Cactus Club Cafe

Let’s make this short and simple.
I use to LOVE cactus club, the food was great tasting and the quality was there too, service amazing, and the environment awesome too.
Over the course of 3 months let’s say, things have changed.
The service is nothing amazing anymore, waiters/​waitresses more self entitled with slow service and not attentive.
The food quality has dramatically gone down hill, from the preparation end and receiving room temperature food. As well as the actual quality of the food changing. To me it is like any other chain restaurant now.
The only thing that has remained the same is the environment.
I don’t care for the dirtiness of the restaurant either.
To sum it up, it has dramatically changed over the last few months. Make sure you get a hot meal and its quality is there.
Spending $ 100 for a meal is too expensive for me to get sub par food and service.

I was here recently with an out of town guest. Enjoyed the the rob feeney wine pick as well as the punch in the face. Hunter chicken excellent with the red peppers instead of green beans. Chicken perfectly cooked. Port was a nice finish.

Come here for happy hour, discounted drinks in a «happy» rich environment. The food here is mediocre and the drinks need some sophistication lessons. That said, its a place to mingle minus the Irish bar effect.

Second time we have been here first time was good, this time we sat at the bar. Service has been slow. She did however make a fresh pot of coffee. We ordered our food than shortly after received out bill, we haven’t received our food yet. It was pointed out that it is a good way to keep your bill in check, still it’s only done when sitting at the bar.
The bar is nice and clean. The one bartender should have her hair pulled back as I watched her reach for garnish and her hair fell into them.
I ordered the club sandwich very filling and very good. My husband had the mini burgers Ashe said very pedestrian

If you want a great meal and excellent service, cactus club on Jasper Ave is your best bet.
I love the fish tacos and the butternut squash ravioli. My husband always gets the schezuan chicken lettuce wraps.
The sangria is so good — hard to have just one! And the martini’s are fantastic.
What I love is the service. Even if there is a problem, the staff will bend over backward to make it better. They do what they can so your experience is the best ever.

In terms of atmosphere, this place can’t be beat! The patio is so comfortable and modern — and it has misters to keep you cool!
I remember really really loving the food at Cactus Club but I feel like the last couple times I’ve been it’s been pretty lacklustre.
Rainforest Greens — really good but nothing crazy special, especially for $ 17
Cajun Chicken Sandwich — not that great. Greasy, dry bun, and icky shredded lettuce (like fast food)
Baja Fish Tacos — the one thing I really like. Everything is on the side (sauce, jalapeños, etc) so you can control your spice!
The drinks are pretty good (sometimes quite sugary), though, and the $ 4 happy hour specials are worth stopping by for.
It’s a place I occasionally come back to because it’s convenient and has good drinks but I don’t find the food super worthwhile.

It has been a while since my last visit (which wasn’t great) at this location and I have to say I was won over! Our waitress Megan was fabulous! Attentive and friendly, our drinks were constantly replenished and she was good at making sure she did her quality checks and that we had everything we needed. (If you saw my last review, this is a BIG DEAL because our last waitress was super incompetent)
We went here on a Wednesday night at around 6 pm and had made a reservation just in case, as every time we drive by this place is PACKED. However, on this visit the place was maybe about half full so I felt a little silly about having a reservation. That being said, I had no problems booking a reservation other than having to be talk a manager on the phone. There is no online booking option.
The hostess was friendly and personable, which is a great first impression. Usually places like this can be pretty hit and miss with their hostess/​host staff. Not only was she genuinely friendly, but she was also able to explain the daily specials and make recommendations based on her favorites rather than just recite them off by memory like most other places. I really like this because it showed that she cared about her job.
Drinks were delicious… you can’t go wrong with sangria and Bellini’s. They were super yummy here! The sangria has some slushy in it which is awesome! Food was again, delicious. My absolute favorite is the butternut squash ravioli which is TO. DIE. FOR. You can get this in appetizer or full meal «main course» size. If you order it as an appetizer you get 3. (which is also the same for the sliders) However, they do offer the option to add a 4^th. if you are sharing with another person. Super convenient!
Also I really liked that when we ordered dessert that the kitchen staff had written Happy Birthday on my cake! This was thanks to our server, who like I said before was very attentive. It was only my fiancé and I out for dinner and I mean, he had mentioned it was my birthday when we were first seated but the fact that she remembered and mentioned it to the kitchen was awesome… It is little touches like this that make customers feel great and want to come back!
I will definitely be back and am super happy that Cactus Club Jasper Ave has stepped up their service.
Thank you Cactus Club for a great night out!

