Five of us made reservations for Friday night at 5:45 pm. Upon arrival I waited at the front reception area with bartenders, and wait staff passing by without asking if I had been helped. Ten minutes later, wait staff came by to seat me with my group. At this point the restaurant was not busy.
We had ordered our meals by 6:15pm and by 7:50pm our meals has not arrived. The manager upon request came by and insincerely apologized for the late meal and began to explain that it was because one of our group members had ordered a well done 7oz steak...I'm sorry but this excuse wouldn't even fly in well acclaimed steak houses.
Our meals arrived approximately 15 minutes later but several were cold or luke warm.
To their defence and in compensation, they did bring in a salad, offered to replace cold items and in the end when we asked for a bill adjustment and they could tell we were not pleased- covered our entire meal. We dared order dessert what in itself was probably a mistake as that too took a lifespan to arrive and an order was missed and needed to be fixed again.
We recognize that restaurants get busy and short staffed, but leaving the restaurant 4 1/2 hours later when the reservation was placed before rush hour is absolutely unacceptable. Despite the restaurant compensation, I do not feel they were sincere in their approach and are obviously very new at this.
I frequently dine at all of the other Redwater locations in Calgary and have experienced only exceptional service. Returning to the Aspen location will never be considered.