We were feeling a little peck-ish during the Lilac Festival and was looking everywhere with a patio to eat. Most places we wanted to eat were either jam-packed or simply not opened during the festivities. We finally decided on the VIN Room since they had a patio on the second floor that actually looked out on to fourth. We’ve actually eaten here once a long time ago, and didn’t recall any negative feeling towards the restaurant, so, what the heck!
Their menu is tapas inspired, focusing on a lot of small plates that are meant to be shared over a glass of wine. We were just hungry and wanted to be fed.
The bf loves sardines and ordered their grilled sardine for $5.00. It’s seasoned with maldon salt, olive oil, and lemon. This…was…okay…there’s nothing inspiring about it but it was cooked well and a decent enough snack.
Fishie~
He also ordered their grilled cheese. This was perhaps the most disappointing item we ordered. It’s just not what we expected, and there was nothing on the menu to indicate that you weren’t actually going to get a real sandwich. Pretty much we paid $10.00 for melted haloumi on toast. I would hardly think 3 pieces of bread and a handful or arugula would be worth much of anything. Also, not only was this a thoughtless dish, they didn’t even bother to cook it right – the toast was burnt. All three pieces. I mean come on, how hard is it to not burn toast?
Not impressed
I could've had 2 more sardines for the price of this crappy dish
Their stuffed bone marrow was good though, but I mean, it’s bone marrow…what’s not to like about fatty goodness? And at least they put a little more thought into this dish. The slaw it come with consisted of beets, apples, radishes, and parsley, all topped with a lemon vinaigrette. I love beets. This blew the crappy handful of arugula they called a salad out of the water.
Decently priced @ $5.00
I ordered the pan seared sablefish:
I <3 Sablefish
Sablefish is a mild flavoured white fish. The texture of this fish is great, I would recommend everyone to try it, it’s all flaky and delicious! The fish came on top of a bed of carrots and tiny (emphasis on the tiny) bacon chunks cooked in a chili gastrique.
This was hands down the best dish (taste & value) we ordered that day. You get a decent sized chunk of fish, the fish was actually prepared well (they can cook fish but can’t toast bread?), and it actually seemed like a fair trade for my $12.00.
Yummy!
I don’t think we’ll be going back to the VIN Room anytime soon. The menu is way overpriced for such mediocre food. But if I were to be invited to have a meal there, I would definitely order the sablefish again~
VIN ROOM
2310-4th St SW
Calgary, AB T2S 1X2
(403) 457-5522
