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Rose Garden
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Sat 5 pm - 10 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
21 reviews for Rose Garden
Review Highlights
-
"The coconut rice was warm and fluffy." In 4 reviews -
"...try the Rose Garden's Lunch Buffet (cost is around $15..." In 5 reviews -
"The spring rolls were delicious too." In 4 reviews
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21 reviews in English
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Review from Lee E.
2/22/2012
For the price, Rose Garden offers great Thai! With a variety of different Thai plates, you will be sure to find something to your liking at a reasonable price. The two times that I have been there, I have gotten the chicken curry and pineapple prawn curry with coconut rice. Both were excellent and filling!
The atmosphere is a relaxing Asian setting that is relatively business casual. Nothing too fancy, but not bad either. The restaurant is a little small, but it makes for a more personal experience.
Service at Rose Garden is a little slow (note: I was with a large party both times). The staff are pretty friendly and prompt about serving drinks. Food, however, comes out a little slower.
Overall, I would recommend stopping in if around the downtown area. Be warned, though, that street parking is tough to come by down around the restaurant. -
Review from Kelsey K.
Calgary, AB
2/4/2012
I stopped in here a week or so ago and grabbed Thai with a girlfriend! Normally I wouldn't have noticed it, ( it is located above another restaurant), But i am glad I went in!
Awesome decoration gave it a very cultured feeling, which sometimes we lack.
The service was good, just a little over excessive and it almost seemed like they were getting ready for us to leave and wanted us to speed it up, this would not stop me from going back!!
the food was amazing we had Green Tea to drink and coconut rice with Chicken curry and a sizzling beef dish! It was AMAZING!!!! Interactive and fun! I would go back again and again! -
Review from Mike R.
2/2/2012 1 Check-in Here
Tried the Rose Garden today for the lunch buffet, the food was allright for a buffet but not upto the quality of Thai Sa-On or Thai Nong Khai. The buffet was clean and the food was replenished very consistently so there was no empty trays to deal with.
For a quick thai lunch downtown I would recommend Rose Garden. It does seem to be very busy so a reservation is probably a good idea. -
Review from Thomas M.
1/25/2012
We went for dinner on a Saturday night. The place was packed at 6:30 pm, so we're glad we made reservations. The food was good - we ordered pork satay skewers for an app, and red curry with chicken and some chicken/veggie thing in peanut sauce as mains. The curry was good, but the peanut sauce thing was kinda lacking in flavour. Also, you can get all entrees wither mild, hot, or very hot. We asked for the curry to be hot, and the peanut sauce one to be mild, but neither had any spice to them at all. We're not sure if the waitress forgot to ask for it hot, or if it just isn't really hot but whatever.
The service was pretty terrible though. They had 3 waitresses, but they didn't seem to have designated areas or even designated tables. This meant that all 3 servers were serving your table and all of the others, and they all seemed extremely confused. They tried to deliver the wrong dishes to our table, and we observed the same thing happening to other tables all over the place. The food and the bill also too forever to arrive. -
Review from Melissa L.
Calgary, AB
11/2/2011
I can only visit downtown restaurants for dinner, so I never know what is popular and busy at lunch. However, I was missing Thai food and picked up a Living Social voucher for this restaurant; I finally got the chance to cash it in this week.
When I entered I was pleased to find the restaurant was busy- about eight to ten other tables had customers. I was greeted and seated quickly, and throughout the course of the meal service was prompt. I'm a vegetarian, so I started with vegetarian spring rolls and then had vegetarian pad thai and vegetarian masaman curry (on steamed rice). I was VERY impressed when the staff came back to the table twice- once to ask if I ate fish sauce (no) and once to inquire about eggs (yes). In seven years of eating meat-free I don't think anyone has ever been that thorough!
The food was excellent. The spring rolls were hot and crisp. The pad thai was flavourful and had abundant tofu and eggs. And the masaman curry was a stand-out... it had a decadent, rich flavour that contrasted the fresh vegetables perfectly. Serving sizes were ample- the two main dishes easily served two people with leftovers to take home.
I will definitely return to Rose Garden, even without a coupon! -
Review from Dan D.
