The atmosphere is amazing. Food was disappointing. Service was less than mediocre. After having been seated for a special evening out, we had ordered our appetizers. We noticed a table was open by the window so asked if it was possible to move. After moving we sat for an hour(1.5 total by that time) we asked about our appetizer. We were told that because we moved tables the server thought that we no longer wanted our food because we didn't order the appetizers when we ordered our mains at the new table. Although we are grateful that they comped our appies, the food did not get to our table until we were sitting for over two hours. The restaurant was not full. Had they been super busy the time to get our food would have been understandable, but that was not the case. We probably wont be back nor would we recommend Rustica to our friends. Disappointing evening celebrating a friend's birthday.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2
Meg
We had a highly disappointing dining experience with unfortunately no redeeming qualities throughout the evening (which took 2 hours to get halfway through, with no drinks except for the included Prosecco in the set menu, and 1 cocktail ordered). After sharing our feedback a couple times with management earlier in the experience, we ultimately decided to leave 2 hours in without finishing the last 2 of the 4 courses.
We were super surprised at how long everything took (everything we consumed in the first 2 courses were cold, uncooked dishes and some seemed to have been unwrapped and taken straight from a fridge based on the temperature of the plates it was served on. We aren’t sure why the service was so slow considering it was a set menu for Valentine’s Day to help with execution for a busy night. With no exaggeration the best service was from the younger servers filling our waters.
Beyond how slow service was, and mediocre the food we ate was, the table beside us seemed to have several other food dishes served to them that were not available to us despite us specifically asking if there was flexibility due to a food restriction. We also saw that they were served bread and butter that were never offered to us. No drink orders were taken at any point after the first offering, in two hours of sitting there. We had to ask multiple time for cutlery as well, never had the candles lit on our table like others had, etc. We spoke to the manager and the response was very non-chalant and was not at all the manner you’d expect for this caliber of restaurant. After we expressed how poor the experience has been and that we just wanted to cut our loses and eat elsewhere, he actually came over to our table once more and asked if we would like to order dessert…
It’s worth noting I made this reservation 2 months in advance for a retirement dinner for 8 people, knowing it was landing on a long weekend. I was informed 1 week before our booking that it will be a set menu (too late to have many options to change our reso to a different establishment).
There are many Canmore restaurants to pick from, at a fraction of the price that deliver better service and quality.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Rebecca Saulnier
We come here every year for our anniversary. Our last, most recent visit was very disappointing. Brought our disappointment up to management and was dismissed (that or extremely poor customer service). The food was overcooked and over salted (tasted like sauce out of a packet), and the prices for the portion are crazy! ($17 for a small piece of store bought cheesecake, $30 for half a cup of fishy crab bisque with no crab pieces). No staff checked on us during our visit, the waitress was alone serving the entire restaurant. Really disappointed. $450 dinner that was subpar and no rectification.
Edit: when exactly are you planning on contacting me? I have sent multiple emails and have received no response.
Greg
Staff event was very well received thanks to the great food, service and ambiance. Will be back,
Mitch
The ambiance was awesome. The waiter came over, didn't even introduce themselves, first words were something to drink? Didn't suggest any options or provide any recommendations. We paid for the 100 dollar fondue and it was good, but we ran out of cheese before dip-ables... and we were rationing because it seemed disproportionate. The chicken parm was bad. The chefs pasta tasted like ragu... no zip no effort. Service was slow despite being 60% capacity. Prices are too high for the quality of food.
William
What not to like? Beautiful restaurant. Greeted by a friendly receptionist who offered to take our coats. Table near a fireplace. Pleasant,helpful waitress. All good.
Chris
We hosted a business dinner here and were very disappointed with the service. The waiter was unable to locate the bottle of wine we ordered, brought a different bottle instead, and then tried to convince us it was the one we had selected. When we ordered another bottle, it wasn't poured until after our main courses had already arrived. The waiter also forgot about one guest's milk allergy, which required a last-minute substitution for the potatoes. By the time this was resolved, all of our steaks were cold. While the steaks themselves were delicious, the overall experience was negatively impacted. We understand that it may not have been peak season, but we still expected a higher standard of service—especially when hosting a business dinner.
Makenzie
The food was below average . The arancini balls were so dry and small. The chicken parmigiana was also so dry and had no flavour. We are disappointed in our meal.
