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Viet Thai Bistro – Calgary, Alberta

I love looking for little places to eat, especially ethnic food cuisine that I can go to on random lazy days! I’ve found Viet Thai Bistro just off 52nd Ave SE, and I must say, I really like eating here and I look forward to the next time I return.

We’ve dined here twice already, so I’ll put the 2 dining experiences together. The restaurant is a small and intimate place that offers a few tables and mostly caters to the take-out crowd. The prices here are amazing, and I loved their appetizers! I’ve tried their Coconut Shrimp which comes in a plate of 4 shrimps for $3.00, and the shrimps were quite fresh and fried to perfection!

Another appetizer that we tried is their Chicken Wings which comes in a plate of 10 wings, and the wings are perfectly fried. The actual wings doesn’t have much flavour, but they put sweet chili sauce on top which is delicious! They don’t put so much on such that the wings are soggy, and they don’t skimp out by keeping the wings lacking in flavour – so it’s a great balance they do for the wings!

Then, during our first visit, we had more Thai style food, and we loved it! We tried Kaprow Beef which is the Spicy Basil Beef with rice. This was delicious and spicier than I first anticipated! But, as I continued eating, it made me want to order more!

The other dish we tired was the Pad Siew which is made with wide rice noodles, and fried with beef and vegetables. Again, the plate of pad siew was really generous, and the noodles were delicious! Nothing was over cooked and everything was seasoned perfectly!

The last time we went, we tried their Vietnamese cuisine, and we ordered one of their popular dishes, the Beef Pho. The bowl of noodles was quite large, however, I did find the soup noodles was rather bland.

One of my favourite foods in the entire world is Vietnamese Submarines, and I ordered the grilled Lemongrass chicken submarine which unfortunately wasn’t to my expectation. There wasn’t a lot of chicken at all, and the bun was kind of burnt, but cold. It wasn’t bad, however, I’ve had better ones in the area. I’m sure I’ll still order one if I had the craving for a Vietnamese submarine though – they’re very convenient and at this price, it’s almost worth it!

Overall, we loved this place, and the prices are extremely fair – and in fact on the cheaper side, especially with the portion sizes! The flavours are amazing, and I think I like the Thai cuisine more than the Vietnamese cuisine from Viet Thai Bistro! Regardless, I know I will be back, and probably become one of their regulars!

Viet Thai Bistro

Suite 511-15566 McIvor Blvd SE
Calgary, AB T2Z
(403) 453-2222

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Aroma Restaurant – Authentic Mexican Cuisine – Canmore

Breakfast time can be tricky in Canmore to find a place to eat – and this time, we found ourselves in a Mexican restaurant called Aroma Restaurant which is just at the intersection of 8th Avenue and 8th Street (Main Street) in Canmore. With extensive hours, Aroma makes it easy for you to casually pop in for any meal of the day!

We went in and I quickly ordered a Mexican Hot Chocolate which has now become one of my favourite drinks for hot chocolate! I already attempted to make one at home, and it’s not as good!

For breakfast, I ordered the Ham and Cheese Burrito which was fantastic! The ingredients used in this burrito was so fresh and the salsa was amazing!

We also ordered the Rancheros which is a breakfast with 2 fired eggs on a tortilla and black beans, then topped with ranchero tomato sauce!

We enjoyed our breakfast so much we actually asked for dessert! What a neat treat – but we ordered a Mango Mousse which was a light cake with tons of mango flavour!

Overall, we really enjoyed our dining experience here, and it was a treat as I don’t usually go into a Mexican restaurant – as I thought it was a cuisine I don’t really enjoy… however, I think this maybe a new category I should start to explore as I loved my meal here!

Aroma on Urbanspoon

Aroma Restaurant – Authentic Mexican Cuisine

837 8 Street
Canmore, AB T1W 2B3
(403) 675-9913

Monday thru Friday
Breakfast & Lunch
10:30 a.m. to 3:30 PM

Saturday & Sunday
Breakfast – 8:00 a.m to 3:30 PM
Lunch – 13:30 a.m. to 3:30 PM

Daily
Dinner – 5:00 p.m to 10:00 PM

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Wood Restaurant & Lounge Canmore

We took walk through Main Street (8 Street) in Canmore, Alberta which is basically one of the only streets in Canmore. We didn’t know where to eat, and found ourselves walking straight through the door of Wood Restaurant & Lounge just as the snow began to fall.

