SUMAQ — Restaurant in Calgary

So, I'm not sure how this place has 4.7 stars, but I'm going to provide an unbiased, real, recent review.

I went for dinner with my wife and parents. Nice decor, and things started off fine. Music was a bit loud and waiter was hard to hear, but no big deal.

We ordered a couple Pisco Sours to start. Delicious and very well done.

We finally place our order for food, and now it's about 7pm. For some reason, this place thinks it is appropriate to have a DJ start playing LOUD random genres of music at 7pm. From Spanish, to Bruno Mars to rap music by 50 cent. And no, they DO NOT bleep out the profanity. We thought this was a family restaurant?? I mean, heck, there were people of all ages, ranging from babies to 75 year olds. This place is trying to be a club or a lounge, but clearly either doesn't care or has no realization of their current clientele.

For food, we ordered 3 appetizers and 4 entrees. All the appetizers tended to have LOTS of red onion as a garnish... like, a ridiculous amount. So if you are on a date, be warned! After waiting close to 30 minutes, we got two of the three appetizers. This was a bit mind blowing seeing as how 2 of those appetizers were served cold. What took so long? We continued to eat when all of a sudden two entrees came out. We thought they forgot about our third appetizer so asked them about it, then about 5 minutes later, it came out.

So now our table has 2 of the four entrees and 2 empty appetizer plates and 1 new appetizer. For entrees we ordered two orders of the Anticuchos, lomo saltado and a quarter chicken.

The first two entrees to arrive were the anticuchos. Believe me when I say this, they are VERY VERY VERY heavy handed with the salt. I don't have a sweet tooth and rather love salty foods, but even this was too much for me.

When 2 of the 4 of us were finished eating our entrees, one more entree arrived. The Lomo Saltado. It was ok... but for $32 you'd expect more than 3 ounces of meat... another 3 minutes or so, and finally the chicken arrived. The presentation was terrible. No colours, no vibrancy, no garnish just chicken and potatoes. They did however bring a salad and 3 sauces. What three sauces? Good question we thought we'd ask as well. When we did ask, "what are these three sauces", the response was laughable. We were told, "umm I'm not quite sure, but i think this one has mayonnaise, and this one also has some mayonnaise, and this last one I think has some mayonnaise and ketchup and a bit of spice."

It was so dumb it was laughable.

Our table at this point ordered two more pisco sours.

It took a couple minutes, but one arrived. Yes... one. Where was the other one?? Well, for some reason it was trailing 5 minutes behind. Not sure why?? They were two of the same drink!

Meanwhile, while 2 of 4 of us were eating, we tried to carry on conversation, but with the blasting random profanity laden music, it was quite difficult.

We finished eating what we could of our entrees, waited 15 minutes for table to be cleared, then decided to share a dessert for the table. We wanted to try the doughnuts with ice cream. Well, after 25 minutes it started seeming like a bad idea. Service here is soooooo slooowwww. We were going to wave down the waiter and just ask for the bill, when another waiter walked up with a dessert. Yes... A dessert, but not the one we ordered. We told him to just take it back, cancel it and bring the bill. Well, instead of a bill, 3 minutes later our dessert comes out. We asked for the bill again. We ate the dessert, and waited.... and waited... finally the bill came. We were beyond happy to get up and get out.

This place does not acknowledge their mistakes or take accountability. They try to turn into some weird night club/lounge/family restaurant Mashup at 7pm. The service is not good, the food is mediocre at best, the ambiance is weird, and their timing is measured with a broken clock.

It's like if you mashed up a junior high-school aged DJ concert with a circus and your least favorite relative's family dinner. It's an...

My wife and I visited this place for a special occasion and I'll be more specific with this review because this is a Peruvian restaurant.

1- Reservation: This is the best option before going because the place is usually crowded (mostly on weekends). You can do that from the restaurant's website and then receive a confirmation mail. There is street parking available if you go driving.

2- How to get there? We used the train, so we took the Blue Line until Sunalta Station and then we walked for 12 min. You can also take the bus in the 17th avenue to the closest stop and then walk for 2 min.

3- At the restaurant: a) Our table was already separated for us, so we didn't wait at all. b) The menu is pretty varied and prices are as expected; I'd say it is cheaper compared to other restaurants. They have a menu for meals and another for drinks (I attached photos of current menus as of 2024-10-09).

4- Our order (photos and videos attached): I ordered Pollada ($25), and my wife Chaufa Oriental ($27). We also ordered orange juice ($5) to drink. Finally, we wanted to try Picarones but the last one was ordered few minutes. So next time it is.

5- Rating: Overal 5/5, Place 5/5, Food 4.5/5, Service 5/5. a) Pollada (it comes with potatoes and salad): the taste was very good and the portion was normal (rate 4.5/5). b) Chaufa Otiental: taste was good, portion was small (rate 4.5/5).

6- Recommendations: a) For customers: book a reservation, and go on time. You don’t need to register your credit cars for the booking. b) For the restaurant: Customers would appreciate an upgrade on the portions for some plates. I couldn’t find Papa a la Huancaina on the menu, it would be great if you include it. I can tell most people love it (note only Peruvians).

Finally, I would like to recommend this place to everyone in Calgary and Canada! you guys will have a great experience!

I will definitely come back yo try Lomo Saltado and Churros!

Please feel free to ask if you have...

Our overall experience was a bit mixed at Sumaq.

We enjoyed the appetizers and the cocktails provided. We tried the pork ceviche, which while tasty and crispy didn't really give a ceviche vibe. The cocktails were a bit pricy, but were enjoyable.

The service was a bit of a miss. Our main dishes were brought out under five minutes after the appetizers were brought out, meaning that the main dishes took up space and cooled down significantly while we ate the appetizers. At times our server would ask to clear plates that were clearly still full, including when they dropped off our main course while we were still eating the appetizers, which felt very odd. Had the restaurant been understaffed I would be more understanding, but there was always a significant number of workers milling about in the employee area.

My main course was the lomo saltado. The meal was okay overall, but I felt it was under seasoned. The main dish coming out at largely the same time as the appetizers ensured that the fries incorporated in this meal were very soggy by the time I had the chance to eat it.

Overall, Sumaq was a bit of a mixed experience for me. Some dishes were tasty, others were a bit underwhelming. The service was one of the bigger misses of the night. I don't regret coming in to Sumaq, but I probably...