Cafe Amore Bistro — Restaurant in Edmonton

My spouse and I went to celebrate a friend’s birthday with a large group this last Saturday. I am embarrassed that the locale was recommended by me, because I’ve had several nice meals at Cafe Amore Bistro in the past. Sadly, this experience was not as pleasant. Let me start off by saying that had it not been for the seafood dishes, I may have given a 3-star rating for my most recent experience, but when a restaurant serves a customer clearly-spoiled and rotten seafood, and when the extremely rude owner then tries to gaslight the customer and escalate a discrete complaint by making a scene at the table to convince the customer that the off-taste is merely the “way they spice that particular dish”, or alternatively, tries to shirk responsibility for serving spoiled seafood by placing the blame on his supplier (the owner tried BOTH excuses that day), then I feel the restaurant has nothing but contempt for the customer, and has no objection to putting profit over the health and well-being of its customers. This is what happened on Saturday.

I ordered an appetiser and the pork-shoulder & risotto special. Others at the table ordered other various non-seafood dishes. Only my spouse ordered a seafood main course (the vongole). When the server brought out the food, reactions were mixed around the table. My own meal was “meh” … the risotto was cold in the middle, the vegetables overcooked, and the pork shoulder was piping hot and smothered in sauce to hide that it was a little dry. Certainly not the most palatable dish I’ve ever tasted, but far from inedible. Others around the table had varying reviews on their selections from “absolutely delicious” to “bland but okay”. My spouse however had a different experience entirely with his clams and linguine. The pasta was wonderfully al dente, with a tasty sauce. But as soon as he ate one clam, he spat it out expressing disgust, saying he got a bad clam, and that it was bitter and totally spoiled. He tried another and spat it out as well. Now, my spouse is a seafood gourmand, and well-travelled eating seafood all over the world in all sorts of establishments. He asked me to taste another clam to ensure his tastebuds were not off that day. I did, took a few chews, and spat it out immediately. It was clearly spoiled, bitter, and revolting. It was difficult to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. We called the server who suggested that my spouse was mistaken, as “manila clams taste different than the other clams most people are used to“. This was complete gaslighting. My husband responded that manila clams are usually sweeter and juicier than other varieties of clam, but these clams were bitter, spoiled, and clearly off”. The owner/manager was clearly irritated at the complaint, and very rude as he tried to argue with my spouse, implying that my spouse just didn’t know his seafood, or that “his taste profile was off, and they could do nothing about that”. However, he offered to prepare something different, which my husband accepted. He ordered the same dish with prawns instead of clams. Bad mistake!

When the substitute arrived, it was the same story. The prawns had a distinct “bleach-like” ammonia taste and smell, they had a slimy, mushy texture, and were also clearly off. I don’t know when the restaurant gets its seafood delivery, but it was apparent that their seafood was NOT fresh, and that they were clearing out old product, assuming their customers were not sophisticated enough to know the difference. The owner insisted that the prawns “were peeled that very day“, as if that in any way established their freshness. The incredibly rude owner/manager began to raise his voice and try to bully our table that his seafood was fresh, but if there was a problem, it was his supplier’s fault. My spouse said he wouldn’t be eating the dish, but we were not asking for anything … we just wanted them to know that their seafood was spoiled. We were charged full price anyway, and after paying more than $200 for our meal, my husband was ill and vomiting throughout the night. Won’t...

This was one of the worst experiences of my life at a restaurant. I brought my family here for a birthday dinner and there was something wrong with the majority of the dishes. Our appetizer which was one of the baked cheese dishes, came out burnt on top. We removed the black parts and ate it since the service was already slow. Then when we ordered our mains, that’s when it went completely south.. me and my mother wanted to share two main pasta dishes, I explained that I don’t eat meat and that we would make one the dishes mushroom forward and remove the chicken which he said he couldn’t remove the chicken so we decided to put the extra chicken into the other dish. When the meals came, they were ALL cold expect for one dish. I told the manager walking by, he just took the dish then came back with it heated but never even told me how they reheated it and it came back very quick. I assume microwaved which is unacceptable, then the second pasta dish had the chicken all mixed into the pasta with chunks throughout it so it was impossible for me to eat it which I couldn’t. I told the waiter and he said it was what we ordered and I said no we asked for the chicken to be added on NOT MIXED INTO THE DISH. At that point when the bill came the waiter had an extra $40 on the bill that belonged to another table, if I didn’t notice that we would’ve paid it and I guarantee he did that on purpose. Said he couldn’t remove the chicken which there should’ve been no reason to just replace it with more mushrooms which is a complete scam. I work in the industry and servers only do this to make more money. Truly embarrassing. When I brought all my issues up he threw it in my face that my daughter got the chocolate cake which they don’t usually do, which he already claimed he was doing me a favour. At that point I was completely disgusted by how this place acts, not taking responsibility and literally arguing with the customer who IS PAYING FOR THE MEAL. I even called the next day and asked for a manager to call and still nothing and this was less than a month ago. I will never go here for another family dinner or important meal again. They ruined my whole experience with my daughter and our family. Very disappointed and I’ll be sending this to friends who have high followers for restaurant reviews online so that others can know. It was NOT worth the $300 we spent and they disrespected my believe and values being a vegan which I’ll be sending that to the right people who can put this on...

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to eat here, so there's not much I can say about the food. My review is based solely on customer service. I will try a third time and then perhaps edit my review. I had a couple of friends visiting from out of province, one who ate here many years ago wanted to go there again as she enjoyed it before. Unfortunately, they came in late in the evening on a Sunday, but we figured we would try to go before they closed. We tried to call a couple of times, but no one answered, so we drove there and took a chance as google said it was still open. It was about 32 minutes before they were closing when we arrived. Sadly, they said it was too late and they couldn't serve us unless we wanted a coffee and a dessert only. We left. The next day, we decided to return earlier for around 7 pm, we tried to call again ahead and reserve a table, but one more time, there was no answer, just an answering machine that had not been updated. So, we booked a table through Google. Once we got there, they said they were fully booked due to the hockey game happening that night, and they weren't expecting it. We explained our situation and said there was an available table for that time, and we booked it, but they insisted it was wrong and there was nothing they could do for us. Nothing... they did nothing to help us out! I guess if you make enough money there, 3 customers is not a big loss for them. We managed to get into Tiramasu Bistro, who even let us experience dinner in one of the domes outside. It was beautiful, especially since it was fall, cozy and warm. It's become a favorite place of mine due to the great customer service and atmosphere. Very pretty, to say the least! I only wish I could say the same for Cafe Amore. But... I will give it another try so that my opinion is...