Located on Jasper Avenue in Edmonton. It is so hard to hate this trendy place. It is elegant, the staff are most accommodating, the food is great, presentation is good, the bathrooms are refined, the indoor outdoor patio is interesting, the place is light and airy during the day, the prices are reasonable, the happy hour belinis are killer. The crowd is trendy though so wear your metro man or woman licks. The lounge can get very noisy which is the only drawback. The lounge is a meat market in the evenings which is fun to watch.

I’ve eaten here a few times with groups of coworkers for lunch. Food is hit or miss — prices are on the higher side of casual lunch fare. The atmosphere is beautiful and the staff have always been attentive. I just haven’t been wowed per se. Parking can be challenging as this location is downtown as compared to their WEM location. I can definitely see the appeal of the patio when open!
I think fellow Unilocaler, Liv V’s, review pretty much sums it up as an Earls on Steroids.

My review is based on my Togo order.
I ordered four mushroom steak with mashed potatoes and a side garden salad.
Ordered my steak rare came out med
Mashed potatoes and gravy were all mixed together and pretty unappealing.
I think cactus club needs to order better Togo containers.
Food 2.5÷5
Based on Togo order
Cost $ 38.00

I’m not usually one to go to «chain restaurants» however we went out for a ladies night and had a wonderful time here. The place is huge! We sat on the covered patio it was nice, especially in Edmonton in April, to be having dinner in the sunlight.
Our server was wonderful she really ran her a** off ensuring our group of 13 ladies was well taken care of. The other wait staff that assisted her in running food and or drinks were very friendly and courteous. I was impressed with how smoothly everything went and had a wonderful time.

I’ve been here a few times, at different times of day, and always had a pleasant experience. I really like the classy atmosphere, and the food and drinks are delicious! Especially the flirtini and prawn ravioli trio! They have a really nice patio too.

I’ve sat in the dining room before on a Saturday night and it was quite loud but we took to the indoor patio which had the perfect atmosphere.
Wonderful prompt and friendly service. Great cocktail recommendations from our server; I ordered the Dirty Vegas Martini and it was the most magical drink I have had at a restaurant.
I normally cannot stand tequila but my boyfriend’s margarita looked so enticing, I ordered one for myself and loved it.
My steak was done perfectly and the mashed potatoes melted in my mouth

I was skeptical about this place because it’s highly trendy and located on Jasper Ave.
On Valentines Day my sister and I always spend the day together, so right after we had gotten our hair done at Chrome we decided on the Cactus Club. Actually my sister decided on where to have lunch.
I have been to the West end location awhile back and was not impressed so I did not have high hopes coming in.
We came in and sat in the solarium (I’m guessing on what it’s called) and it was bright and very nice on a sunny day. Our server came and got us our drink order which was a bottle of white wine, I don’t remember what it’s called but i have pictures.
We started with the Tuna Takaki to share plus I ordered the soy-​dijon salmon for myself and my sister had the prawn spaghetti.
The tuna takaki came out and it tasted fresh and the flavors were amazing. Then our lunch came… Mine looked good and so did my sisters spaghetti but when I took a bite… OMG to die for! The mixture of flavors were amazing! I would never have thought that everything on that dish would go so well together and the salmon was cooked to perfection. I let my sister have a taste of my dish and she couldn’t stop either lol. She had said her prawn spaghetti was pretty average, I bet it’s because my dish was a lot tastier.
After we decided to have a couple of cocktails and dessert. I ordered the key lime pie and my sister had the choclate lava cake. Both were amazing!
The Service was ok, we did wait a bit for our server but the food made up for the subpar service.
I will definately be back!

There is a lot to like about the cactus club. It has a wonderful ambience. The lighting is a dimmed intimate allowing for a cool lighting effect on the walls. The servers are friendly, courteous and helpful. It’s also attracts a very classy clientele that gets dolled up to go out for dinner. It seems like Earls on a whiskful dose of steroids.
And you will pay for the atmosphere. I had the butternut squash ravioli with prawns. And while it was good I wish it was bigger because for the 24.50 $ price tag I expected more. It wasn’t bad, but the way it was placed and served on the plate you’d figure is was godly food. It made me think, is this a metaphor for my experience here?
Is it a bad place? No, in fact it’s kind of nice. I just don’t think it’s for me. However, I would recommend coming here to try for yourself. It was nice.

Love the food here & love the atmosphere.
Downtown has an awesome heated, enclosed patio that’s open year round! Though I do find if you sit near the window there’s always a little draft.
My fav thing on the menu is their teryaki chicken rice bowl with a flirtini with a little bit of bellini in it! Their spiked frap is a great dessert drink too!
I’ve never had an issue with the service either! It gets pretty busy during the evenings so I usually prefer to go for lunch or late night.

