HOME Tasting Room

Home Tasting Room has some of the best food in Calgary. It is a small plates menu which I don’t usually like but the food is so tasty that I drop that bias here. If you’re like me and get short changed on tapas sharing menus you’ll need to take control of your portion of the order and make sure you get enough food.

After a disappointing rained out experience at Fiesta Filipino, we decided to go to a warm, dry place for lunch. We walked into Home Tasting Room and were pleasantly surprised to discover that it was open for lunch (well, at least until mid-​October).
My son had the HOME wagyu beef burger with homemade potato chips and loved it!
Hubby and I decided to try their Tasting Plates (the menu states that a tasting plate is not tapas, but made to be shared by 2 or more people):
Chive and Ricotta Gnocchi: served with caramelized onion, kale, and grape tomatoes. Lovely combination of flavours and bursting with freshness. The gnocchi was amazing, pan-​fried to a toothsome texture without being chewy.
Grilled B.C. Octopus: grilled to perfection. The celery and radish salad with ume/​shiso emulsion and yuzu dressing complimented the octopus.
Fine Cheese Tasting plate: blue cheese, aged Cheddar, soft cheese (some kind of Brie?) flatbreads, fig preserves, peach butter.
Seared Scallops: who could possibly imagine scallops tasting this good? They were seared beautifully and served at the perfect temperature with the remoulade. The hickory sticks added a contrast of saltiness to the sweetness of the tomato and parsley salad.
We did leave room for dessert. My son had the ice cream and sorbets, while hubby had the dark chocolate terrine with Chai marshmallow and peanut butter dust.
I was fortunate to have the last poached pear with pumpkin seed praline. The sweetness of the pear and the poaching wine was a match made in heaven.
Overall impression: Chef Kaede Hirooka and his team are able to give their ingredients the respect where it’s due and create art on a plate that’s pleasing both to the eye and the senses. We will most definitely be back!

My friend and I went here for lunch.
We ended up both having the three course express lunch menu ($ 22). As other reviewers have noted, the menu here is VERY limited.
Course 1 — Pacific Green Salad. Was fine, nothing special.
Course 2 — Duck Confit Sandwich. This pulled duck sandwich was quite tasty, but could have been a lot more. It was on a plain hamburger bun placed in the middle of a large plate with nothing else. Presentation left a lot to be desired. On top of that, my friend found pieces of bone in her duck!
Course 3 — Ice Cream/​Sorbet. Was one scoop of vanilla bean ice cream (nice) and one scoop of cucumber orange sorbet (not tasty).
With so many other places to go for lunch in the downtown core, I won’t be rushing back here.

Lunch time was busy but the atmosphere was decent.
The menu selection was interesting and there was’t a ton of selection.
My fish was undercooked so I had to send it back, no problems and they fixed it. However it is definitely on the more expensive side of things. A small piece of fish and about 6 fingerling potatoes will run you around $ 30.
Not sure there was anything here to drag me back — my college had the lamb burger which looked great and he liked it.

Have to agree with other reviews. I was here a few days ago for dinner, and have to say that the menu is on the small side. I had the leak and potato soup to start along with the scallops. The soup was very tasty, but although the scallops were good they were a little on the lukewarm to cold side. I also had the beef tenderloin which wasn’t super hot as well. All the food was tasty, just wished the temp was a little hotter.

I’m not a big fan even though the food is delicious — there’s just so little of it to choose from! The menu at HOME is severely limited, so it’s a no-​go for picky eaters. Thankfully, I’m satisfied with any high-​quality meal so HOME was great but my vegetarian coworker had limited options. I’d go back here, but only if someone else suggests it.

