MARKET Calgary

Really cute place to have your Friday night out. Food was nice, smaller portion but you won’t be hungry afterwards. A little pricy but not too bad. Really enjoyed the place and will come back again

This place is really good. I’ve been here about 5 times and I’ve always really enjoyed it. The way I would describe it is just good tasting food without any pretentiousness. The layout is nice, relaxed and spacious and the staff is friendly and professional.
I’ve had many different dishes here and they have all been delicious. They don’t try to get too weird with their dishes with odd ingredients and I think they just focus on the taste
This is a great go to spot for a nice meal (especially on date night).

Although the name makes it hard to find, this restaurant is a little gem. It was one of several stops on a poutine crawl during Poutine Week and they were serving up a really delicious variation.
The Market poutine was Carbonara with a black pepper bechamel sauce, peas, pancetta, curds, pea tendrils, parmesan and sous-​vide eggs. I left the eggs to Derek and the others at the table as I can’t stand the texture of eggs that aren’t «cooked to death» as he calls them.
The fries were crispy and well seasoned while the cheese was gooey and perfectly melted. The sauce was light and balanced the saltiness of the parmesan. The real treat of the poutine was the peas. They were fresh, the pea tendrils were delicious, and honestly they were the best part. Fresh peas that tasted like they’d been pulled right off the vine can’t really be beat. Without the egg it had to be one of the best poutines I had the whole evening.
The drink list looked a tad expensive, but I’d enjoy a trip back to this place to try the regular menu for sure!
On a side note — the live music was amazing, it was great for background but not enough to overpower conversation. The musician that night was playing some really amazing variations of songs that I hadn’t heard before. The chalkboard walls were cool too… they leave chalk lying around for you to draw on them and that’s just fun.

We were there for a special event where the restaurant was closed for a wedding I was attending.
The good: Great understanding staff that let us decorate the place the Saturday evening before. Also a lot of help from them. The service was good and food terrific. Manager went out of her way to accommodate us. Bathroom chalkboard walls let’s you use chalk to write on them (cool).
The bad: bartenders cannot calculate change right. They cannot serve a decent rum and coke. Parking is limited.
Our experience there was great and the awesome staff made this wedding extra special. Big thanks to Market!

Excellent food, had mushroom toast, and Duck it was excellent! Tried pasta and pork chops, excellent as well! Just hated not sitting at a table, was put at high table, and it was pretty loud! Also love their cola, amazing, but didn’t like drink menu!

The atmosphere of this resto is cool with a modern appeal and an open kitchen. Recommended for date night the food is pretty good, but its the atmosphere and the décor of the resto that made me like it more.

Last night my husband and I went here for dinner. We were greeted by a very nice man who seemed to really like that we were ok to wait at the bar for our table. We were greeted by a very nice bartender — so great that we decided to sit at the bar for dinner even though we had a table booked.
We enjoyed lots of wine and a couple cocktails with our dinner. We had two appetizers (dill pickle chicken wings and pulled pork potato sliders) and the steak main dish. We had them come out whenever it was ready and it was perfect. Great service from all the staff — I even got to taste some wine that I’ve never tried before I ordered my next glass. I thought it was very nice of them to do that.
I loved sitting at the bar because it gave us a front row view of the bartender making all the fantastic cocktails — seeing her make an old fashion really made me want that as my next drink! And then seeing her make the hibiscus drink with persecco automatically made me want that for dessert. Needless to say after multiple drinks and great plates of food we will be back.

Good, would come back but not quite a 4 in my opinion. Relaxing décor, sat at the bar so only comment on the staff would be the bartender (Colin) and some of the staff who brought out the food — 5 stars in that category. Colin was very helpful with recommending food, and even offered up a birthday shot for the lady.
Entrees were a bit mixed, the pork chop was a ‘chef favorite’ but found it to be pretty mediocre — meat was a bit too fatty (and I like fat!) and the attempt at risotto was misguided as it was way too creamy and lacked a bit on flavor. The braised beef, on the other hand, stood out. The meat portion, temperature, and preparation was spot on and the accompanying mushrooms were tasty. The Apple Tarte Tartin desert was very good, however would likely try something else if I came back.
All in all, I would recommend this place but would temper expectations.

My wife and I arrived tonight with no reservation expecting a great dining experience, but left a bit disappointed. The food was rather quite good, we shared the potato skins, I had the chicken and my wife had the pumpkin gnocchi. My chicken good; cooked well and the barley was tasty. My wife’s gnocchi was amazing. Unfortunately the service was slow and terrible. First warning sign was that our server could barely make it through the specials without screwing up. She showed up infrequently and at the end of our meal, took us 30 min to get the debit machine so we could pay.
The food was quite good, albeit a bit pricy, but I wouldn’t go here again due to the service.

