We need somewhere new

Over the past six months or so we have started a little tradition in our house. Thursdays are now Date Night. The premise is simple: we take turns cooking dinner at home, something new that we haven't made before, then we watch the 99c rental movie on iTunes. Sometime we cheat by watching a more expensive movie (because ninety-nine cent movies are just as bad as you imagine them to be). There are times when Date Night gets a little help though. An anniversary, or say, a promotion at work. This was one of those occasions.

If you live in Calgary, or have visited in your partying hayday, you'll probably know about The Back Alley.  An institution here, if you will, for rock music and mullets.  Bikers and teased blond hair.  But anyone who went always had a good time.   It was the alternative to the dance clubs downtown, but it was off the beaten path, and it had made a name for itself.   It rhymes with black but starts with "cr".   Time for a change the owners decided.  It was shut down and entirely renovated, new name, new atmosphere.  Let's check it out!

Marquee Beer Market & Stage is the destination this one Thursday night as my manager at work got the boot.  I, working directly under him, therefore got the good news that I'll be taking over his role.  Sounds like a good time to go celebrate and have a drink and some eats!    When The Back Alley closed they threw a raging party called "Drink The Alley Dry".  I did not attend, but I can only imagine the debauchery that occurred.  The new Marquee opened in to the current craft beer craze that this city is going through.  (If you aren't in Calgary, I only hope that your city is going through the same phase.  I hate it.  Why does every new bar opening have to be 'craft' ?! Ugh.  Over it.)


Take the dog for a walk, get the fur babies fed, and off we go.  It's getting late-ish, and we pull in the parking lot at 7:30.  We figure that's prime dinner time, verging on the start of the late night crowd so we imagined it would be busy.  Good lord were we surprised when we see that there are no other cars in the parking lot.  None.  Off to the right, near the other businesses, were maybe 6 more cars.   But no one in front of the restaurant itself.  Sweet! VIP parking, I'll take it.   Then a thought crosses our minds.

T: Is it open?
M: I don't know, I didn't think to check.
T: Uhhh....where is everyone?

Inside, looks great actually.  Dark browns, bright reds, a huge space where the bar is the focal point.  Alright, I'm ok with this, so far looks good even if it's short on guests.  We notice though that there is only one other table in the whole restaurant.  This concerns me.  Dinner time on a Thursday night should be pretty busy.  I'll bet any of the other restaurants south on MacLeod Trail are probably full, or close to.  So whats wrong with this place?  We sit at the bar, cuz that's how we do.  When the bartender comes over, she's a little strange.  Twitchy a bit, and doesn't seem to be focused on us.  She doesn't mention any of the specials but takes our drink order and is off to fix us up.  When she returns with the drinks we pin point why she's a bit distracting to us.  How can I word this politely....? Umm.... I can't.   She's got a glass eye.  An obvious one. Turns out though she was just covering for the bartender and isn't serving us.  When he arrives he goes over the food specials and what the happy hour menu is offering.  This usually makes us chuckle because as we are thinking about what to drink M will usually figure out the cost of the happy hour special versus the regular price.   In this case, it pays off.  The happy hour pricing is actually more expensive than the regular price.  It's sort of a bar trick, because most people assume it's a deal and just go for it.  But if you look at the drink menu and do some basic math it's pretty clear.

Happy Hour deal is 5 dollars for a 14oz pint, but it's 8.50 for a 20oz pint divided by 62 multiplied by the number of dogs in the park equals the train that left from Boston.  Or something.

When our appetizer comes it looks pretty tasty.  We ordered the spinach & artichoke dip, and for me these are always a crap shoot.  I've had great ones (Cactus Club, I'm lookin' at you) and I've had terrible ones.   This one is near the bottom of the pile.   It's served with housemade chips, which could be a nice twist, but it doesn't work.  The chips are way too thin, and for a dip like this you need something more solid - pita's or na'an.  The dip itself is just ok.  It's too artichoke-y, not cheesy enough.  M doesn't mind it, but I end up just eating the plain potato chips.  Meh, I have beer to drink, I'll be fine until dinner arrives.

When the bartender told us that the Steak Sandwich was the dinner feature I was all in.  Love me a steak sandwich.  More than a beef dip even.  Come to think of it, I might retire my beef dip quest and start a search for the best steak sandwich.   For tonights purposes I'm going to put this one in the middle of the pack.  Cooked perfectly, good toast portion.  That's always a big deal for me - the ratio of the bread to the meat, the flavour of the bread, buttered or not, etc.  The fries were good, not great, but I can live with that.  Overall the meal was good but not memorable.  Thinking back on this actually, I don't' remember what M had for dinner.  I usually write some notes in my phone when were are at the pub but I think I was distracted by our surroundings and didn't put anything down for him.  I asked him if he happened to remember and he doesn't.  I'm not saying anything bad about it necessarily, but if its not a memorable meal then what are the chances we'd go back?

By the end of our meal we had seen that other table leave, and two walk in.  4 tables the whole time we were there (and one of those was just 2 dudes having a quick beer at the bar).   By 9pm we are done our meal and we are the last people there.  The bartender actually did last call for the kitchen and we overheard a server expressing how surprised she is to be off work at 9pm as they were flipping chairs on to tables.  This is a universally known sign for get the F out, we're closing/closed.  Hint taken.

Reflecting on this as I write, I can say that yes, we'll go back.   We really had no issues with the food or the service and I think they need another chance.   But because they have this restaurant side, then the Stage side for concerts and bands, I think Marquee is confused.  Based on our one visit (and the online reviews I've seen- eek!) I can't see this place lasting very long.  It needs to chose if it wants to be a concert venue or a restaurant.  Until then they're only going to serve 4 tables on weeknights.   Not sure how you can afford to stay open on that.  Only time will tell.

Some cold beer, some good food always makes for a successful date night.  It's nothing if not an adventure!  Love you babe.