Cactus Club Cafe — Restaurant in Saskatoon

I was in town on business and the menu for this place really piqued my interest. Got seated right away at the bar and ordered the brioche and panko chicken with mushroom gnocchi. Started with the Soul Revival drink and got to chatting with Ben the bartender. He was very accepting when I asked him if he forgot a garnish for the drink (he forgot the mint sprig) but it was just good teasing. He added it and mentioned it was his second day.

He reassured me that the food choices I made were some of his favorites and it seemed genuine. Not the typical pandering that you feel from some other restaurants with this vibe.

The bread was delicious and a perfect pairing with the gnocchi, as I could soak up the delicious mushroom sauce with each buttery bun. The drink paired beautifully with it as well, since the acid and heat from the ginger and jalapeno was a nice compliment to the richness of the food.

I had been fasting for my diet, so this was my one meal for the day, so in order to make it count I ordered 4 desserts and will give some insight into each.

The key lime pie was perfectly done. The curd was well set without relying on excess thickeners that make it springy. Just smooth, well balanced, sweet and tangy. My only gripes with it would be the lavish whipped cream topping that seemed to dwarf the portion of pie underneath (a quenelle would suit it much better), and the plate size felt too large for it.

The earl grey creme brulee was one I was most interested in, but unfortunately was the weakest of the desserts. Considering how oversteeped tea can have bitter notes from the tannins, pairing it with a 'burnt sugar' topping almost invited those off flavors willingly, as the custard itself wasn't itself bitter. The sugar top element detracted from the overall flavor balance, but I get it. You need a gluten free option and flourless chocolate cakes are boring. A tasty dessert overall, but could be much more. Take the blueberry garnish, make a coulis from it and turn the earl grey custard into a zabaglione, and I feel that would make for a superior dish.

The peanut butter bar placed second last of the four I tried. Technically sound, pretty to look at and certainly tasty (especially when you had a little bit of everything on the spoon), recalling memories of the first time I had eaten Reese Puffs or Butterfinger. But the caramel sauce felt like an afterthought. A more generous garnish of peanuts and chocolate pearls on top of the bar with the caramel subbed out for some masserated strawberries would still hold that childlike wonder but offer some much needed brightness to an overall heavy dish.

Lastly, the towering chocolate cake. Was it a well done and dense chocolate cake? Yes. Was it at first glance a mirror of the many "death by chocolate" tropes that plague the menus of chain restaurants? Also yes. But this has something going for it. The crumble, cherries and ice cream elevated this dish immensely. A bite of cake with a little of everything on the spoon made for a seriously delicious bite. The issue arises when your cake is 3x larger than the garnish. Glacee cherries was an interesting choice, although not the neon bright ones your grandmother used. But I was surprised that they weren't proper maraschino cherries from luxardo, as it seemed those were being used in a gentleman's Old Fashioned that the bar had prepared for another table. Flavor wise, this dish is excellent. But I'd love to see the cake have half as many layers, real maraschino cherries and ditch the ice cream zigzag of sauce and instead rest the cake in a small pool of the sauce.

Either that, or stick to the chocolate lava cake that's also on the menu.

I'll hold this experience in high regard, and will certainly dine here again when I find myself...

Used to be a great place but sadly not anymore ..! the food quantity and cocktail quality has gone down drastically. Being our go to place for years we expected great food/drinks along with great hospitality but unfortunately we were wrong..we never thought that our perfect evening with friends will be spoiled by the worst service and attitude by Manager Brianna & server yolanda. It All started with drinks, one of our friend called for the drink which was so flat that he swapped that drink with our non alcoholic friend and ordered other cocktail altogether. Which ended up coming super flat too. On other side, my partner’s first drink was up-to the mark but when he called for a repeat after some time , the exact same drink came out watery/flat. Upon raising these issues with server and manager they offered to change only 1 drink and said they can’t change the other and that we can ask for drink with additional shot. The manager was acting nice at first and when we complained for the second time after second drink she started behaving very negatively and started talking to us rudely and told us she cannot do anything about it anymore . We told her that she can charge us for all the drink including the ones which we complained about but what we really after is to enjoy our evening with some proper cocktails. It’s the quality of the drinks and food experience of cactus club which we really come back to every time, but sadly not anymore. Being in a small town like Saskatoon it feels really sad to see very few great places like cactus is degrading because of the immature staff and their overall limited capacity of taking customers feedback constructively and positively. It’s high time that Cactus take their hospitality very seriously or else soon they will loose all their loyal customers simply because of rude staff members. What a bitter experience.....

Recently been to get some drinks and enjoy with friends, and got disappointed by their cocktails. Please see the attached picture contrast. I ordered one Kyoto Fizz because the picture on the website was so cute and wanted to try, but after serving, it was nothing like the picture at all! And nobody explained until I asked the lady served us the drinks, then I got the explanation that they ran out of proper glasses. Later our waitress came to check on us, I asked again about the thyme that should be served with the cocktail and was told they ran out of thyme. So how about telling customers upfront that you ran out of glasses and thyme that might influence the presentation and flavour, then the customer can decide? Or a step back, how about apologizing for this information when serving? No, I didn’t get any of that, and I don’t I would be informed in any ways if I didn’t asked myself. No matter how busy a restaurant is, this is basic standard and common sense. And my friends’ drinks weren’t served in the same presentation as their pictures showed and no explanation for that neither. This makes a big drop down for their service and customer experience. I don’t think it’s the problem of waitresses but more of a management issue that needs attention to improve. Overall, the waitresses there are nice...