Wow. I have not had such a great experience as I had last night at any place in Calgary in a long time.
This place is awesome. The food is fantastic and unique. The service is friendly and the ambience is very cool.
First of all, its busy there. In a great way. But things run very smoothly and no one makes you feel rushed.
The menu boasts a lot of delicious and inventive small plates as well as some larger items for sharing. We have the kale tempura (yum), duck fat fries (could not stop eating these) and the strip loin steak to share (melt in your mouth). But by far my favourite was were the scallops and blood pudding. Just wow. I could have eaten 10 plates of those. We finished the meal with toffee pudding. Delicious. All the food was perfectly cooked (and showed up hot!) and served in a casual rustic style. Its definitely a classy casual kind of place!
They make a "smoked" old fashioned and the preparation and presentation are worth whatever the price of the drink is. They put a lot of care and love into the details and it shows in everything you experience at Cleaver. All the servers were knowledgeable, super friendly - it already has a neighbourhood feel despite not being open for very long.
I cant wait to go back and try the sliders - we spied some from afar and they look spectacular!