Bâton Rouge

Pub fare food at fine dining prices. Food was not bad just not what you expect for $ 25

One star is too generous for this dump! I can’t believe how poorly run this restaurant is!
1) waiter didn’t know what single malt scotch was.
2) calamari appetizer was very greasy and undercooked.
3) the main courses started arriving sporadically during our second cocktail.
4) The bottle of wine we ordered to come with our dinner never arrived.
5) the baked potato was not just cold, but partially frozen.
6) prime rib arrived cold.
7) ribs were cremated.
8) when we complained to so-​called management they offered to comp us a dessert!!!
9) the service was terrible. Our waiter when he did come around; was offended that we were not happy.
I have never been compelled to write a review before; but I think it’s only fair that I do so now. People should avoid this place!

Upscale area, nice enough restaurant but hardly anyone there on a Monday night at 6pm?
Went in for an appy and a drink. Impressed with the space but I am not sure how much care goes into it. The tables needed a good wipe, covered in salt and pepper near the wall. Menus still wet from either beer or being wiped down (I hope it was the latter!)
Drinks were good and there are many on special on Monday nights — Caesars and draft beer. Our waiter was our bartender as well. And we were not sitting at the bar!
Service was lackluster, slow and disconnected. These days if we get great service at a restaurant in Calgary we are surprised.
We shared an Ahi Tuna salad — $ 21, was worth maybe $ 9. Greens with maybe 4 carrot shavings could have been fresher and the fish was just OK (overcooked a bit). Dressing on greens and fish was good. The presentation of the dish was sub-​par, thrown on the plate with no thought behind it, no pride, no care. Tomatoes were pink in the height of summer. So wrong.
This place has so much potential but I can see why people avoid it and go elsewhere as the prices are just too high for what you get and service falls down here.

I visited Baton Rouge for the first time tonight, and overall was happy with my experience.
The restaurant is not busy AT ALL — I think we were one of 4 tables. The server was very friendly and attentive, she was knowledgeable about the menu and wine list, and our meals were served very quickly. The ribs are delicious — great sauce and tender. Other than this, there is not that much originality with the menu — even having family-​style sides to share over ribs would be a welcome addition to the menu. I would come back for the ribs, but not for a special occasion — good food, but average overall.

I just posted the following review and only learned that one of our favorites has now closed their doors? Rumour has it they had a fire? Can anyone confirm this?
My husband and I are absolutely fans of Baton Rouge, it is one of our regular places for casual dining. I confess that when we first saw the menu we were both disappointed that there were not more southern dishes like dirty rice, shrimp po’boy sandwiches, seafood gumbo, hush puppies, etc but their ribs are excellent and my personal favorite is the chicken tender dish with fries and beans along with a French beer called Kronenberg. I love trying new dishes at restaurants however each and EVERY visit I order the chicken tenders, I just can’t stray from what’s working for me!
Service has been excellent, no complaints. The manager usually stops by for a chat and he is actually who introduced us to Kronenberg.
If you are a calamari fan, don’t bother trying their calamari appetizer unless you are OK without the batter. I liked them, my honey did not.
We are regulars and have enjoyed every meal. I tend not visit their when I’m dieting, Baton Rouge is for my cheat days! (I mean cheat meals)
I applaud them for how well they have used different mediums to absorb the sound in this restaurant. I find it can be very busy there and it never seems loud.
The very first visit we filled out a card and received a free meal in the mail which of course we used.

I see absolutely no reason to go to this place. Amateur food preparation and menu design make for an incredibly uninspiring dinner that could easily — and I stress easily — be made at home. This, of course, would be inconsequential if the service would be good. But it certainly was not.
We waited approximately 20 minutes to get our drink orders taken. Finally, we got around to ordering a few ceasars. 15 minutes later, our server came back to tell us they didn’t have Clamato. That wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact that we had now been waiting 35 minutes without even water. OK fine, order another drink. Another 10 minutes pass and drinks are quickly dropped off and the order not taken. So we have already been here almost an hour and our order still is not taken. My fiancée orders some type of meat, admittedly I can’t remember what, and I order the chicken for something different. They come back about 5 minutes later to tell us they don’t have anymore of whatever it was my fiancée ordered, so she settles for NY strip.
When it finally came, food was absolutely terrible. Steak was seasoned quite poorly and was cooked in a bizarrely non-​uniform fashion. We aren’t picky steak eaters and will eat anything between rare and medium-​well, though my preference is medium-​rare. This steak was blue in parts, and well in parts, likely as a result of being a strange cut. The chicken was beyond overdone and not edible.
I am not one to complain, and I tip despite almost any situation as you never know who’s fault it is. In this situation, I would have liked to see a discount for the incredibly poor service time and not having two out of our four menu selections.
So, in the end, I didn’t expect much from Baton Rouge and was served much worse than that. I would avoid this like a plague. If you don’t know how to properly grill a steak at home, I suggest you spend the time you would have spent waiting for your order, learning how to grill one and do it yourself at home.

