charbar

The worst ever eaten. The beautiful large steak looked pot black and was cooked through meat. The Argentine shrimp was not perfect either, and all without any prenstation of some vegetables and sauce

Rode our bikes down and sat on the patio, were greeted quickly, sat on the patio, our server was lovely, attentive and professional. Salads were awesome, add chicken and prawns to the wedge to make it a wicked summer meal. Caesars and pints were perfect. We will be back again as always.

Excellent restaurant as usual! Amazing service and exceptional food. Always love the ambiance even with a wedding upstairs!

Very average food

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 5

The lunch options are various. We tried the steak chimichurri; it was excellent. We will be back to try the other items in the next few days.

Update: the other options were fine but not as good as the steak.

The patio is always fun

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Incredible food and exceptional service in a really amazing setting. Loved the asparagus and pizza and chicken.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Ir is still very fresh in my mind …
Went for a walk with friends and international visitor… my friend made reservations ahead of time . We came on time and were seated outside. It was pleasant evening .
We ordered a few appetizers and drinks . We waited and waited and waited ….
Drinks and food finally arrived . It was not bad nothing spectacular however.
Service was not bad at that time however, it appeared that we were rushed to finish our appetizers so that tables can be clean . When we asked to leave us to enjoy our time , they did. We payed our bill and were heading out. My visitor was curious about balcony and the view and we asked to go upstairs to check it out . We were allowed, as nice girl at front did not think that it was an issue. When we returned, we asked if we could get a table upstairs and stay for another round. Again, nice girl at the front found us table and informed us that we have an hour or so before the last call. That was fine as we just wanted to have my visitor enjoy the view and quick drink before heading home. However, my visitor and my friend wanted to have one smoke before going upstairs. This is when person eating ice cream/or popsicle came around and refused to take us upstairs until “ the whole party is ready to go” I asked if 3 of us can go but he said NO .
I asked if he can please explain why 3 of us could not go upstairs , but he repeated “ we will go when everyone is here” I asked again why we could not go upstairs and two of them can come up after they finish smoking?
Still sucking on the popsicle, with very strange expression on his face he repeated” I will take you upstairs when everyone is hear and ready to go”!
I looked at him and said “ that is OK but can you please explain to me why? Just answer the question, please”
He was still sucking his popsicle, looked at me, and took few seconds to answer via smirky face, “ because it is better that way”
“ the better for who? I wandered …..
3 of us sat there for no reason at all waiting for our party to get together so that this person, employed by this restaurant, can walk us upstairs all together… This was outrageous behaviour as he refused to be nice or at least be decent and answer my question .
My party got together and left without going upstairs at all … this is how my cousin will remember Calgary hospitality!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 1

4.4 ⭐️
Great little spot tucked away in the old Simmons Factory in East Village, steps off the river path/ Bow River.

This place did not disappoint. We visited them for a friends birthday and ordered Broccoli and Cauliflower dish which was amazing. The burger was spectacular (cheese curds on a burger!?!! 💯), fries- meh skip out on these next time. We also enjoyed the Beef Empanadas which are the best empanadas that we’ve experienced in Calgary, to date.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Charbar feels like it's become a bit of a tourist trap. The food and wine list are mediocre at best. We had the cabbage salad which was more of a soup with all of the sauce. The charred Octopus was incredibly tough to eat, very overcooked; thankfully there were only four pieces of it. The tenderloin steak was an end cut (not a good cut), tough, overcooked, and over seasoned. It came with three hard potatoes (over cooked). The red wine was served warm so we asked for it to be chilled for a few minutes and the server promised to come back and decant it but not only did he not return to decant, not one server actually served the wine - we served ourselves the bottle. The server also did their best to upsell us throughout the meal which got old fast. You're both having steak - why not get the Porter House. Well it's a $30 price increase and we don't want it but good try. Total bill for two was just under $500 including wine. Really rich for the quality and service. We won't be back.

Went here with some friends! I absolutely love Char Bar! I've been a couple times now n never had a bad experience. The food is great and so is the service. Not to mention the vibes of this place are great! It can get really loud depending what time you go and it is on the pricier side, but I would definitely recommend this place!

Nice enough spot.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 4

Honestly, I’m speechless about how much I love coming here. It’s a perfect fusion of Argentinian BBQ with flavors from all over the world. The chefs let the creativity flow, and you can see (and taste) the magic in every single dish. I’m from Toronto, and whenever I’m in Calgary, this spot is an absolute must. Special shoutout to Chef Ricardo Rodriguez, I’ve met many chefs, but Ricky is definitely the star. If you drop by, definitely ask if he’s around 😉

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Edit: after taking the time to write a review and touch base with the email provided below, I never received a response. Reading through other reviews as well, It sadly seems like there is some major operational dysfunction and miscommunication that results in people being passed off to someone else and falling through the cracks, which is disappointing as the food held a lot of promise.

After hearing about Charbar from friends for months and their experience, my fiancée and I headed there today to try out the food and take in the experience as a birthday celebration. Unfortunately, it proved to be quite a underwhelming experience which saddened us as the food was great, but the overall visit really left a mixed taste in our mouthes as we were really excited and felt quite disappointed afterwards.

When we first visited, we were greeted by a gentleman who told us he was going to prepare a table on the patio for us. After around 10 minutes and not hearing anything, we chatted briefly with another staff member who said they would look into it and get us seated ASAP. After another 10 minutes went by we noticed a few later arrivals get seated before us while the patio had 6-8 empty tables - it seems like there may have been some short staffing or miscommunication. This unfortunately affected a few other customers as they got quite agitated by this experience and left. We found another staff member at this point who said they would check to see if there was a table free.

After waiting for around 40 minutes we were finally seated and went ahead and ordered an appetizer and entrees. While the food was quite delicious, it took around 30 minutes for us to receive it which unfortunately corresponded with the rain we were hoping to avoid but couldn’t due to the delay in being seated and staff not realizing the weather had turned south, which left us a little unsure of where to sit or what to do and resulted in our food getting wet.

While our server was very kind and approachable, she had forgotten about a few requests (drink and sauce refills) which we didn’t end up receiving, but that kind of stuff happens. Over the past few months, we’ve been looking for the best wedge salad in Calgary, and Charbar undoubtably has a great one, however the experience as a whole was quite disappointing as we were really excited and took a lot of time out of our day to make the trek out for lunch.

Edit: We sent the CharBar team an email to try and redeem our experience as they suggested above.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 3

Service: 1

Charbar has a lot going for it - the food is delicious and the drinks are well-made. It's located in a historical building in East Village that really adds to the ambiance on a night out. I've been to Charbar 20+ times and I've been consistently underwhelmed by the level of service from the staff. Most of the staff seem to be in a constant state of annoyance and it really does Charbar no favours in terms of a dining experience.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 3

Fantastic experience at Charbar! The tenderloin was melt-in-your-mouth perfection and the Napa cabbage salad was fresh and full of flavor. Great ambience and friendly, attentive service. Highly recommend!