Sawmill Prime Rib & Steak House

I had an absolutely terrible experience at the sawmill in Sherwood Park. They wouldnt seat us, or clear a table. When I went up to the bar they didn’t acknowledge me at all for like 20 minutes-I’m not kidding! Finally my beer that took 30 m to order came (while standing at the bar) and I lost my appetite for sawmill. Forever. Worst service ever and the manager was a real gem. I do not reccommend going here ever!!!

Waiter was confused and argumentative, but most frustratingly was when we asked to place our order as we were in a rush to get to an Oilers game, he went to ’ say hi’ to the table which had just sat down next to us. The next 5 min was him chatting with them and taking their order. They received their food about 10 min before us.

Terrible. The food was terrible and our waiter Bruno was terrible too.
We went for a birthday so we were a large party. 14 of us in total. Bruno wouldn’t allow us to sit where we wanted– he made us sit grouped together by who was on each bill. The women wanted to sit together and so did the men but we weren’t allowed to.
Bruno kept calling attention to the room like we were school children being made to pay attention.
The beef meals all had small portions, the fish was minute but the chicken was bigger. The «prawns» we’re the size of regular shrimp.
We had only Bruno serving us and he couldn’t keep up. He forgot beverages, didn’t give anyone refills and just couldn’t handle it. He was rude and then actually mad comments about not receiving a big enough tip. Parties of 8+ are charged 15% gratuity. Well, when you assign us seating, don’t keep the table happy and treat us like children you aren’t getting 15%.
I would not recommend at all. Spend your money elsewhere.

Wow, i just paid $ 38 for an oven broiled steak! It tasted like an oven broiled steak too. Ordered medium rare Chicago style, came out medium well.
In their defense, they DO mention on the menu that they broil their steaks, one just assumes that they would be FLAME broiled given the price!
The staff were friendly and attentive and the non-​steak options looked palatable but as a STEAKHOUSE they fail miserably.

Dined on the patio today for lunch on the bar side. Had chicken wings and a taco salad split with my mother. The patio is very nice, quiet and clean, pretty flowers. Beautiful patio to enjoy a chat and lunch! The service was okay, the waitress was friendly. We asked for our chicken wings extra crispy they were not crispy and very mediocre tasted like franks hot sauce any old pub has, noting special. The taco salad was awesome! Will certainly eat here again because we enjoyed the patio and the salad. I’d like to try the slushy drinks some time.

Always great service. We have never been here and didn’t feel welcome and appreciated. And even better, they know how to cook a steak and pour a beer. Never disappointed.

After having the steak sauce at a friends house I decided I had to check out Sawmill for dinner! We went to the Capilano location which is very large.
The service was bad. Our waiter was abrupt and rude. We ordered escargot and crab cakes for appetizers. Both were good, but the crab cakes were pricey at just under 11 $ for two small cakes. The service was also very slow and we waited a long time to place our order. Three of us ordered the New York striploin and the other ordered the prime rib. The steaks came with a potato and seasonal vegetables. The potato was just a boring baked potato, but you could upgrade for an extra $ 1.95. This upgraded bacon stuffed potato was very good. The veggies were super limp and tasteless. We all ordered medium cook for our stakes but they arrived very well done. They weren’t bad considering they were not the cook we wanted. We each got add ons to our steaks which weren’t bad but a bit pricey. Overall I found the meal overpriced for what we got.
Sawmill did not live up to the hype and the only reason why I would go back would be to buy the steak sauce they make. not to have a meal.

We had a Cheerleading competition and have always had great experiences on the south location, (now closed). So off to the capillano location for the first time. First of all after reading some of the reviews I was very leery, but kind of confused as this has been some of the best food we have had in central alberta. Here we go… First off we were early for our reservation by 40 minutes. We were assured they would have us seated in 5 minutes. Well played Sawmill, it was 4. After being seated our server Sanjay had us seated and taking drink orders right away. We had a large group of 9 and Sanjay did not miss a beat. He had kids orders in while our drink orders were taken. We never waited for a drink and as always the beef was AAA alberta grade. Applies were amazing and Sanjay kept the kids entertained throughout the night. All persons in our party had not eaten at a Sawmill and were absolutely amazed, first by the service, then followed by the amazing food! Once again you’ve impresses us! Thx sooo much for the great experience. The Sawmill will continue to be MY choice for high end beef and prime rib! Well done folks! Still cant get over this gentleman’s will to go above and beyond expectations. Will be back! Cheers!

