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Belgo Brasserie
Category: Restaurants Brasseries Brasseries [Edit]
501 - 8th Ave SWCalgary, AB T2P 4Z2
(403) 265-6555
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Very Loud
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
17 reviews for Belgo Brasserie
17 reviews in English
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Review from Corey W.
I like Poutine. (Especially with sausage) - Anyone who doesn't?
My esteemed sister and I went to Belgo this week for a mid-week lunch and some deliciousness. I haven't been to Belgo for five years - so I knew I liked it then and was excited for this round two adventure. It didn't disappoint. I remembered a great poutine, so I surely ordered it again for an appetizer (because carbs are my friend) and it was really good. It was very hot (read here very fresh), awesome cheese curds, good sauce, delicious sausage slices and nice big toasty taters for "fries". Score one for the poutine.
A cute feature they offer is the 2 for 25$ deal which gives you a choice of three appetizers and choice of three mains for 25 $ - which is a decent price at a high end restaurant. However, we were swayed away to the lunch menu as there were numerous items that peaked our interest. My sister in crime ordered the burger which she shared graciously with me - and it was delicious. They did a good burger. I had the prime rib beef dip which was yummy! It came with a surprisingly large amount of really great meat and beef dip that was really tasty (not too salty either). Only complaint is the sandwich could have been a little hotter. The star of the meal was the mac and cheese as a side (yes - a restaurant that gives an awesome M&C side option like the USA - loves it). It was in a small dish to its own, nicely hot, roasted tomatoes and chicken included. It made me very happy to have as an option and happier it was well done.
The beer menu as mentioned below is outstanding and they likely have one of the biggest in the city with lots of import beer. It makes for a fun Saturday night of taste testing with a poutine. The prices can be a bit high for the steaks and main dishes, but it's expected for the restaurant that it is (the lunch prices were very reasonable and comparable).
Our service on this visit was exceptional and the waitress was a joy to have as our server (wish I knew her name). Her perfect amount of joking with the right amount of professionalism made her fun to have at our table doing follow-ups and water refills. I easily booked the reso on Open Table which was convenient as it was quite full by noon with the downtown sales crowd. -
Review from Koz T.
Calgary, AB
3/10/2012 1 Check-in Here
Atmosphere: 5/5
Parking: 2/5
Service: 3/5
Food Quality: 2/5
Value: 3/5
Aimed at the downtown crowd, this place is meant for those who want to be seen. From that perspective, its quite good! Upper and lower level dining area means that this place is ideal for the after work crowd and gives posers maximum exposure. The dining area is also beautiful. Great appointments make each table a nice little environment for your dining party.
The bad news is that the food doesn't step up to match the interior design and neither does the service. This place is all about pretence with a capital P. Once you get beyond the surface veneer, one finds that the food is bland and the service is mediocre. In asking about drink specials, the waiter actually pointed at the liquor menu and said "read it for yourself". The food was nicely presented but was utterly without flavour and in the end, I left wishing we had just gone to Subway. Disappointed! -
Review from Angelo T.
3/5/2012 1 Check-in Here
We randomly ended up at Belgo because our dinner plans at Craft didn't pan out. Located in Stephen Ave, Belgo for a Saturday night was...a not very busy. Which I hate to say, is a "mediocre experience" waiting to happen.
That's a bit harsh for me to say, and when I did talk to our waitress (who represented the place's friendly service) she mentioned Belgo was often busy on lunch weekdays and their main draw was the "corporate crowd"
First thing I found odd was for a large restaurant, they only had single person washrooms. Both times I went there was always a line-up.
Their meal experience was ok. Some of my friends were kinda disappointed at the blandness of their meal and constantly griped about how their food "needed salt". I got the 401 burger with yam fries. The burger was OK but the yam fries could've used some spicing up. I was hungry and was satisfied but the meal experience wasn't too great for me to want to go back.
