Nicastro’s Public House

Was in a week ago and had the special that day Butter Chicken. Actually we go there fairly regularly and the food quality is way above your standard pub. It looks very high quality in the décor and furnishing as well and the staff seem happy and professional. Some items seem high priced compared to regular pub food but when you get it the reason is obvious.

My boyfriend and I are regular patrons of Nicastro’s and we always share the same booth. It feels like Friends, how they always get their preferred seat — we do too! That isn’t to say the place is dead, far from it. We usually have the same server and she is always really wonderful. One night when we went, I was starving, and we got our food order within a few minutes. I guess it pays to be a regular because I felt like we got extra special treatment and I really appreciated it. I love the daily specials, we like to go on Wednesdays for wings. Their wings are always gigantic and perfectly cooked — I have no complaints! My boyfriend and I usually split 15 wings and a basket of fries and are both stuffed. I also am a big fan of the caesars they make, they are spicy and have a great rim of salt and they garnish it with spicy pickled asparagus. Each booth has a tv, so if there is a game I want to watch, they will always accommodate me. Friendly servers, great food and great service. The only thing I wish for is for them to bring back the deep fried pickles! The menu is not the same without them.

«Welcome to the Castro,» my server told me with a smile. This was in response to while paying my bill I said how much I was enjoying the place.
Look for the fedora tipped casually over the letter N out front. Or better yet, look for the actual hat behind the bar next to the picture of the Castro himself.
I wished I lived closer to this place. There is an up and a main floor section, we sat on the main floor, which is a pub atmosphere. Upstairs was closed for a private function.
My friends and I shared an order of the calamari and we all commented on its deliciousness. Then I was so happy as there was PIZZA on the menu, so ordered a vegetarian pizza (10″) which was so good! Let me preface I ate this entirely by myself, but two low slices remained.
Defeated by a pizza!
They have a good selection of beers on tap including Village Brewery. I also found the prices to be reasonable for the quality.
I am definitely a fan of the Castro.

I was pleasantly surprised by this place. I never really travel to this part of Calgary because it is quite far from my house, so I don’t know the area really well. This is a watering hole for my Calgary friends and now I know why!
The inside of this place is actually really nice. I was here for a surprise party on Saturday and we were upstairs in a private room. The place was nicely decorated! The bartender was really sweet and social with everyone. It ended up being a really cute little party. The food came out really quickly and it was really really good. I liked the pizza/​flatbread that they served there.
The upstairs area doesn’t have all the liquor available however, so we couldn’t get shots like burt reynolds etc. It wasn’t too big of an issue though.
The bathrooms were really clean as well. It was nice that there were private bathrooms for the upstairs people.
Staff is really nice and helpful! Manager came and introduced himself to us at the end of the night!

Beautiful inside. Great service. food is pricey but good. I am a regular and keep going back as they try hard to keep me happy.

Well, we went on a Sunday night with friends at 5:30pm. Ordered food right away. We should have known better when the place was almost empty except a family party upstairs. Our server was nice but seemed not that interested in us. At 45 mins after ordering we asked if our food was coming… She didn’t look or bother finding out, just said, «yup, it’s coming.» We waited another 10 minutes, asked again, she said, «yup, 2 minutes.» Not — I’m really sorry guys, let me go check for you… Nope. I’m all for giving the benefit of the doubt but there were only 2 other tables and I didn’t feel like we mattered at all. So about 1 hour after we sat down and ordered a bowl of soup, a salad, a couple of sandwiches and poutine… The soup comes out and was fridge cold with a bit of warm on the edge. The chicken sandwich also cold, barely warmed, no grill marks. Cold burger too. We waited an hour for cold, barely microwaved soup? No thanks. We paid for our drinks and left. Our waitress did call over the manager, but no explanations or anything. We used to really like this place but since the menu changed and prices went up the quality and service went way down. Never going back again. And that says a lot because I’m a very forgiving person and acknowledges that everyone has a bad day now and then. Even if the waitress had said something like they were catering a party upstairs and if the food came out hot, I would have been happy to stay, but this was not the case. There’s a way better pub just down the street that served us way better with excellent food. Lesson learned!