Food average.

After seeing Sawmill franchises around Edmonton for years, I finally went for a meal this weekend. The whole experience was disappointing; I won’t scratch Sawmill off my list of restaurants, but I won’t be running back either. I went with a group of three other people for lunch on Saturday, and we arrived just shortly after opening (11 am). Our service was achingly slow for the entire meal. I wasn’t sure if it was because they had just opened, but an hour and 45 minutes for lunch was too long. This especially wasn’t appreciated because the temperature outside was –26C and the heat in the restaurant hadn’t been on long enough to heat the space and we were freezing. Two people in my group kept their winter coats on while we ate.
I ordered the Cobb salad, and it was one of the worst ones I have ever had. Everything in it missed the mark for me completely. There were rocket greens (which I hate) — I would have asked for the salad without if I had known they would be served on it. The chicken was less than half a breast, and was stringy and bland. The person grating the cheese dropped the hard ungrated end of the cheese into the salad. The avocado was totally tasteless, and the bacon had a really strange strong smoked flavor to it that overpowered any other flavors I ate with it. The hashbrowns I shared with my friend tasted like old frying oil and neither of us wanted to eat them. I left the restaurant feeling cold and unsatisfied. If I eat at the Sawmill again, I will definitely try a different location.

Well, got suprised by my sister as she took her daughter, my dad and his partner and me here for a surprise birthday lunch/​dinner as she wasn’t up to cooking for us. Me, my niece and my dad’s b-​days are within 5 days of each other.
Same server as the last time pretty sure and same good service. Food was amazing. I had the spaghetti/​meatballs and while the spaghetti & tomatoes were simple and basic, the stuffed meatballs were almost the best I ever had. OMG good. My dad had the lobster pot pie and said it was really delicious and his partner had the fish and chips and said the fish was «devine». Seriously, her words. My niece had fettuccine something and liked it a lot. My sister had nachos… NACHOS??? For dinner? They weren’t the best she’d ever had but they were good and also commented that they make a mean accurate vodka paralyzer! After the second one — hahaha
Also everyone commented that their prices for entres and other menu items were really reasonable and after looking… I’d agree and say that almost the only things over $ 20 – 25 were the higher/​bigger cuts of beef.
The only hiccup we had was… it seems as if the place is serviced by primarily one waitress and while it wasn’t too busy… she was hoppin’ and we ended up waiting a noticeable amount for our bill… which we (my sister) were happy to pay!

