Good food and great service, does a meal make! [Saltlik Calgary review]

Feb 13th, 2013 :
I’ll definitely keep Saltlik on my short list for Steakhouses to eat at in Calgary … everything remains as consistent and excellent as ever

Dec 31st, 2011 :  So after the crapshit service of Chicago Chophouse, we decided to stay closer to the Hyatt and the Marriott and to the Mechanical Horse – so it was off to Saltlik Steakhouse.

The list of downtown steakhouses on the list are as follows (with review)

CHARCUT Roast House
Saltlik Steakhouse
Carver’s Steakhouse
Palomino Smokehouse
The Bank Restaurant
The Trib
Quincy’s
Chicago Chophouse
Caesar’s Steak House
Paul’s Pizza & Steak House

Walking into Saltlik was easy and unpretentious, even for a place with the good name of Saltlik. We didn’t have reservations at 8pm and there was no fuss about getting a table. The overall decor itself was pretty standard … new hipster, steak room decor … typical of newer steakhouses.

However, after walking in though, we were greeted by a cross of something from Doctor Who … it evoked the following thoughts

 Holy Shit … it’s not art … what is that?
It looks like a cross between cranberries, jellyfish and an afterbirth
I would not sit under that thing for any money
Then D* mentioned that it looked like what should thought Chlamydia would look like … which made me ROTFL

After the initial shock of the Doctor Who floating Chlamydia, we were treated to some excellent food and quite good service. The wok-fired calamari appetizer was definitely a great appetizer … it is far to easy to ruin this with over done Chinatown and Greektown nonsense. It was cooked like the traditional Chinese salt-and pepper method,  – we didn’t bother with the Greeky yogurt style sauce – it didn’t need it and and the grilled lemon was a nice touch. Wasn’t overly salty or overly spicy or overly battered; great balance. If you paired that along with the Panko crusted Onion Rings, you’re on your way to fine start to the meal.

Our entrees were the Chipotle BBQ Ribs and the Cowboy Ribeye (Chicago – Medium) … the ribs were average and bit too fatty for my taste, but D’s steak was excellent and she found her happy Chicago Medium steak.

Compared to the Chicago Chophouse … this was 12 star dining.
I’ll definitely keep Saltlik on my short list for Steakhouses to eat at in Calgary … the minutae and details you can get on yelp, opentable etc … but overall … good steakhouse, satisfying food, decent pricepoint, and very decent service – they know how to serve a Vodka/Soda but not serve a dram of scotch.

Saltlik
Address Stephen Avenue 101 8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2G5J2
Phone (403) 537-1160
Hours Mon-Thu 11:30 am-11 pm, Fri-Sat 5:00pm-11:00pm, Sun 5pm-10pm