Favourite Dish: Bison Tartar
I’ve been to Home Tasting Room four times now. I found that when they were newer the food was better and more impressive (which is typical). The first time I went was about three months after they had opened and I was definitely impressed. The second and third time, the food was average. The fourth time, which was pretty recent, was quite disappointing. I would say with my four experiences dining with Home Tasting Room, that the restaurant is an average place, while the food is not terrible nothing really stands out. I’ve also found that with my four visits, of the three, I’ve never been tempted to order any desserts! This is pretty rare because I usually know what I want for dessert before I order my main course!
The first time I went to this restaurant I really enjoyed the Pacific Scallops with Brown Butter & Winter Squash, however, they took that off the menu. On my fourth time at this restaurant my boyfriend and I ordered the Bison Tartar, Chive & Ricotta Gnocchi and the Charcuterie Tasting Board. I enjoyed the Bison Tartar, it was fresh, soft and creamy. The presentation of the Chive & Ricotta Gnocchi was not very appetizing, but tasted decent and the Charcuterie board was mediocre — it didn’t really standout from any other board.
The restaurant itself has a very warm and homey ambience and the service is quite comparable to most upscale restaurants. I like their concept of «shared plates», but with my recent visit to this restaurant it is no longer on my top list of restaurants to dine at.

After spotting this gem from the Calgary tower (what can I say the red table clothes caught my eye), we decided to try this place out and damn we’re we impressed. The charcuterie board was delicious and plentiful! Great value and very tasty. The service was great and the drinks were definitely affordable. We will be back.

This is my second time at Home Tasting Room, and both times we’ve asked to sit at the bar where we could watch the chefs in action, and sometimes harass them with questions, which they always gracefully answered.
The first time we asked to sit there at the bar was because the tables were so big that I felt like i had to speak louder than normal to have a conversation with my friend. But I found the bar cosy and fun, because there is always something to talk about when you can see all the parts of a plate come together.
My favourites from both experiences were the gnocchi, scallops and the beef bourguignon plates.
The service was great, but I would’ve liked the plates to come a little quicker. I know (and overheard) a lot of attention goes into the timing, but there were moments where we got a little impatient.
Overall, it is more on the expensive side, but l quite enjoy HOME and will definitely return at some point.

Great first time here. Menu is small but good variety. Service was good and the food was very tasty. Portions are decent size but not generous.
The peanut butter and s’more chocolate dessert was solid. Highly recommend this restaurant for anyone wanting to try something new.

Had lunch here today… sat a little too close to the front door for a cold day, but the company and a delicious meal made up for it. Their lunch menu is very reasonably priced and quite tasty… we had the butternut squash soup, seared scallops, gnocchi and sticky toffee bread pudding.
Service was excellent as per usual and food was tasty and perfectly warm for a cold day.

I didn’t actually eat here but they catered an event I was at which was enough for me to write a review. The food they made for the event I see after looking at their menu they don’t serve in house (which is fine) all the more alluring for me to go and try menu items now.
What they did make however was amazing! I had maple glazed pork belly which was like eating sweet bacon! It was so good. I have never been a fan of pork belly but I tried it and loved it. There was assorted pates at the event which I also tried (I don’t like pâté to begin with) I was good as well. They also had this AMAZING sour cherry jelly that I could have eaten out of the bowl.
That being said… I’m hoping to make it here for dinner one night so I can see what else they have to offer. Was super impressed from eating the small selection of appies at the party from them.

A nice atmosphere, good service, and tasty food makes this a place that is enjoyable to experience. The food was nicely presented and every dish was quite different then the next in terms of the taste.
I wouldn’t go too often but I am glad I have experienced it.

I really liked this place… All the appetizers are just delicious… And the wine is great… The service is excellent… also, the ambience is really nice… There is nothing I didn’t like about this place!,. I can’t wait to go back there!,.

I should start my review giving you a frame of reference of my expectations. Whenever I go downtown to have a great meal by great chefs with unique food — I have high hopes. I always expect to have the moment where you take a bite and sink into your chair with delight. I did not have that experience here.
While the food was freshly prepared and unique, it was not exceptional. The gnocchi was over salted, the dip for the chips was bland, and the crostini where over buttered. That being said, the scallops and the beef tar-​tar where great. But overall the meal could not be saved by a few stars.
Despite the food, the location is excellent, the staff was very friendly and accommodating. The waiter told us the owners are coming up with a new menu so I have not totally written Home Tasting Room off. Maybe I’ll go back when they have re-​thought their menu.