Minus 10 stars. Avoid at all costs. Worst sawmill I have ever been to in my life. Staff were rude and annoyed if asked for anything. Completly ignored. Three courses for 4 took 3 and half hours. If it could be rated a minus 10 stars I would bc thats how many things went wrong. Bc of this visit I will boycott all sawmills in western canada. It was that AWFUL!!!
First off, reservation was easy online on opentable. After that it goes completly downhill and snowballs into crap.
After being seated our waitress takes our drink orders. Fine… but 25 minutes later she returns again. Reintroduces herself and welcomes us for the second time asking for our drink order. What is hqppening!!! She takes our drink order and we say we are ready to order. She says give me a few minutes im not ready for that yet???
Huh. Guess she forgot her pen or something. It was forgiven at this point bc I was celebrating a bday and was in a jolly mood. She comes back 5 minutes later (after serving other nearby patrons dishes) and takes our order. We order some appetizers which take only 20 min to come out. At this point we have been seated for an hour with no drinks on our table and an appetizer. We kindly remind our waitress about our drink order and she takes another 20 minutes to get them. Frustrated. We finish the appetizer without any drinks…
When she serves our drinks we down them bc we were so thirsty (it was a hot day) and ask for a second round of wines and shirley temples and clearly water bc we were parched.
We sat there waiting… waiting…waiting…our main entrees finally arrived an hour later. We still have no drinks…
We remind the waitress about our drink order and she says ok. she hasnt forgotten. She comes back the third time… she asks if we need anything… we remind her of our drink order… she says ill get to it right away…
After our meal is finished… the drinks arrive. What the hell!!! It doesnt take 30 minutes to get some drinks poured. Awful. She then realizes how annoyed we are and comes by every 4 minutes asking if need anything… no our meal is almost over thanks for asking when we ate all our food already. (This is the point where u want privacy). We cave in thinking maybe she will redeem herself with dessert. So we order it. It doesnt take long. But she brings it with no utensils. She asks if we need anything… we say forks and spoons… she comes back again with nothing. Then asks… do we need anything… we say forks and spoons… she says oh yeah I was getting to that I havent forgotten. Ok… but you already did…
Looking around we observe tables around us equally annoyed of our waitress. One table was anxiously waiting for their bill for over an hour!!! Yes u heard right. .an hour. She made them wait for the bill. Then did not come by with the visa machine till literally an hour later. The couple stormed out so upset.
Anyways it gets worse we finish our dessert and ask for the bill. There are a multitude of errors which she overbilled us for. She charged us for drinks like 4 times. When we clearly only had two rounds. But hey she forgot about that. We wait again for it to be fixed. After she comes back we are ready for her with our visa. She says I have to take your visa bc we dont have a portable machine here. WHAT!!! A flat out lie when I saw a couple literally pay 30 minutes ago with a portable machine. After arguing a bit she insists that she needs my visa and will swipe it at the main corded terminal at the till. Annoyed and flabergasted we are forced to give her our card. I swear it sounded rather shady like she wanted to write in the tip or something. I clearly mark it with the tip amount so it cannot be altered. Bc it seemed fishy that there was no portable machine. Before leaving I complain to the front staff. They state the manager will call me.
A few days later the manager calls me and defends her employee stating that she is not like that. Defensive and rude to me like im making this all up. She claims none of that stuff has ever happened before. I state well it happened on my visit. She rudely states she wants me to return for a repeat visit so they can show us better service. No guarantee of reimbursement or discount. Just an invitation to try them again. WHAT. I wont waste my time or money in an establishment that cares more about its forgetful and ridiculous waitresses. This left not just a sour feeling in my mouth. But a taste of rotting crap afterwards. I will now officially boycott sawmills restaurant in western canada for 5 years minimum.
Im still upset about this visit 3 months later. I tried to digest it and see if I over exaggerated it. But im not. This is the worst restaurant experience I have encountered in my lifetime. And my birthday dinner was ruined bc of an awful waitress.

I’ve always found the Sawmill to be very overpriced for mediocre food. It tries to play itself off as a high class restaurant but what is served doesn’t meet the mark. Several times they’ve sent me undercooked vegetables that are always covered in this awful cheese sauce that reminds me of Cheez-​Wiz, because what people really want on their expensive meal is $ 2 imitation cheese product.
I usually get the ribs or steak, both of which are decent but nothing special. You get a choice of sides and I have to say I do not enjoy the garlic mashed potatoes. They don’t taste like garlic. I don’t know what they do taste like but it’s definitely not garlic and it’s not the most enjoyable flavour.
All in all, I don’t hate The Sawmill but I really don’t love it. It’s overpriced and I usually don’t even eat all of the sides because they taste strange.

Love Sawmill. The food is great especially steak and lobster night on Mondays. I always go here for birthdays because they have a great birthday promo.

Sawmill Capilano — Worst service EVER — so rude! We arrived at 5:30pm for dinner on the lounge side, 2 couples, we were so looking forward to having a nice meal and a visit. Upon walking in it was quite busy, there were 2 dirty tables, but no waitresses to be seen, I hunted one down and asked for the table to be cleaned so we could sit down, was told this is not her area and she will get someone else. All the waitresses seem to hide in a back room. We were finally seated, I ordered a bottle of wine, it was set on the table, not even opened. We ordered our food then my friend finished her drink and we waited 20 minutes before having to hunt down a waitress to get another drink. When the food arrived it was cold, soup was cold, steaks were cold, mushrooms were cold, and we had no cutlery. Again, no waitress to be found. An older blond waitress came to our table, when we asked where our server was she said «she’s playing hide and seek with you!» not funny. When we asked for cutlery she told us to ‘EAT WITH OUR FINGERS!!” Seriously — those are exact words. Then she left the table, didn’t bring cutlery so my friend went up to the end of the bar to get us cutlery and the blond waitress is standing there telling the other waitresses what happened at our table and was laughing about it. She obviously did not see my friend standing behind her as she was mocking our table. All the other waitresses realized what was happening and promptly fled the scene. So we get the Manager, who is USELESS, he has no control over the staff, did not believe what had happened. So, we all got up and left. THIS RESTAURANT IS POORLY MANAGED AND WAITRESSES ARE UNPROFESSIONAL. We will NEVER go there again — sad, I would like to support a neighbourhood business. I still can’t believe how rude and unprofessional the waitresses are, wrecked our night out.

