Halo Restaurant & Lounge

The reviews I had read for Halo restaurant and lounge were about 50% good and 50% bad. So deciding to give it a chance I headed way down to the far south east with a girlfriend on a Wednesday night. The place was practically empty, with only about two tables seated in the dining room and about 4 upstairs in the lounge. The ambiance and décor at Halo is really nice. It is done up with kind of a rustic feel with the wood floors, walls and fireplaces, but updates the feel with dark leather booths and chairs. The purple and red table linens were a nice touch as well. We were lucky to get a seat by the roaring fireplace in the lounge as it was a little drafty. As we began to browse thought the menu, I felt a little disappointed. Nothing on the menu really caught my eye or seemed that original. I glanced at the crab and cream cheese stuffed mushroom appetizer; the “cherub chicken” ($28.00) which was a breast topped with shrimp, crab, asparagus and béarnaise; and the “seafood caserolla” ($29.00) which was prawns, clams and mussels simmered in a white wine rose sauce. I felt a little ripped off having seen all these items on the Moxie’s menu for about half the price. However the steak prices were not to bad with a $28.00 8onz “Naughtier” New York Strip topped with 3 bacon wrapped scallops. I just didn’t feel hungry enough for an entrée and opted for the shrimp cesar salad for $16.00. My girlfriend had the house salad ($7.95), the bacon wrapped scallops appetizer and a side baked potato. The waiter was attentive without being intrusive, and brought all the fixings out for my friends baked potato and dished them up for her which was nice. For the price, my salad was not worth it. It was on the small side with only four medium sized prawns on a skewer which I think were just thrown in a pan without spices or anything. The cesar salad dressing was okay, but nothing special. My girlfriend also remarked that for the price she expected my salad to be bigger and offered me some of her baked potato. It was quite good. My friend also liked her potato, but said although the scallops were cooked nicely they were on the small side and that the “dipping sauce” that came with them was horrible and tasted like maple syrup. Her house salad was just normal and more like a side salad then what I would expect for $7.95. Judging by the quality of these menu items, I was glad I didn’t go for a more expensive entrée. The one redeeming quality of Halo was that it had small though very nice selection of wines by the glass. They carried one of my favourites, the Temptation Zinfandel, which I haven’t seen by the glass before in Calgary. Good place for drinks, but not for food. However, being that Halo is a 35 minute drive from my house I think the next time I have a hankering for Temptation Zin I will just go to the local wine merchant.