Lunch date #2 for Big Taste Calgary!
We arrived to Home Tasting Room at noon for our reservation, and were seated just across from the cooking area/​kitchen. I glanced around and could see people enjoying the different dishes offered from their Big Taste menu so I was excited.
I already had my mind made before we came — salad and gnocchi please! (And my girlfriend had the same) The artisan salad came with egg, gruyère cheese, berkshire bacon and was drizzled with a dijon vinagrette. All the flavors worked really well together. It was a perfect size too, just enough to sedate my hunger until our meal came.
Our gnocchi arrived just as we finished our salads — (ricotta and chives) with rainbow swiss chards and portabella mushrooms. At first, I was like «Why is the portion so small?» but as I started to eat, I realized that gnocchi gets filling — FAST! The swiss chards gave the dish a nice crunch and the mushrooms were sauteed perfectly.
Dessert was house baked cookies (peanut butter, coconut and chocolate) accompanied with hot chocolate. Omg, each cookie was so good — both the chocolate and peanut butter somehow were creamy tasting and the coconut had coconut flakes in that burst with flavor! The hot chocolate was more like melted chocolate — rich and really coated your mouth when you sipped it. I guess I was thinking it would be like a regular hot chocolate you would make at home.
Service, food, ambiance was really great here. The only thing that kind of irked me was when the bill came and it said something along the lines of «If you enjoyed your service, customary gratuity is 18%». .. I don’t like being told how much I should tip, it seems kinda rude.
I liked that the entrée we had is on their regular menu, and since my sister couldn’t join us for Big Taste, I can bring her with me next time so she can try the gnocchi too

I think Stephen Ave is one of Calgary’s best looking streets, with its character old sandstone buildings and eclectic mix of outstanding shops and art galleries and restaurants — and lucky for us — the «home» of the Home Tasting Room.
Being charged with the task of making a reservation for family to celebrate my mom’s birthday last Saturday, on a whim I made a reservation at Home Tasting Room. The restaurant has been on my list of places to try for a while now, and after an amazing meal, I’m wishing I would have visited sooner!
As we were a table of 9, we decided that it would be better to order our own starters and entrees from the menu rather than ordering off the Sharing Plates menu. Everyone in our party was extremely satisfied with their meal, complimenting my choice in restaurant. My brother-​in-​law even commented that this may be his new favourite restaurant! So the food here was certainly a hit.
The only factor taking this restaurant from a 5 star to a 4 star in my opinion was the wine list. We had noted on the website that HTR boasts a wine selection of over 50 wonderful wines, we were a little disappointed in the selection available. As we were out for a special celebration, we were looking for a nice bottle of wine. Unfortunately our first choice was almost sold out (they had only 1 bottle remaining, and for 9 people that just won’t cut it!). Not being a crowd to turn down wine, we found a nice replacement, but it just wasn’t the selection we were hoping for.
If you don’t already have a «Calgary Restaurants to try» list started in your phone, I highly recommend you start a list and get this one on it.
–
L

