Boxer - Albertan Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

Wanted to love this place but unfortunately the food really fell flat; in a nutshell the food was bland and underwhelming.

Ordered the eggplant main; the farro was cooked well but completely unseasoned and lacked any depth or interest, the pea sauce was completely flavourless, the eggplant had a decent glaze on it but was not scored or glazed enough beyond a thin layer on top. The pickled haskaps were delightful and the only part of the dish that I enjoyed. When a restaurant only has 6 mains to choose from, they all need to be executed to perfection. My main lacked depth, proper seasoning, flavor, umami, and balance.

Our baked brie appetizer was a good amount of cheese but came with a scant amount of razor thin slices of bread that were barely toasted. The sour cherries were good but again sadly the only noteworthy part of the dish that really didn't taste of anything more than bread and brie despite the menus description of what should have been tasty toppings.

My partner didn't mind the hen but it too could have benefited from more balance of flavors in the dish as well as literally anything colored (it was a completely beige dish and presentation was lacking).

The beverages were fine, service was fine.

The atmosphere was really the only thing going for Boxer. The space is beautiful and a mix of moody/intimate/modern/eclectic/antique. It's in a great part of whyte that is ideal for pre/post theatre dinner and drinks. Because of this I really hope they step up their food; I hope they take note of the many other reviews that mentioned underwhelming bland food. It seems though the chefs could benefit from a refresher course on the need for balance in salt, fat, acid, umami,...

We were here for a 4 course meal for Valentine’s Day, they were clearly understaffed. We arrived ten minutes before our reservation (7:45) and did not leave until 10pm. It took 45 minutes just to receive the first course which was just a small cheese platter. After clearly stating to the waitress that we did not want pork in our meals, one of the meals came with bacon bits spread over the plate and the chicken was so dry it was pretty much non-edible. In addition to all of this, both mains were not even warm when they arrived at our table. The waitress completely forgot to bring a drink that was confirmed twice with her. It is absolutely unreasonable to pay $80 per person for this kind of service when it is infinitely lower quality than the average restaurant. There was even a preset menu for Valentine’s Day that should have sped the service up but it very very clearly did the complete opposite. It’s worth noting that we had the experience relatively well; one couple next to us was there before us, they waited 3 hours for their main and we left before they received their meals. As we were leaving the waitress brought out meals to them that were not what they ordered and had to take them back. I really hope they got a refund. We wanted to love the place as the decor looked promising but it was a genuinely bad experience. People planned, booked in advance for Valentine’s day in the midst of COVID, but it appears the restaurant did zero planning and...

had just heard of this place and decided to try it out for date night. We tried to get the patio bubble table so we get order the chef's menu but it was fully booked. the chef did offer it to us in the main restaurant communicating over Social Media so the response was great. We indeed ordered the chef's menu but the server was a little confused about what we were trying to tell her that it was pre-arranged. A few back and forths and we were set. Fantastic cocktails to start then the the starter was a chicken liver pate. Not sure I've ever tasted anything that smooth and rich. There was a mushroom reduction soup that was almost as good, so much depth and flavor. The last course was a baseball sirloin that I believe was done sous-vide, perfect doneness throughout and very tender. The only negative I have is that for a restaurant with that caliber of food they are doing themselves a huge disservice with servers that know nothing about food or even care to learn about what is on the menu. I know its new so could be a gap they have to cover with training...but to me its a key part of an opening...staff like that should be slinging drinks at a bar not a restaurant. I was not expecting anywhere that quality of food, ramp up the quality of servers and you...