8/17/2011
This review is mostly just for Rose Garden's Thai food buffet. I have not ordered off the menu from Rose Garden.
At $15.95, Rose Garden's buffet is a pretty good value but the quality is not the greatest.
The restaurant is nice, the service is good, although I think it maybe sets itself up to be little bit "fancier" than it actually is.
I was surprised how many people coming in had reservations during a workday lunch hour, but the staff were still able to accommodate me and seat me at the bar.
Not too many of the dishes in the buffet were very memorable, however the calamari was maybe the most tender I have ever had and I went back a couple of times for the Red Beef Curry alone. Very delicious (especially when you hit the pockets of Thai basil).
I may not go out of my way for Rose Garden, but if I am hungry and wandering aimlessly around Stephen Ave., I could see myself stopping by. -
Review from Queenie M.
Calgary, AB
5/18/2011
Food: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Overall experience: 4/5
(1- Terrible; 3- decent; 5- Fantastic)
After reading positive reviews I finally decided to come here for their $15 lunch buffet. Definitely did not disappoint, some of the best Thai food I've had in Calgary for cheap! It may cost more than your average buffet but you get to try a variety of quality Thai dishes that you can decide to order on their menu another time. I highly suggest going early before the lunch rush (11:30 or even earlier is ideal) because:
1. the lineup gets pretty long (almost out the door)
2. and so you can try a bit of everything since they unfortunately are a little slow at restocking the buffet during the rush and there wasn't much left at the end of the rush.
If you decided to take a group of people here make reservations in advance because my friend and I ended up sitting at the bar to eat.
The restaurant is pretty tiny and cooky with buddha/cultural statues placed near the entrance and bunches of dried flowers hanging down from the ceiling. Nothing too classy. The service was nothing to rave about.
There are about 15 items for you to try including two cold salads (one with some spicy beef and the other was papaya), coconut rice, Thai fried rice, various fish and meat curries, pad thai, Thai styled meat skewers, Thai spring rolls, spicy chicken tom yum soup, and desserts including mango sticky rice, fried bananas and coconut jellies/pudding. Everything was packed with flavour! The coconut rice was light and fluffy with a strong coconut flavour and the curries had a well balanced, light coconut curry flavor. Not one pad thai is the same and although I thought Rose Garden did a good job in terms of flavour (it wasn't overly sweet like candy) i thought it was missing some oomf. I think it needed maybe a squeeze of lime, nuts or the addition of more veggies.
I especially love their tom yum soup! It's a little greasy but uber delicious! If you love spicy foods this is the dish to try since it has a nice kick of spice, yet just the right amount of sourness from the lemon grass. Only complaint is that they didn't strain out that hard chicken cartilage and lemongrass pieces you from the stock. Their desserts round off the meal and if you are like me who loves deep fried goodness, you have to try the deep fried bananas there which had a nice crunch and wasn't overly battered or soggy.
Overall, if you're working downtown and looking for something new to try, give Rose Garden a visit. I beware you though, you might need a long nap afterwards. This is also a great opportunity for people who haven't had Thai food to try a little bit of everything from the buffet. Definately will come back! -
Review from Kevin N.
Calgary, AB
1/9/2012
I moved down to Calgary and was having a hard time to find a good Thai restaurant until a friend showed me the Rose Garden. It was great and very comparable to my old favorite Thai place.
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Review from Jacqueline S.
Edmonton, AB
4/18/2011
I ended up at Rose Garden looking for somewhere to satisfy a bunch of different constraints... vegan-friendly, and not a chain... and everyone in our party was satisfied.
The food ranked up with some of the other amazing Thai I've had. The pad thai was excellent, and the various curries we ordered were also very tasty.
My only complaint about this place was that the service was a bit... awkward. The servers were nice enough, but kind of seemed a bit scared of people. Also, we all ordered coconut rice and each received a small order of rice... I would have thought that they would have suggested we get a few large orders to share, but oh well. -
Review from Emma G.
10/7/2010
My best friend and I wound up here for dinner last night, after not being able to decide on something. We went at 5:05 and were bummed to find the door locked (it's supposed to open at 5pm), but no big deal, we just went and browsed Winners for a few minutes. When we came back at 5:20 it was open.
