Alchemy Bar — Restaurant in Central Core

2.5 stars...Google only allows whole numbers, and thinking about it, Alchemy doesn't deserve a 3, so 2 is closer. Their inability to eclipse 4 stars is accurate.

The positives: beautiful space, spacious patio, and good (but overpriced, and small portioned) snack food. Our group of 3 foodie/cocktail connoisseurs eventually decided to try Alchemy, despite misgivings based on ratings.

Most important feedback: the drinks are B-A-S-I-C. Look at the menu: lots of it is a spirit (Smirnoff vodka, Tanqueray gin), plus juice, a sweet liqueur, and something else (lemon, lime, syrup, ginger beer). If you know anything about mixology, that's pretty low brow. If that sounds snobby, sorry, but why pay top dollar for cocktails trying to be sophisticated, exclusive or creative when they are anything but?

Just who is their audience? The space is gorgeous and refined, they ask patrons to be in attire appropriate for fine cocktails, yet their music is literally cacophonous! It's the vibe of a just-turned-18 dance club, so loud you can't hear your friends beside you speak, but food and drink priced to such a level that the crowd is a little more mature or affluent. Among our group, we decided Alchemy's ideal customer must be the under 30 douche bro who works at Fort Mac for several weeks at a time, earns 6 figures, comes home to splurge, and thinks an $80+ cocktail is a status thing to snap for Instagram to humble brag about his wealth. And no joke, their most expensive drink is $540!

For example, they have a $75 Monkey 47 Negroni. For reference, I consider myself an intermediate, hobbyist mixologist, that owns a 500 mL bottle of Monkey 47 gin (cost about $300), and over 100 unique bottles of spirits, liqueurs, and wines. Sadly, these guys don't appear to respect the liquor. Something like Monkey 47 is not to casually mix, it's something to sip and savour on its own...hence the conclusion they're not truly about cocktail mastery, but it's all a gimmick to try and dupe young fools with too much money and too little experience.

Their time limit policy, as others have mentioned, is awful. It was a 2h max before from your reservation, and now it's strictly 1.5h. Tonight, counting their expansive balcony, the space was maybe 60% full when we were in. Yet, we were reminded that our time expired 7:45, and that our bill would arrive shortly.

Excuse me? If there were a line outside the door, sure! We've all dined at a "Please respect a 2h dining limit" restaurant, but would be allowed to go beyond that when there were clearly empty tables. If Alchemy didn't push people out, the worst that could happen is that they'd stick around and spend more! Instead, we were ushered out, with seating free all around us. It amounted to a false sense of "exclusivity" this place seems to want to build up, but is desperately failing at.

I already mentioned disappointment at their drink recipes, but we were willing to give it a pass if they ended up being amazing. And they were...fine. Overall, the drinks were too sweet (probably their dependence on various juices), and mostly one-note. You will absolutely be more satisfied at nearby Clementine, Baijiu / Little HK, DOSC, Woodwork, Black Pearl, Confederation Lounge (Hotel Mac), Bar Bricco, etc, and feel your money was better spent, as well.

Paradoxically, a "dealer's choice" order by one of our party (describe your preferences to them off menu to create) showed the bar staff clearly had talent. She asked for a not too sweet, floral concoction that was either gin or vodka based, and the result was sublime! It was absolutely the best thing we all had that night: subtle, layered, refined, just sweet enough, soft and foamy. Where was this, when their menu was so elementary?

After being booted, we ended up in Braven's lounge bar in the same building. We stayed an additional 3 hours, and enjoyed their more sophisticated menu and classy ambience, puzzled by the clash of elements just 5 floors up. But there was a happy ending: we promised each other never to return, and the distaste of Alchemy...

