First Visit to Sage, Edmonton River Cree Resort

[Bob Mac]

I know Sage has been written up by others but yesterday was the first time I had dinner there.

My brother was in town and staying at the River Cree Marriott so that was a good excuse.

My plans commenced somewhat ominously in that I phoned on Tuesday only to get the answering machine from the past Friday advising that they were full that day as well as Saturday.

I left a message which was not returned.

Yesterday I phoned after work and did speak with someone who when I requested an early dinner was told they could not accomodate the three of us until about 7:45.

I decided to go in any event and while we waited for my brother decided to go to Sage and see in person. This was about 5:30 or so. I spoke with one of the servers and he said there would be no problem. We were going to have a drink somewhere else in the complex but then decided we may as well have a drink at Sage.

We returned and the hostess said she could not seat us before 6:30 and suggested the bar. The bar was fine for us but I looked at her rather quizically as the restaurant was not very busy. She explained that she only had the one server...same old service issues continue I guess here too. I know the week-end before we were told there was a 45 minute wait at Joeys...again too many tables for the limited staff if all waiting were seated.

The two fellows at the bar were friendly and good. One very nice thing about Wednesday's at Sage is that they have "Wine Wednesdays" where everything on their list is 1/2 price.

We shared a plate of appetizers consisting of 6 of the 8 or so options, mixed assorted olives, ceviche, hummus and pita, prosciutto and melon, assorted cheeses one more which I have forgotten.

We shared a bottle of Cedar Creek Platinum Pinot Noir which at the reduced price of $30 was excellent.

When my brother joined us we were seated at a table for 4. We finished off our appetizers and decided to forego salads or another appetizer and ordered our steaks.

Both my brother and my wife had the steak frites and I their t-bone along with sides of asparagus and the truffled macaroni and cheese. I think their steaks were $32 and my t-bone $36.

We all agreed that their steaks were good but nothing extraordinary. The asparagus was excellent as was the mac and cheese which my wife ate more of than I did.

Bottles of more steak friendly Kettle Valley "Main Red" and Osoyoos Larose flowed with dinner as we continued to take advantage of the 50% discount.

Service was very friendly but a little stretched given the limited number of waitstaff.

Would we go back. Likely not. I like steak but am not crazy about it at their price point but I knew that going in and it is a steak house for all intent and purposes.

Maybe if we are just in the mood another Wednesday and want to have a good bottle of wine at an attractive price and an appetizer or lighter meal like their Kobe burger.

We probably should have tried the L2 Grill which was going to be my fall-back if we could not get in to Sage but it was convenient.

[raidar]

Great thoughts Bob Mac. Thanks as always. The assorted appetizer plate seems like they are trying to get all the 'hip' items on one tray, what with the melon, olive, cheese, meat options. Does Sage include sides Bob, or do you pay more for everything 'extra'?

[Bob Mac]

raider:

Going from memory, the appetizer option was divided by the number of selections requested and priced accordingly, 2, 4 or six. May have the number of portions wrong. Smoked salmon was also on the list but my wife does not eat fish and I was concerned that the flavour might affect others things she would eat. My concern, was not necessary as everything came attractively plated and divided so that for example, the ceviche, would not mix with the proscuitto, etc.

The steak frites not surprisingly came with the frites in addition to the NY Strip loin and pepper sauce.

My t-bone and the other grilling options were striclty a la carte. Steak alone and you ordered the wild mushrooms, fries, asparagus, mac & cheese etc.

[cleopatra999]

thanks for the review Bob Mac we have not been there for 2 yrs now. I have heard mixed reviews on how they are now. They have a new chef, I was curious how this affected the food.

[Bob Mac]

cleopatra999:

Not the right guy to answer that question as never tried the food when Chef Cruz [?] was there.

The new chef apparently came from Las Vegas which is not surprising given the "gaming connection" with the River Cree Casino but the food IMHO does not lend itself to much flair given that it is a steak house.

I do not intend the above as a criticism or "put-down", just a relection of the type of dining it entails. My wife for example commented about the cost and said she would have been just as happy with The Keg. Ouch! But then again, that is probably a reflection on us and what we are happy in that regard.

[Dan G]

Interesting review. I'm not a big steakhouse fan, figure I can do those well enough at home, compared to my skills with other foods. That said, I took a friend to Vons a couple of weeks ago - how would you say Sage compares in terms of price, how big was your t-bone... What I generally dislike is that the steaks are too big.

And how's the wine markup? The Larose...I've seen it on menus for between 80 and 100, so if they are on the low end of that, you would have gotten a sweet deal at half price. Despite your reservations on the food, might be worth a visit for a wine deal.

[Bob Mac]

Dan G:

I may be wrong but I think the T-bone was 16 or 18 ozs - yes, too big for me as well and I brought a good portion of it as well as my wife's striploin home with us.

Spot on with your observation about the wine. All in all the wines were in my view well priced comparitively speaking given that we ordered "higher end" Canadian wines which are in my view obscenely priced in this province if you can find them.

The Osoyoos-Larose was $80 or $82 so at $40 or $41 is less that what I can buy it normally retail.

The Cedar Creek Platinum pinot noir was $60 and I think the Kettle Valley Old Main red was in the same neighbourhood as the Osoyoos-Larose.

Going again from a "red wine" affected memory I think we "saved" $126 due to the Wednesday Wine feature.

That is why I think if I go back at all, it will be up at the bar for some appies anda decent bottle of wine.

[cleopatra999]

Von's is significantly less expensive, and also not a la carte. I feel it is a good, less expensive option and would head here well before the Keg or Sawmill type of places. However they offer more typical accompaniments and appetizers such as baked potato.

[KayceeK]

My husband and I went there for the first time about two weeks ago after, like yourself, having only heard so much about it. I found the service to be top-notch actually, beginning with the very friendly and charming hostess to our waiter who knew his stuff without being pretentious...although, the bottle of wine he suggested was a bit lighter than what I thought my request intended, particularly since hubby ordered a steak.

Our starters were both excellent. I had the golden beet salad with goat cheese and bacon. Hubby had the crab claw appetizer which could have easily served as a main. It was one of the specials for the evening and when the bill arrived, the portion size was explained by the $35 price tag. Still, tasted soooo good.

Steak, like your own experience, was just good. My roasted halibut was also good, nothing spectacular. French fries and mushrooms on the side were well executed, but no surprises...just straight-forward food.

Cheesecake for dessert; hard to find a complaint there!

All in all, we enjoyed our evening too but likely wouldn't go back....too far out of the way for us, and more interesting places I'm sure are out there.