Malt & Mortar — Restaurant in Edmonton

If I could give this place 0 stars, I would. I'd been here a couple of times before, and it was not bad, not great, just average... but I was willing to give it another visit.

On the other hand, this was my girlfriend's first time visiting here. What a terrible first impression. My girlfriend and I showed up at 7:30 and asked if we could be waitlisted for the patio. The hostess with the white hair told us that, no, they didn't have a waitlist, there was no way she could take our name or number to give us a buzz when a table opened up, but we could try our luck and come back in 30 or 40 minutes.

Sure, no problem.

So we went around the block, grabbed drinks elsewhere, and came back 40 minutes later.

With 2 empty tables on the patio now, and nobody else waiting in the restaurant, we asked the same hostess as before if we could now be seated. The same hostess as before asked us if we were on the waitlist. I'm sorry, what?

We explained that we'd literally just asked her about a waitlist 30 or 40 minutes ago and were told that there was none.

The hostess denied up and down ever telling us this or ever meeting us before (are there 2 identical looking hostesses with white hair?) and then said she could put us at the bottom of the newly created waitlist. There looked to be 8 groups already on it... so it would be ANOTHER 30 or 40 minutes.

Okay, so either she's gaslighting us, has the memory of a goldfish, or is now lying and trying to cover up for an earlier mistake.

We saw the manager nearby, Colton, and explained the situation to him.

Hey Colton, here's a primer on how to handle customer complaints: Listen Apologize Empathize (what would you want if you were in their shoes?) Offer a solution or ask the customer what an acceptable solution would be.

Colton did listen, did not apologize, blamed us and told us we must have misunderstood the hostess earlier, and then said he was unable to offer a solution.

Hey Colton. No problem. But, understandably, I have no desire to eat here anymore.

I then asked Colton to have a gift card that we'd purchased refunded and was told that was not possible either. So you treat your customers like garbage and keep their money without providing a service?

Awesome, I will be sure to tell everyone I know to never eat here. Inept staff and management who gaslight their customers have permanently soured this...

My friends and I came here for Saturday brunch, around 2pm, just in time to still order their Duck Benedict brunch special while I ordered the Jamaican Jerk Wrap.

Unfortunately, we did not have a great experience. Though we were seated immediately, our server took quite some time to bring out our beverages. Mind you, though I had great company and got lost in conversation, it was long enough for all of us to notice the length of time we've been sitting there unattended without our sever in sight. The place wasn't even that busy either.

The charcuterie plate was quite delicious, I'll give them that. Enough for 4 people to share. I was, however, disappointed with my Jamaican Jerk Wrap (vegetarian) as it was way too spicy and you couldn't even taste the flavours of the other ingredients anymore. It looked delicious, but it just tasted like it was doused with hot sauce. This was quite disappointing. I have a very high tolerance to spiciness, but I'm pretty sure the average customer wouldn't come here to order the hottest dish you could find in the city - people want flavour and quality food to pair with their beers or wine! Pretty disappointing. I only ate half of my wrap and didn't even pack the rest to go (which I normally do if I can't finish my food). The only thing I enjoyed on my plate were the fries. Warm and crispy.

As for the Duck Benedict, it looked amazing, and the portion was huge, but unfortunately another disappointment. The duck was dry and tasted damp and fresh (the way fresh ham tastes). The odor of the duck was quite strong and it had a bit of a sour taste, paired with the runny yolk. Not the greatest.

It's too bad, but sadly this place was a bust. I know that the owners/partners also own MKT, The Billiards Club and a few other properties in the city which are really popular and highly successful, but I wouldn't come here again to eat. The cost of drinks specials aren't bad, but that's about as much as you can look forward to. I hope their other dishes are better. I really do. But for now, I'll only stumble in again after a few drinks and...

Tried this place out as a spur of the moment decision as our group walked by. It seemed pretty empty for a Friday evening and now I know why. First of all, as many reviewers have pointed out, the waiting is ridiculous. The server got our drinks quickly enough, but then we waited 40 minutes for our food. Apparently there was some large party at the back of the room, and our orders were delayed because of it. Well, if you accept our business knowing you can't provide reasonable service, then you can expect some unhappy customers. Then when you bring out the blandest restaurant fare I've ever encountered, you deserve what you get, which is no tip. And the blandness cannot be overstated. I made the mistake of deciding not to purchase cheese and bacon for my burger, so I got unseasoned hamburger meat, cooked grey, with a pickle, tomato slice and lettuce. No condiments or sauce of any kind. Just cardboard food. This was accompanied by a teacup of unsalted, unseasoned shoestring fries and a thimble of ketchup. Were we all ordering from the diabetic menu by accident? Everyone in our group had disappointing meals, when they eventually arrived. Ironically, the burger was the last thing to arrive, a couple minutes after the rest of the meals. So then the manager comes over with the waitress, friendly and apologetic, to offer to comp our drinks. That was nice for the three out of four of us who actually ordered a drink. What about the fourth? Suffice to say, no tip, and boy did that waitress ever show her true colours when she saw no tip. The two of us who refused to tip got our receipts tossed on the table without a word, as she stormed off, only to come back a few minutes later, speeding by wordlessly to grab our plates, which still had food on them, right off the table from under our hands. This place needs a drastic overhaul in management, server, and...