Overall, Belgo is as pricey as a trip to Moxey's or Earls. And I would rather drop the same amount of money and get more at the local pub than go to a more upscale joint like Belgo. -
Review from Marc K.
2/23/2012 1 Check-in Here
The experience started with our try to make a reservation for Belgo. We called them just to hear that they had no time currently to take our reservation and asked us to call again later... We did so, but nobody answered the phone anymore. I would have stopped right here but we had a gift voucher for Belgo, so we made an online reservation.
When we arrived on a Friday evening the place was packed. Our table was in the forward part close to the bar area so we had a quite good overview what was going on but it was also very loud.
The waitress seemed disinterested and just dropped the menu without pointing out any features or explaining anything. The service over the evening was 'relaxed' to 'slow' and we were in for about 2 hours for a two-course meal.
After all the food was ok but it was definitely not what you expect for the money you pay. We payed round about $80 for a meal for two persons including one drink each (1 beer and 1 glass of the wine-special).
Way to expensive and service is below freezing - there are better places for less money just around the corner.
I was close to giving one star only and we will probably not return. However, the food was ok and when you accept the 'atmosphere' and the high prices you might still like it. -
Review from Lee E.
2/22/2012
I'm surprised to see that Belgo does not have higher ratings! I had gone to Belgo when my family came to visit and everyone loved it. The restaurant has a nice laid-back atmosphere with a business-casual feel. Being right in the heart of the city, many people working in downtown stop in for a meal or drink giving the restaurant a fancy appeal. Belgo, however, is rather expensive for food and drink, but the food is worth the price!
The service at Belgo was a little slow, but nothing too bad to complain about. -
Review from Tremaine L.
Calgary, AB
1/30/2012
A seriously lacklustre experience, not to be repeated. It took nearly 10 minutes for a server to come to our table to even take a drink order.
The food itself was ok, but certainly not worth the 5 star pricing on the menu. One of our guests had to send his Cobb salad back twice, and that is NOT a complicated dish!
Barely an apology for the mistake from Belgo, and no discount on the bill for the problems we had.
Won't be back. -
Review from Chris C.
Calgary, AB
1/1/2012
Wifey and I went to belgo a few nights a go (the night before new year eve)
The restaurant was dead. REALLY DEAD. But all of down town seemed particularly slow.
So service was great. Food arrived right on time and for the most part food portions were well sized and the food tasted pretty good. Wifey didn't enjoy the cut of chicken she was given as it was kind of hard to "pick a part" in her words.....(she can be fussy for an adult)
All together our experience was great! -
Review from Sarah B.
11/9/2011
I've been here twice, once for a special cooking class (I'm not sure if they officially do them or if it was a favor they did for my boss) and once for a birthday.
1. It's TOTALLY dead on a Saturday night. Totally.
2. The beer is really expensive. Like $10 a pint for some (that are regular $8 at most other bars)
3. They think they're fancier than they are.
I haven't actually had much food there. The calamari was good though.
All in all, I won't go again unless I'm forced (birthday, work party etc). The price tag just isn't worth what you're getting in return. -
Review from Kaeleigh E.
Calgary, AB
11/30/2010
I don't have a real sense of what this place is like, as I only went for a staff Christmas party. So I don't know what it's like to walk in and pick something of the menu. But I do have a few thoughts from my own experience.
HUGE beer selection! Huge! I'm a big beer fan so I was in my happy place here. The beer is very expensive but they also have beers you might have difficulty finding at other restaurants. I had a blueberry ale, it was fantastic!
I also had the spinach salad as a starter. It was fine. Just spinach mushrooms and onions with balsamic dressing. Very standard.
For the entree I had the new york strip steak. It was good. However the server said the steak could not be cooked to my liking because it was "supposed to be medium rare". I'm a rare steak kinda girl so for me it was mostly overcooked. But it was tender and delicious still. I just like my meat very rare. I have a feeling they just wanted all the steaks cooked to the same doneness because the group was so large, and it didn't really have much to do with anything else but I'm no steak expert so who knows.
