Cilantro

Went here last night with my husband and has a fantastic and delectable experience. Definitely make your reservation for the quaint patio as it feels more like some out of the back streets of Europe then in downtown Calgary. The wine list is extensive and hits all price points. We had the prawns for our appetizer, cooked to perfection and each had a pasta as a main both superb and full of subtle flavors. Everything else coming out of the kitchen we saw looked amazing and often made us question our order, will have to come back for more. Also we shared the sticky toffee pudding for dessert and my husband hates dessert, we finally found one we can enjoy together, bravo Cilantro.

Cilantro is much nicer than it seems. I saw that there were sandwiches on the menu, so I assumed it would be fairly casual — wrong assumption. As soon as we walked in (wearing jeans), the waitress told the hostess that she could seat us in the back. Clearly we were not dressed to impress the waitress; however, we were seated in the front and received exceptional service from a waiter that was not disillusioned by our attire. The food was good, but I will not go out of my way to return.

Great pasta and a great sommelier!

Imagine having dinner in the coziest room of your house being served fresh home cooked meals and sipping on heavenly glasses of wine. That’s what keeps me coming back to Cilantro over and over again. I highly recommend the mushroom soup which is hearty and delicious. The rack of lamb is the absolute best in the city with a hoisin glaze rather then the traditional dijon mustard found all over the city. Ask to be served by Reuben, Mackie or Lindsay– All experts at what they do

Living close to 17^th avenue is going to drive me broke or fat, because now I have another very good restaurant within blocks. To our benefit it was not very crowded this last Saturday night, made the somewhat small restaurant feel bigger and we were helped out by a very attentive waitress. Drinks, food, ambiance all followed suit for an all in all positive experience.
In a karmic win, the best dish of the night was the lamb shank barbacoa, excellent compilation and presentation, and the taste was incredible — set up with meat on the bone, rice, small tortillas, and a side of sauce for your to construct your own tacos. The compounding awesomeness here is that when ordering Cilantro will match with a meal donation — so you get to feel good twice. Braised bison had some unique flavoring, odd pairing with grits but somehow worked because I cleaned my plate.

This place has been on my list for a very long time — with the Car2Go deal they had on with Mealshare we couldn’t say no.
Decide that one of us would do the Mealshare menu and then we would add another main dish too the mix. That way we could try more things.
First off, thank you to a high end restaurant for doing something like Ride2Dine. With the discount we got with our Car2Go membership it made it easier to convince the Boy to give it a try. And what a great cause to support — love how Calgary restaurants have really gotten behind the concept.
Menu started with braised bison ravioli that came with bison consommé (poured out a tea pot), soft cured egg and little mushroom cube bits. So good! There were 5 pieces of ravioli which made it a good size. Bison was tasty. But honestly cant get over how tasty the consumme was — we tipped the bowl to scrap out every last drop.
Second off the menu was duck breast on bulgar risotto, currents, glazed carrots and cherry coke gastrique. What is gastrique you ask? Think caramelized sugar boiled down flavour saucy business. This one was a delightful just sweet enough match the the perfectly cooked duck breast. Loved the bulgar risotto — was my first time trying it.
We added the main of bison short rib on sweet potatoes hash and avocado salsa with fried egg on top. Elevated breakfast for dinner (no offense to the chef) and oh so good! Short ribs were fall apart soft and not overly seasoned or sauced so you could really taste the flavours from the meat which was a lovely change. Avocado salsa provided a fresh bit on top the the egg yolk almost being the sauce of the dish. My only question is why the sweet potatoes we so hard — not so hard they were inedible — just hard enough that they had to be bite through. The Boy says for texture difference and really liked it. I get it and appreciate it, just don’t love it.
At this stage we were both pretty full and happy to share the dessert off the tasting menu. Dark chocolate and orange cake, with hazelnut chocolate mousse and white chocolate orange semifreddo. Decadent! Every component was a delight on there own and as a whole fantastic. It’s not often I really love all things about a dessert but there was well crafted love put into this one. Excellent end to a lovely meal.
By the way the wine list is extensive but well Organised to help you out. We went with their 2 non alcoholic sodas and really enjoyed the flavour in both. Appreciate when restaurants make the syrups from scratch and really think through complimentary flavours. Enjoyed them so much that next time we go back the sodas will be the first thing ordered.
Waitress was lovely and helpful. Wasn’t too attentive but there when we needed her. Gave us time to sit, chat and enjoy the food. Much appreciated.
Thanks for a great night out to the team at Cilantro.

