Swine & Sow Wine & Ale House

Normally I really like this place. Especially the jerk chicken they used to have on the menu. Yesterday however, I was highly disappointed. The open faced turkey sandwich and turkey soup both had WAYYYY too much salt. I got through it, but it wasn’t enjoyable. Hopefully they work on that.

Recently ate lunch here with a group of ladies from work. Was super disappointed in the food and overall pricing of our meal. Everything looked great on the menu but when it arrived it was completely lack lustre.
I had the filet of acorn squash sandwich with a side salad. Looked interesting and different and I love squash so what could go wrong? Well there was hardly any acorn squash on my open faced baguette missing the other side of my sandwich and the orange marmalade smeared on the plate was completely overwhelming. One small taste of it over powered everything else. I don’t mind paying extra for things but please let me know I’m getting charged $ 4 for still water and an extra $ 4 for a side salad other than house. One of the girls got a water refill so ended up paying $ 9.50 for water and was upset because she should’ve just had a glass of wine for that price. It was very disappointing as we decided to try something new other than the usual Township across the street. Needless to say we prob won’t be back. I do have to say our server was very pleasant but for the extra 18% gratuity tacked onto our bill for having a party of 8 she had a pretty easy table. Heard happy hour is the way to go here so stick to that and pass on the expensive lunch.

The happy hour here was great! $ 5 drinks & appetizers. The dry rubbed rib tips were superb, but the oysters were amazing. I ordered a second plate of 5 oysters (with a little gluttonous shame) because they were so damn good. Kudos to «Christy» the bartender for the wonderful hospitality. I’ll be back next time I visit Calgary.

I came here during happy hour which definitely bumps this up to a 4-​star.
The happy hour low-​down: happy hour is 3pm — 6pm on weekdays, and includes $ 5 glasses of house white (Chardonnay?), red (Cab Sauv), highballs and a select draft beer (a Wild Rose Red Ale at the time). There’s also some $ 5 appys and the Swine and Sow platters are discounted too. They are also currently featuring $ 7 premium happy hour wines which were both great (the white was a Pinot Grigio and the red was a Chianti).
The service was a mixture of really great and good — the host was amazing, chatty and had great wine recommendations… she even brought me samples of the two happy hour red wines when I wasn’t sure. Our designated server was busy with a group table a lot of the time and was fine, but not on the same level. On the bright side, since she was busy we were often assisted by the host in her absence.
We had the Swine platter ($ 20 during happy hour, normally $ 30ish) which was great. The server that brought it out was able to tell me every single piece of meat, cheese and relish/​sauce on the platter as well (although I couldn’t remember any of these by the time the boyfriend showed up to tell him).
Would I come back for happy hour? Absolutely. Especially to sit in one of those big comfy booths again.

I had the wings here and they food was great. Drink was great. Ambiance was great.
I came here with a group of people during the day, and when we got our bills one of the people at our table realized he was served the wrong dish once we got the bill and was upset about this. The server made no attempt to fix the situation. What was really unfortunate is how unprofessionally the server dealt with this. We hadn’t even left yet and she huffed away from our table to go complain to her co-​worker or manager.
Anyways, experiences like these where servers can’t keep their cool makes me not come back to places — even though the food is great. If I’m overpaying for food — I expect the service to be more professional and less «teen-​angst».

Biz-​niz lunch had us greeted and served by ⁴⁄₅ star staff, but the immediacy to which lunch was served had me concluding it was pre-​prepared. Both dished tasted like like warm microwaved culinary delights.
If you must go here skip the food and enjoy a liquid meal.
PT out.

This little Piggy went to Pig and Pig Ale house: A pretty spiffy place for lunch! Really nicely remodeled and decorated downtown Calgary joint that had some pretty good lunch items, but if you are craving something light and fresh it was a little lacking.
First the menu was very enlightening– they had little drawn cartoons of how various critters were sliced up into entrees. Fabulously, the cartoons and some of the menu items inspired a discussion pre-​lunch about head cheese and pig brains and other yummy things. This little piggie had none of that.
The group enjoyed the fried catfish and chicken sandwiches served piled high with ginormous french fries, seriously– potato quarters. This little gluten-​free dairy-​free piggie had a hard time finding something at Pig and Pig for lunch. I felt like a salad or something fresh and light and there was little on the menu that didn’t involve pork belly or bacon-​fried-​bacon, so I opted for the very heavy but well cooked Duck confit– more of a dinner item.
Still, this was a solid, good meat heavy spot and this little piggie cried wee wee wee all the way home (or actually to Starbucks where a large dose of caffeine roused me form my pig stupor).

