Earls Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Edmonton

I don't enjoy writing negative reviews and I normally have very positive experiences at Earl's. I have had the privilege of being a satisfied customer of many locations throughout North America. This location was an appalling exception. I booked reservations under my wife's name (Belle S.) for her birthday on 27 Mar 2021 for 4 adults and our 16 month old child at 7:00 pm. When we arrived there we were refused service as they refused to accommodate to have use of our highchair for our child, the reasoning was because of social distancing practices would have violated their 2m restriction. After attempts to negotiate alternatives by having us sit at another booth which was vacant in a corner, we were told that the manager would not accommodate because of a reservation, I guess our reservation wasn't as important? I also asked if there was another means to accommodate by possibly moving one of their vacant inner table to be moved further away to allow for there 2m policy... but we were ignored again.

The entire experience was frustrating and insulting. They never once attempted to accommodate and were rude to us. We felt unwelcome because we had a child with us. We never had this issue at other locations but now that we brought a child with us things felt very different.

Needless to say, we left the restaurant and went to Joey's (which is owned by another brother of the Fuller family) in Sherwood Park. At Joey's we were welcomed with a highchair (coincidentally the same design as ours) already installed and waiting for us. We had a great experience and felt a lot more welcomed at this location.

I don't mean to attack Earl's per se, it's concerning how poor the customer service was as reflected by their lack of accommodation from the management. Their actions speak louder than words as it clearly showed that they were not a family friendly establishment. I will not return to this location and I hope that the management would be better equipped in the future to put their customers first and accommodate for families.

I have already informed the head office at Earl's about my concern and will update my review based on how they rectify the situation. In the end, both parties suffered a loss because of how management dealt with the situation.

Update on August 18th, 2021

Our issues were brought to the attention of the GM, Jeff Der, he listened to our concerns and assured us that any issues we had would be rectified. Our booking and seating arrangement went very smoothly. Which during the time was extremely busy and hectic that day. Our daughter was treated well and was accommodated throughout our stay, definitely a 180 this time around. We had 3 steaks with lobster tails and truffle mashed potatoes and truffle butter and another entree of Steak Frites with truffle fries. All food was made perfectly with the exception of the preparation of the steaks. The steaks were all cooked medium-well even though my wife ordered medium rare and medium for myself. Our server Allen and the floor manager Justin were both eager and quick to fix the situation and had her steak cooked perfectly when we brought it to their attention. I believe the kitchen was short staffed and it was very busy that day, but they did maintain very high service and were very accommodating, even though it must have been stressful considering the amount of guest that were there at the time. The deserts (NY cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and sticky toffee) are generously sized and presentation was on point.

All in all, we had a good experience with the quality of the food and the excellent customer service... especially from Allen and Justin. Both of them were a delight. Allen was very friendly and knowledgeable of both the food and drink menus... Allen gave excellent suggestions and was very quick to fix any shortcomings that may have been caused by the...

I’d like to start this reveiw stating that everyone at the restaurant was extremely polite, and honestly don’t know where the mistake was made but nothing about our experience was handled appropriately. We came in at roughly 9pm. The restaurant was fairly quiet and we got promptly seated in the lounge. We placed an order that included some oysters to start and a steak with sides, some chicken tenders with fries (and a pizza to go) The oysters came out in good time but the steak and chicken tenders took what I thought was an unusually long time for how empty the place was. No big deal some times kitchens have more in the go than you can see. But upon receiving the steak and chicken tenders we immediately noticed that the steak was a bit over cooked, and both the sides with it were wrong. We brought this up to the server and she agreed the steak looked over cooked and we’re told there was a mistake and that a new meal would be rung in. We were then asked if we would like to have the first plate left so we could pick at it while we waited for the correct plate to be made to which we said yes ( we were hungry and had already waited longer then we had expected at this point) so my girlfriend began picking at this plate. At this point I noticed that the chicken tenders were disappointingly small (closer to what most places would serve as nuggets, I’ve included a photo for reference ) but wasn’t going to concern myself with it. At some point our server returned and asked if she could take the mixed up plate from us so the kitchen could look at it ( my girlfriend is still picking at it as we are still waiting for the proper plate) the server then decided this wasn’t the right course of action and said never mind I’ll leave it with you. At this point we ask that you just have the original meal that we were still waiting on boxed to go as we were tired and wanted to get home. When our food came out the manager did at this point come and talk to us and apologize, explained again that there was a mix up and that they would do their best to make sure this didn’t happen again, Once again very polite, but offered nothing in the form of compensation (nothing taken off the bill, nor offer of a free desert, no complimentary meal next time. Nothing) I then proceed to pay my 133$+tip bill and head home. But it doesn’t end there…

We figure, hey maybe it was an off night. At least now my girlfriend has a steak and sides to have for lunch tomorrow. Cut to lunch. My girlfriend opens here to go box ready to enjoy her steak, to immediately pull an extremely long dark hair out of the Centre of the food…… she’s blonde, I have short hair……

Needless to say this was an incredibly disappointing restaurant experience and one that has put us off of going back to earls. In particular,...

We went out for a late dinner on 25 Feb 2022.

The hostess (said she was a manager) that seated us asked if we were there for anything special to which we said we were celebrating a late (week prior) birthday.

When our waitress came over, she didn't start off with any small talk about the purpose of our visit and went right into take our drink orders.

We ordered a 'passion mule' (pic below) and a beer to start. The drinks were ok, but when ordering any kind of mule drink, the expectation is for it to be in a copper mug (literally as shown on your menu) so getting it just in a glass started things off disappointing.

We thought it was kind of odd she didn't ask about our celebrations but then assumed maybe the hostess told her already, which actually seemed to be a really good system.

When she returned, wordered the artisan bread to start, and it was not at all what we expected. One of the pieces of toast was essentially warm bread and the other was so over cooked and way too crispy. The flavor was good, but again, just overall disappointed.

For dinner, we each ordered the 9oz sirloin with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables - which ended up being asparagus. I love asparagus but my boyfriend definitely does not. In hindsight we should have asked, but based on all the questions we were asked while ordering (add ons, how to cook the steak, etc) its unfortunate it didn't get covered.

I ordered my steak medium rare and my boyfriend ordered medium well - both arrived medium well to being on the verge of well done. Nearly 45 minues after we had ordered.

Our waitress had come around within the first few bites (I had only yet had potatoes and asparagus, because I eat things in order) and at that point, everything was ok. But she never returned, and I sat there for a few minutes contemplating sending it back. By the time my boyfriend was already finished his meal (we traded and he ate most of the mashed potatoes and I ate the asparagus) she still hadnt returned, so I opted to continue eating it/giving half to my boyfriend because I wasn't going to want to wait another 20 minutes for the kitchen to prepare a new one.

When her helper came to take away our plates. He just grabbed them and walked away. Then she came with the bill, not even having offered us dessert. We took that as our cue to leave.

For having spent close to $150 i am extremely disappointed and frustrated.

In a conversation the other day about earls in general, I realized how upset I still am, so I am writing...