BLVD Bar x Kitchen

Wow. Low brow everything. Clientele, staff, service, atmosphere. If the kitchen is as clean as the restrooms good luck to you should you choose to eat here. 0 stars is more appropriate.

Came here this past Saturday for a friend’s bachelorette party. There were around 18 of us set up at a long table inside.
Our server, Maria, and her helper for the night were both pleasant and tried their best to meet our needs. Waters were mostly left unfilled until you asked, and dishes could’ve been removed quicker (as the table is small and with all the food and other items going on, the tabletop looked cluttered and chaotic). But otherwise, job well done.
I was able to try their shrimp tacos (yum!), salt’n’rouge wings (yum!), mambo flatbread (yum!) and some nachos (not bad!). I was unable to drink that night but the punch bowls looked good and the ladies said it was!
For a Saturday night, the place was pretty dead (inside at least). There was a DJ playing some great house beats but no one dancing. Most of the clientelle was out back on their large patio (understandably so, especially since the A/​C was broken inside which made for a pretty hot night).
Everyone had a good time, but we made it a good time on our own accord, with no help from staff. There was another bachelorette party sitting just behind us at another long table, and they looked bored outta their mind! It’s too bad BLVD didn’t do anything extra spice up their (and our) night.
I would still come back here for food and the patio. We need this place to succeed and not be another short-​lived business in this location. Their food is above average for pubs, if anything, slightly expensive.

Service was great, and the patio and space is awesome. although I myself didn’t order any food, from sampling other peoples’ orders I would say it seems very tasty. It’s typical bar/​pub food fare but tastes pretty good. The drinks however fell short for me and many of my friends would say the same. The cocktails were just ok. Quite expensive averaging $ 12 a drink, but not really satisfying. the general consensus among our party were all the drinks were poorly made. At one point we started ordering drinks that came in bottles (beer, as well as requested a sealed bottle of grey goose to be brought out with mixers on the side) to ensure the quality of what we were drinking. So for food and patio, yes I recommend Blvd, for drinks however, I wasn’t a big fan.

Since the new management/​staff, this place has had a great transformation. The cocktails are delicious and inventive (the BLVD collins and the frappuccino ones were SO tasty!); the staff/​bartenders are very friendly, knowledgeable, and skilled. Lastly, the patio is massive and a great spot downtown. Looking forward to see how BLVD continues to evolve and settle into itself!

Everything we had to eat and drink here was amazing! The shrimp tacos are the best I’ve ever had and the cocktails were amazing as well. The service was fine, nothing to rave about but our server was friendly and nice. The décor and atmosphere wasn’t my favourite but the good food and drinks totally made up for it!
Edit– I went back with a group of friends tonight and although everything we had to eat and drink was delicious, the service was so brutal I had to lower my original rating. Our server made several larger errors including a drink I ordered taking over 30 minutes to make, despite my asking the manager who walked by after about 20 minutes and our server again about 10 minutes after that. After about 35 minutes I finally got my cocktail but didn’t get an apology and still got charged $ 12 for it. In general service was slow and lacking. Some small things like asking for water 3 or 4 times before it came, which if that happens once or twice in a meal I am happy to overlook, but when multiple things like that happen it really does ruin the experience a lot no matter how good the food is.

I love the drinks here. They have a good selection of beers and a food menu that offers variety. The bar tenders and wait staff are all very friendly. The atmosphere is cool and it’s a good place to meet a friend or date after work during the week.

A group of 6 of us went out for an evening of dinner and drinks — we chose this place bc none of us had been there before and the atmosphere seemed chic and trendy.
From the beginning our waitress was elusive at best — we were constantly waiting for drinks and our food took quite a while as well. The food was over cooked and cold — without a server around to talk to about it, we muddled through our meals.
We ordered bottles of wine and a bottle of Prosecco so the fact we weren’t being taken care of was a huge deterrent from staying longer.
We ended up getting a second waitress bc ours disappeared — she tried to apologize but our experience had been tainted at this point. She offered 15% off of the food only (about $ 12.00 on our $ 270 bill — really didn’t make an impression on us)
Overall, this was a laughable experience and needless to say we won’t be returning nor recommending this establishment to anyone else.

