🍽️ Restaurant Review:
📍 Quick Facts
- Location: #1200 163 Quarry Park Blvd SE, Calgary
- Phone Number: (403)719-7200
- Website: https://www.parkkitchen.ca/
- Cuisine Type: contemporary Canadian bar and comfort food, lunch
To celebrate my husband’s birthday, we usually go out for a steak dinner. We have tried various steakhouses over the years and always look forward to celebrating his birthday with a special night out.
This year, after seeing it promoted on social media, we booked the Wednesday Date Night special at The Park Restaurant. It advertised a steak dinner with a bottle of wine instead of an appetizer we were used to with other steakhouse deals. Since neither of us drinks, I was delighted to see they had a non-alcoholic option on the menu. Unfortunately, the night didn’t quite live up to our expectations.
Our evening started well enough with easy parking, and we were greeted at the door. Oddly, the host didn’t ask for my name or check our reservation before leading us into the dining room.
Walking in, the first thing we noticed was the noise. The decor was lovely, with a large central tree strung with twinkle lights, warm lighting, and nice finishes, but televisions were everywhere, and sports were playing, adding to the already buzzing room. We quickly realized this was a lively family restaurant, not the intimate date-night setting we had pictured when we booked the special. Nothing wrong with lively — it just wasn’t quite the birthday vibe we were hoping for.
Once seated, our server handed us the menus but left without offering any water. When she returned, we told her we were there for the steak date night special. She informed us they were out of the non-alcoholic bottle we asked for, but offered two mini bottles instead.
Doing the math, two mini bottles only came to about half a standard bottle of wine, which felt like a bit of a loss for us. When we gently pointed out the imbalance, our server promised to bring a third mini bottle for us to share to make up the difference. Water still hadn’t arrived.
The ordering process was a bit confusing when the server came to take our order. The ‘special’ details weren’t listed on the menu, and the server didn’t explain them until we asked. The meal came with a choice of two sides from a selection of baby potatoes, mashed potatoes, a green salad, and seasonal veggies. To mix things up, my husband and I decided to order opposite sides so we could try a bit of everything. We both requested our steaks cooked medium-rare.
When the food arrived, the sides were a mixed bag. The green salad was perfectly fine, but it was dressed with what seemed like a bottled dressing; the baby potatoes were noticeably overcooked. On the other end of the spectrum, the seasonal broccoli and peppers were undercooked. The mashed potatoes had great seasoning but were very dry—a simple pat of butter would have gone a long way.
As for the main event, the seasoning on the steaks was excellent, but they were significantly undercooked, leaning much closer to rare than medium-rare. My husband absolutely loves steak, but it was too rare for his liking, and he didn’t even feel like finishing it. Those are big words.
To wrap up the meal, the special included dessert. Instead of a standard slice of cheesecake to share, we were served two mini cheesecakes that looked like they had been released from muffin liners, then topped with a dried slice of lime. While the flavour was decent, the bottoms of the crusts were incredibly soggy, and the texture was very off-putting. It felt like another shortcut when a traditional, well-executed slice of cheesecake would have been so much better.
Ultimately, The Park Restaurant seems better suited to a casual, family-style meal or perhaps a business lunch. However, if you’re planning a romantic date night or celebrating a special occasion like a birthday, I’d recommend looking elsewhere.
Document Only.
No numerical rating.
