I am one of those people lucky enough to have great bosses. They took another employee and I out to lunch to say thank you for all of our hard work and chose Murrieta’s as the spot to take us. I have heard very good things about Murrieta’s and was excited to try it.

Murrieta’s is housed in the upstairs of a heritage building in down town Calgary. The dining room is insanely gorgeous with a vaulted ceiling, dark wood and stone accents. Even with the tuxedoed wait staff and white linens, Murrieta’s doesn’t feel pretentious or stuffy. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the service as much as the décor.

Murrieta’s is in the normal price range for a down town restaurant (read: high) with entrees ranging from $18 to $45. I didn’t look at the wine, but one of my bosses chose a very nice pinot noir. Now there were six of us at this lunch, but the table they put us in was way too small. It was crowed and everyone was bumping wine glasses and elbows. The place was packed or we probably would have moved.

The combination of a crowed table and a clumsy waiter, who brought out our calamari appetizer, ended with a glass of wine in my bosses lap. Luckily he was wearing dark pants and only got a little on his shirt. However, the waiter was not very apologetic and wordlessly brought my boss some “spray to prevent staining” and was gone. We weren’t offered clean napkins (we had used all of ours were used trying to mop up the mess) and had to ask for them. They didn’t even offer my boss a complimentary glass of wine, as the waiter had spilt all of his, and just said oh would you like to order another bottle?

The service was also quite slow and the waitress often rushed off before we could ask for things; which led one person at our table to remark “Ack come back, I want to order! I’m starving!”

The food did come quickly, however mine wasn’t very good. The calamari appetizer ($10.00)was surprisingly greasy for an upscale restaurant and came with a boring red pepper dip. For my entrée I had the Cobb Salad with Salmon ($20.00). Which was some butter lettuce, egg, bacon and chevre cheese. There were lots of tomatoes and cucumbers, but the salad was very sparse on the other ingredients. The “creamy basil dressing” was bland and flavourless and the salmon was very overcooked.

Nobody else really made any comments about their dishes either positive or negative, although I tasted my friend’s seared scallop fettuccini (18.00) and instantly wished I had gotten that dish instead. The scallops were perfectly cooked and the noodles were tossed in garlic, olive oil and red chilli, which made for a spicy and tasty bite.

All in all, lunch took about an hour and a half and I felt the food was only mediocre. I don’t think I would go back.

As part of a family of three related restaurants around Canada, Murrieta’s, located in the city centre of Calgary offers white table-clothed dining in a unique way. Calgary’s Murrieta’s hosts its main dining area in an unexpected indoor brick courtyard, complete with a roof-sized skylight ensuring a memorable dining experience.

Their menu is substantial without being overwhelming, offering a wide variety of dishes heavily influenced by seafood and a number of quality cuts of meat. Vegetarians will also find a few more interesting options on the menu as well. Its breadth of flavours and combinations should appease every member in your dining party.

None of us got around to dessert after having a bowl of soup followed by an entrée. I started with the Creamy Westcoast Clam Chowder who’s drizzle of Spicy Red Pepper Oil lifted the flavours and adding to its gentle warmth. My main dish, a piece of Rockfish had been perfectly cooked although the Spicy Maple Ginger Dressing didn’t have as much impact as it sounded. I didn’t feel any kick from what chilli they might have added and I couldn’t get any hint of maple with a more gentle ginger taste dominating instead.

It’s not a cheap dining experience although it’s a great experience nevertheless.

Nice decor, plenty to choose from on the menu. Everything was well presented, and the portion sizes were substantial for this type of restaurant. I did not get a good look at the wine list, but judging by the displays the choices were ample.