Winnipeg Restaurants

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Well it is true there are lots of other options in Winnipeg than Hermanos they are likely the only local place with paella on their menu and even if its the worst paella ever it is still easily "top 5" of the the versions on Winnipeg menus.

Segovia's paella is amazing, haha.

Originally Posted by lilwayne

I go to calgary all the time

Prolly the most overrated boring unexciting city in Canada

The bar lounge scene sucks the dt is prolly worse than wpg vibrancy wise it feels like a ghost town even on weekends..

The lounges are terrible with the worse layouts i have ever seen.. our bbrowns and brewhouse blow out thier cities... cactus club is the best they offer and even that is pre simple and played out..

I agree, I loathe going to Calgary. It's so sterile and boring.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I agree, I loathe going to Calgary. It's so sterile and boring.

Careful now. You may upset our local smug little poster who continually reminds us he is a FORMER Winnipegger turned Clagarian every chance he gets, claiming how life is so much better there and how he will never come back, blah blah blah. How could we literally want to hurt such a precious boy's feelings such as his?

[LilZebra]

Earlier this decade, discovered Jonnies Stickybuns that used to be located just west of Portage @ Burnell.

Recently discovered they closed their shop and now only do mobile - festivals.

http://www.jonniesstickybuns.com/

Food place at 201 Portage Ave. has cinnamon buns, and I guess Hildegards has 'em too.

I remember growing up Safeway and Belgian Bakery on Corydon (now Filafel Place) my Dad used to buy on Saturday morning in the late 1960s and thru the 1970s.

Now I guess tastes are changing and people would rather eat something else.

[Wpg_Guy]

I always like the cinnamon buns at Tall Grass.

[vjose32]

Loaded Pierogi has opened recently at Northgate next to Booster Juice.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by lilwayne

I go to calgary all the time

Prolly the most overrated boring unexciting city in Canada

The bar lounge scene sucks the dt is prolly worse than wpg vibrancy wise it feels like a ghost town even on weekends..

The lounges are terrible with the worse layouts i have ever seen.. our bbrowns and brewhouse blow out thier cities... cactus club is the best they offer and even that is pre simple and played out..

You think Cactus Club is the best lounge in Calgary? Oh dear. I haven't been to Calgary in a year or two, but from my memory (and a bit of google research):

SubRosa, Wednesday Room, Bar Annabelle, Cleaver, Tea Room, Shelter, etc, etc, etc.

I would also note that, for whatever it is worth, the 2019 version of the annual 100 best restaurants in Canada list includes eight entries from Calgary and one from Winnipeg.

If you're going to slag another city in your subforum, at least make it a semi-educated slag.

[BuildUpWpg]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

You think Cactus Club is the best lounge in Calgary? Oh dear. I haven't been to Calgary in a year or two, but from my memory (and a bit of google research):

SubRosa, Wednesday Room, Bar Annabelle, Cleaver, Tea Room, Shelter, etc, etc, etc.

I would also note that, for whatever it is worth, the 2019 version of the annual 100 best restaurants in Canada list includes eight entries from Calgary and one from Winnipeg.

If you're going to slag another city in your subforum, at least make it a semi-educated slag.

Agreed. Calgary's downtown is very vibrant with a lot of higher end restaurant/lounges. Not many for lease signs and no dollar stores in the core from what I could tell from two visits in the last couple of years. The brewery scene is very good too. I liked Cold Garden Beverage Company...very whimsical taproom!

[pegcity]

Originally Posted by BuildUpWpg

Agreed. Calgary's downtown is very vibrant with a lot of higher end restaurant/lounges. Not many for lease signs and no dollar stores in the core from what I could tell from two visits in the last couple of years. The brewery scene is very good too. I liked Cold Garden Beverage Company...very whimsical taproom!

There’s two Dollarama’s and one DollarTree in downtown Winnipeg, and there’s 2 Dollarama’s in downtown Calgary.

There are over 15 Dollarama’s in downtown Toronto.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

You think Cactus Club is the best lounge in Calgary? Oh dear. I haven't been to Calgary in a year or two, but from my memory (and a bit of google research):

SubRosa, Wednesday Room, Bar Annabelle, Cleaver, Tea Room, Shelter, etc, etc, etc.

