Craft opened its third location December 2013 in the old Hy’s Steakhouse on Rice Howard Way. I was a regular patron at Hy’s back in the day but I had no idea – or perhaps no recollection – of the space being so huge. Our server said the newly renovated space can seat 750 people.
Photo from Craft Beer Market’s Facebook Page
The restaurant, without a doubt, is a gorgeous combination of rustic, elegant, uber-trendy, warehouse-chic elements. Aesthetically, I love what they’ve done.
I have not, in a very long time, though, had such mediocre food.
It started out fine with the ahi tuna poke. Raw tuna is diced and marinated in sesame oil, ginger and soy sauce, mixed in with cubes of cucumbers and served with freshly made, hot, crispy wontons. Flavour was pleasing on all accounts but the dish was difficult to eat: the dice too big, the wontons unwieldly with a good portion of them chewy from sticking together while cooking. A few small tweaks would make this dish a standout.
Craft Beer has over 100 beers on tap from craft breweries (ergo the restaurant’s name) but then, shamefully, the list is muddied by a few (cough) “beer” like Budweiser and Kokanee.
Why would you do that? You’re Craft Beer Market.
With good beer, one should have good wings—meaty, juicy, crispy-skinned, flavourful fowly flappers. Craft’s bacon maple wings were a huge disappointment being scant both on flavour and on meat.
Maple Bacon Wings $13
The blue cheese burger: overcooked and tasteless. The house-made pretzel bun was so tough, I felt like a dog chewing through a rawhide. Someone at our table ordered the regular burger and fared no better. Same complaint: lacking flavour, and overdone, tough bun.
Bacon Blue Cheese Burger $16 plus $1.50 extra for Sweet Potato Fries
Inside the Bacon Blue Cheese Burger
Thankfully the chicken sandwich was better but had a sauce on it that wasn’t explained on the menu. It was neither good nor bad, just an item my friend kept asking, “What’s in this sauce?” It was a question that our server couldn’t answer and never even tried to figure out. It appeared we had used up the five question quota and were deemed the “trouble table”.
When brisket is done right, it is one of the tastiest, juiciest pieces of meat you’ll ever have. It’s a tougher cut of meat and when it’s rushed, ignored, or looked at the wrong way, it’s dry, stringy and ornery. Someone looked at this brisket the wrong way. Several times. The buttermilk mashed potatoes, which were the best item on that plate, were suffocated by a cloying sauce.
Dark Beer Braised Brisket $25
Dessert was interesting. I’ve never had a beer float before, even though it combines two of my favourite foods (beer and ice cream). The Pinocchio ice cream with Früli (Belgian strawberry beer) was refreshingly different. Service though, by this point, had disintegrated almost entirely, and having to wait almost five minutes for a spoon meant that we didn’t have so much a float, but more a milky beer, for dessert.
Früli Float with Pinocchio Vanilla Ice Cream $10
A lot of restaurants lately are subscribing to the local food movement, and that’s great, but it takes more than lip service to be a legitimate player in the local food movement. If a restaurant sets up shop and claims to use “fresh, local and sustainable ingredients when possible”, they better be able to put their money where their mouths are—and usually, the mouths are the servers and floor managers, not just words on a menu or website. Our server didn’t have any idea where the product came from, nor did the young lady who, I believe, was the floor manager (or one of them) that night, and although she informed us that “there isn’t enough room in our heads for all the information they give us,” she did reassure us that none of the boxes in the freezer said “factory chicken”. Scenes of Chicken Run ran through my mind. This was also the young lady who told us their Heritage beef comes from a ranch where “heritage beef cows are raised.”
After my review aired on CBC radio, Craft’s Marketing Manager, Matt Salucop, invited me to send him a detailed email of my experience. In response to my lengthy email, he assured me that Craft’s General Manager, Tyler McCaskie would be in contact with me. That was February 25th – almost two months ago. I’m still waiting, but I’m not surprised.
The link to my CBC restaurant review can be heard here.
What a read! I have zero desire to hit this place after reading your review. Someone takes 2 months to respond – and then only after Social Media pressure is not interested in customer service. I will go where I know I am an important part of the equation.
Thanks, Twyla!
Valerie
I finally did hear back from Tyler McCaskie, GM of Craft Beer Market (Edmonton). I guess all that talk on Twitter about Craft’s failure to rectify customer issues got the attention of the higher ups and Mr. McCaskie called me yesterday afternoon. He promised that the issues I brought to light have been dealt with and that staff training has been adjusted. That’s great, but I hope the kitchen has been adjusted as well because the staff was only half the problem. Time will tell.