Douglas
We had a table close to the fireplace and the dining room was cozy and quiet. It was perfect since we were celebrating my wife's birthday a week early. The food was fantastic. I tried snow crab bisque for the first time. My wife had French onion soup. She had lamb shank because they were out of osso bucco. I had smoked Elk rack. Dessert was crème brûlée for her and turtle cheesecake for me - with cappuccino and decaf Americano. We also had a mocktail and a zero alcohol beer to start. The service was impeccable!! The service is always fantastic. We have never had a bad time there.
CaDee
Yikes. I wanted this to work, because we were in Canmore and wanted to eat locally on Christmas without driving into Banff. We could have driven to Banff, had a five star dinner , and driven back to Canmore before we even received the “appetizer”. The servers were friendly , but obviously inexperienced, and incredibly slow . We didn't realize the menu would be prix fixe, but , we rolled with it. The cheese plate was like a lunchable, but most of them are , which was fine. The soup and salad weren't something I would have typically ordered, (beet salad and sweet potato and carrot soup) but they were both pretty good. We had 3 choices for our main, turkey, prime rib, or salmon. We had the turkey and prime rib. It was fine. By this point , we had been at the restaurant 2 and a half hours and couldn't suffer any longer to see what the desserts were like, so we left. We are vacationing here, so we didn't know better and gave it a chance. I cannot imagine going to this place more than once. We truly waited a good 20 minutes for water after sitting down. The server kept talking about what a busy night it was , and there were like 4 tables occupied. We are good sports and laughed it off and left a good tip, but truly, don't make the mistake of dining here. There are too many other great restaurants nearby.
Vorweg, das Ambiente ist wunderschön und die Mitarbeitenden sind sehr freundlich! Zum Essen, sind wir leider nicht so begeistert, wie wir es dachten, bei den Bewertungen. Wir hatten ein Ribeye, Filetsteak und Hähnchen mit Parmesan Kruste. Das Hähnchen war hart und extrem trocken! Das haben wir auf Nachfrage auch angesprochen. Das Filetsteak war zwar Medium, aber leider nicht das, was wir sonst gewohnt sind. Das Ambiente ist toll, aber der Preis für 180 Euro bei 3 Personen nicht vertretbar. Wir können leider nur das Ambiente empfehlen und die Kellner empfehlen!
KarS
Quaint and luxurious atmosphere with delicious food, but selection, portion size, and service was abysmal.
We made a reservation on a Friday night for a special occasion and when we arrived, we were immediately told that THREE of the EIGHT main entrees were not available that night. All three unavailable options were beef options, making the tenderloin and the Alberta tomahawk (at $239) the only beef options for a person if they wanted to have a beef steak.
Upon ordering drinks, we were told to provide TWO options for bottles of wines, in the event that the first option was not available (to save the server a trip to the wine cellar). Our drinks took approximately 30-45 minutes to arrive.
Because of the limited main course options, three of us ordered the elk tomahawk, but the size of tomahawk between the three plates varied quite substantially. Unfortunately, mine was severely undercooked (ordered as a medium rare but arrived as a rare-plus, making it extremely game-y) and I had to send it back. The same piece of meat was thrown back on a grill and re-plated and served back to me (as evidenced by the small pieces that I had already cut off were re-seared and re-plated).
Again, for dessert, one of the four options were not available.
For a fine dining establishment and the hefty price associated with the meal, I was very unimpressed by the limited selection, service, and quality of the meal. Despite all the issues noted above, not a single drink nor entree were comp'd and we were left with a $500+ bill for a very unsatisfying meal.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
Jason Naipaul
We came to Rustica for dinner and loved the upscale lodge atmosphere.
Our server, Valentin, was excellent. He’s from Saint-Émilion in France and recommended a red wine from his hometown to pair with our elk steak — a perfect match. The elk was absolutely delicious.
Great service, great wine list, and a memorable meal. We’d definitely return!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Garry
Outstanding food and service at Rustica, as always. The wine selection is also outstanding!
Ruchi Kapoor
My boyfriend and I were excited to try Rustica after a long day of traveling.
We visited this establishment a few weeks ago. While the food was OK and the atmosphere was warm and cozy, the service was terrible. Our server was inattentive and unengaged throughout the meal, which created an uncomfortable dining experience. The wait time for our food was unusually long, and interactions felt forced or like a chore. When we requested takeout containers, she said “I don’t know we might have something” and were given mismatched plastic boxes from a nearby convenience area, which felt inappropriate given the setting of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the careless service overshadowed the rest of the visit & we couldn’t get out of there quicker!