Huge wine list.
Intimate atmosphere.
Delicious food.
I had the Chilean Sea Bass. It came with a cornmeal tamale. I was not a fan of tamales until that night. It was so fresh. Everything was topped with a tarty sweet sauce that reminded me of something my mom makes. It all made me very happy. My date had the lasagna. I took a bite and felt immediate regret! It was so good! So cheesy, so yummy. I wanted it all.
When I visit Calgary again, Cilantro will be on my list of restaurants to revisit.

The service was spectacular! My server Dustin was super friendly and knowledgeable. The patio was nice and cozy! My gamemeat loaf (elk +bison) was fantastic! Loved the nice crispness to the focaccia flatbread and the meat was nice and moist with only a hint of gaminess. Only thing I didn’t particularly enjoy about my meal was the pickled veggies on the side. But it’s only a side, so meh. In my humble opinion, the food and service is well worth the 15 – 20 minutes walk from the city centre.

The name Cilantro might throw you for a loop if you’ve never heard of them before. I’m sure most people would guess Vietnamese or something Asian right? WRONG. Not even close! Cilantro is higher end restaurant that fall under something like contemporary, modern fusion food. Located on trendy 17^th Ave, you can’t miss it as it’s near Anju and right next door to one of it’s sister restaurant’s, Bar C. It actually makes sense to me now why you can see into Bar C’s patio from one of Cilantro’s kitchen windows. The CRMR group owns them along with Divino Wine & Cheese Bistro and the Lake House.
We reserved a table online last minute (literally 30 minutes beforehand just in case) but it wasn’t even necessary. Everyone was sitting out on the patio. The rest of the restaurant inside was empty save for a table or two. It worked in our favour as my sister wanted to stay inside. FYI, they do have blankets for people that get cold easily (genius!). Our waitress for the evening was great, very knowledgeable and entertaining. Lots of witty banter.
The menu is small and made up mostly of pizza, pasta, panini’s and meat entrees.
They have a separate menu that had quite a few daily specials to choose from but we stuck to the main one.
— Apple cider brut tender ($ 35.00) — made from 20 types of different apples. The description is hilarious. «You like apples, drink this.» Straight to the point. It would have been nice to know which apples were used. The cider was tasty, it tasted exactly like apples.
— Cheese plater ($ 12.00) — you have the option of choosing from 5 different types of cheese. We went with three (skipped out on the other two which were blue cheeses) but it’s nice they give you the option of loading up on more of a certain type. Mahón, chèvre and triple cream brie. My favourite was the brie — smooth, creamy richness, it disappeared in the blink of an eye. The fig jam was also delicious. Not too sweet. It went well with a couple pieces of soft brown bread.
— Smoked salmon ($ 15.00) — vanilla-​citrus cream, pickled onions and pumpernickel crostini’s. The smoked salmon was also quite good. The vanilla-​citrus cream was refreshingly light (someone thought they detected hints of dill) while the smoked salmon contrasted nicely with a slightly salty finish to it. The crostini’s were really crunchy, I would have preferred them to be less so.
— Lemon conchigliette ($ 24.00) — chorizo, scallops, lobster, snap peas, poblano in a basil-​chevre parmesan cream sauce. This was my entrée for the night. The conchigliette, shaped like tiny conch shells, were cooked al dente and had a good variety of seafood to it. I definitely got bites of chorizo and scallops but I don’t recall eating any lobster. The sauce was rich and creamy without having that heaviness to it.
— Chilean sea bass ($ 40.00) — cornmeal tamale, grilled peppers and a citrus ancho chili sauce. My sis ordered the sea bass and loved it. I had a bite and the fish was super tender and bursting with flavour. The accompanying beans were perfectly cooked.
— Lasagna ($ 23.00) — chicken pepper sausage, smoked gouda, poblano peppers, feta, spinach in a smokey tomato sauce. This lasagna is a little different than the norm. Much more tomato sauce based over being stuffed with a ton of meat. Not that that’s a bad thing. The flavours were nicely balanced and our friend thought it was really delicious.
— Chocolate peanut butter pie ($ 9.00) — the chocolate peanut butter pie was heavenly. With a graham cracker crust and Grand Marnier whipped cream, we gobbled this up. It tasted a bit like a fancy reese’s piece. Definitely leave room for dessert!
— Flourless chocolate quinoa cake ($ 9.00) — our second dessert was a bust. Flourless chocolate quinoa cake, coconut jelly and dulce de leche. I tasted a bite — the texture of the coconut jelly was unpleasant. Just not good at all. The flourless chocolate cake was a little better but pretty dry and tasteless. Even our waitress agreed it shouldn’t be on the menu…
With so many options to choose from on 17^th Ave, Cilantro was a pleasant find. There’s a reason why they’ve been open for over 20 years. Food prepared with care, excellent service and a relaxing vibe, just don’t be in a rush and you’ll enjoy yourself. We were there for over two hours and weren’t hurried out even though we were the last table there. The meat entrees are expensive but you can stick to the pizza/​pastas which are more reasonably priced.