I went for lunch on the bar side.
Very poor service.
Caesar salad was lousy, sick most of the day from this.
Will not enter this establishment again.

I got there at 10 pm for dinner, there was no one to sit me on a table, when the gentleman in front showed up, he said to wherever I wanted. Sat on the table for almost 5 minutes before be attended by the waitress, she finally showed up, took my order and left. Got an appetizer which was ok, then got an entrée that was too simple to do wrong: a salad with blue cheese and steak. Guess what, almost 45 later the waitress showed up with the salad, as soon as I tasted the steak the beef was extremely spicy, totally uneatable, and the menu didn’t say it was hot. Got the steak changed, and it was also spicy. Took other 15 minutes to get the tab. I don’t recommend this restaurant.

I thought I had previously written a review of this place, but it (and all the reviews written more than a few months old) seem to have disappeared.
In my previous trip for a group outing, I found the place felt dated even though it is a new building. Prime rib was a selection of most people that day and it was disappointing. The meat was flavourless, and the Yorkshire pudding was really a popover that was crunchy to the point of being hard. Veggies were good. But for the price it was not worthy of a return visit.
Well, we did go back when our Valentine’s Day plans for heart-​shaped pizza at the BP next door didn’t work out. This time our experience was much better. As it was Tuesday, steaks orders came with an additional sauce and dessert. I had the New York with the wild mushroom sauce. My guest had the small sirloin with no sauce. Both were perfectly grilled, mushroom sauce was a very nice upgrade. The baked potato was fine and the garlic mashed was very, very good. Again veggies were good but the cheese sauce had broken so tasted better than it looked. Because it was V-​day, dessert choice was limited to Callubaut dipped strawberries which were good (I know that seems kind of obvious). This meant my guest did not indulge. He would have liked the usual option of angel food and berries. So all in all, the steak experience was much better than the prime rib. For that part of town, there are not a lot of nicer places, so I may end up back there but only for steak.
Also they no longer have the salad bar, which I don’t care about but old time fans may miss.

This place is amazing. I am so glad I discovered it. Warm inviting environment. Great customer service. The thing I love about the Sawmill is it is 80’s Gluten Free … This restaurant rocks !!! Go there anytime you are in Edmonton

We came in at 10:00 pm on a Monday night with hopes that we could have a nice meal. Unfortunately, the dining room was closed. We sat in the lounge and were promptly served drinks and handed menus. I was pleased that they had O’Doul’s nonalcoholic beer. As simple as this sounds, there are not a bunch of places that carry it. Anyway, we were served drinks and handed lounge menus that contained appetizers and sandwiches. Not really the reason you come to the Sawmill. They are kind of known for their beef. We decided on a couple things and the waitress came over. As we started to order I mentioned that it would have been nice to actually have some prime rib or something from the «real menu». The waitress said, why don’t I see if the chef can stay. If he can, I will get you the menus. Long story short, the chef stayed. We ordered and the ONE POUND prime rib was awesome. I ate it all, wanted more and want to go back.
Like I said, they specialize in beef. If you have not had good prime rib in a while this is the place.
From my meat induced coma, I vaguely remember the steak and lobster my friend and wife both had was pretty good. The lobster was a little cold but the steak was good. The artichoke and crab dip was a little spicy, which I enjoyed. The Cesar salad my buddy’s wife had was not really good. She had to order more dressing and even then it was not great.
All in all, the appetizers were good (salad not included) and the meal was good. The fact that they kept the kitchen open and I had an amazing one pound chunk of cow was awesome.