If you follow Brendo Bartendo on twitter, you will be following the gentleman who invented Lucia’s Royal Blue Hour on the Moors created for the opening at the Edmonton Opera of Lucia.
Lucia’s Royal Blue Hour on the Moors consisted of Dubonnet, Campari, Averna, Glenlivet, dash of lemon bitters and topped with Prosecco and a candied hibiscus flower. Don’t let the ingredients full you into thinking it’s a girly drink because it will knock you on your arse! Two thumbs up! I thoroughly enjoyed this mirky scottish lake water through the champagne flute.
On to the food, I don’t eat shrimp BUT I was feeling brave and tried the shrimp tacos and was completely taken aback by how much I enjoyed them. The combination of fennel and of paprika mayo was unexpected yet perfection. If you like spice, give this a try.
I also sampled the charcuterie board and bruschetta, both were good.
That atmosphere was fantastic and definitely one I could see myself enjoying for an evening to unwind.
The service on the other hand left something to be desired. The bartenders were top notch but it was difficult to get service or a consistent server to our table. When we did get service, they took my $ 16 Amaretto Sour away even though I still had an ounce and a half in it. The service alone is the only reason that this review did not get a higher rating; it’s unfortunate, because everything else was so nice.

I came out last night to BLVD to attend a group gathering in celebration of the new Edmonton Opera production of Lucia.
This was my first time to this location as I had not previously attended the two prior bars/​reasturants here. I know some people have said the décor is similar to previous inhabitants but I just have to say that I loved just about everything! The book wall is awesome and totally makes me think of the library from Interview with a Vampire and the large black/​white gothicesque paintings really hit the spot! Everything from the ink blot styled artwork running on the televisions to the candel style chandeliers rocked!
We ordered the speciality drink, created by bartender Brendan Brewster, AKA Brendo Bartendo, called Lucia’s Royal Blue Hour on the Moors consisting of:
1.5 oz Blue Hour Reposado Tequila
0.5 oz Blue Alize
0.25 oz Campari
0.25 oz Drambuie
0.25 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Short stirred for dilution, double strained into a flute, topped with prosecco and garnished with a candied hibiscus flower.
This drink was CRAZY! My husband loved it and I quite enjoyed stealing his candied hibiscus flower in addition to mine but it was overall a little too strong for my taste.
Wednesday specials available also included a punchbowl group drink that looked mighty good and will most definitely be on my Wednesday places to visit list :-)
Next up, I ordered an Amaretto Sour — excellently made and served with a giant ice cube so as to not dilute my beverage. I do wish the server had not taken it away so quickly or asked me before grabbing it because at $ 16 a pop, I’d like to be able to savour even my last remaining drops.
We had a couple bites of a pizza and bruschetta that were both top notch! The charcuterie board was good though I would like to know a little bit more about the ingredients — are they local, are any of them housemade? The menu does not speak to this.
The hubs and I ordered the Shrimp Tacos — and OH. EM. GG. I would come here again for these alone! Sweet chili prawns (grilled I believe), avocado and paprika mayo, fresh corn salsa, and fennel slaw in six-​inch corn tortillas. They were heavenly and spicy and just perfection. There were a few other items on the starter menu that I’d like to try such as the Siracha Lime Wings and the hubs would like to try the Steak & Shroom Poutine werved with waffle style fries.
Next time, I’d probably try the drink special of the day and repeat the Shrimp Tacos and try out another appie.
From the main’s menu, the Cat’s Pajamas is totally calling my name — I mean, hello Sweet panko crusted catfish with fennel slaw! MeOwSeRs!
Normally, I’d doc a place like this for the price of liqour ($ 16 for an Amaretto Sour?!?) and lackluster service but the vibe, the quality of the food, the FREE parking after 4pm on Jasper alongside the building will definitely have me back to give them another try.
It is concerning from reading the number of recent reviews with poor service/​server experiences. I hope this will continue to improve and more Unilocalers will have good experiences to report! Not sure how soon I’ll be back, but I’m sure your Shrimp Tacos and cool dark vibes will entice me back soon enough… Besides, I MUST try The Cat’s Pajamas!

