Fiddler’s Courtyard

Our favorite pub! The food is good and more importantly really good value. I love their fish and chips and their wings. If it couldn’t get any better; well it does. The service is friendly and efficient. Please don’t change a thing, what you’re doing couldn’t be any better.

The waitress was the rudest I have encountered. She sniffed our beers on her tray to tell them apart. Absolute DUMP! Don’t waste your money.

We wanted a booth so we had sat in a dirty one in hopes of a waitress to come clean it and serve us. She tended to all other booths in our section came to ours, I asked her if our table could please be cleaned — she picked up two glasses — turned around with a snotty attitude and didn’t bother asking us for our order after we had waited for over half hour. We walked out very disappointed — was looking forward to trying this place out but will not be returning.

went last night for Name That Tune, which was fun (a little slow moving for my personal preference, but whatever — kept us there drinking longer!)(we came in third)
all of us ordered food, and all of it was just so-​so. I got the ‘butter sauce wings’ for $ 12, and suggest they rename them to ‘curry wings’ as that’s what they were. I could only choke down 2.
My first drink order was wrong (asked for Gin & Soda in a pint glass, got Gin & Tonic in a teeny tiny little glass). Our server wasn’t the most attentive during our time there, but when it came time to pay (and tip) she was sweet as pie!
I will probably return for beers & trivia, but will eat somewhere different beforehand!

Sharing platter for appetiser was lovely, ribs wings and calamari, Then the main came i ordered shepherds pie!!! Rotten, very little mince meat and piled high with soggy mashed potato! Wouldnt dream of orderin or recommending to anyone to order it ever!

I had the worst experience I have ever had in a restaurant at this place. This was the only time I’ve left exact change and not tipped (I used to be a server so you have to be REALLY awful for that to happen). To be honest, this was quite a while ago but I’ve been wanting to write a review about my experience for some time.
I’ll start with the food — unmemorable. I ordered their rendition of spinach and artichoke dip. My friend ordered wings. Not bad, nothing to write home about.
The service — this is where things went from questionable to bad to worse.
Our server seemed a little rough around the edges but we gave her the benefit of the doubt. My friend ordered an iced tea, she jokingly said please bring it in the biggest glass you can I’m really thirsty and also asked for no ice. Server brings it over. full of ice, then darts off before we can remind her it was no ice. Not a huge deal right? Friend drinks her drink, server comes back to take our order and she asks for another one but no ice this time. The server seems annoyed and brings her a tiny glass once again full of ice… ok. Strike one.
The menu said you have the option of pita bread or chips with the spinach dip. I ordered chips and we waited for our food. The crowd at this place… at least the night I went… was. eclectic? The servers seemed more interested in drooling over regulars and they were all dancing on eachother and feeling eachother up in front of tables on the «dance floor» not exactly my idea of professional… Strike two.
Food comes. with pita instead of chips. OK not a huge deal, right? Wrong. I tell our server I ordered chips and ask if she could bring me those instead and take the pita, I even apologized for nothing to try and be nice and not make her feel bad.
Her response?
«You’re gonna have to pay extra for that ya know» and then marching away.
Strike three! You’re out!
Like I said this is the only time in my life I left exact change.
After we left another server went to collect the bill and saw we didn’t tip, she yelled «f**** you!» at us through the window and proceeded to give the finger until we drove out of sight… very nice.
Used to live right by here, really wanted to like it and it has great potential. Hopefully they can (or have) find some better staff.

We were down in Calgary from Edmonton and were looking for a bite to eat on the afternoon of May 24, 2014. The pub looks alright, but the experience was not that great. The waitress we had immediately gave us attitude about our laughing at a joke that she was not in on, and was very snobby, like she should be a part of the conversation. Then she took forever bringing us our drinks. We saw her carrying them around the pub but she kept stopping to talk to other patrons. About 15 mins later, another server had to come and ask if we had our drinks yet and I pointed out they were sitting on the bar. We had the new server take our orders for food, and then waiting some more. When the food came, I asked for syrup from the 1^st girl, and the 2^nd girl brought it. Halfway through my meal the 1^st girl showed up with it.
Anyways, we paid, and while waiting to pay we watched other customers get tired of waiting and walk out. We even old other people who had pulled up to leave and not even bother, and they left. The food was «meh» and the service sucked. Never going back.

Given this place multiple chances to impress since its just down the street. Awful.
Service is beyond awful, the girls have serious attitude problems. Food isn’t consistently good or bad.
Will never return… you’ve had your last chance.

Fiddler’s Courtyard is the neighbourhood pub that I wish was my neighbourhood pub.
It’s not in a pub neighbourhood where you would be expecting to see a top notch pub and that adds even an additional appeal. Is it top notch? Well, that, my friends, depends entirely what you are looking for. I feel like I need to say ‘pub’ some more. Pub.
The Food: Pretty darn alright! Keep in mind, this is a British pub and the Brits aren’t exactly known for their cuisine. That said, if you’re looking for some badass bangers and mash, there aren’t many spots that can rival it. Sausages, or bangers if you will, mashed potatoes with gravy and those mushy, mushy British peas. I freakin’ love these peas! It might be a nostalgia throwback to the less than satisfactory culinary practices of my parents during my youth, but I love these things! Dark, olive green in colour, mushy beyond reality, yet delicious beyond belief. For the most part, it’s pretty standard pub-​fare with an english flare.
Sassy servers: This place has ladies with attitude. Short skirts, and enough feistiness to make sure that you never take notice. Fiddler’s Courtyard had a host of regulars that the lovely ladies working here entertain, but still very much keep control of.
They have booths and a good bar for sitting at all by your lonesome,
Trivia on TV — it’s great for starting up a convo with you bar neighbour.
The beer selection focuses strongly on the mainstream beers of the world. Carlsberg, Stella, Guinness, Boddingtons’ and so on.
I’ve been to the Fiddler’s Courtyard for everything from the evening pint and chit-​chat, to a beer before breakfast, yet after the Canadian Gold Medal Olympic game. It’s a pub the way a pub should be. Nothing less and nothing more.

