Trader’s Grill — Restaurant in Yellowknife

Being part of the Explorer Hotel you expect a certain level of quality, and of course you have to expect the price to reflect it. The setting is relaxing and the giant window with a view sets the mood for the restaurant.

The restaurant champions local products and local craft beers. The bar selection is decent and what you would expect.

I highly recommend the Kickseld Cream ale beer, which that delivered, but would stay away from the draft brown something... it was pretty bland tasting.

I had the local fish, the Bouillabaisse; a nice and light fish soup but beware it has only the name in common with the southern France delicacy. I like that they made an effort to incorporate some saffron in the broth. The savour was light and playful but maybe a little too light? I'm not sure.

Next came the main entree and the reason why I came back for a second time to the Trader's... the Bison ribeye with whisky sauce. This dish is worth the detour...to me it's Yellowknife in one dish, and I say Yellowknife not the NWT since the territory is diverse and vast enough that I don't think it could be resumed in one dish.....but Yellowknife absolutely, just like the town the dish is dynamic , rugged,modern and traditional.

The Buffalo ribeye is well balanced between the ruggedness of the whisky sauce and the suttle restraint of the spattzle few veggies comes with it to help your conscience (you know you should eat more veggies). I am not sure where the Buffalo comes from but I love to believe it is locally farmed. The portion are on the thin side, beware of that when ordering the cooking style; like mine blue and it's quite a challenge to have it blue from one end to the other. I imagine longer cooking must take a toll quickly on the piece. My advice is order a rarer than normal and you won't be disappointed.

If you really want to treat yourself try the mint cheesecake ....it's light fun! And, there is good stuff in too, again to help the conscience. LOLOL

The staff is courteous , discreet and polite. Again as one would expect.

After few visit I'm looking forward to try some other more 'exotic' dishes they have like the mare...

Dinner service on a Saturday night:

Took about ten minutes waiting at the front before we were even acknowledged but when we were finally noticed we were seated and our server Nicole was very helpful and friendly.

I had a rib eye steak which was perfectly cooked and very tender and tasty. The mashed potatoes were a bit bland though.

My wife had the rabbit pancetta carbonara which was pretty good.

We shared an apple tart and ice cream dessert drizzled with caramel which was delicious!

We went back the next morning for Sunday brunch service as we stayed overnight at the Explorer hotel.

The foods that had faster turnover (lamb chops, roasted chicken, potatoes au gratin, smoked salmon, mussels) were all very good. These were more “high value” dishes I’m guessing with lots of people lining up and going back for second servings.

However, some of the foods that were not as popular (very few people lined up for them) like the eggs Benedict. French toast, and staples like sausage and bacon were not adequately heated as they tended to sit there for long periods of time. So these dishes were basically lukewarm at best and cold, at worst.

And the roast bison, although unique, was very dry, although the sauce added to it was flavourful .

So the food was somewhat uneven with some highlights and some disappointments. Service was very good when we were seated.

Overall, it’s a beautiful restaurant with nice ambiance, and with a few tweaks it can be a...

Came in with 4 other guests. At first, they gave us excellent customer service. We ordered our food. I ordered the chicken vindaloo with rice. It came out and we all ate. The rice and chicken were dry. Rice was basically burnt. Chef comes out and was mad at me. He said he asked me what’s wrong. I told him what was wrong. He said I’m wrong and I don’t know what I’m talking about. I said that vindaloo curry are saucy. He said I don’t know what I’m talking about. I said ok. He said you want to replace for the philly cheese steak, I said yes. He said he forgives me this time. FORGIVES ME THIS TIME. I said he shouldn’t be talking to customers like that. He said he doesn’t care. I said we’re never coming back and he replies and “good. I don’t want you here anyways. Shit” and I was like “ok. Cool. Very terrible customer service” and the chef walks away. Then the waitress took my payment and threw the receipt at me? They should be happy I tipped them at least? TERRIBLE. WOULD NEVER COME BACK. WILL BE CALLING THE RESTAURANT OR HOTEL TO SPEAK TO MANAGER. This is very wrong. Very...