Good service. Loud fun atmosphere. Great appetizers, skip the main dishes. Yummy butternut squash ravioli. Heavily watered down cocktails.
I came here for a private party for work. My boss had reserved a room for 20 people. They gave us a cute little room with seating only for 16 people. So as the seats filled we ended up squishing together even more. Like 3 people at the ends if each table. It was really awkward and my boss was not impressed. Luckily he compensated by providing unlimited food and drinks so this did not affect the mood. So minus a star for not providing enough seats for the reservations. As the last few came the guests had to pull their own chairs piled in a corner and had to squeeze in by themselves. Plates and cutlery were not provided until asked for much into appetizers being served for those guests… so minus another star.
For predinner drinks I had a few selections. The ceaser which was a bit sweet for my liking and overly watered down (despite asking for a double). I also had the bellini and pellini (differnt flavours) I enjoyed the raspberry and cranberry juice in the pellini. But it really tasted like juice. There was almost no flavours of liquer in them. I highly believe the drinks are heavily watered down as normally I can barely drink 2 cocktails without feeling completly buzzed. And easily downed three drinks with no problems. So minus a star for overpriced watered down cocktails.
We started with several appetizers. The calamari was crisp and was like most typical calamari dishes. It came with two sauces which were quite forgotten bc they were okay. I do recall the plate having quite a bit more vegtables than calamari. The chicken wings were typical bar food that were like any other wings. The beef carpacio was very thin and fell apart when picked up. It had a good taste but was way too thin and stringy for my likes. It came with toasted crostinis which were pretty good by themselves.
Next we had some tuna cones which were little cold crepes wrapped in a cone with some cucumber and some mildly spiced tuna. It was probably the best appetizer I had there. It was plain and simple nothing spectacular. There was also the butternut squash ravioli with shrimp. Its also offered as a main dish. But our boss liked them. They are fantastic. Everybody raved about them. They were sweet and overwhelming in flavour of truffles. Soft and melt in your mouth. They were the best dish by far on the table for the entire night. If I was to come back… I would order this again, and probably as a main. They are popular for a reason.
I ordered the millionaires cut with a red wine peppercorn sauce. It was a 7 ounce filet that was perfectly cooked. It came with mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus and 6 creole grilled shrimp. The dish was good. But nothing spectacular again. Nothing stood out as stellar. My plate looked pretty bare and was mainly consisting of mashed potatoes. I would not order this again. For $ 38.50 plus $ 4 for the boring peppercorn sauce it was pretty disappointing. I was glad I was not paying for this lacklustre meal thats for sure. The wine paired with it was not very good. The waitress did suggest it and it wasnt paired well at all. So minus a star for suggesting a drink that wasnt good.
We did a few shots… the amaretto vodka was great. Smooth and nutty I loved it. And glasses of champagne with shots of vodka. A drink to get you drunk fast! All were good. Much better than the watered down cocktails we had started our meal with.
For dessert my coworkers decided to share a few dishes. We had the peanut butter thing. Which was a crispy peanut flavoured cake which really resembled a butterfinger. It came with vanilla ice cream. It was really good and probably one of the best peanut flavoured desserts I had in a very long time. We also shared a chocolate molten cake. This dish was extremely disappointing. It arrived at our table collapsed and broken apart. It was not soft and chewy but more stale, crispy and undercooked. It was barely even warm. Good thing I had a latte to warm it up a bit. A definete skip for sure. A dismal attempt at a lava molten cake. I think it was rushed and not cooked properly (ussually at least 20 min).
We finished our meals with port wine which was delicious. It was light fruity and sweet. A perfect finisher for the meal.
Overall the meal was average at best. The service was quick but the waitress didnt seem to listen well. I asked for baileys in my latte which was forgotton. But she did provide everything timely when asked for. The private room was a bit small for us and had an intimate feel. The victoria secret runaway fashion show was some nice eye candy when we were eating. Women enjoying the fashion. Men enjoying the beautiful women. Atmosphere was fun for our party as we did get rowdy and there was no problems with that. So for this I added a star!
Maybe next time ill come with friends for a fun time. But not for the food.

Nice restaurant/​bar. It has a supper club feel to it, like it might open up a dance floor later in the evening (I wasn’t there that late). It’s a very large space, but it gets packed quickly, and the latest reservations they take is 6pm (maybe it was 6:30pm, can’t remember now), so arrive early! They have a nice glass-​enclosed patio, so I assume that you can sit out there into the fall and enjoy your drink/​meal.
Service was pretty good despite it being so busy. Interesting menu, and lives up to the hype — especially the tuna tataki — quality and fresh pieces of sashimi. Everything is beautifully presented and tasty.
One thing I wanted to note — they have one of the best women’s washrooms I’ve ever seen. It’s a nice clean space with large, enclosed stalls, and a foot flush! Love it.
Overall, I’d come back again. I enjoyed the ambiance and food very much!