The atmosphere is amazing. Food was disappointing. Service was less than mediocre. After having been seated for a special evening out, we had ordered our appetizers. We noticed a table was open by the window so asked if it was possible to move. After moving we sat for an hour(1.5 total by that time) we asked about our appetizer. We were told that because we moved tables the server thought that we no longer wanted our food because we didn't order the appetizers when we ordered our mains at the new table. Although we are grateful that they comped our appies, the food did not get to our table until we were sitting for over two hours. The restaurant was not full. Had they been super busy the time to get our food would have been understandable, but that was not the case.
We probably wont be back nor would we recommend Rustica to our friends. Disappointing evening celebrating a friend's birthday.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 2
We had a highly disappointing dining experience with unfortunately no redeeming qualities throughout the evening (which took 2 hours to get halfway through, with no drinks except for the included Prosecco in the set menu, and 1 cocktail ordered). After sharing our feedback a couple times with management earlier in the experience, we ultimately decided to leave 2 hours in without finishing the last 2 of the 4 courses.
We were super surprised at how long everything took (everything we consumed in the first 2 courses were cold, uncooked dishes and some seemed to have been unwrapped and taken straight from a fridge based on the temperature of the plates it was served on. We aren’t sure why the service was so slow considering it was a set menu for Valentine’s Day to help with execution for a busy night. With no exaggeration the best service was from the younger servers filling our waters.
Beyond how slow service was, and mediocre the food we ate was, the table beside us seemed to have several other food dishes served to them that were not available to us despite us specifically asking if there was flexibility due to a food restriction. We also saw that they were served bread and butter that were never offered to us. No drink orders were taken at any point after the first offering, in two hours of sitting there. We had to ask multiple time for cutlery as well, never had the candles lit on our table like others had, etc. We spoke to the manager and the response was very non-chalant and was not at all the manner you’d expect for this caliber of restaurant. After we expressed how poor the experience has been and that we just wanted to cut our loses and eat elsewhere, he actually came over to our table once more and asked if we would like to order dessert…
It’s worth noting I made this reservation 2 months in advance for a retirement dinner for 8 people, knowing it was landing on a long weekend. I was informed 1 week before our booking that it will be a set menu (too late to have many options to change our reso to a different establishment).
There are many Canmore restaurants to pick from, at a fraction of the price that deliver better service and quality.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
We come here every year for our anniversary. Our last, most recent visit was very disappointing. Brought our disappointment up to management and was dismissed (that or extremely poor customer service). The food was overcooked and over salted (tasted like sauce out of a packet), and the prices for the portion are crazy! ($17 for a small piece of store bought cheesecake, $30 for half a cup of fishy crab bisque with no crab pieces). No staff checked on us during our visit, the waitress was alone serving the entire restaurant. Really disappointed. $450 dinner that was subpar and no rectification.
Edit: when exactly are you planning on contacting me? I have sent multiple emails and have received no response.
Staff event was very well received thanks to the great food, service and ambiance. Will be back,
The ambiance was awesome. The waiter came over, didn't even introduce themselves, first words were something to drink? Didn't suggest any options or provide any recommendations. We paid for the 100 dollar fondue and it was good, but we ran out of cheese before dip-ables... and we were rationing because it seemed disproportionate. The chicken parm was bad. The chefs pasta tasted like ragu... no zip no effort. Service was slow despite being 60% capacity. Prices are too high for the quality of food.
What not to like? Beautiful restaurant. Greeted by a friendly receptionist who offered to take our coats. Table near a fireplace. Pleasant,helpful waitress. All good.
We hosted a business dinner here and were very disappointed with the service. The waiter was unable to locate the bottle of wine we ordered, brought a different bottle instead, and then tried to convince us it was the one we had selected. When we ordered another bottle, it wasn't poured until after our main courses had already arrived. The waiter also forgot about one guest's milk allergy, which required a last-minute substitution for the potatoes. By the time this was resolved, all of our steaks were cold. While the steaks themselves were delicious, the overall experience was negatively impacted. We understand that it may not have been peak season, but we still expected a higher standard of service—especially when hosting a business dinner.
The food was below average . The arancini balls were so dry and small. The chicken parmigiana was also so dry and had no flavour. We are disappointed in our meal.