I would also note that, for whatever it is worth, the 2019 version of the annual 100 best restaurants in Canada list includes eight entries from Calgary and one from Winnipeg.

If you're going to slag another city in your subforum, at least make it a semi-educated slag.

I'm pretty sure that Clagary is your home city. I've seen plenty of Winnipeg slagging in Calgary threads, and have experienced it in person myself. So I don't think you will get much sympathy here, cowboy.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by Pinus

I'm pretty sure that Clagary is your home city. I've seen plenty of Winnipeg slagging in Calgary threads, and have experienced it in person myself. So I don't think you will get much sympathy here, cowboy.

(a) wasn't looking for sympathy;
(b) I haven't lived in Calgary for over a decade though I admittedly have a bit of a soft spot for it still - though don't see how any of that has anything to do with the substance of my post;
(c) with respect to Winnipeg slagging in Calgary or elsewhere - I would certainly hope that if someone posted something dubious like "Calgary has much better preserved and grander-scale heritage buildings than that soulless corporate shithole Winnipeg", someone else (whether from Winnipeg or not) would chime in to question said dubious remark. Otherwise the discussion around here just becomes nonsense;
(d) you didn't really respond to any of the substance of my post.

Anyway, don't mean to de-rail this thread. Just felt compelled to provide some (hopefully constructive) challenge to a few of the opinions posted recently. Carry on.

[lilwayne]

I said City was lifeless and boring especially most of the lounges

Never said the food quality was bad

I love food in Calgary... And nw sw calgary are pretty nice neighborhoods if ur not a fan of a flat landscape

Also love the reno job they did at cross iron

[lilwayne]

But unfortunately

Calgary as a city is boring and depressing as hell not to mention everything on thier menus is 5 bux more expensive than winnipeg

Go to bp in calgary thier menu is way more expensive than winnipeg

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by Pinus

Careful now. You may upset our local smug little poster who continually reminds us he is a FORMER Winnipegger turned Clagarian every chance he gets, claiming how life is so much better there and how he will never come back, blah blah blah. How could we literally want to hurt such a precious boy's feelings such as his?

Calgary might have some more interesting options, but they're too expensive, full of snooty elites & overall, they generally seem to be cookie-cutter establishments. It's like Canad Inns shit all over Calgary, outside of the more... notable, places (Ranchmans, for example).

Calgary needs more biker bars, and less rich 'ristorante' places. It would add WAY more character. And please to god, they need to build WAY cheaper bars out here...

Calgary bars trades high quality, for extortion-level prices.

Winnipeg bars could use an improvement (example: smack the Canad Inns idiot across the face for destroying Stereo, TYC, the downtown Tavern, etc & replacing it all with chickenshit hospitality ideas) but Winnipeg bars are CHEAP. THE GOOD KIND OF CHEAP. I could actually afford a night out in Winnipeg, versus the elitist bullshit out West. And I wouldn't be scared off by the biker bars, either. Minus the Windsor and the Northern... but the rest? I'm okay with.

Long story short: Calgary has quality, but expensive as hell. Winnipeg quality... not exactly high up there, but at least its AFFORDABLE. And thats what matters.

PS. here is my list of quality Winnipeg bars: the Palomino, Classics, The Oak, that one bar at Park West Motor Inn (can't remember the damn name), Whiskey Dix, Opera (while it still existed), the U of M campus bar/pool hall, and TYC (before CanadInns shit all over it).

[EspionNoir]

There are several more bars in the Exchange like Patent 5 Distillery. I consider Patent 5 to be a high quality option, but I can be wrong though.

Patent 5 has a very good interior, they also has their own whiskey production.

[GreyGarden]

In my opinion, winnipeg is a big enough city that typically whatever I want I can get. If I want cool wine I go to oxbow, if I want a cocktail I’ll go to forth or langside grocery. Not cheap places but they shouldn’t be. Not everything should be affordable. Cool cities are expensive. That being said cool cities also have their cheap gems, and Winnipeg certainly has those too.

I think Winnipegs dining scene generally reflects its population pretty well. Montreal and Toronto are the best, then Vancouver, then the Alberta cities and then Winnipeg. The exception is Ottawa, I find the dining and bar scene in Ottawa to be very bland despite a sizeable population. I might just have had bad luck but I’m usually pretty good at finding the kind of spots I’m interested in.