This was the first time I had been back here once they renamed it to Blvd. the décor and mood are very eclectic, but in a pretentious and unfocused way. The new «art work» they’ve installed in uninspiring and generic. They have a weird video reel of quotes from artists like Picasso sandwiched between 1920’s silent film style video clips. It feels like they are trying too hard to appeal to people who are trying too hard to be trendy.
We didn’t stay long enough to try the food.

Lucked out finding this place. It was at Patrick’s day and the place I planned on going to was packed. This one wasn’t and even though busy I got great attention from my bartender Louis and the ribeye was great taste and quality. Salad was awesome. Definitely come back again

Do NOT waste your time or money! This is literally the worst dump in Edmonton!
Service: What service?! There is zero service!
Drinks: Overpriced! Walk a block in any direction away from this dump and you’ll definitely get a better price and an amazing experience compared to this pretentious waste!
Food: After such a long wait and waste of time and money, you end up with every synonym and definition of disappointment!
Respect yourself by spending your time and money somewhere else!
If you wonder why this dump is disgusting in every way, it’s because it’s literally a rotten extension of a rotten failure located on 117 St and Jasper.
It all made sense why these locations always rot and stink, after finding out that they both are the same business that is too embarrassed and ashamed of the first location, it had to try another week name!
In both locations bathrooms are always dirty, stained and smelly!
Plus, somehow there is always at least one hair on the plates!
And the staff needs to learn professionalism: from leaving attitude at home, to earning a tip.
Save your time, money, and respect yourself!
After all, Boston Pizza is only across the street if you really insist on Jasper Avenue! Earl’s too!

Wanting to find a Happy Hour with my friends, I headed to BLVD as Unilocal informed me that their Happy Hour was from 3pm-​7pm. Their sign outside said the same thing. My friend and I asked our server what the specials were as they were not listed in the drink menu to which she replied, «Oh, we don’t have any.»
I was enjoying the atmosphere the décor provided so we decided to stay, ordering $ 12 or $ 13 dollar cocktails. The drinks themselves were really good but the service was remarkably slow. There were maybe 3 or 4 tables MAX in the restaurant and 3 bartenders that I could see. Not too sure what the hold up was. Our server started out quite attentive but quickly became more and more absent. In my serving experience, asking your table if they want another drink = more money spent = higher tip …
I ordered a chicken entrée which was actually quite good. My friend ordered the Po’ Boy which looked good but seemed difficult to eat (the bun was hard and not cut very deep, allowing the shrimp to spill out everywhere).
Some more friends joined us (Steven M. who’s review is below) and we ordered a Charcuterie Platter. It wasn’t the best I’d had and the meats reminded me of lunch meat. Not long into picking at it, I realized the brie had mould on it and it took forever for our server to come check on us so we could let her know. The manager came over and sincerely apologized, had the chef make us a new one, and took the order off of our bill.
Throughout my time here, our server displayed an obvious lack of knowledge of the menu.
This is the only time I have ever tipped lower than 10%, and 10% to me is pretty poor already.

