Schanks Sports Grill — Restaurant in Calgary

Two weeks ago myself and some friends visited your establishment. This was my first time and I had a great experience. Our server was great and the energy was fun. There are a lot of tv's which made it very entertaining to watch the Sunday NFL games. The manager also changed some stations on tv's to ensure all games were showing in the larger tv's.

However, we returned today and it was not great. In fact it was very disappointing with some confusion. It was the very opposite. We went back to Schanks to watch the Seattle Seahwks game. We went early so we could get a booth with a great view of the tv's above the bar. The bartender assured us the Seattle game would be on one of the tv's. When it was start time for the Seattle game we noticed the only tv's that were showing the game were two little 14" ones at both sides of the bar. We had asked another bartender if one of the larger tv's could be showing the Seattle game. He immediately said the stations couldn't be changed. We looked around to see if the other tv's were showing the game and none were. There were only four NFL games playing this afternoon so we were a bit confused why one of the tv's couldn't be changed to the Seattle game. We asked the bartender again and he said the tv's were set and couldn't be changed. After a bit of discussion the bartender said he'll go ask the manager. A few minutes later the bartender returned, looked up at the tv's above the bar, then returned to our table and said the manager won't change the tv's. We asked why and the bartender said he won't change them and there's no point arguing. We asked if we could talk to the manager and the bartender said he's in the back and there's no point in speaking with him. Then the bartender asked if I wanted my tab closed. I was disappointed with the lack of service, and that the bartender was ready to get rid of me by asking if I wanted to close my tab. He was quite rude about it. Needless to say we were still confused, very confused. There are more than 30 tv's in the bar, only four NFL games scheduled to play in the afternoon, along with the Blue Jays game, and not one could be changed. The bar was not that busy mid afternoon, we were sitting with our backs to the entertainment area and there was no-one near us watching football. The only guests close to us were in the booth beside us and they were watching the Blue Jay's game. They even said they didn't understand why the tv couldn't be changed and said the same thing happened to them previously. Granted some tv's may be linked together and changing one may change another, but as mentioned it wasn't busy and the Blue Jays gane would not have been affected. As mentioned at the beginning of this email, the manager was changing tv's two weeks ago, so to me I feel they are not set and could be changed, and the manager just didn't want to come out from the back to do so. I feel bad about our server because she's losing out on business because the manager wouldn't change a tv. She was the same server two weeks ago and she was very good. Today's experience was very disappointing and definitely tainted in my opinion...

My friends and I have been regulars at Schanks for about a year now. We’d meet up after work on Fridays once or twice a month for drinks and dinner, as well as the occasional hockey game during the playoffs. We were there again this past Friday celebrating one of our birthdays and they could not WAIT to get us out the door fast enough. The majority of the tables had Christmas party reservation signs on them, yet they were “still open the public” which they clearly should not have been. There was limited seating available despite getting there at 4:30 pm as most tables were reserved for later in the evening. There were 7 of us seated at a 3-4 person booth and we had asked one of our waitstaff members (we had 4 different ones despite only being there a short time) to move tables to the slightly larger table directly behind us. That table had become available and it was the only other unreserved table in the entire place. We just wanted a space that we could all comfortably sit and eat at, as we were needlessly very crowed in a small booth for the 7 of us. We were told that we could move there, but were then told that we couldn’t sit there as it was “reserved” too, so we literally didn’t have anywhere for all of us to eat at. We got our bills and paid, then gave our money the rest of the evening to a pub across the way that despite having Christmas party reservations, was still happy to have our business. Sometimes there’d be up to 15-20 at these regular group gatherings at Schanks and none of us will be choosing to dine at your establishment again. Perhaps you shouldn’t be open to the public when you clearly want to exclusively cater to company Christmas parties this time of year. That is absolutely your prerogative to do so and perhaps you should’ve done just that seeing as you guys made all of us feel incredibly unwanted and unwelcome. We’ve given you thousands upon thousands (possibly tens of thousands) of dollars over this past year and it’s now goodbye and so...

Been going here for over 10 years so I feel like I can give this place a fair review.

The good: About half the servers are very good. Polite and prompt and give great recommendations on what to order both food and drink wise. Bartenders are about the same, most quite polite and prompt and serve a variety of drinks and beers. Original seating areas are spacious with a new patio seating area. Still offers Billiards and indoor golf game.

The bad: The other half of the servers are dismissive. Some we've even caught over charging relative to the bar to "Compensate" for those who won't tip. Mini golf course has been drastically reduced to the point the game is a shadow of it's former self. This was done to increase seating in the bar, but not well. Many of the new tables and seating areas are cramped and not an improvement. The "Arcade" has suffered as well, once offering a variety of games now offers a whopping three. The pool tables have been reduced as well, some neglected for care and maintenance. The balls are damaged, along with one of the tables.

Overall: Shanks south still has some strong points, with some luck you get a good server and/or good bartender and a nice seat in one of the original seating areas. But the recent changes have hurt the overall experience. This used to be a place where you could do more than sit and drink. With full mini-golf, a solid arcade and friendly staff, it's easy to see why this place in the past was a solid choice for a good time but this has been sacrificed for simply more seating areas. Sadly I see this place going down the route of every other bar and pub in the city, leaving it with nothing that makes it stand out. I hope I end up wrong in...