[armorand93]

Honestly though, minus 529 Wellington, Hy's, Fort Garry and such... is there that much of a sustainable market for the most expensive tastes? Unless everyone started roaring down Portage in McLarens since I left Winnipeg two years ago... theres a sizable majority of the population, that can't afford the caviar and the expensive goodies. If Winnipegs scene wants to thrive on a more qualitative level, they need to have cheaper attractions and offerings. Or at least, moderately priced attractions, and cheap food & drinks.

As much as I hate how CanadInns shit all over the Winnipeg scene... someone in that company apparently had brains, because they did make cheap offerings of food and drinks at TYC, great atmosphere, food service too. $5 cover and mass marketing as well... and the place was always packed. Which is ironic, because the second they decided to remodel it, TYC became a joke. Much like every other CanadInns experiment...

But suffice to say, Winnipeg has the cheap part down, and its actually AFFORDABLE to go out back home, versus Calgarys versace-esque night scene bullshit... the only thing Winnipeg bars and nightclubs need to work on, is quality.

And for obvious reasons (example: Opera shootings and stabbings, the one guy shot 12 times in the bar down McDermot or whatever, the shotgun blast in that one bar off Ness and Sturgeon, etc etc) - SAFETY needs to improve. They could pack a bar with half a dozen musicians, Showtek and all - but if people can just waltz in with a MAC-10 and level out the dancefloor, then how can quality be acheived, if the bars aren't even remotely safe?!?! Quality in Winnipeg bars scene can be achieved, but they need to figure out how to make it SAFE, and AFFORDABLE. They figure those two out, without making any quality cuts, and voila - problem solved.

Oh, also, someone should shut down the Windsor. After WPS keeps finding people in there with industrial amounts of meth and sawed-off shotguns, CONSTANTLY, I kind of thought the MLCC would take action. But then again, Manny only cares when someone gets hurt... which is a complete 180 from "Serving it Safe" and him basically having crocodile tears, over the plight of his employees. Which all of Winnipeg SSP can agree upon, is complete bullshit.

[EspionNoir]

According to a new article by WFP, something will likely be done with the Windsor.

I feel that the Windsor doesn't fit its surroundings. Even the 185 Smith is getting a transformative remake. It's just pretty bizzare to have the Windsor sits beside visible progress.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by EspionNoir

According to a new article by WFP, something will likely be done with Windsor.

I feel thay the Windsor no longer fits its surroundings. Even the 185 Smith is getting a transformative remake. It's just pretty bizzare to have the Windsor sits beside visible progress.

Much like the Winnipeg Hotel on Main St, cockroaches, mice and bedbugs throughout the property. Bulldoze it already. Vendor was shut down some time ago. Vendome/Bleachers is likely next.

[GreyGarden]

The demographics of Winnipeg break down pretty normally. There is a market for high quality restaurants, evidenced by the thriving high quality restaurants that exist in Winnipeg. The market and supply is just proportionally smaller than bigger Canadian cities. But Winnipeg’s restaurant market functions like every other city in the world, high end restaurants for the people that can afford it and down the ladder.

The key is population. Winnipeg restaurants will always struggle to reach the top of the lists in Canada because there are not enough people willing to spend $450 on dinner for two to fill the restaurant 6 or 5 nights a week. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver have the population to support high end restaurants and they have the money to pay. Dinner for 2 at Alo (#1) is $450. Winnipeg wouldn't be able to sustain that 6-7 nights a week.

Quality costs money and I think it’s really hard to create a high quality and attractive product (the type you’re referring to) that is also affordable.

For what it’s worth, those “best restaurants in Canada” lists aren’t 'charming neighbourhood restaurants we all love'. The fact is, Winnipeg will never have as many objectively high quality restaurants as bigger cities, it’s a numbers game. Just like calgary will never have as many as Vancouver and Toronto will never have as many as New York.

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

I always like the cinnamon buns at Tall Grass.

They are really good. However, you must try Gunn's on Selkirk, order them ahead or they will likely run out..when eaten fresh, unbelievable.Texture, taste..Wow!!!
I buy them in a 6 pack..freeze a few for later and they do freeze well...
They even have a version with real fresh apples on top as well, sold individually.