One of my favorite rib places in Calgary. I am a fan or their baby back ribs along with their fries.
Try the ribs and tell me that you don’t like them. :)

I live in the central SW so I’d never even heard of this restaurant before a friend suggested we try it. The menu looked good so I was game to give it a try.
We had a great visit — the server was very attentive, constantly replacing my diet coke as I was finishing the one previous. Granted, it was pretty early on a weekend evening so the restaurant was VERY quiet.
As it was such an early dinner, I only had a soup and salad. The soup (creamy potato) was awesome — very thick and yummy.
The mixed salad was missing something — I would have liked the addition of some fruit or nuts to go along with the egg (I don’t eat bacon so I had that removed) but I had the asian dressing and it was delicious.
All in all, I had a pretty good visit. I don’t know when I’ll be back since it’s so out of my way, but I wouldn’t mind trying some of the mains.
(1÷30)

I like this place, it’s like your in another city when venturing into Quarry Park. The BR Restaurant itself is pretty good too. I’ve been here three times now, and have had the full rack of ribs all three times. I guess you can say I’m a fan of the ribs here. They’re fall off the bone tender. You wont need a knife to get at the meat. You literally just pull the bones apart and start eating (Yummy). I get them with fries, and slaw. I think you can order them with beans, apple something, or mashed potatoes, rice? I’m not positive. I just keep invisioning the ribs, so I son’t here the othe choices when the waiter rattles them off. I already have my mind made up. Fries and slaw, fries and slaw. Although I have to say, the coleslaw at Tony Roma’s is better (creamier). On one particular occasion I went with the outlaws (inlaws). My Mother-​inlaw, ordered the chicken and rib combo My father –inlaw ordered the prime rib. He finished his, also commented that it was very good and maybe one of the better tasting ones he’s had. The kids ordered off the the kids menu. which they also said was very tasty. All & all I would say this is one of my new favorite rib joints. Sorry Tony’s, I may have found a replacemnent. (Maybe)?

Not a fan. Ribs were very tender, but quite tasteless. Have no idea what the BBQ sauce taste was supposed to be. Like I said tasteless. Beans (what few there were) were run of the mill. Companion had the Ahi tuna salad. The sauce on the salad was WAY too much. Could hardly see the tuna for sauce. Beer was OK, no local options on tap. Price was steep to my mind for what we got. Ambience was good. Service was reasonable but I would have liked a finger bowl with the ribs. I thought that was a given in a rib place. Make better ribs at home.

Finally visited Baton Rouge, ventured in on a Friday evening. I was surprised at how large the restaurant is, much bigger than I expected.
For myself good food can never overcome poor service and conversely, good service cannot pull up poor to mediocre food. The later is my opinion of Baton Rouge. I found the staff to be pleasant and professional from the hostess to our server. It was a Friday night and the place was close to full yet the service was attentive, exactly what one would expect for this type of establishment.
And now for the food. Let’s start with the beer list. I really like beer and a decent beer contributes a lot to my dining experience, or in this case takes away. The beer selection is lame, one of the lamest I’ve seen in a long time. I actually made a note to myself to wander into BPs to see if Baton Rouge directly copied the BP beer list. The beer list is main stream water downed swill. I also feel quite strongly that restaurants should support local suppliers therefore some Big Rock/​Wild Rose/​Grizzly Paw/​etc. should be offered.
Enough about the beer. I did a little research prior to going and was surprised to learn Baton Rouge is a chain. Had I not known a head of time I would of figured it out when the food was served. Drop a championship chef in a chain restaurant and you still get the corporate approved offerings. The first thing you notice is the plating, it is uninspired, exactly what you get with a kitchen full of line cooks. The plating on our mains was as boring as it gets, food plopped on big white plates. To be fair, the plating on one of our desserts was quite nice. The food wasn’t bad, it was okay but we expected a bit more for the price. In fact my wife commented that she would just as soon have the instant ribs from Safeways and next time she would try the prime rib. Our desserts were hit and miss, our server recommended the Mystique cake which was nicely plated and my wife enjoyed. I ordered the apple cobbler which turned out to be apple pie. Not a big deal because i like both but when I order apple cobbler I expect apple cobbler.
In summary the food is okay but I can get okay food at a lot of places for a lot less. I give the staff a 4 and the food a 2 giving an average score of 3.
Would I go back? Yes, but only for the reason I walked in the first time. I can walk in on a Friday evening and get a table.

