Evario Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Edmonton

Booked here for Mother's day brunch. I was required to pay in advance, no problem. The manager called me and left the wrong number to return her call. When I was finally able to speak with her I told her that I would pay with Amex, gave the manager all my Amex details. She took down all the details and then told me they don't take Amex?!?!? Very annoying. Total was $260 for 4 people incl. 18% gratuity....okay.

Arrived for 1100 hrs. They had our reservation but the table only had 3 seats and place settings. Had to stand for about 5 minutes while they had to get a chair and another place setting, don't know why they just didn't grab one from one of the unoccupied tables.

The food was exceedingly average for a brunch. What was worse was they had great difficulty keeping the hot items stocked, not one or two items ... several items. People were standing and waiting for the Eggs Florentine, the insert was emptied within a minute when they refilled it, leaving people waiting even longer. Not only that, the hot food items were barely warm. When I asked for orange juices, I was offered a citrus punch instead, ultimately got charged for them...was not told at the time that they would be an additional charge. Unsure if I would have been charged for orange juice. I would think juice would have been included in the price. Ultimately, it was not a good value. We've been to numerous Mother's day brunches and this perhaps was the most underwhelming by a sizeable margin. I was puzzled that for a hotel/conference center that the brunch would be so disappointing. We have eaten here at Evario for dinner and it was fine.

On a positive note, we did enjoy the caricature artist, and the...

As someone who has trained opening restaurants on customer service and who has worked in the industry for 21 years, I am highly disapppointed with this restaurant.

Service: Please train your servers to recognize when a couple would prefer to be left to eat in peace, rather than be asked questions by multiple staff members every five minutes. When a couple is leaned in and speaking privately to eachother, this is not the right time to offer samples of a chicken strip covered in sauce, nor to ask if I am a vegan when I ordered a beef burger.

Additionally, asking to take a person's plate whilst food remains is a serving faux pas.

Food: The Evario burger is frozen, although another server, perhaps a manager, insisted it was house made. As other reviewers have aptly pointed out, it most certainly is not. It is frozen, and I do not appreciate being told otherwise. This is misleading and is, at best, inappropriate. Also, I was given two slices of tomato in the burger, one with the core still present. The lettuce had red oxidation on it, making it unsafe for consumption. The fries were also frozen of course, and served with a gravy that seems to be mixed with...BBQ sauce? Very odd.

The environment: As others have mentioned, the ambience is non existent. Music is too low and you can hear people's conversations. People are sat too closely to one another, when the restaurant was nearly empty. This is done to prevent additional cleanup, but is inconvenient for guests wishing to have a relaxing dining experience.

All in all, I wouldn't return to this establishment, even when staying...

We were looking for a place south side with patio seating and were excited to discover Evario, just recently reopened.

You'd be mistaken for assuming it's just another hotel diner. While the patio itself is nothing special, the food very much is.

We were treated to an amuse-bouche of beef slices on tortilla chips for a surprisingly delightful starter.

We ordered chicken alfredo pasta and butter chicken pizza for mains. The pasta was good - creamy, flavourful, and perfectly cooked - but the pizza was phenomenal. Butter chicken is a staple at partner restaurant Guru, but on a pizza topped with caramelized mango and light, crunchy crust, we knew this was a winner. Our previous favorite butter chicken pizza, created at the award-winning but now defunct Slice Pizzeria, paled in comparison to Evario's effort. Spectacular.

Executive chef Sonny Sung introduced himself during our meal and explained the ideas behind his dishes, while server Alice kept the mood light, entertaining us throughout and making the experience even more enjoyable.

A dessert of hazelnut chocolate and pistachio macarons topped our visit off perfectly.

Although we certainly didn't expect it, the quality of food and service at Evario are among the best in Edmonton. An unassuming location and exterior hide a kitchen that trades blows with the hottest restaurants on Whyte Ave and downtown.

Highly...