The Bank & Baron Pub

I have gone here a few times, and while the restaurant is a truly beautiful space, and the food is really yummy, this is not a place I often go for lunch or dinner unless I’m in the mood for something a little fancier than regular pub fare. I’ve had both fantastic and poor service here– I think it depends on how busy it is.

First of all, I am on a quest for happy hour deals around downtown Calgary, and this review is based on my Thursday evening experience — with half priced bottles of wine and a $ 10 chef’s pizza.
My friend and I arrived around 5:30pm on a Thursday evening, after I’d scoped out options for meal and drink deals. Most places only have their specials until 6 or 7pm, but this place has them from 3pm until late. Bonus points! The place was mostly full but we managed to find a free table near the back, and taking a table for 6 when there was only 2 of us didn’t seem to be a problem. Seating yourself seems to be the go and the server came over within five minutes.
She started off with telling us the specials which was great — the chef’s pizza was a Buffalo Chicken ($ 10) and they have around 10 bottles of wine that are all half priced (ranging from $ 13 — $ 23 with the discount, and there’s a list on the table). We shared a pizza and a mid-​priced bottle of red ($ 18) and both were great. The pizza is made on a pita bread style and was really tasty. Splitting our bill ($ 15 each!) at the end was also no issue. Side note: they also have $ 5 glasses of house wine any day, anytime.
I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to come here normally but I’m liking their Thursdays.

5 stars for location and ambiance. 3 stars for food. Salmon with risotto was too salty.

If you’re having trouble getting in someplace for lunch this place is huge so your chances are pretty good. Food is adequate as is the service.

Remember when banks used to be made out of solid marble? This building is fantastic and definitely worth having a look at. Lucky for us, it’s also a bar! Exploring history is better when you’ve got a beer in your hand. Fact.
Apart from the incredible history, the rest of the Bank & Baron, is well, surprisingly normal… When it comes to food, drink and overall experience, Bank & Baron comes off to me as a pub, just like pretty much any other pub in Calgary. Not a bad thing by any means, just surprisingly safe.
Being right along Stephen Ave, this would be a good spot for the downtown business crowd and a nice location to catch a happy hour after work.
The place is huge. The ceiling is around 2.5 stories up with balcony seating overlook the main floor and the ginourmous centre bar. If you’re planning on a night out with a bunch of friends, this would be a good place to go. There are plenty of huge tables complete with padded leather booths, and some of those semi-​circle booths. Everyone gets a booth spot! Remember kids, if you’re the person at the party who has to pee every three minutes, sit on the edges so you don’t make everyone get up. That’s called bar courtesty.
It’s got a really classy old school feel to it, except for all the TVs everywhere that I feel really ruin the look and feel. They tote themselves as an Old School Bank and New School Pub. Maybe the TVs are the new school part of it? The menu could be described as New School, featuring items like lobster mac & cheese, truffled organic potato chips, craft beer fondue, and plenty of old fashioned pub faves. The beer selection isn’t so New School and playes it pretty safe, but I guess it’s important to have Budweiser specials for the TV watchin’ crowd.
Holy crap, the basement! The basement is SO COOL. To get to the washrooms you need to pass by this incredible bank vault area. It makes for a really cool party room, but I think they should make some more money by turning the area into a puzzle escape room. Think of it guys, you could have the coolest bar in the city.

This is our go-​to happy hour spot. Located in an old bank, the place is covered in marble. The old bank vault is a small sitting room. This is a HUGE bar with decent pub grub, with regular happy hour food & drink specials. Some folks complain about slow service but i havent experienced that. Granted im usually only here 5 – 7. never been here at night… too old!

When I visited the Bank and Baron I was sitting out on the patio, but once I stepped inside I realize that I probably missed an entirely different experience! It is in the historical Bank of Nova Scotia building. A trip to the bathroom downstairs revealed that the old vault is now a private room– very cool!
The patio is a bit small, but great because it backs on to such an interesting street. At the time there was an electric car show going on, and it was great to people-​watch. I ordered the donair pizza, which was quite delicious.
My biggest complaint about this establishment is how incredibly slow the service was. We arrived completely famished after a long drive and then a fiasco with our hotel reservation and a business meeting. I was hangry, to say the least. Our server was not at all tuned-​in to how hungry and frustrated we were becoming in waiting for our first drink, a menu, ordering our meals, the arrival of our first drinks, and the arrival of our meals. We didn’t even stick around for more because it was so very, very, slow. Cool venue inside though– I might come back for a drink, but certainly not for a meal when I’m starving!