Review #1 of Unilocal’s 30 Day Challenge 2012.
Food: 3.5÷5
Service: ³⁄₅
Ambiance: 4.5÷5
Overall experience: ⁴⁄₅
(1– Terrible; 3– decent; 5– Fantastic)
I was a little hesitant to try Home Tasting Room after seeing mediocre ratings from when it first opened, but after 20 minutes of walking in the cold, my friend and I settled here since neither of us have been to Home Tasting Room.
And boy, did I not regret my decision! The highlight of our «linner» was meeting executive chef Xavier Lacaze who competed on Top Chef Canada S02! He has been working at Home Tasting Room for about 3 months now. To some people, this means nothing, but as a foodie I was ecstatic and a little starstruck. Super nice guy =D
That aside, Home Tasting Room knocked out some stellar food! Their menu concept is «shared plates» which is ideal for those who want to try a little bit of everything. We arrived at around 3PM and ordered from their dinner menu. Their menu consisted of simple, fresh, ingredients prepared in a careful manner. There were a few starters (soup and salads), a list of shared plates (~$ 15-​$ 23), and entrees (~$ 26-​$ 30).
We ordered their:
— Charcuterie Tasting with Local Artisan & House Made Meats which included salami, smoked bison which was my favourite, cured sausage, and slices of meat terrine. There was a delicious yellow (maybe peach or mango) fruit compote, homemade mustard, and pickled onions, egg, and carrots ($ 23). If you like charcuterie boards, I suggest sharing this dish among 2 – 3 people. The meats weren’t overly salty and there was enough variety to keep the juices flowing.
— Pacific Scallops with Brown Butter & Winter Squash Purée, Pine Nuts, Turkish Olive oil ($ 17). The dish came with 3 large scallops and a parital one that were seasoned well and perfectly cooked; not rubbery at all. The winter squash purée looked like baby food and had an odd lumpy texture, but it tasted rich from the brown butter which is always a plus. Another dish that I recommend if you like scallops.
— I ordered myself two East Coast oysters ($ 3.50/ea) that came with a House Mignonette. The oysters were clean tasting and the mignoette was delicious; it wasn’t overly vinegary-​tasting and had a nice light hint of vanilla.
As the restaurant’s name suggests, the ambiance was very warm, inviting, and «homey». They have an open kitchen concept where guests can sit up front and watch their food being prepared. It’s partial stone walls makes the restaurant very beautiful in a rustic kind of way.
Our food came out all at once and in a very reasonable amount of time; then again we were the only people dining at the time and we avoided the lunch/​dinner rush. Our server was friendly, but when asked about the drinks and to explain what was on our charcuterie board, he wasn’t very knowledgeable which was disappointing. His shift must have ended in the middle of our meal because we got a new waiter who was more enthusiastic and engaging with us.
Overall, I highly recommend a visit to Home Tasting Room for a «shared» type of meal and for deliciously prepared wholesome food. I found the prices to be reasonable for quality ingredients and expert preparation. I was definitely full from and satisfied with my meal.
I will definitely come back to try the rest of their menu!

3.5 stars
Bison tartar is where it’s at! Served with truffle crostini… it was the best thing we ordered that night! So just go for the bison tartar and a glass of wine hahah.
The rest of the food was just ok. small portions, higher prices, nothing stood out as special… not even the foie-​ffles… and I was looking forward to that too :(mini waffles weren’t ‘fresh’ — they were room temp and floppy and the ‘nectar’ they had was wayyy too overpowering.
Totally open space on the inside with modern décor and open kitchen.
Was not too busy the night we went so it was a nice atmosphere to catch up with a friend.

Home Tasting Room was a great experience. We headed over on a Friday night. Our reservation was at 6, I was running about a half hour late, but luckily it didn’t get too busy until later so there was no problem. We decided in advance to sit at the bar, which ended up being a great choice. We really enjoyed watching them make the dishes (the cheese plate is very popular!)
We ordered a variety of dishes to share between the two of us. The ricotta & herb gnocchi was a no-​brainer, we both love hummus so we dared try this one, which had horseradish in it as well, and we went for the beet salad, which seems to be a favourite for us lately.
They also started us off with a little taster — it had a pink apple on it, which was really neat. The wine was also great, although a little pricier than I’d usually go for.
Since the food was phenomenal, we knew we had to try dessert — we went for the chocolate peanut butter bar with marshmallow nougat. I wanted to lick the plate, it was that good.
I wavered between a 4 and 5 star for this restaurant, because it’s a little on the high end for what I’d usually pay. But having started out the evening knowing it would be a pricier meal, and having enjoyed every bite, as well as the amazing service from the staff, I went with 5.
Oh, and the best part? My sister and I had been taking pictures and posting them to our respective social media channels all evening. As we got up to leave, the chef… no, wait… executive chef (!), called out «Nice pictures!»
:)