My first 5 star ! Come to Alberta Canada and u must come here ! Enough said …
Cheers

After a long day of work, my colleagues and I decided to try something other than the usual, The Keg, in Calgary, and ventured over to Cilantro in search of something laid back and satisfying.
The menu at Cilantro is t what first comes to mind when you hear the name, I was thinking it might be Indian or Asian fusion. Alas, the menu features some Italian style items, as well as some local, or Canadian features.
We started with cocktails, and I had the Kentucky Caravan. It was well crafted, featuring egg white and pear bitters. It was different, but welcome! Two of my fellow diners had the mushroom soup as their appetizers and raved about how good it was. I had the focaccia with goat cheese, which came as a huge portion, enough for us all to share.
For the main course, I tried the Lemon Conchigliette, which was a pasta in a light lemony sauce, with some seared scallops, lobster, and some fresh peas. It was again a generous portion, and very tasty and filling.
After appetizers and mains, none of us had room for dessert.
Next time I’m in Calgary, I will return! I look forward to trying more of their unique menu items!

Great tasting food but very slow service. The place is very small, I’m talking like not even 10 tables inside. With big parties it is even smaller so I don’t understand why the service is so slow as there is more than 1 server. I saw at least 6 servers so I still don’t know why everything took so long. I have been to many expensive fine dining restaurants with better faster service.
The wine menu overpowers the actual food menu as the choices are very limited. Majority of it is good though but very expensive. The bathrooms are even smaller than the menu. If your in no rush for a meal and have the money to burn, this is a nice date restaurant but plan to stay about 2.5 hours as it is that slow.
Parking is very limited as they do have a very small parking lot out back. Prepare to find parking on the street or have a very small car that can park almost anywhere if you find a parking spot out back.

Went to Cilantro for the first time with a buddy, and we wanted to try something different and new. Decided to put in a same day reservation for noon and Cilantro had openings.
The décor is pretty nice, with both an up and downstairs seating area. They also have patio seating, which we didn’t use due to the rain. The main floor is brighter with more natural lighting. The upstairs is dimmer, but has a cool view of the wood fired oven.
Started off with the Wild Mushroom Soup (very flavourful with just the right amount of tenderness to the veggies) and Beef Tenderloin Slices (nice pink inside with cherry chutney). As for the mains I had the Chicken and Pancetta Flatbread Pizza (nice flavours, slightly thicker dough), and my buddy had the Lemon Pasta. For dessert, I had the Upsidedown Cheesecake (neat looking, almost too many chocolate chips, but quite sweet) and the Pineapple Sorbet (more like crushed Pineapple with some sugar).
Overall, I would go back to try out other dishes, since I love the taste of Cilantro itself. A little pricey, but you do go away full.

Great dining experience! We love the CRMR group, but have yet to try Cilantro until last night. We were immediately seated after arriving about 15 minutes early for our reservation. We both ordered the ginger peach soda (really good!) and a bowl of the feature soup which was amazing. We also both ordered a pasta dish and loved how the noodles are made in house. I was so full that I had to take half my pasta home and I’m currently enjoying it for lunch while I type this out.
Our server was pleasant and always on cue.
The only downfall was that we were seated next to a table of about 14 people and it was quite loud, but no fault of the restaurant.
Would definitely recommend for a romantic dinner or even a nice dinner with a group of friends.

A couple weeks ago we came here blind, chosen randomly from Open Table. The staff were friendly and professional, the décor is simple but elegant. I had the rotini, and my wife had the linguini, and I had one of the Dieu Du Ciel beers, Grande Noriceur, which was served in a smallish glass. My rotini was nicely done, with a good blend of flavours in the sauce and a nice contrast of textures. The linguini was quite nice, too. Overall impression was «pretty good»… Until we ordered dessert! We got the Peanut Butter Pie and the Pineapple Walnut Carrot Cake, and it was like discovering buried treasure! Both of them were beautifully plated, and very good! SO good that I just drove downtown from the NE to get them again as a takeout order!

