Vons Steak House — Restaurant in Edmonton

Summary: bad food (rotten and wilted) and poor service.

Full details of my visit: Myself and a work colleague went for lunch on a Tuesday. We arrived at 11:45am, were greeted, and sat down at a regular table close to the bar. We ordered: crispy shrimp, bread & butter, 6oz filet mignon, and miso black cod. Our server was thorough in taking our order and when my colleague highlighted his sensitivity to garlic, the server acknowledged and repeated back to us that no garlic would be used in anything.

The bread that arrived smelled like garlic bread, so we asked to have it taken away since my colleague couldn't eat it. The manager came by and insisted there was no garlic. We said that we could smell it and the manager looked at us with disbelief as he took it away. Eventually, the manager returned to our table with a new bread and butter, admitting his mistake and that the previous one did have garlic butter spread on top of it.

The crispy shrimp starter is described as tempura fried and served on a bed of greens. I would suggest the menu be updated to remove the term 'tempura' from it since the shrimp I received was deep fried, dark, and not flaky (the opposite of tempura, in my opinion). The bed of greens it came on was entirely wilted.

At 12:45, I walked up to our server and asked that our meals be packed directly into take away boxes since we had a 1pm meeting. Immediately behind me, the bartender was carrying out our meals to the table and so I asked the server for containers still and conveyed that we needed to leave right away.

The server brought a box each and apologized for the delay. I asked to get the bill while we began packing our food. When my colleague transferred the steak into his container, he noticed it smelled off. I smelled it as well and agreed it didn't smell right. He cut into the steak and we both smelled bad meat immediately. The server returned with our bill only to have to go back and remove the steak from the bill after my colleague told her that the steak was inedible, further recommending that she have the manager and kitchen smell the meat. As for the fish, I only ate a small portion of it at the office before tossing the rest, given that the likelihood of the fish being bad seemed reasonable at that point.

While the food quality was not the server's fault, it was disappointing that at no point did she check in with us and let us know there would be a delay in getting our meals. I don't know if she communicated the no-garlic emphasis to the kitchen either since the first bread showed up with garlic butter on it. The manager's interaction with us didn't improve our experience.

Before leaving, the server did let us know that the manager was conducting an interview when we were leaving, so he couldn't see us personally. She also said that if we weren't in a rush, she would have given us a gift card. Being that our office was nearby, I'm sure I could have easily said I would return for it later that day, but there is no reason for either of us to return or...

We had made reservations for 9:15 pm (last reservation spot that we took) on New Years Eve. When we got there were given a table that was 2 feet wide and 3 feet in long (seriously this table was tiny) and were put in between two tables that seat 4 people. When we sat down the hostess asked us if we want some water while we waited for our waiter. We said yes please, she took our 2 water glasses off the table and left. We sat waiting for our waiter and our glasses of water. 20 minutes later our waiter came along and introduced himself. He asked us if we wanted some water and we told him that the hostess asked us that when we sat down, took our glasses and did not come back. The waiter apologized and went to get us some water. When he returned another 10 to 15 minutes later he came with these small glasses, we asked if we could get bigger glasses for our water, he said sure, before he left, we put in our order for some appetizers (cream cheese dip and some shrimp cocktail) the waiter came back with the dip and the bread to go with it, and then he left again, we thought that he was going to get our shrimp cocktail...when he returned he did his ting on asking us on how everything was tasting, we said it was ok and then I asked him about the shrimp cocktail that we ordered, he said oh...it did not come out? we said no. He said let me check on that for you, he came back a few moments later saying that he forgot to put the order in for the shrimp cocktail and asked if we still wanted it? We said yes we do. Our waiter seemed so timid and shy. Meanwhile our tiny table could not even hold the dip, shrimp cocktail, the 2 glasses of water and our drinks that we ordered. One of the tables that holds 3 to 4 people became available and we had asked if we could be moved to it cause there was no room on the table that we were at (had to use the other table to put the menus and bottled water on so that we could actually have space for our food) when we asked we were told that they will ask the hostess...we were told that we could not move because it was reserved for a group that was coming (which by the way they did not even show up by the time we were ready to leave) Food was not great, I had ordered the blacked cod, and the other order was surf and turf. The cod had no seasoning, no salt or pepper and the dish come out to us luke warm, the lobster tail from the surf and turf order was the size of a jumbo prawn and the steak was tuff and took a while to chew. It would of been better off to have just gone to "The Keg" and we would of received better steak and lobster for the ridiculous price that we paid for that so called meal. The Vons that was located on the south side of the city, closed it looks like they moved it to downtown, they should of just left it closed permanently. First and last time we will be...

We came here for dinner tonight and were sadly disappointed. I selected Von’s based on a number of recent Google reviews and our experience was not the same.

We might not have been your “typical” high end steakhouse clientele and were not dressed as such, however we regularly eat at Michellin rated restaurants in Vancouver and Whistler including Sidecut when we stayed at the Four Seasons recently. I also used to work as a server myself for 15 years in some of the top rated restaurants in Vancouver, BC and Kelowna to put myself though school. In my experience, the most unassuming tables are often your best if you take care of them. I have never been into a restaurant and felt profiled before. It was a very uncomfortable experience. Watching the other servers be attentive to their tables, while ours Sanjay, stood at the bar talking to another employee while ignoring us for almost 10 minutes after we finished our meal. The GM stopped by to check in on our experience and said no more than 5 words to us, while he was having full blown conversations with other tables in the restaurant. We didn’t feel valued as clients at all.

As for the food, my son had the waygu burger and was exceptionally bland. He didn’t even eat half of it and for a teenage boy who loves burgers, that says a lot.

My NY striploin was 40% fat and tasted sour, along with very salty mashed potatoes. The veggies were good and my other son loved the escargot. Nothing else we had was noteworthy.

When our server asked about our dinners, we said we weren’t very happy with them, so the manager came to check in. He offered more food-which is the last thing we wanted. We ended up being charged 100% for our dinner, even though more than 50% was left uneaten. It was honestly the worst $300 dinner I’ve ever had and I’ve had lots… The only reason I still tipped is because I understand the back end and I don’t feel other team members should be impacted based on the lack of attentiveness of our server. If I could choose, 100% of tip would have gone to the hostess who was the most kind and helpful to us tonight.

I’ve never left a restaurant review before but I felt our experience warranted it and I hope the Von’s team takes this feedback into account moving forward so all patrons can...