The decor is really cute, and it's so quiet for a spot on Stephen Ave, which was exactly what I wanted after work - just somewhere to sit and relax while I stuffed my face. The hostess was also our server, and she was very friendly and attentive. The restaurant only had us and two other tables the entire time we were there, which was nice. -
Review from Chris S.
Calgary, AB
11/12/2010
I am no Thai food expert, but the dish I had was Epic! I ordered The Spicy Peanut stir-fry, Cashew Chicken, and Red Curry and it was really good. The restaurant people are friendly and there are cool looking statue decoration things.
On another occasion I came in 30 min before close and forgot some important medication. Well they looked me up (I had called earlier in the day) called, and stayed late 45 minutes for me to return and grab my medication that night. I am a diabetic and without my insulin I would have been in huge, huge trouble. When I got there the lights were off and it was just the owner waiting reading the paper all dressed to go home.
So I must say go to this restaurant. The food is great and the service is AMAZING.
Please support this business -
Review from Art M.
Calgary, AB
10/29/2011
1 star - Service
3 star - Food = 2 stars overall
We come here for dinner a few times a year because we like the food, but the service at dinner is always poor at best of times. Never a hello or thanks for coming and after seating you it's 10 minutes before they come back to take your order, so you better not have any questions and order everything at once.
We came for dinner at 7:20 on a Saturday night, the place was full but most had already received their food. 13 minutes after sitting down a waitress came, and we ordered, a Thai bbq chicken, red curry beef, coconut rice and green tea. To our surprise our coconut rice arrived 4 minutes after we ordered. After waiting expectingly for 10 more minutes our red curry beef arrived and the waitress said she'd be right back with the chicken. Well no sight of any of the wait staff for another 14 minutes until our chicken came. The chicken was cut up and the joint of the drum stick was oozing blood. If we hadn't waited so long to get it I would have sent it back, but since we had already eaten most of our curry and rice by this time, I knew I would be taking it home to reheat for lunch, so I let it go and ate some of the well cooked portion. We asked for our tea and flagged down another waitress a few minutes later. Finally after 5 more minutes and a full half hour after we ordered our tea arrived.
As usual there is never any apologies or even conversation with the staff, even though I am sure our waitress is one of the owners or manager. If their food wasn't usually good, we would never come back. If you are in a hurry or have a nearby show to catch this isn't the place to come. -
Review from Scott C.
8/30/2011
This was super convenient to my hotel and was quite excited to talk about my recent trip to Thailand with the owner. I opted against the buffet (which looked awesome) as I was really in the mood for some Tom Yum Koong and Panang. Fantastic, fresh Thai ingredients aren't easy to come by in my neck of the woods but was pleasantly surprised that my dished were loaded with yummy galanga and kaffir lime leaves. This is definitely worth a stop while in downtown Calgary.
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Review from Sapna G.
Calgary, AB
9/14/2009 1 photo
If you love Thai food like I do, DEFINITELY try the Rose Garden's Lunch Buffet (cost is around $15/person)
Everything from the salad rolls, all the way to the sticky rice mango dessert is DELICIOUS. Plus, being a vegetarian, it's nice to see they have meatless options in their buffet.
The decor is beautiful & welcoming, and the service has been good every time I have been.
Be warned: this place is PACKED during lunch hours, but it's definitely worth the wait. -
Review from dinah g.
Calgary, AB
2/7/2010
If you love Thai food and don't mind the longest lunch line-up in downtown Calgary then you should definitely try the Rose Garden Restaurant lunch buffet.
All the downtown business folks can't be wrong, for just under $15 dollars you get amazing all you can eat Thai food. It is a ridiculous price for what you eat, believe you me.
The Rose Garden is a tricky place to find even if it is on Stephan avenue, as you don't really expect it, but once you do find it, you have to go up the flight of stairs and you immediately get whisked away to a very elegantly exotic decorated restaurant. Here you will be welcomed by an assortment of Buddha's and by a busy but extremely friendly hostess.
Try to avoid sitting at the back area by the buffet, it can get really tight fitting there as people are going to get their groove on but if you don't mind that you are then in fact the closest to the buffet and how convenient for your second or third fill ups.