The one server we had, a tall blonde woman, was really ignorant, not very pleasant, and got almost everyone's orders wrong. The other server we had. A slim black man, was very on the ball and a lot friendlier. The service was VERY slow but again we were a big group and I understand that can be challenging so it didn't really bother me much.
All in all I may go back. It wouldn't be a place I would pick for myself but I wouldn't avoid it if someone else's choice was Belgo. -
Review from Danelle W.
Calgary, AB
4/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
I enjoyed my visit to Belgo very much. I went for a birthday party, so we had the back of the top level to ourselves. The layout is a little inconvenient (a U shape with a big hole in the middle that looks down onto the lower level of the restaurant) but it ended up being a pretty good location for eating, mingling & (later) dancing.
The server was very nice, although a little inconsistent - she refilled my drinks & water constantly but completely ignored my tablemates unless I drew her attention to them. We laughed and worked around it.
I only had a French Onion Soup, so I can't say too much about the food, but that which I did have was excellent. Others at the table had lobster tail (fairly good), a clubhouse sandwich (sandwich excellent, fries left much to be desired) and a banana split (very good). Good value for the price.
I was shocked at how quiet it was on a Saturday night - not sure if that has to do with Calgary's downtown scene or the venue itself. Either way, I'll make another visit to try out more of the menu. -
Review from Danger D.
Calgary, AB
11/30/2010
Another tough one to fit into a '5 Star' system. It's probably somewhere in between a two and a three but, oddly, I can also see a case for it being a four star (how weird is that??). Belgo tries hard to be an upscale Belgian Beer Bistro... probably one of the first 'gastro pubs/lounges' to give it a go in Calgary but, unfortunately, I think they miss it on a few levels.
It's also a bit weird to sum up a review with 'Headings' but in the case of Belgo they kind of jump out at you when you're there (so to speak). So here are my discussion points that completely sum up Belgo: Nasty Cleavage; Wide Beer Selection; Poncey Food; and WAAAaaaay Overpriced.
Nasty Cleavage - Ok... I get it. Direct from the Paul Vickers school of restaruant management, there's no question the formula works. That said, there's a good side and a bad side to everything. When I get nervous that some poor dear's breast may explode or spontaneously plop into my pint we're clearly on the 'bad' side... when the 'uniform' is 'plunging little black dress' but many have to wear the Addition Elle version - 'bad' side (discussion topic: when a 'mini skirt' gets over a certain size, isn't it more properly a 'maxi skirt'?... but i digress).
Wide Beer Selection - Probably the most interesting selection of beer on tap in downtown Calgary (which on its own would lead many to give Belgo 4 Stars... I mean, if you just HAVE to have a pint of Erdinger Weissbeir and you don't want to fly to Munich, you can get one at Belgo on tap.
Poncey Food - And this is a weird one for me. I generally like 'upscaled' pub food but for whatever reason the fare I've had and seen at Belgo has fallen into the catagory of needlessly poncey; contrived; insincere. Notwithstanding this, I had a very nice simple sandwich at lunch a few days ago that was really quite excellent (and the only 'poncey' part on this occassion was it being listed on the menu as a 'Club Maison').
WAAAAaaaay Overpriced - Another vestige of Calgary's boom. It's softened a bit at Belgo but pricing is still a real problem. A pint of beer ought not to be $10 and lunch specials shouldn't be running $25.
All together, I suppose I understand why some call Belgo home. I'll admit that I'll still go there from time to time. I suppose when it comes right down to it my 2 Stars is really based on 'what might have been'. Belgo could really be something special; I'm just saddly disappointed with what it is. -
Review from C T.
Calgary, AB
1/18/2011
I haven't been to Belgo for a while and was just there today on a business lunch. They had a folded up menu that was wrapped around my napkin. It was a different approach to receiving a menu, that's for sure. Then, the waitress came round and gave us the specials and they have this 2 for $25 deal. You get to pick one of 3 appetizers and one of 3 entrees.