Very friendly and attentive servers… Britt rocks! Scotch eggs were a great starter and the swine burger was porktastic. Good selection of beer and mixed drinks, some wine as well. Good place for after work with a cool vibe and solid food. I’d have given them 5 stars if the pork and crispy oxtail poutine was still available. :-)

Sat at the bar and bartender was great. He was super friendly and helpful with the menu.
Ended up ordering prime rib special and since I was torn between that and Mac and Cheese he offered a side of Mac and Cheese.
Prime Rib was good, I was happy, but the Mac and Cheese was pretty awesome. It was really good, I mean really.
Try the Mac and Cheese if you come here.

Love the huge bar… seems to extend forever! Love the wall of windows, as well… great booth locations! I was on the hunt for new pork belly dishes and found my way here. Only ordered starters but so far, so good!
Pork Bellies…5 stars. Fried cubes of pork belly. A nice take on one of my favs. Despite being fried, the pork belly was nice and tender with a light crispy coating. This is one dish I didn’t mind being a little over-engineered…the pork belly is already a tender morsel, but then you add the sauce and fry it, too!?! Simply decadent! It’s defnitely a dish that needs a carb companion, though, cause of the tremendous amount of flavor.
Baby Back Ribs…5 stars. A mini tower of ribs covered in a beautifully balanced sweet bbq sauce. Don’t forget to wash your hands cause it’s truely finger lickin’ good! The ribs were cooked perfectly, but the sauce is the standout.
Crispy Skins…5 stars. Can’t go wrong with freshly made pork grinds, especially when they’re done right! Nicely seasoned and perfectly fried… every piece was nice and fluffy. I didn’t see any chicken skins but I could be wrong cause I didn’t finish the pot of grinds. My only wish is that they’d offer some dry cajun or spicy seasoning on the side to give it some color and depth. And if they’re this good at preparing pork grinds, here’s hoping that they’ll one day offer cracklin!!!

A place to be seen, no doubt so make sure you dress your part as I didn’t lol. Not exactly fine dining, another souped-​up Earl’s, in a heritage building that resembles the Yaletown ones back home but this one’s even more swankier.
Just came here for drinks and had hoped to work at the bar but ended up just watching the sports, lots of screens at their long bar. Pretty reasonably-​priced, a Molson’s for just under $ 6.
Lots of eye candy here.

Purchased dinner here through a fund raiser. We wouldn’t have tried it otherwise as it’s not in our neighbourhood. We liked that it was the same owners as Murietas.
Overall the food was quote good. New had one misfires with the beef tacos.
We liked the the shaved prime rib sandwich, peppercorn sirloin, poached pear salad, and the oysters we very fresh!

Amazing food, wonderful staff, great location. What else can you ask for? It is very close to the business area, so a great spot to meet colleagues after work. I highly recommend.

My wife and I stopped in because we were parked outside to walk down to Stephen Ave. Glad we did! First, our server Nicole was awesome! There are 19 beers on tap and another 25 or so in bottles, and the menu is fairly small but well varied. We chose to go simple, and I had Mac and Cheese, and my better half had the Halibut and Chips. Everything was really well thought out in flavours and textures, and made pretty much perfectly! Will definitely be back.

Wanted to see how this pork house compared to Charcut for their roasts. There appears to be a lot more in terms of selection, with specific days for daily roast specials.
Went with the Friday special, a pork loin roast with rosemary mashed potatoes and string beans. The rind portion is basically the same pork you would get from a Chinese BBQ house. The pork was a tad dry, and the rind portion difficult to eat, especially with the knife they gave. That knife slipped multiple times as it’s not serrated like a good steak knife should be, but that slipping could cause an accident one day if not careful. I would say the traditional BBQ Pork from a Chinese BBQ house is better. I liked the rosemary mashed potatoes a lot. But if I were to only eat one pork in Calgary, Charcut would be my choice due to the nice moist flavours that are provided over there.
Venue is very modern and cool. I’d come back to try something else though.