Some RG highlights: the Masatman Curry, the Garlic Squid, the Calamari, the Chicken Green Curry and the Pad Thai.
This is obviously one of my favourite Thai places to eat in the city; hopefully it will soon be yours as well. -
Review from C T.
Calgary, AB
5/29/2010
I was treated to a lovely lunch at Rose Garden Thai Restaurant yesterday. I haven't been to this restaurant for such a long time. The food was all-round pretty good. The appetizers were the salad rolls and the papaya salad. I liked the papaya salad as it cools your mouth down with the hotter and spicier food.
There were 2 kinds of rice: fried pineapple rice and steamed coconut rice. The coconut rice was warm and fluffy. It goes so well with the Beef Thai Curry. I found the beef a little tough. The beef was also cooked with bamboo shoots and basil. There was plain vegetables, vege bean thread vermicelli (tung-hoon), cashew chicken, thai bbq chicken, pork satay, calamari and spring rolls.
At the back table, the tom yum chicken soup resides as well as the different sauces like the satay peanut sauce, the chilli sauce and the dipping sauce for the rolls. Also, at the back table, there was big fresh fruit platter and the wonderful SE Asian desserts. Reminds me of home - the agar-agar (coconut jello), the banana fritter, the tapioca dessert and of course, the famous mango rice with coconut cream. DELICIOUS!
It sure gets crowded in that skinny, long restaurant. Everyone has to dodge people getting their food and/or coming back to their table. I also found the plates were a tad too big and too heavy to carry back the food. I hope they will change the plateware. -
Review from Kaeleigh E.
Calgary, AB
10/6/2010
Firstly I have never been to the lunch buffet I have only been here for dinner.
Both times I had the spicy basil stir fry with chicken. Both times, fantastic! My mom had the green curry and my roomie had the yellow curry. I, of course, had to try them both. The curries are runnier than I typically think a curry should be. They are flavourful and delicious but just a little more soupy than most curries I find. However it gives you more sauce to stir their delicious coconut rice into when all the veggies and meat are gone! I have also tried the chicken satay here, which was in a little but of a small portion, but hey, it's an appy after all. It was tender and flavourful I just wish there was more! The spring rolls were delicious too.
The decor is really neat, there's lots to look at on the walls and the thatched ceiling looks like some sort of hut, it's very cool. Also there's a signed picture of the Backstreet Boys on the wall if you look, by the staircase at the top. That's right, BSB has eaten here, is that enough to get you to wanna try it?? Cause it should be! -
Review from Mame G.
Calgary, AB
4/15/2010
Love love going to this place for lunch! It's always a treat when I go here. Their dishes are not as spicy or rich as I'd like in regular thai food, but they have the spices on the side for you to add. What I love most is their papaya salad and mango coconut dessert - they are so amazing!! Great value, great food!
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Review from Starkie S.
Calgary, AB
1/23/2011
I was able to make time last week to grab lunch early and it was decided that this was the place. Now, I have been here five times before and have been impressed with the food quality & flavour the most. Yes, a buffet at lunch sounds food court-like and one could glean food might be of a lesser quality. Not here, the food here is spectacular both in flavour and quality...all the chaffing dishes are smaller which increases the turn over of the hot fresh food.
Selection is suitable - usually two chicken, one beef and some veg selections. Supporting the mains are other goodies such as veg rolls, both rice wrap and fried that are awesome with the peanut sauce.
The flavours and freshness make for a great stop for lunch. One note though...make a reservation to assure a seat, or show up no later than 11:20'ish or else you will be relegated to sitting at the bar which has about six seats.
Great flavours, hot food and healthy as all items are recognizable! -
Review from Calvin L.
11/26/2009
This is my first favorite Thai Restaurant ever. It started when I got off class from U of C and was terribly hungry, so me and my dine out friend decided to try Rose Garden. We didn't know they have lunch buffet daily and the place was really pack, mostly business men dine their, so we manage to get a table and the buffet was nice and fresh, everything was delicious, and the Thai ice tea is to die for.
I also brought my family here for special occasion and they love it also. The food always taste good and consistence. The ambient is cozy and very Thai. -
Review from Yo U.
9/26/2009
The food here is very good. I only wish that they would use higher quality beef in their beef dishes.