First let's start with how to find this place. It's located inside JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District hotel. From the main entrance, walk in and turn right and then another immediate right to the elevators. Pick the 5th floor and when the doors open, you will see what looks like a small book nook behind some glass in a small room and that is the main entrance to Alchemy Bar. When I arrived there was no one there to greet me but I knew the door was the bookcases. There's some seats in the front before entering and there is 7 single unisex bathrooms to the right of the bookcase door. These bathrooms are moody, spacious and clean. They have 12 foot ceilings with counter to ceiling mirrors. The doors are also massive but not heavy as one might think. Bookcase door opens towards you and then you are greeted by walls of glass windows to their patio, followed by a beautiful selection of seating arranged along their walls with a centrally located bar. This bar just looks stunning with it's wall of liquors, toppers, plants and decor. Caught myself staring at it multiple times while I was inside. Found my friends and took a seat on the comfortable couch. I truly loved all the furnishings that were selected for the space. They have a limited food menu but an extensive drink menu, which did not surprise me. My friends ordered the Charcuterie and Cheese board along with a bottle of red wine. While she was drinking her wine I could see the water marks all over her red wine glass. Was quite surprised to see the marks, felt like this was the type of place that would polish their glassware prior to shelving it. After looking at the menu, the bartender asked if I was ready to order a drink. One look at Eric and I laughed, saying he was Jail Bait, like the drink on their cocktail menu. He laughed, said he was 28 and was flattered. Decided on their Been There, Done That cocktail. Had the pleasure of watching Eric make and deliver it to me. Came in a small and cute glass. It was very tasty, but at $20, I did expect the serving to be more. Felt like I got a fancy shot for $20. The Charcuterie consists of (30g of each meat) served with housemade pickles, brassica mustard, french loaf, jerk-flavoured beef jerky, chorizo sausage, pork roulade, saucisson, serrano ham, ‘ndujetta pork spread,  chef’s selection (three different types) for $26. The Cheese Board consisted of (30g of each cheese) served with seasonal fruit jelly, grapes, french loaf, cow’s creamery hard cheese (P.E.I) - 1 year old avonlea clothbound cheddar, saint-paulin (Québec) - semi-soft pasteurized cow’s milk cheese, devil’s rock (Ontario) - semi-firm blue cheese, oka (Québec) – semi-soft washed-rind ripened cheese, grizzly gouda (Alberta) – semi-hard cow’s milk, chef’s selection (three different types) for $29. When reading the descriptions of these items I thought the items would contain a good amount of food to share. If I'm being honestly, the servings felt small for the price. I understand that quality does cost more, but I am just not 100% sold on the price. We asked for more bread and Blue Cheese; both were provided and we were not charged extra if I remember correctly. My friend also ordered Osyters on the Half Shell, half-dozen oysters, sake ponzu mignonette,nasty sauce, lemon for $30. He said he prefers the oysters at Von's. Decided to order their Truffled Cashew & Artichoke Dip for $23. This option comes with fresh crudités (vegetables), corn tortilla chips. Let me just say that the dip looks, unappealing at first glance. The color and consistency is that of a cool toned brown paste. But since looks can be deceiving, and I paid $23 for it I of course tried it. All I tasted as a nutty dip with zero hint of Artichoke. It wasn't bad, but was just too bland for my liking. I did like the selection of vegetables; carrot, cauliflower, raddish, celery, broccoli and of course the chips. I ate everything since I paid for it. More...

I'm going to keep this as short as possible.

Two of my friends and I went out to celebrate a belated birthday: one male (D), one female (M), and me. We had made reservations a month in advance, because I've been with groups who had their reservations cancelled due to private events.

This was just prior to Covid-19.

The wait staff were very helpful. We requested a window seat and they tried their best, but it didn't work out - but they tried. Overall, the wait staff and bartenders kept a good presence. There was a bit of a mix-up as we had rotating waitresses at our table, so it was a bit of a mix-up to get cutlery.

The drinks run on the more expensive side, but that is reasonable, as this is an upper scale property and the finishes and decor reflect that. We had about five drinks (two old-fashioneds, one TMI, one LBB, and one Manhattan), and the macaroni and cheese croquette. The drinks didn't knock our socks off but the presentation and craft of the TMI is a bit of fun. The mac and cheese croquette was fairly typical for a pub/bar.

Our time at the bar came to a catastrophic end as we intended to move on to a different location to meet a friend and get food. We totally forgot there was an Oilers game ending soon as we were trying to pay the bill.

M had to use the ladies room one last time before heading out. Us boys were just clearing up the tab, and all of a sudden we heard a commotion near the front entrance - the super neat bookcase door - which is really heavy by the way.

At the time, it looked like M had fallen - right by the door. I rushed over to check up on her, because I've had concussion scares before. D finished up clearing the bills. At the time, she was very dizzy, so the wait staff and the bouncer chalked it up to her being drunk or the sky-high heels she was sporting. In her defence, she had one drink and most of the food.

The female wait staff were extremely considerate as they immediately were trying to ascertain what was the problem. One waitress brought a plastic cup of water for M to drink. Unfortunately, M was in no shape to drink the water, as she proceeded to faint in my arms and dump the water all over me.

Unfortunately, this made a mess of the main walkway, and i was carrying M's limp form for a few seconds.

Here's where the night went from bad to worse. Whereas the female wait staff were all very considerate and showed genuine concern, the bouncer did not.

To this day, I still remember his words - sort of - "The Oilers game is over and we're going to be super busy. We can't have her looking like this in front of people. You're going to have to get her out of here."

That's why I'm giving one star. The bouncer showed zero empathy or sympathy. I recognize that none of the staff can physically help, due to liability issues. But to not take into consideration a patron's health and urge them to leave without taking full stock of the situation is just terrible customer service. A more intelligent person would have had the hostesses up front delay the Oilers crowd for a few more minutes.

The General Manager came out before we were about to leave, to get our information, to log the incident information for HQ. We were assuming this was for liability purposes.

Overall, props to the female wait staff for being so generous. Zero props to the bouncer and the General Manager.

Oh, and M wasn't drunk. She had low blood sugar that night...