Been to Market a few times now. If it is a nice evening, try the cozy patio. Every dish is expertly prepared and artistically presented. A must for any foodie. Several appetizers easily work as a main and definitely do not skip dessert. The vibe is very cool and the service is excellent. Highly recommend this little gem of a restaurant!

This place without a doubt has the best meal I’ve ever consumed in the entirety of my life.
I had the 3 course meal for $ 25 including a fresh market salad, fried chicken sandwich which had things like fresh pesto, homemade garlic aioli and juicy chicken, and a moist carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I am not joking when I say it is literally the best meal I’ve had. All of the ingredients at this restaurant were fresh and local and it really made the difference! Along with the meal, I had the market iced tea which is also made on site and it is so so good!
Cannot say enough about this place. If you ever have a chance to make it to this hidden secret, or even if you don’t, make time and eat delicious food!!!

Used to be great (visites last year 2 or 3 times) but seems to have gone downhill since (wonder why it was so empty today?)
Poor slow service, poor availability of items on the menu (only four mains and one wasn’t available) and food not as tasty as before. Oysters came after the burgers!

I am a sucker for the Anthropologie aesthetic which is exactly what you get here. There is an open faced kitchen where you can see that they grow their own micro greens. The rest of the menu continues to deliberate the fact that menu items are sourced locally.
The baked potatoes with pork belly were nice and crisp and surprisingly balanced as all the components worked perfectly together. Stand out dish for me was scallops on top of a sweet creamed corn, a must try!
The 100% grass-​fed free range Alberta beef in which the accompanying sides (broccoli and crab potatoes) definitely overshadowed the bland beef.
Had the petite four dessert which included a variety of little pastries. On this particular day we got a snickerdoodle, slice of banana bread, and eclaire. I would have believed these came from the bakery section of a large grocery store, to be honest. Saving grace was definitely the beautifully crafted bonbons. I would just get an assortment of those next time.

Went here on a sunny Sunday for lunch with my best friend. We sat on the patio and had a couple of drinks (specialty of the day from the bartender) and a light lunch. It was fantastic. Everything on the menu sounded great and our particular meals were delicious. The server was attentive and cheerful and our dishes came out in the appropriate amount of time. My favourite part of the patio was the planters all along the railing. They really have the sense that this restaurant want to make real, good, wholesome food. The only downside was that I thought it was a bit pricy for the casual atmosphere, but I would still definitely go back.

Just stopped in for a drink. Great décor. Nice patio.

With the wide array of choices on 17^th Avenue, it can get daunting for an indecisive person to pick a restaurant for dinner. Some nights you just need a friend to pick a restaurant and make that decision for me! MARKET ended up as that choice!
The first thing you notice is the beautiful and unique décor in the restaurant. Contrasting black and white seems to be the theme for the space, with accent pieces all over. A very trendy and modern look! We decided to sit in the patio as the weather was quite nice, but the area was quite crowded with a many tables trying to cram into a relatively small patio space. The tables all seemed to be wobbly, which made things more challenging throughout the night with plates and drinks.
Order a couple cocktails and quite enjoyed them. Always live a good Pimm’s! The Pork Belly Potato Skins were absolutely delightful, with a beautiful plating and unique combination of tastes.
I got the steak which the overall plate was quite good, except for the part where the meat was quite tough to chew and get through. The sides that came along and the marinate was delightful, but the overall experience of the steak was ruined by the toughness of the meat. The dish was also served with the steak already cut into pieces, which is not something I would usually expect when ordering a steak. Just give me my big chunk of meat and let me carve into it myself!
Overall, a good experience that could be enhanced with a few changes. I did like the service as the server and manager did come to check up on us without being too bothersome, and they would explain anything that came to your table in full detail!