I love this place. The staff are nice, attentive and the butter chicken is yummy! I wish they had more week night specials that included white meat however. Other than that, this is a great pub. If you are headed here by yourself, don’t worry the locals are friendly!

I stumbled into this pub quite by accident as I was going to Diner Deluxe. Alas DD was closed so a walk across the street brought me into this very decent sized pub. I sat down at a booth to notice that unfortunately it had not been wiped even though the place wasn’t too busy at the time and nobody had been sitting there for a recently (I hadn’t seen anybody come out when I was going over)
Whilst looking over the drink menu, I noticed one of my favourite beers: Innis & Gunn Rum Cask. Beer stored and fermented in a cask used to age rum. It has a lovely rum taste to it which only proves my slogan that rum makes everything taste better.
For my meal, I settled on the Sheperd’s Pie. 20 minutes later it came and I was fairly disappointed with what I saw. It was burnt along the edges and when I dug into it ¾ of the depth was potatoes with a thin layer of meat. Another problem was that it was ground beef instead of lamb. I typically don’t have a problem with that, but when you call yourself a British pub, authenticity where possible is the only way to go.
Overall, lacklustre food, okay service, decent prices and a great selection of beer. Having I&G gives them that extra star but doesn’t warrant anything that I consider special about this location. I still wish they actually had a live fiddler.

I read some negative reviews for this place before I went, so I decided I would write a positive one if my experience was such. People seem to expect too much. Sure, the food isn’t amazing. But the pub is as advertised. It’s an old school English style pub where you go and drink copious amounts of beer. They have a good amount of well-​positioned TVs too, making it a good place to watch football or other non-​lockout related sports.
We had a larger group (15+) and nobody had an empty glass for more than a minute. The waitress worked hard and was able to provide separate bills for anyone in our party who came and went. By the end of the night there was only a couple of us left, and we each received a tidy bill of the exact amount of pints we consumed. Painless. You can’t find service like that in most NE Calgary pubs. The staff even brought out some free ribs for our tables and was rather appreciative of our business.

No option for 0 stars unfortunately. awful service… just awful.

Stay away from the fiddlers ale/​lager at all costs (really watered down stuff). Wings are an amazing value (2 $ on M/​W). Lots of beers on tap. Quaint environment. Serving was a mess though (20 – 30 minute wait for drinks/​food)

Was it the time of day? Or maybe just the fact that burgers aren’t the think to get at Fiddlers Courtyard?
We popped in for a Saturday meal after Beerfest, wanting to grab something a bit farther away from all of the hubbub of 17^th on a weekend. Turns out, Fiddlers Courtyard was an ideal spot for that. It wasn’t overly busy and we had our choice of booths or tables.
The menu’s a decent size, and has four or five different types of burgers on the menu. The bison burger and the lamb burger stood out, I went for the bison bacon burger. It was a decent size, and the fries were a-​ok, but somehow it took an absurdly long time for our meals to come out, apparently there was a bit of a mix up on one of our orders… glad the kitchen caught it and fixed it before it came out, but it still made for a long wait for a couple of hungry festival goers.
All in all, it sounds like the way to really love this pub is to go hang out with some friends, enjoy a few pints and chow down on some good ol’ bangers and mash or shepherd’s pie. I shall try those next time and be back with another tale!

This is a great pub. Went for Sunday roast and bangers & mash and it was as good as it can get! Service was excellent, the room is cozy and there are plenty of friendly locals. Great menu — great beers on tap — what more could you ask for? I only wished I lived a little closer so I could go every week.

I like this pub — a lot! Meeting up with some old Calgary friends on the weekend and we wanted somewhere casual to grab a pint nearby the place we were staying. They picked Fiddlers Courtyard and we met up with them halfway through their first drink.
It was pretty busy, but not so bad that we couldn’t find a table. Music was playing in the background, but not so loud we couldn’t hear each other. Our waitress was friendly, the beer was cold, the beer selection was pretty impressive, and all in all it was a good night. I’m definitely a fan and I’d definitely be back on my next time up in the 403.
My only (teeeny tiiiiiny) complaint: from where we were sitting, we could see the light above the till start flashing every time a plate of food was ready. Distracting!

My new calgary neighbourhood pub! Most impressed with the 16 foreign beers on tap, the casual feel, and the easy location at the top of the hill. Bus connections close by as well as semi-​decent parking nearby. This is your typical english-​style working-​class pub but it ain’t no dive bar!
I can’t speak to the food as I stuck to the foreign brews that night.
Service was great and I’ll definitely be back.

I had the bangers and mash. It was really excellent. Two good quality sausages with two heaps of mashed potatoes with gravy. Lots of peas and beans. Excellent fare for a British style pub. Someone at the table ordered wings. They looked big and juicy. I’ll try those next time. Great atmosphere. Lots of TV’s to watch sports. This location used to be a real dive of a bar that I refused to even go into. Glad it’s better now. If I’m ever in the area again I won’t hesitate to revisit.

The service on our visit to Fiddlers Courtyard was amazing, the food was great and the atmosphere very welcoming. Would recommend!