I was looking for a chill place on Stephen Ave, this place did not disappoint. Both waitresses never forgot we were outside and kept the drinks going. For being late afternoon drinkers, I had a great time relaxing and people watching. I recommend the slushes.

Awful. I ordered the GF pizza which didn’t come out gluten free, so they had to send it back. Once it came (meat pizza) it was all bread, with nacho cheese and a little beef on top. Barely any sauce and tasted like I was eating cheesy bread. My boyfriend got the chicken sandwich which he gave a ⁷⁄₁₀. Fries were pretty good. Wouldn’t come back, which is too bad bc it’s a cute place inside.

With a few girlfriends we were looking for a patio during Stampede Week. This place had no real wait except for the patio, and it was sort of a first come-​first served thing. They didn’t take our name, just let us hover around the patio area until a table opened up. Strange, but whatever!
Our server was great, and came back frequently to check in on us. I ordered a salad and it was tasty and had some nice toppings. I’d definitely come back here to eat inside, as the interior of this place is phenomenal to look at.

What a beautiful restaurant! A coworker and I stopped in for lunch and to warm up during my visit in February. I enjoyed a chicken sandwich with fries… quite tasty. I would love to come back and relax at the bar over a glass of wine and enjoy the great surroundings. The service was pretty good too.

This beautiful venue sat empty for quite a few years, it reopened as a restaurant with an interesting floor plan as they kept the layout of bank that was originally in this building. A gorgeous chandelier hangs among the marble and dark wood panelling that surrounds the central bar area as you enter into the restaurant.
I think the décor makes up for the mediocre food (basic fanfare of sandwiches and salads, I had a pulled pork panini and a harvest salad). If you want to appreciate the ambiance as much as I do, your best option is coming for happy hour drinks.

Decided to try The Bank & Baron Pub «The Big Taste» $ 25 lunch menu. Didn’t impress me too much. The salad was just ok, the entrée came out and it was beer braised lamb shank. Yes, the lamb shank was falling off the bone but the couscous and grilled vege were cold at the bottom of the lamb shank. I didn’t like it very much. For dessert, it was a takeaway jam-​filled cookie.
Not likely to come back. :(

I love the décor in this place! Very cool place to have after work drinks or a meal with friends… went for brunch and was excited by their donair omelette… they have lots of great options for Sunday brunch, and have quite a healthy side of fruit with yogurt as an option.
Great beer selection and Sunday drink specials ($ 5 mimosas and Caesars and $ 4 draft). I’m excited to try this place for an evening event, but it seems like it’d be an amazing place for after work drinks, and the prices are reasonable.

Las Vegas-​style! That’s the first thought when I first stepped in: the super high ceilings, 2 levels, and lights, tv’s everywhere… not to mention some pretty nice eye candy walking around. Definitely date material, though it’s a bit loud due to its echoness, but a place to be seen.
even a pool table right at the front.
Ordered the sweet chili wings, some good kick to them. Typical pub food, though kinda surprised to see sandwiches. Prices are to be expected in DT.
This used to be a bank, think the bartender mentioned Scotiabank, so still have the signage «Safety Deposit boxes» above the washrooms lol.
easy repeat for me ;)

This place has potential.
That’s kind of a dangerous statement because it has the potential to be really good, but also really bad. Lucky for you, I’m going to focus on (mostly) the good because I’m in a good mood right now and my last review was a downer.
I had a took some clients here for a festive lunch a few weeks ago. There were 7 of us total and we made a reso. Here’s the Coles Notes version.
Gorgeous building, nice space (a little loud at times).
Service was attentive and speedy.
Most everyone enjoyed their food.
I shared the scallops (really good, but pricey) and the turducken pizza with my client because we couldn’t decide and our server said the pizza was amazing. Now, I wouldn’t say it was amazing, but it definitely has potential (there’s that pesky «P» word again). The meat was a little dry but the gravy and cranberries were super comforting and made me want to curl up and take a nap after.
It was a great business lunch, I will definitely come back and I hope to hell they can perfect the turducken pizza because if they do, it’ll be tough to keep me away.
Bottom line — Thanksgiving + pizza = stretchy pants.