The 3 appys for today's deal were:
Tomato soup
Waldorf Salad
Coconut Shrimps
The 3 entrees for today's deal were:
Alfredo Chicken
Salmon
Flank Steak
I selected the Coconut Shrimp and the Flank Steak. I really liked the Coconut Shrimp sitting in a small mound of mesclun mix. Very tender shrimp shrouded with a coconut-flaked batter. The dip was soooooo good! Mustardly aioli of some kind. Delicious!
I had the Flank Steak and had it rare. It came with fingerling potatoes, brocolli, red pepper. Not too bad.
Dessert: The waitress recommended us the Creme Brulee with a twist. The custard part is dipped in chocolate, then the top part was caramelized. This chocolate-dipped custard sat on 3 strawberries on top of the round thin almond cake base. There was a mango dipping sauce decorated around it. Interesting dessert.
Service was good. The waitress kept checking to see if we needed anything and made sure we were happy with the food we had ordered. -
Review from Meghan H.
3/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Beer Beer Beeeeeeeeeeeeer, table for 1???
Amazing beer selection and well priced. The service has been good so far and the food is tasty. On Friday nights it seems to tame down around 10 but after work it's on wheeeels! -
Review from Cori L.
Calgary, AB
2/28/2011
I went here for NYE 2011 for the first time and it will be the last time.
I was part of a group of 7. There were 2 vegans and 1 vegetarian so we were concerned about the prix fixe menu. We talked to a lady in marketing and someone in the kitchen and told her we wouldn't come unless everyone had something to eat at each of the 4 courses and we were told a suitable menu was being created so we confidently booked all 7 of us.
We arrived and I let our server know about the special dietary needs and he went to check the notes. He came back and said nothing was noted on the reservation and we told him what the marketing lady had said and he just looked at us and said "yeah but she's in marketing" as if that didn't matter. I made a stink, he offered a large salad and dessert and I demanded to speak with someone. Eventually he came back and said something would be created. Later they attempted to feed the 3 vegetarians foie gras (duck liver) without the veal au jus (as if that makes it vegetarian....) and he attempted to serve the vegans both cheese and ice cream (despite being explicitly told what vegan meant).
The prix fixe ultimately looked like this:
Vegan
appetizer: nothing
Salad: good and created special
main: spaghetti
dessert: nothing
vegetarian
appetizer: nothing
salad: as per menu
main: a lentil dish (a larger portion of the side on the lamb dish)
desert: as per menu
definitely not as promised on the phone in three conversations before hand. no one that got appetizers liked them, salads were good, mixed reviews on the entrees, and the desserts were unsatisfying.
Aside from that:
Service was slow. Everyone at the table was starving between courses. We waited a long time from sitting for the first course. Some courses were a 30 minute wait. Some drinks were forgotten about by server. Food arrived cold when it arrived (but no one dared send it back in fear of starving to death).
Entertainment was weak. It was obvious no sound check was done. We couldn't hear the entertainment for a few hours. The venue wasn't a very good one for the type of entertainment there was so they roamed around.... because the sound didn't work and there wasn't really visible entertainment I barely noticed it existed. In the end everyone crowded into one area not set up for more than a couple handfuls of people to see and dance.
The bill was messed up. We were a party of 7 and it was a minimum 20% gratuity for a party of 8. We had the 20% gratuity enforced anyway and we were furious and no one would talk to us about it. This was 20% on top of the fact the vegans paid full price for half the food despite being told otherwise in advance. All the wine was billed at the price of the most expensive wine one person drank when 3 kinda were ordered at the table (which no one was responsive enough to correct on the bill). The difference wasn't major but it's an extra grievance. Anyway we were not happy with the billing or the service or the mix up.