I came here after a long day at school hoping for a nice drink and a good snack. I was met with a nearly empty bar on a Tuesday around 5:45 pm. Everytime I’ve been here, even when it was the Public House, it’s been dead. Regardless of it being a Friday or a Monday, there has never been anyone really in here. Anyways, I joined my friends who had already been there for about an hour or so.
I expected at least a greeting from the waitress but instead I was ignored for about 10 – 15 minutes. She finally came to the table and asked me what I wanted to drink. The sign outside indicated that it was happy hour, when it actually wasn’t. First strike. I tried the drink my friend was having and enjoyed so I said «I’ll have what she ordered». The waitress looked at me seemingly confused and asked my friend «wait, what did you order?». First of all, I can understand not remembering a drink order on an insanely busy night, that’s fine. However, there were maybe 3 other tables occupied in the entire bar. No excuse. Write the order down so you don’t look stupid! Second strike.
She finally figured out what drink it was and put the order in. Ten minutes later she came back and said «that drink will take 20 minutes because the bartender has to brew more tea for it». My first thought was «what tea takes 20 minutes to brew» followed by «why did he wait to run out of tea to brew a new batch?». I found another drink on the menu and ordered. It took around 15 minutes to get the drink to my table. The drink itself was delicious but it had way too much ice and served in a small mason jar so I was finished almost immediately.
We decided to order the charcuterie platter and the ciabatta platta. It came out and it looked quite nice and actually beat my drink to the table. As we started eating it, I realized that there was bologna on the platter. I’ve had many different experiences with charcuterie boards, both here at home and in Europe. I have NEVER seen bologna served on them. On top of that, we were served greasy garlic bread with the platter, sliced almost all the way through so we had to rip it apart by hand. And we weren’t given a proper cheese knife to cut the hard cheeses. Third strike.
As we started to eat the cheese, my friend realized that the brie had mold on it. If the tray had been prepared immediately after we ordered it, I’m sure the chef would have noticed the mold was there. Leads me to believe that it had been prepared earlier in the day. Strike four.
The absent waitress finally came back to check on us and I pointed out that there was mold on the brie. She responded «oh, is there not supposed to be mold on there?». WHAT?! At this point, I just want to leave. Fifth strike.
The assistant general manager came to the table with a brand new platter apologizing for the poor quality of the food and removed it from the bill. Probably the only good thing that happened the entire time, actual proper customer service.
We proceeded to dig into the platter but since we had already been halfway through the first one before discovering the mold, we were already pretty full. I actually had a stomach ache from eating the bologna (I don’t eat bologna, it doesn’t belong on food in my opinion) and couldn’t finish.
As I’m writing this, approximately 18 hours later, I’m experiencing really bad GI pain and haven’t been able to really eat anything. I would strongly encourage management to review how to actually put together a charcuterie platter so something like this doesn’t happen to someone else.
I’ve always wondered why this bar is constantly empty. I work on Jasper and I rarely see people go in or out of the building. I realize why now, and my friends and I will not be back anytime soon.

Do you long for those old days at Public House and The Bank? Well let’s be honest, not too many do. For what it was worth, I never did mind the Public House and I feel BLVD is a much better place service and atmosphere wise. Unfortunately, not much has changed inside. There is still the awkwardly placed bar, the bookshelf wall and the small dance floor.
We had a gin martini and Cosmo for 23 $ and yes you are reading that correctly! No that isn’t a typo. It’s an insane price. The drinks were fine and decently made. However, I recommend pre-​drinking before coming here. Your wallet will thank you. The service was so-​so. We had to go to the bar to pay our bill as nobody really checked up on us during the second half of our stay.
Anyways, they are currently undergoing a rebranding effort. I wish them luck and hopefully will stop in again during a happy hour next time. 3 stars for now. To be revisited.

I came here for drinks with a friend yesterday afternoon. The place was curiously dead for a Friday at five, but we enjoyed the relative quiet that would permit conversation. Our server started off on the right foot, lightly chatting with us and bringing the liquor we came for. At about fifteen minutes in, she swung by the table and asked how we were doing. When we said, «Fine,» she continued: «I’m coming by because my manager has told me I have to check on my tables. Where I’m from [Croatia, we soon learned], a server only comes by twice – to take your order and bring your bill.»
Ten minutes later, we were prepared to order another round of drinks (and even moved our empty glasses to the edge of the table), but we watched her cash out some open tabs and have an extended conversation with another table, among other things. And so, twenty minutes after we’d sucked the last drop of liquid from our glasses, she asked if we were ready for another round. Um, no.
After acknowledging that North Americans are needier restaurant patrons and then failing to deliver – in fact, willfully ignore us – we were happy to get out of there as soon as possible so as not to trouble her any further. We didn’t think we were all that demanding, anyway … we just wanted another gin and tonic.

I first went here in the summerz shortly after it opened, and I’m thankful I did. The huge patio is great at night and with the music creates a relaxing atmosphere. The menu is refreshingly condensed, having just a handful of well executed items. My favorite item is the burger-​easily one of the best in the city-​big and juicy, bursting with flavor. One thing they could change is having some craft beers on tap.

My fiancé and I rented out the basement for our engagement party and it was such an awesome night! The food is amazing and the service was really great! Our guests all had a fun night as well! I would highly recommend this place for a party or even just a night out! — ps try the chili shrimp tacos!