Really, really good!
It had been on our to-​do list re restaurants in Calgary to hit and I am so glad for whatever reason that we decided to grab a couple of friends on a Sat night and go for a 730 reso.
The eatery is not that big so resos are recommended (we used Open Table, so easy). Our table was ready for us when we got there and the staff were nice enough to take our jackets from us. Not a large place but super cute, cozy and dim. Great for large groups (it was quite loud in the beginning but not uncomfortably so) good for girl’s night out, a group of 4 like us, or for 2 on a romantic date.
This place delivers wonderful ambiance and I almost felt like I was in a clean, sophisticated yet comfortable cottage.
Now, the service and the food — you will wait for. The drinks took a long time to get. We were in and out in 4 hours and as lovely a time as I had, I was getting antsy and was feeling by hour 3 that I really needed to stretch my legs and walk off some of the food I had eaten! This entailed us having appies, drinks, mains and a bday brownie dessert (thanks Cilantro!) and coffee.
THE FOOD! Someone leading this kitchen brigade knows what they are doing. Love the Italian inspired menu, lots of choices. FRESH!
Gluten-​free people, we learned that this is not a place for you after we learned about the house made pasta. TO DIE FOR DELICIOUS! Thankfully, we did not have dietary restrictions and could order whatever we wanted.
We ordered the creamy potato soup $ 9 and the spinach salad with bacon wrapped shrimp. Oh, so good! Our friends had the smoked salmon appy and they loved it! I had the shell pasta main with seafood and chorizo. I was afraid that it would be overcooked as I like my pasta al dente. I had nothing to fear, the dish was perfect, great portion size too. Everyone else had different flatbread pizzas which we had read were excellent. Very thin, wood oven pizza crust, fresh toppings and they were some of the best I feel Calgary has to offer in terms of Za of this style.
I had a couple of the signature drinks. The pear one was good, I would not get the apple one again. They are $ 12 which will run you double as it is only $ 6.25 to get a normal cocktail, say a Vodka/​tonic.
Will return in a heartbeat for the food and beautiful space. We just know to come when not in any kind of rush. The food was thankfully worth the wait but for our service in particular, 4 stars.
Not the priciest place in town, nor the cheapest.

We absolutely loved Cilantro. The food is all prepared fresh using local/​organic ingredients where possible and is beautifully presented.
They had some very interesting cocktails, a great wine list and really yummy salads; the nicoise salad was absolutely fabulous.
This restaurant has a wonderful patio and very welcoming and superbly attentive staff — our server had a great sense of humor too, which we really made the evening…
Did we mention desserts? ;-) All home made and absolutely splendid… best chocolate/​peanut butter tart and best strawberry ice cream we’ve ever had anywhere… the pastry chef should be given a michelin star — just superb… :-)
If you hadn’t guessed, we would HIGHLY recommend you visit Cilantro! ;-)

Came here Friday night with my fiancé and was seated at a cute little table for two at the window. The restaurant is definitely cozy as many reviews have stated. My fiancé started with the mussels — black bean cream sauce $ 16 (our server said these were the more popular ones vs. the chorizo clam broth. He said they were delicious. I started with the burrata $ 15, I have had better but the dish was still good.
For our mains my fiancé had the New Zealand Rack of Lamb $ 44 (hunan. shallot mashed) which he really enjoyed. I had the salad that was listed on the daily specials list, I can’t remember what was in it exactly, but it was a good portion and yummy. We asked for a side order of sautéed mushrooms as well. Everything was really tasty. It is a very romantic and cute restaurant, definitely something suitable for a nice date night.
We ordered about 5 – 6 as well, so our bill was quite high, so bring the credit card: P

Very nice place… All appetizers were very good. And the wine too. Also the service was great. The beef tenderloin was delicious and the prawns too. The cheese was great too. I would definitely go back there.

This place has the honor of being the possessor of the first wood fired oven in Calgary…
The atmosphere is very intimate and with candles lit, very romantic. I hear there is a great patio, but it was a little too cold to check it out the night I went.
Just to let you know, everything is a la carte on the menu. In addition to the variety of pizzas available, the wine selection is quite extensive and the waiter very well versed as to the pairings. We decided to order several appetizers and have our meal «tapas» style and finishing off with the pizza. When you want to try a little bit of everything and you’re with a willing partner, this is the best way to go… in my opinion.
We started with the wild mushroom vegetable cream soup… rich, creamy, yummy. Then we followed up with the fresh mussels in the black bean cream sauce… can I just say scrumptious? Then our greens… young spinach greens, tarragon vinagrette, crispy pancetta, figs, toasted pecans and goat cheese — lemme say I could make my meal out of this refreshing salad… never had figs in a salad and it was just right with the tarragon vinagrette. For pizza, we had the cappicola ham, tomatoes, roasted peppers, provolone cheese on a pesto crust… the crust could’ve been crispier, but it was still very good.
The only drawback was the amount of time it took to get our food and check… I guess it was really okay because we really wanted to take our time between the dishes and just enjoy each other’s company… anyone else who may be starving may be quite annoyed…