We had a table close to the fireplace and the dining room was cozy and quiet. It was perfect since we were celebrating my wife's birthday a week early. The food was fantastic. I tried snow crab bisque for the first time. My wife had French onion soup. She had lamb shank because they were out of osso bucco. I had smoked Elk rack. Dessert was crème brûlée for her and turtle cheesecake for me - with cappuccino and decaf Americano. We also had a mocktail and a zero alcohol beer to start. The service was impeccable!! The service is always fantastic. We have never had a bad time there.
Yikes. I wanted this to work, because we were in Canmore and wanted to eat locally on Christmas without driving into Banff. We could have driven to Banff, had a five star dinner , and driven back to Canmore before we even received the “appetizer”. The servers were friendly , but obviously inexperienced, and incredibly slow . We didn't realize the menu would be prix fixe, but , we rolled with it. The cheese plate was like a lunchable, but most of them are , which was fine. The soup and salad weren't something I would have typically ordered, (beet salad and sweet potato and carrot soup) but they were both pretty good. We had 3 choices for our main, turkey, prime rib, or salmon. We had the turkey and prime rib. It was fine. By this point , we had been at the restaurant 2 and a half hours and couldn't suffer any longer to see what the desserts were like, so we left. We are vacationing here, so we didn't know better and gave it a chance. I cannot imagine going to this place more than once. We truly waited a good 20 minutes for water after sitting down. The server kept talking about what a busy night it was , and there were like 4 tables occupied. We are good sports and laughed it off and left a good tip, but truly, don't make the mistake of dining here. There are too many other great restaurants nearby.
Restaurantji Recommends
Vorweg, das Ambiente ist wunderschön und die Mitarbeitenden sind sehr freundlich! Zum Essen, sind wir leider nicht so begeistert, wie wir es dachten, bei den Bewertungen. Wir hatten ein Ribeye, Filetsteak und Hähnchen mit Parmesan Kruste. Das Hähnchen war hart und extrem trocken! Das haben wir auf Nachfrage auch angesprochen. Das Filetsteak war zwar Medium, aber leider nicht das, was wir sonst gewohnt sind. Das Ambiente ist toll, aber der Preis für 180 Euro bei 3 Personen nicht vertretbar. Wir können leider nur das Ambiente empfehlen und die Kellner empfehlen!
Quaint and luxurious atmosphere with delicious food, but selection, portion size, and service was abysmal.
We made a reservation on a Friday night for a special occasion and when we arrived, we were immediately told that THREE of the EIGHT main entrees were not available that night. All three unavailable options were beef options, making the tenderloin and the Alberta tomahawk (at $239) the only beef options for a person if they wanted to have a beef steak.
Upon ordering drinks, we were told to provide TWO options for bottles of wines, in the event that the first option was not available (to save the server a trip to the wine cellar). Our drinks took approximately 30-45 minutes to arrive.
Because of the limited main course options, three of us ordered the elk tomahawk, but the size of tomahawk between the three plates varied quite substantially. Unfortunately, mine was severely undercooked (ordered as a medium rare but arrived as a rare-plus, making it extremely game-y) and I had to send it back. The same piece of meat was thrown back on a grill and re-plated and served back to me (as evidenced by the small pieces that I had already cut off were re-seared and re-plated).
Again, for dessert, one of the four options were not available.
For a fine dining establishment and the hefty price associated with the meal, I was very unimpressed by the limited selection, service, and quality of the meal. Despite all the issues noted above, not a single drink nor entree were comp'd and we were left with a $500+ bill for a very unsatisfying meal.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
We came to Rustica for dinner and loved the upscale lodge atmosphere.
Our server, Valentin, was excellent. He’s from Saint-Émilion in France and recommended a red wine from his hometown to pair with our elk steak — a perfect match. The elk was absolutely delicious.
Great service, great wine list, and a memorable meal. We’d definitely return!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Outstanding food and service at Rustica, as always. The wine selection is also outstanding!
My boyfriend and I were excited to try Rustica after a long day of traveling.
We visited this establishment a few weeks ago. While the food was OK and the atmosphere was warm and cozy, the service was terrible. Our server was inattentive and unengaged throughout the meal, which created an uncomfortable dining experience. The wait time for our food was unusually long, and interactions felt forced or like a chore. When we requested takeout containers, she said “I don’t know we might have something” and were given mismatched plastic boxes from a nearby convenience area, which felt inappropriate given the setting of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the careless service overshadowed the rest of the visit & we couldn’t get out of there quicker!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 2
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