We walked in and was seated in these large cozy chairs right by the fireplace! What a perfect place to be during this snow! I really enjoyed the ambiance here! The only thing that was kind of wierd was the bathrooms, where they are located in the lower levels, and the men and ladies washrooms were in completely different areas!

I started the meal experience by ordering some hot tea. I thought it was strange that the waitress didn’t ask me what kind of tea I would like, but instead, she brought me a plate of awesome tea, which was Revolution Tea brand.

From here, I ordered their special, which they called Chicken Gyros which wouldn’t be the name I would call this dish I ended up receiving! It was awesome, don’t get me wrong – it just wasn’t made with chicken cooked on a vertical spit… at least I think anyway (which is the technical definition of gyros). Regardless, it was a great chicken sandwich in a pita, and I ordered it with a Brisket Soup on the side – which was one of their soup of the day!

We also ordered the Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket Sandwich which was made of layers of thinly shaved smoked brisket smothered in BBQ sauce and piled onto a bun! Yes! It was as tasty as it sounds! We loved it! In fact, my brisket soup tasted a lot like this sandwich, only less BBQ sauce flavour and made much more heartier! Kind of like a twist on a borscht!

By the end of this meal, as good as all the food was, we were completely stuffed and saved no room for dessert! It’s quite a bummer as I would have loved to have a dessert from here – since the food was quite delicious!

Wood Restaurant & Lounge on Urbanspoon

Wood Restaurant & Lounge

838 8 St
Canmore, AB T1W2B8
(403) 678-3404

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Mountain Home Smokehouse Grill – Banff

This is going to be a strange review as we discovered this restaurant during Banff Bon Appetite and what drew us to this restaurant was the word “Smokehouse” in the name. So, we made ourselves a reservation at the Mountain Home Smokehouse Grill in Banff, on Banff Avenue, just off the highway. This restaurant is inside of the Banff Voyager Inn which is a hotel we stayed in many years ago… and it’s got the best rates of the town, but for a reason!

We were about 15 minutes early for our reservation, so we decided to go in anyway. There was only 1 other table of 6, and only 1 waiter on duty. We were seated after he had taken the order to the large table and from there, we waited. After he came to take our order, we realized we didn’t get our drink order in. It was only Hot Tea that we wanted, and it took a long time for him to find water and boil it. By now, another table has come to sit behind us and they wanted to order off the regular menu, instead of the Bon Appetite special. He took forever to figure out if he could do that. It was interesting! We got some Bread and Butter and the bread was fine, but the butter was completely melted – there wasn’t a way for you to spread the butter… you had to dip it. To make it worse, the waiter dropped some butter (dripping butter) on the floor and tried to give it to the table behind us. The customers said “you got to take that back” and the waiter didn’t. I was glad it wasn’t my butter that landed on the floor – or so I think! The bread was fine though, the service was a little weird…

Okay, now it’s been awhile, and I got a glass of water, and our tea finally came. He didn’t bring us cream or milk, or even a mixing spoon – so I just used my knife. Tea was fine, it was just normal Red Rose Tea and we never got asked if we wanted the water refilled.

Now, we get our appetizers, which I ordered the Spinach Salad which was a salad over dressed in pear vinaigrette and candied walnuts! The walnuts were amazingly delicious and there’s nothing wrong with the salad – beside it being over dressed. Not bad start! The portions were extremely generous as well!

The other appetizer that we ordered was the Buffalo Barley Soup and this soup was amazing. It was meaty and hearty with tons of flavour! This soup offered huge chunks of buffalo pieces and lots of vegetables. It was the favourite of the 2 appetizers from the special menu!

After the appetizers, we realized we’ve been waiting there for over an hour already. We waited for another 20 minutes before the waiter came out to ask us if we had our appetizers already… and we told him we did. We knew it would be quite a wait for the actual entrees… but, when they came – it was pretty good! I ordered the Elk Meatloaf that was topped with brandied saskatoon berry demi glaze served with oven roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes (you could choose from fries or even sweet potato fries too!) and it was pretty good! Elk is a very lean meat, so the meatloaf was very lean. It wasn’t too dry, but it was quite dense. The flavours were all there, and they gave 1 1/2 slices. The bottom piece was only a half piece! I enjoyed the Elk Meatloaf even though the demi glaze sauce looked weird to me, it was good as it added moisture to the meatloaf!