Baton Rouge has a gorgeous new building on the NW corner of the mall parking lot in Quarry Park. The inside is beautiful and it is quite large. This is a place where you could plan for a large gathering and be accommodated.
When seated, the service was warm, friendly and fast. We had the coffees and waters in our hands quickly, and the coffee was delicious.
When it comes to the menu, this is not exactly the best place for me to be. Simply because, I am on Weight Watchers right now. And if you are watching calories, this is NOT where you want to go.
Period. I went onto the website, and a side serving of cole slaw is a little more than ¹⁄₃ of my entire day’s calorie requirements (I am allowed 1700 a day, and their side salad has 640 calories with 63 grams of fat). As I combed through the nutritional information, it was evident to me that I was going to be having a house salad will some grilled chicken. Even that, I had to «piece meal» together, as their chicken salad had deep fried chicken.
Some examples right from their website:
Their grilled veggie sandwich had 39 grams of fat. I thought this would be an option, but it came out to 19 pointsplus points, and I’m allowed 29 in a day.
Side of cole slaw, 640 calories, with 63 grams of fat
This is not meant to be a jab at Baton Rouge, but it was a challenge to make a healthy choice. From what I understand, this place is known for its ribs, but at this time, I cannot indulge. The reality is, I am not this restaurant’s target market.
Before weight watchers, if I read this review about there being no healthy choices, my response would have been, «so what? Bring on the ribs! That’s what people go there for!».
But today, I am saying don’t assume if you are watching calories, that a side of cole slaw is a good choice. Just sayin…
I also want to point out that on the website, they are good enough to not only post the nutritional info, they ALSO post the Allergens, so that people with allergies can see exactly what is in food. I don’t have allergies, but I do dine wtih people who do, so kudos to Baton Rouge for providing that information.
As far as my meal, my salad was made with iceberg lettuce, and a few strands of other veggies (seemed to be similar to the pre-​made salads, which is common in chain restaurants), and the grilled chicken was fine. It was juicy, so they do know how to cook meat there.
Even though I was hard on them regarding the menu, I will come back and try the ribs at a future date. The staff were nice, and the ambiance is great. However, I just really didn’t have a lot of options in Baton Rouge. Gave them a star for ambiance, a star for service (nice weight staff, and having the calorie and allergen information is a fantastic service), and a star for a very juicy, tender grilled chicken breast. They lost a few stars for not having more healthy options, and for what I assume to be a pre-​packaged salad.

This place is unimaginative and lame! That’s what happens when a restaurant franchise is from Quebec instead of Louisiana.
The ribs are good; fall off the bone with great BBQ sauce but everything else not so good, and it is expensive.
The experience starts when you go in; I have been there 4 times now and every time the place is empty — I don’t know that they will stay in business long. Not a great first impression, perhaps they will get busy one day… or just go under.
The service was the biggest thing I was frustrated by. I ordered the ribs special with fries (they had no salad option just fries, potato, or apples) and they were cold and extremely salty — I mean McDonald’s suddenly became healthy salty. I complained to the waitress and asked for very little salt. She brought me fries that were just as salty. I by this time was annoyed, I told her «these fries are just as salty as the first ones. I cant eat this; I have never had such salty fries in my life» she replied laughing saying «maybe that’s a good thing» for that reason I don’t think I will ever go back, never in my dining experience has something like that ever happened. You don’t treat customers that way and expect to keep them.
So check this place out but don’t expect much; Tony Roma’s is «Famous for Ribs™» for a reason — they get how to provide good service!

Service was absolutely fine. Staff were very eager to please and checked in often. Service was efficient. Food was tasty. My kids loved it. I would recommend for a family night out.

Average service. Mediocre food.