. What arrived was arguably a roughly 8 ounce slab. All in one piece, not sliced at all. No big deal, since brisket is usually soft and juicy and can be cut easily with a butter knife, but trying to cut this meat with my table knife was like trying to cut into a tire with how much I had to shake the table to try and get a few pieces off. Managed to cut a few dry, hard and chewy pieces off, and gave up as it was absolutely stone cold and dry in the middle too. I don’t know what happened with this place, as we have spent a lot of time and money enjoying the food here, but I’ve worked at two reasonably well-priced and more importantly, delicious smokehouses for many of my years as a cook, and the quality of this place has fallen dramatically. We packed it in, left the untouched brisket on the table and paid for our drinks before leaving. Any person who serves brisket knows it should be sliced into decent sized pieces when plated, and not just one gigantic slab, and even more importantly that if it’s so tough/inedible that you can’t be bothered to slice it yourself with a sharp chefs knife, and yet somehow expect the customers to fair better with a butter knife, then you absolutely do not serve that kind of product. A truck tire may have cut better then what we were presented. Just truly felt like there was no sense of pride in what food was put on that plate and served to us. The two beers we had between us for the table came to like $19.50 as well ahead of a tip, and at one point my fiancee joked that she should just go and grab it off the well herself with how long it was sitting there at the bar. I’m sad to say that you lost some long standing return customers tonight, as we won’t be back. A few colleagues of mine were expressing their distaste with prairie dogs service over the last 4 months or so, but I really didn’t believe it or want to believe it after how much we loved it, but today we found out firsthand. Don’t know what’s going on in the kitchen and with the FOH management, but damn, I really hope you figure it out because we really did used to love...

We’d been driving past Prairie Dog for years, so it was finally time to see what they had to offer. It was one of those warmer summer days—still windy—but we decided to sit outside because inside was too loud and probably even colder from the air conditioning. Patios aren’t really my thing, and as soon as the sun went down, bugs started flying around and landing on us, making it itchy and uncomfortable. If you sit on the patio, you scan a QR code, order and pay online, then wait for your drinks and food. This is where the “interesting” part begins—our beer flights arrived just a few minutes after ordering, but the food took more than 35 minutes on a Thursday evening. They advertise decent prices, but this wait time for such simple food is not normal. Most of the “Personal Taste Plate” items should be quick—fries and chicken from the deep fryer, everything else pre-prepared in the kitchen. We were so hungry, and by the end, the unreasonable wait was just annoying.

The beer flights are a nice option. My favorite of the six was the Fallentimber Honey Buck. The apple cider, however, was not good—Village Brewery’s cider is much better.

As for the food:

Banger (hot dog) – Don’t waste $18. The smoked sausage had odd spices (possibly turmeric) that didn’t pair well with smoked meat. The bacon and Mexican-style tomato topping made it messy and inconvenient to eat. Fries – Awful. The first batch came out cold, and even the replacement was barely better. Real potato fries need to be double-fried—once to almost done and freeze, then again before serving. Without that, they’re soft, soggy, and unappetizing. Honestly, they were on par with Five Guys’ fries (and not in a good way). Coleslaw – Absolutely the worst I’ve had. Completely bland, no flavor at all. Ribs – Excellent. Tender, flavorful, and the bone fell out easily. Pulled pork – Good barbecue flavor. Beef brisket – Decent, but missing that distinct smoked taste. Chicken – Not bad, but lacked enough salt and pepper. You can choose two sauces for your platter, but there’s no recommendation for what pairs best with which meat—so you just have to guess, and it doesn’t always work. For example, the Baja sauce was better for fries but didn’t go with any meat. The Korean BBQ sauce worked okay with beef, but pulled pork already has barbecue flavor, and it clashed with the chicken. In short—good ribs, decent prices, and a nice beer flight selection, but the long wait for basic food is a dealbreaker. I...

We had a fantastic lunch at Prairie Dog earlier this week. I first heard about Prairie Dog Brewing's food allergy protocols through a food allergy Facebook group. Several members of our family manage anaphylactic food allergies so it can be challenging to eat in restaurants. We were thrilled to be able to have a safe and delicious lunch here.

The week before our visit, I contacted the brewery about our food allergies. The founder emailed me back within a day, providing very specific guidance on what would be safe for us after she confirmed it with the chef. I was blown away to receive such a timely and detailed response.

From our first interaction with the server, I had great confidence that our family would be able to eat safely here. As soon as I told her about our allergies, she was extremely knowledgeable and helped us navigate which dishes and sides would be safe for us, checking and double checking ingredients. Because of her assistance and communication with the kitchen, we were actually able to order the full pit with a few substitutions.

We truly appreciated the allergy-aware policies and the kitchen's attention to our meal, which I understand involved fresh cutting boards and opening new containers of BBQ sauce, amongst other things. The brisket, chicken, ribs, and sausage were delicious, juicy, and smoky. Each had their distinct flavour and nothing was covered up with excessive amounts of sauce (something we've noticed other BBQ restaurants do). We particularly loved the pulled pork, mustard-based BBQ sauce, and especially the pickled veggies.

It did take a while to get our meal, but we expected this because of the additional steps taken to prevent cross contact with our meal prep in the kitchen. We enjoyed looking at the funky cow paintings while we waited and the chef even showed us the pit! We grabbed a few beers to take home. It would be great to see a mix-and-match 4 pack option in the future.

We appreciated the family friendly aspects of the brewery too. In our past life (read: before kids), we regularly visited microbreweries and made a point to seek out new ones whenever we were travelling. It was nice to be in a space where we could do that and bring along the little ones too.

We're looking forward to...