When I saw that downtown Edmonton was finally being graced with a Cactus Club, I was elated. I knew that the menu and décor wouldn’t disappoint!
A beautiful addition to Jasper Ave, Cactus Club offers delicious and fresh food, a beautiful no-​expense-​spared atmosphere and excellent service.
The food is amazing. The tuna sashimi appetizer is of particular note, as are their tasty little sliders. I’ve also tried the carpaccio, wor wonton soup and butternut squash ravioli, all of which were delicious. I don’t think you can really go wrong with the menu, frankly.
Drinks are good; some of the Cactus Club specials are competitive. I recently tried the Sin City martini with muddled strawberries, lemon and black pepper. It was a delicious sour/​spicy cocktail that has my mouth watering describing it.
The space itself is very pretty, and the patio is totally fantastic. It’s almost entirely glassed-​in (when management wants it to be), so the patio can actually open earlier in the year and remain open later than any of its downtown competitors. On hot days, cool misters (like you see on the street in arid places like Vegas, Palm Springs, etc.) are turned on in the patio enclosure, and I have to congratulate whoever decided to invest the money in those devices. It makes me want to hang on the patio far longer on these hot summer afternoons. Well played, Cactus Club!
Service has been consistently great. I have yet to experience an unfriendly or inattentive server here.
Ultimately, Cactus Club is a favourite new spot that I think all downtown dwellers should welcome onto Jasper Ave.

I’m not going to lie, my mother has had a huge influence on me in terms of food. For 25 years, she’s been working non-​stop to keep me fed. After graduating, I try to treat my parents out to dinner as much as I can but being the old-​school Asian family, that doesn’t happen often. The whole family worked Mother’s Day weekend this year, so I suggested we go to dinner Friday night instead. Their choice, my treat — obviously. My mom will almost always choose a Vietnamese or Chinese restaurant, but this year she wanted a change. She was craving steak. She also wanted to try someplace new, with her usual go-​to spot of Sawmill, going downhill in ratings. So we tried out Cactus Club Café on Jasper instead!
I don’t normally review chain restaurants, in fact, I don’t think I ever have. But good food is still good food, and even better when my family enjoys it as well!
Fatherbear ordered the four mushroom sirloin, cooked to a perfect medium. Overall, it was delicious! Very rich though, butter errrrr-​where. But that’s probably what makes it so good. Motherbear is always afraid of going to «nice» restaurants. I don’t even know what «nice» means to her… I think she envisions the wait staff standing there watching as she eats. She enjoys the casual dining experience, but that doesn’t mean she won’t load up on her steak. She ended up creating her own, getting her 7oz sirlion well-​done (shakes… head…), with a blackened crust of Creole butter, and topped off with sautéed Creole jumbo prawns. She’s even smaller than I am for those who are wondering! I enjoyed the bite of my mom’s steak better than my dad’s, the blackened crust a welcome addition layer of flavor.
I didn’t feel like eating an entrée, I prefer small plates to share. Since both my parents ordered steak, I figured I would just pretend they were sharing with me! The flatbread was recommended to us by our server, which got my parents sold on the dish. They don’t even like goat cheese! Most of it was scraped off before it hit their mouths, and even I thought it was laid on heavily. Delicious nevertheless!
Everybody on earth orders the ravioli+prawn when they go to Cactus Club Café, and with good reason too. The butternut squash ravioli is smooth and creamy, doused in a rich truffle butter sauce. The prawns were a tad overcooked for the night, but otherwise they were good bites.
For the majority of the night, I was munching on Szechuan chicken and making lettuce wraps out of them. Two spicy dipping sauces accompanied if you needed the extra heat. Fatherbear doesn’t like spicy foods, so it was mostly me and my mom on this. The chicken was dry underneath the fried batter, but the Szechuan glaze, crispy wonton strips, and green onions kind of made you forget all that. I actually enjoyed it more so than I thought! We had so much leftover that it became my lunch for both my Saturday and Sunday shift. A little bit of rice and corn can make any leftover into another meal.
Verdict? If I had to go to a restaurant which a bunch of people and make sure all their tastes were met, Cactus Club Café would be up on my list. It’s hard to accommodate a large group and a well-​known chain restaurant is usually up for eats. I came in to the meal thinking this would be as enjoyable as Boston Pizza (don’t get me wrong, there’s a few dishes at BPs I absolutely love!), but this meal ended up far better than I expected. My parents thoroughly enjoyed their dishes and would come back to try others. Hurray!