The service from the waitress was great but the kitchen messed up two orders royally. They took it off the bill but it’s frustrating to order a simple pizza and get a completely wrong order.

I’ve eaten here twice, the first time was a month after it first open and the food was really good. The second time was a couple of weeks ago and the food was average, however the dish I had was even worse, it was the sausage skillet. The sausage skillet I thought would be a full meal as it was labeled under, «Mains». When it came out, it was two sausages, two pieces of focaccia bread, and marinara sauce, all for overpriced value meal of $ 14. I ordered the potato skins to fill the hungry void left by the sausages, and they were decent, but not worth $ 14 for potato skins. The service was good, the beer somewhat cold and decently priced. For me, a pub has to have good food, otherwise there are too many better options to hit up.

Update… My fav server Kat… had told me she would see about getting some Vegan burger patties on the menu. After I explained there was not a lot on the menu I could eat and when going to a pub would love PUB food like a burger.
Went back last night for beers and she came right over and said she had PERSONALLY gone out and bought a package of Vegan patties to keep in the freezer for when I wanted a burger!
How is the for the BEST SERVER ever!!!

Disgusted by the sexist and cowardly management and subpar food. Husband had on a shirt with no sleeves, not a «wife beater» as stated by our waitress who was wearing a skimpy tank top, and was offered a shirt to put on. He had a hoodie with him but when I pointed out how sexist it was she seemed bewildered and only asked him to put it on after we’d ordered and her manager came by. This is not a high class place and I was the only female aside from the waitress. It was 4 pm on a Monday. I don’t think anyone really cared. When asked where the dress code was posted she just shook her shoulders. Asked to talk to Manger but he was too busy on the phone (ya right) working his other job as a realtor and didn’t care to talk to us after asking twice. Will never go back and will tell everyone I know not to frequent the place. In addition as we were leaving the waitress asked if we wanted our pizza packed up but bothered to point out they don’t do that when they have specials. Her tip went down really quick right there. We had never been there before and didn’t even know it was special… as if we were trying to scam them. Never ever again. Pizza was terrible too.

I haven’t actually had any food here but the beer was cold and tasty and the service from the bartender Kat was welcoming. She had a witty sense of humor and welcomed us with a shot. Great start to a Friday

I retract my previous review. They changed the menu. No more calzones. Which were 1 of the best items. Pizzas are minimum of $ 21 each, not worth it for the price at all. Burgers $ 15 each and is basically a dry frozen pattie.
I got a rye & coke and the coke on tap was completely flat and syrupy. They had a beer special the previous night and ran out of rickards red but still offered it to us then had to go back after they remembered it was empty.
server was kind of an air head, forgot our waters and had to be asked 3x, forgot napkins and had to be asked 2x, and there was enough servers for the 4 tables in there…
Music was awful soft rock and kept cutting out. At some point there was a man in a plaid shirt and jeans on a ladder removing parts of the ceiling while we ate (in the evening on a Sat night… Wtf???)
I donno I went because it was snowy and I didn’t feel like driving so this place is within walking distance. .but next time I will save myself the $ and go to the 711 across the street instead

Nicastro’s used to be located on Edmonton Trail and has re-​opened on Centre St, even closer to my house than it was before, which makes me happy. This building used to be an Italian restaurant. I went to the grand opening in Nov 2013 with a group of friends and it’s just as great of a neighborhood pub as it used to be, but modernized.
We were here on a cold night and it felt like a nice place for comfort food. My pint was a reasonable price and I ate the Papa Nicastro Calzone. It was slightly overdone on one side but I was happy that it had a lot of filling and flavor. The only bit I left behind was an edge, which was just a tad too much dough with no filling left.
We sat on the upper floor and even though it was very busy, service was respectable, it wasn’t excruciatingly loud and the overall vibe was great. The owner did a nice job with the restroom upgrades as well.
I haven’t had a chance to go back yet, but it’s the plan. They do take bookings for private parties and meetings, which I’d recommend to anyone based on my experience so far and the convenience of the location. There is a parking lot but don’t be surprised if you have to park on the side street. I drive past Nicastro’s a lot and it appears to be busy often.