We weren't the only unhappy table. I saw a friend there who only had their server pop by once to take drinks and their food was slower than ours (not brought by the server) so it was almost like they didn't have a server and the kitchen staff walked around with the extra food trying to find people who weren't yet eating. Because they had over 8 people they also were charged 20% and the bar would not take their drink orders until a certain time period because there was table service (tongue in cheek) ... they spent the remaining night arguing with management about the 20% forced tip when they didn't get service. All they wanted to do was get their drink on but it was as dry as an AA meeting at their table.
Some of my party left before midnight they were so disappointed and left to try and salvage the night... and frankly I wish I had never gone or left with them. -
Review from Nyssa R.
4/19/2011
I made reservations for this place after hearing rave reviews from people at my company who had done a team building at this location. The table they had reserved for us was amazing, exactly what we needed for a business lunch. I felt welcome and invited the moment we stepped in the door.
Our server was with us in an appropriate time and brought drinks promptly. I was happy that the server read out and explained the specials without us having to ask or read (one of my pet peeves nowadays as I dine out more and more is when I have to ask what the "market soup" is... etc). There were some interesting gourmet specials, including one dish for game meat. I decided to opt for their pasta selection, paired with mussels. Great selection. The mussels were done perfectly, and unlike most places that serve mussels - there was not one unopened or missing a mussel. Maybe it was a fluke but if it was their attention to detail I'm impressed - so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Our business lunch was with 6 people, and a manager approached us at an appropriate time giving us a business card to encourage us to book bigger business meetings in their private rooms, or big events to rent out the place. I appreciated that she understood the purpose of the visit and informed us of other options we could use in the future.
My pasta selection was absolutely amazing, I think it was butternut squash, but it was to die for. It was exactly the right serving portion, and it was served very artistically. One of the diners had the game special and he said it wasn't done properly. To be honest that won't affect my review as I didn't try it, but I think that some restaurants that specialize in game do it really well, and some that use it for specials aren't always doing the meat justice. That's just my opinion anyway. I didn't try it but I normally wouldn't order game meats from a restaurant that only has one or two on specials once in a while, it doesn't give the meat a fair chance if it's not done right!
The bill was delivered promptly, waters refilled in a timely manner, and drink refills offered when they were required. There was a strong presence of managers and staff in general which made us feel tended to. The ambiance was perfect for a business lunch, but I could see it for romantic or casual dining too. Great location. Great experience. Definitely will go back and book more business lunches there. -
Review from Aymie R.
Calgary, AB
9/12/2011
I love coming to Belgo - both for business lunches and after-work drinks. Great food and extensive beer selection. I am making note that I come here for the FOOD and BEER - not for the atmosphere or service. I like the atmosphere at the front of the restaurant, but find it a little cave-like a the back. Like all establishments owned by Paul Vickers, the waitresses are none too bright, scantily clad, and the male-dominated management team has the typical "I work in industry and therefore superior to you" attitude. I like bringing clients here - but wish the staff would cover up at least for the lunchtime crowd.
-
Review from karlsey m.
Calgary, AB
2/10/2011
We were planning on having breakfast at Avenue Diner, but upon finding that it is no longer open we settled for lunch at Belgo.
We were quite excited, as we were familiar with how amazing the food is at other Belgian-French gastropubs such as La Brasserie in Vancouver. Unfortunately, we were sorely disappointed.
We ordered the french onion soup, which comes with a puff pastry covering rather than the standard gruyere toast. An attempt at innovation fell flat as were left pining for the traditional version.
The cobb salad was solidly mediocre, but nothing we couldn't have made at home and very overpriced.
Most disappointing/verging on disgusting was the poutine. Used to La Brasserie's version, which is composed of hand-cut potatoes, home-made pork gravy, quebecois cheese curds and truffle oil, Belgo's was abysmal.
We were convinced that the fries were the same as the ones they sell at the Safeway deli and topped with mozarella, gravy from a package, and greasy pepperoni masquerading as fine sausage.
The kicker was that with 1 round of drinks and tip the bill came to $65!
Given that the majority of menu items are very overpriced, it is doubtful we would give it another chance for fear of being very disappointed at a great financial cost.