The other entree that we ordered was the Beef Ribs which came with 2 enormous ribs smoked over cherry and hickory wood, then braised in Big Rock Traditional Ale for extra tenderness finished with spiced rum BBQ Sauce! Yup, this was as good as it sounded! It was juicy, tender and tasty!

From here, we waited and waited and then the waiter comes out to ask us what it was that we ordered. I said I wanted the Chocolate Pecan Pie as it’s what they advertise as “made from our own recipe”, so I was hopeful for the best pie I’ve had in a long time. The pie was cold, and it had no texture at all! Mushy crust, soggy pecans and a chocolate gooey mess. It just wasn’t what we were hoping for…

Now, we were excited for the Homemade Apple Pie as nothing sounds more delicious than a nice warm piece of apple pie, right? This one was stone cold, mushy crust again! What’s happening? You can’t really goof on an apple pie! Ah well, they’re just not too great with desserts. I’m sure someone out there likes their pies, but I had different expectations. The portions of the pies were huge, like everything else!

Overall, there were a few slips and downfalls, but for $25 for a 3 course meal, it was extremely awesome! Service isn’t everything for us, you need the food to back it up, and surprisingly, it turned out okay! Soup and entrees were amazing, and like I’ve been stating throughout – the portions are very generous. These items are on their regular menu as well, so you can try it out. Nothing here really screamed “smokehouse” to us though. Another thing to note, they’re only opened for Breakfast and Dinner!

Mountain Home Smokehouse Grill on Urbanspoon

Mountain Home Smokehouse Grill

555 Banff Ave
Banff, AB T0L
(403) 762-3301

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Ricky’s All Day Grill – Country Hills

I’ve been to a few Ricky’s now, and because they are all individually owned, it’s fun to find which ones are the good ones. I’ve been to this location a few times now, and I would say this is one of the better Ricky’s All Day Grill locations! It’s located near Superstore on Country Hills Blvd, but just on the North side (towards Starbucks) – which is the better part anyway as the parking lot can be quite chaotic!

We went with my parents here as this is my mom’s favourite place to eat at (when it’s not Chinese food)! She was excited all week for it, and it didn’t disappoint anyone! Once we walked in, my parents wanted a cup of coffee, where they made them a fresh pot – and boy, did it smell good! We just jumped right to dinner, and I ordered the Certified Angus Steak Sandwich which was a delicious 6oz sirloin, grilled to medium-rare as it’s what I love, on a great garlic Portuguese bun, topped with Forty Creek Whiskey BBQ sauce, topped with onion crisps! Well, I was suppose to get onion crisps, but they gave me some onion rings instead – which I love it more! On the side, ther was some sweet potato fries and cajun aioli dip. This was delicious and very memorable!

My husband decided to eat something that is something that he has always loved, and it’s the Fettuccine Bolognese which is essentially just fettuccine with Kobe meatballs, bolognese sauce and shredded parmesan cheese
+ baked with 3 cheeses, and a generous slice of garlic bread! Well, it’s not just a slice of garlic bread, it’s actually a little loaf – and it’s delicious! The pasta is cooked really well, and the pasta sauce was divine!

My dad ordered pasta as well, he ordered Pesto Alfredo fettuccine which is again fettuccine and he got it topped with shrimp in pesto-alfredo sauce! The shrimp wasn’t the best as it was soggy – but thankfully it wasn’t fishy tasting/smelling, which is good… but, I think we’ll get it with chicken next time! Again, this came with a mini loaf of Garlic bread!

My mom ordered her favourite. I guess she comes here often enough to have a “usual” dish, which was the Veal Champignon in the lighter portion. This dish has a generous portion lightly breaded veal, topped with hunter sauce – our blend of alfredo, mushrooms and peppercorn gravy, and a side of vegetables! The veal was so moist and tender, and was really good!

Well, at the end, we didn’t all just have our own dishes as we did ask for a few plates on the side to share our meals! So, we know everything was really delicious! This is a place I will go back to when my mom doesn’t know what to eat – that’s not Chinese! I feel like this is a place that they just won’t complain about!

Ricky's All Day Grill (Country Hills) on Urbanspoon

Ricky’s All Day Grill (Country Hills)

510 – 5149 Country Hills Blvd NW Map.9324877
Calgary, AB
(403) 547-9362