Aaaaaarrggghhhhh!
That’s the sound you’d hear from me IF YOU COULD ACTUALLY HEAR ME. Which you can’t.
So… much… potential… ruined by a cacophony of TVs, club music around the bar (with DIFFERENT music upstairs, but I can hear both conflicting… noises…).
If you’re ordering something more complicated than «RED WINE» or «KEITHS» and want to ask a question like «WHAT’S ON TAP? I SAID, WHAT’S ON TAP? TAP? TAAAAAAP?» be prepared to be disappointed. Unless you like miming or being close enough to count ear-​hairs to communicate.
Some of the food looked good. Might have stayed to try it if the atmosphere was in any way appealing. Too many other good locations nearby to bother suffering through this.
Don’t get me wrong — the sound of a noisy, happy bar is fine by me. But the sound should be from noisy, happy patrons, not multiple competing squawk boxes.
Oh yeah, almost forgot– service, even at the bar, was painfully slow. Their loss, I was ready to order a second drink for about 15 minutes before I gave up and just asked for the bill.

This one of my favorite spots on Stephen Ave. It’s perfect for everything from a business lunch to after work drinks — my friend even rented the upstairs for her book launch and it was fab! Food is great and service is friendly. I love the classic décor. Despite turning it into a bar, it still really does look like a historic bank! You can get private rooms (with names like «the vault») for events or meetings, and get this: renting them is free! This is the perfect fun business spot downtown.

Last night my boyfriend and I decided to have dinner after being at Theatre Calgary. Stephen Ave on a Sunday night is a bit of a ghost town, so the usual haunts (ha ha) weren’t open.
We decided on Bank and Baron which looks super cool, being an old bank and all. However upon arrival my ears were greeted by the familiar din of sportscasters from the outside speakers. The following is a transcript of the conversation we had outside:
«Carly: oh god, it’s a TV having sports bar!
BF: ugh, let’s not go in then.
Carly: I mean, it IS a pub…
BF: it looks cool.,
Carly: is it gonna be loud?
BF: it doesn’t look busy.
Carly: Let’s try to find somewhere else and if we can’t find anything we can come back
BF: Ok. Wait it looks dead. And, we should try it. And… it’s cold.
Carly: Yeah it’s effing cold»
So we went in. Because it was cold. And it’s an OLD BANK!!! So cool!
As soon as we walk in, we are greeted by TVs upon TVs all way too loud for the less than 15 people (staff included) that were in the place.
Let me just say that I KNOW this is a pub, but I couldn’t help but dream of the amazing things the place could be.
The food was decent, I had a veggie pizza and kale salad, he had chilli chicken. Prices were a bit high but the selection is great and they have GF options!
The deals are great, that night it was $ 4 drinks (not wine) all day. And apparently they have brunch, and cheap wine, and crazy gourmet desserts, and a great wine list and a bunch of other moderately fancy things which totally give with the big retro bank, soft lighting and luxurious leather booths. All of which is ruined by the Shanks-​esque TV saturation.
I get that it likely caters to a certain clientele and again, is a «pub» but there were so many loud, blinding TVs the beauty of the building itself was totally lost. I think that if there was a way to quarantine the sports, or section it off, it would have the ability to be a really nice place to have a meal.
Anyway, all in all, food was fine, service was OK but the TVs totally killed the atmosphere.

Came here with with my husband and another couple around 9pm on Saturday. Great location right on 8^th Ave. We had a great time, loud music so if you want a quiet place for dinner I would go elsewhere. The food here was good, lots of different options. Portion size could be a tad bit bigger but overall was good!
Will definitely come back here again!