I really liked the wine there… The appetizers were great too, and the service not bad… The location is very convenient, and the place is beautiful… I had a good time there, and I’m looking forward to go back soon.

This place is a local for many businesses, and in theory, should be full every night of the week. The aesthetics are great, big screens for watching whatever game is on, and a good beer selection.
Unfortunately it’s the service that ruins the swine. You can have the best menu in town, but if you are constantly ignored by wait staff, it’s not going to make a good experience.
My most recent experience was that. We were two of 12 people on the entire pub, and not once did a waitress come to our table despite attempts to get their attention. We went to the bar three times to place our order, and it was only when we stacked our empty glasses did we get any attention from the bar tender. We did not get menus despite intending to eat there. Given that the swine will rely heavily on the downtown demographic to be successful, customer service will determine it’s success and I’m really disappointed in what it had to offer so far.

I frequented the Parkerhouse Grille quite often for business lunches, so I was surprised when it closed and changed over to Swine & Sow. I decided to give it a try, and to be honest was somewhat underwhelmed.
As the name implies, their menu is focused on pork, and seems to be mainly heavier, pub-​style fare… something I tend to avoid when eating out, especially at lunch. There didn’t seem to be many healthy options like big salads, which is something I really liked about Parkerhouse. I had the Fins & Chips, which was pretty yummy.
Would I go back? Yes, I’d give them another shot, maybe for dinner where I could indulge in pork belly without worrying about falling asleep at my desk in the afternoon :)

Always wanting to try new and exciting places, we decided to go to Swine & Sow on a Saturday night. I found the hostess to be a bit pretentious but she did take my coat and check it for me, which was nice — (however you could tell she was putting on a show when we were leaving in front of this man who I thought was either the manager or owner, that was thanking us for coming in)
As she lead us down the restaurant (there was only two other tables/​booths filled at this time) I kept wondering «how far will they seat us?» as there was many booths and other tables we were passing by.
We got sat at a small table in the aisle right across from a booth, which was already occupied. It was uncomfortable– so we asked to be moved to a window booth… that went smoothly with no problems.
After looking at the drink menu we ordered some drinks. It was noticeable that our server was very green. She didn’t really know anything about what was on tap and couldn’t suggest any wines, when I was ready to order my second glass she reached over to remove my existing glass that still had about 1 ounce of wine in it… then asked me if I wanted to «just chug it back» haha she was trying though.
We decided to go with a few shareables: Beef Carpaccio, Farm Salad and Mussels. All came at once. I enjoyed the carpaccio and the farm salad was interesting. I did not really like the mussels, I found them to be a bit bland and kind of fishy (more fishy then usual that is) I also didn’t really like the sauce they were in.
The prices were in the same scale as other downtown restaurants and the interior is nicely done — however I wouldn’t come back here again unless I had to, it wasn’t special.

Nancy and I are big fans of the pig and firmly believe in promoting bacon as a food group. The Swine & Sow Wine & Ale House on 6^th Avenue SW equals double fantastic.
Self-​described as «Ranch-​to-​Table» the menu is rich in pork and flavour. With starters like scotch eggs, pork bellies, pork & veal meatballs, and crispy pork rinds you had better arrive with an appetite.
Their signature is the Swine Burger with cured belly and back bacon, pig cheese, and aioli on a crusty kaiser but we preferred the Swine Smoky with handmade pork shoulder, bacon (double whammy of pig!), apple & foie gras sausage, beer mustard, and cabbage slaw on a pretzel bun. The pork belly ravioli with pear & blue cheese filling was richly delicious and was gobbled back.
The Swine & Sow was formerly the Parker House Grill and Wine Bar and is located in the historic Lougheed Building. The Parker House blown glass chandeliers remain but the interior is now punched up with red, black, white, and wood. Slick with a touch of swine. There is a private party room downstairs and I am told the women’s bathroom has a fireplace. Nancy was not able to find a place to hang her bag in a bathroom stall so you may have to get creative or leave your purse to warm by the fire.
We are going to enjoy coming back to Swine & Sow again and again — and again. With no room for the maple bacon crème brûlée or the biscuits & gravy dessert we had better jog to the restaurant next time.