It was an interesting experience to say the least at Market. It was my first time for dinner last night, for a friend’s birthday dinner, and her first time as well.
The first sign of something wrong, 3 of us ordered the smoked pork belly, to be told 5 minutes after placing our order that they were out. Booh!
Secondly, my 2^nd choice meal had to be remade for some reason, I ate 8 – 10 minutes after all my dinner companions had received and half finished their meals. 2^nd Booh!
There was no manager apology or explanation. Just a lame server apology, and we weren’t even sure if I was to be comp’d my order, for the terrible experience, until the bill arrived at the end. 3^rd Booh!
The food was only ⁵⁰⁄₅₀
Some tasty original food ideas, but the 5 of us foodies found it to be all over the place in terms of flavour and consistency.
The steak tartare was bland and needed salt or something, the risotto was a tad over cooked with too many ideas competing for your palate, the mushroom toast was yummy, but ridiculous as a share, it gets soggy and hard to cut. The duck tacos were amazing (thankfully) but the Beet Salad was only good but not outstanding.
I had the chicken. Yummy flavours and perfectly cooked barley, when it eventually arrived. However, the chicken had a strange dense compressed texture that reminded me of ham half-​way through eating it.
My friends steak was perfectly cooked, but I found her potato side unbearably salty .
Dessert was good, but at this point the whole experience was just a lets get through this– kind of feeling.
So 1 star off for each Booh, and out of the 2 stars left, only a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ on food quality.
I appreciate the concept and expense that goes into creating local sustainable food, but for 1000 $ for food, prosecco, drinks and dessert for 5– the experience left me and all of us disappointed for a first visit. I probably won’t return, and I won’t recommend this place based on inconsistent-​sometimes-​bland food and service.

My favourite restaurant meal in a very long time.
We came here to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. We had a 7:45 reservation and were promptly seated at the appointed time. The menu, which is essentially piece of paper attached to a chunk of wood, is not very extensive, but manages to cover several different groups of proteins in its half dozen entrée offerings plus the one entrée special.
We started off with the yam beignets off the regular menu and the lamb neck peirogies from the days specials. I am sure that if Shakespeare were alive he would have written a sonnet about the beignets! Some beignet with a little goat cheese and jalapeño aioli was the perfect, melt in the mouth bite.
I ordered the chicken breast for my main. Nice and moist with a crispy skin, yum! The steel — cut oatmeal risotto provided the well seasoned complement to the chicken. My dinner companions had ordered pork and steak and were as equally enamoured with their dishes.
For dessert we shared a plate of their homemade doughnuts. These were the perfect sweet bite to finish our meal, and to our delight, they were comped on our bill as a gift to the birthday girl.
The next time I am in Calgary I will be certain to have a meal at Market.

#115 Lunch on a Sunday during the BIG Taste of Calgary.
$ 25 gets you the following choices:
1^st course:
Winter vegetable soup or kale Caesar salad (my choice today and appeared very fresh with bacon and parmesan crisps as mentioned in other reviews)
2^nd course:
Bison burger or fried chicken sandwich (my choice today and the chicken was perfectly breaded and tender, coming with fries or chips with what appeared to be a homemade ketchup) or quiche
3^rd course:
Apple turnover
Two mixed drinks:
Pencillin (2oz) for $ 16
Chocolate Orange Manhattan (2oz) for $ 12
Bright and light décor feels very inviting. Lots of tables of various sizes so groups will love this. Not good for kids but some person brought theirs. There are 3 TV’s but they were not on today. The music plays in the background as it should and is not a hindrance to the conversation. The open kitchen is very nice as are the hanging planters above the bar.
The service was really good today as the hostess seats you rather quickly and follows up on drinks and such.
The menu is a little pricey for sure. That may change as more restaurants of this type open up. This is definitely a good once or twice a month spot.
The clientèle ranges from working class to the seemingly well-​to-​do so there is a little air of attitude floating around.
Luckily, I did not experience any of the other problems with service that other reviewers seem to have had. That being said, most of those seem to be in the evening hours.
From experience, farmers are not evening people so stick to lunch/​brunch.

I wanted to be really really impressed!
But Market fell kinda short, and sent me home feeling a bit ripped off.
like when your hot date wears a micro mini… and doesn’t put out.
The food was very unimaginative. The descriptions on the menu sound awesome, and when it comes out you’re like «that’s it?!»
Especially the pork salad. Kale is kale, and 2 pieces of fried pork skin, the kind of you get 7 – 11 in a chip bag. And they also use that same pork skin in some of the other dishes. Butternut squash soup comes out of a wine pour 4 ouncer glass. 4 ounces of wine is plenty, 4 ounces of butternut squash soup is petty. Fancy execution and mediocre product.
I got the pork, which was ok but on the dry side. The beans and brussel spouts that came with it was straight steamed. Nothing really going on here. Actually, it was so plain it’s lazy.
Milk & honey dessert was delicious, but I can’t tell if I was just still hungry or if it was really that good.
Plus points for the awesome space that it is now, and the drinks were really good. Perhaps I’d come back for drinks and dessert, and I understand it is going through growing pains, maybe when the menu changes I would try it again. But i’m going to pass for now.