Wildcraft Grill + Long Bar — Restaurant in Waterloo

Update: even more impressed by exceptional service!

After our initial visit, we have continued to return with friends and this most recent visit with an adult daughter and her partner, again after attending a Drayton Entertainment production in Waterloo. We arrived about 20 minutes before the time we had reserved. We were greeted by Cindy, who recognized our name and apologized for the lack of response to our voicemail attempt at placing a reservation. She promised she had spoken with staff about our missed message and said she happy we had called back to successfully complete our reservation. Our group was seated promptly and our server was very attentive and helpful with recommendations. As we were finishing our meal, Cindy came to our table to ensure we had enjoyed our experience. It had been another wonderful experience with delicious food and craft beer and excellent service. When I mentioned the only recommendation I could offer, would be to improve the lighting in the washrooms to accommodate those who may have difficulty navigating in low light conditions without much visual contrast, she assured us she would mention it to the CEO and gave us her card to call personally for a reservation if we ever had difficulty making a reservation in future at any of the Charcoal Group restaurants. Truly exceptional customer relations: well done, Cindy Fawcett!

We will continue to return with friends and family and try out your other locations in future!

It was our first visit. We were so impressed with the attentive, excellent service and delicious food and beverage offerings that we will be back and refer friends. From the monent we arrived (around 5:30 on Sunday after attend a play), the greeting was friendly and we were asked our preference for seating. Our server, Ruben, was knowledgeable and offered tasters of the draft beer selections to help me choose. It could have gone wrong when the wrong entrees arrived at the table looking and smelling delicious. When we made the server aware neither dish had been ordered by either of us but looked tempting, they immediately apologized and offered complimentary soup, salad or appetizer to tide us over while we awaited our correct meals. We declined the kind offer. While we were waiting the manager or supervisor came to apologize and make the offer again. We declined and were were glad we did as the meals were worth the wait. My husband had the salmon and I had the mushroom tagliatelli. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the flavours melded beautifully. My mouth is watering recalling it. As we were finishing, we were offered complimentary dessert. We accepted and shared a very decadantly rich, moist but not overly sweet chocolate cake. We were so very impressed with everything and how the staff went out of their way to make the visit just...

Due to personal schedules, work schedules, holidays etc we had our company work party last night at Wildcraft. Overall everything was awesome. There were a couple small blips, but nothing that affected our group experience. With a large group there are always a couple of oversights. All in all, a great night with delicious food. I did sample some of my wife's meal but I focus my review mostly on my meal. I started with the Hassle back calamari. It is grilled and garnished with tomatoes, peppers and olives and served with a generous portion of toasted bread for sopping up the delicious brown butter. I also ordered some maple garlic wings that were garnished with peanuts and scallions. I could honestly order a few plates of these wings and go home a happy man, delicious. For the main, I ordered the rib eye. I subbed out the veg that comes with it for asparagus and also added fried onions to the plate. The asparagus was to my liking, not limp and mushy, had a nice bit to it and all the "woody" stems were removed. My steak was a perfect medium rare, wall to wall pink. They absolutely nailed it! The sauce was a balsamic shallot butter. In all seriousness, it should be its own food group. To finish off my meal I went with the Phyllo baked white chocolate cheesecake as well as an Affogato. The cheesecake was the perfect ending, not too sweet, had some nice textures from the creaminess of the cheesecake filling to the crispiness of the Phyllo and a little tartness from the fruit. However, the Affogato was very small to what I'm used to in Europe. There was maybe 2 Tbsp of ice cream and equal part espresso. From what I saw of the drinks that my coworkers ordered, they have an interesting cocktail menu, but I like my rum and Coke. The restaurant is in immaculate condition, very clean and modern. The washroom was also pristine. There is also plenty of free parking and close access to...

The first time I went, I thought the chef was amazing. It was truly authentic Western cuisine. The second time, I ordered the same petite duck wrap as last time, but the wrap was so overcooked it was hard and sharp on the mouth. I also ordered the same beef dish they’re most famous for, but this time the broccoli was charred in several places! The fried calamari not only looked unappetizing, but the amount was also less than my first visit. Another dish we had was the mushroom pasta—the noodles seemed like they had been pre-cooked and reheated, dry and hard, with barely any chicken to be found.

I understand that in Western cuisine, the chef can make a big difference. Different chefs have different skills—but this difference was just outrageous! This time we had the earliest lunch reservation, but the experience was worlds apart from the amazing dinner we had previously.

Seriously, can just any chef cook at this restaurant, and we customers are left gambling with our luck? I hope the restaurant can include the chef’s name with each dish, and ideally allow us to reserve our favorite chef in the future!

Lastly, I have to mention that waitress—she was certainly enthusiastic. But wow, her voice was loud! It felt like she thought she was giving a speech in an auditorium, worried that people around her wouldn’t hear her "overflowing warmth." Or maybe she has an overly picky supervisor, so she has to put on an exaggerated performance to show how “passionate” she is?

But when people come to a restaurant, it’s to enjoy a pleasant time—not to be approached like they’re long-lost friends who haven’t met in a decade. Isn’t that awkward? It honestly felt more like harassment than hospitality.

The chef we had the second time honestly cooked...