Review Grazers - Calgary Zoo - Calgary

Yes! We found the perfect street nachos! The reason why you see a wine it’s because they have special drink each day and on Wednesday it was lucky wine! Overall the place is clean and the service is on top. The server didn’t hesitate to explain each and everything on the menu so that I can make a decision. She is really friendly.

The outdoor seating in this place has a great view. We can eat with the alpacas. The good is amazing. I had the fish tacos which came with a side of their house made soup of the day. The flavours were amazing and the portion size was pretty good after a tiring morning at the zoo.

The atmosphere is great and the location is convenient but the quality of food could be better. The hand cut fries are too small and a pain to eat and the wings are under cooked slightly and chewy. Food quality needs to change, if it does, let me know and I'll try again

I've usually had nothing but great things to say about everything the zoo has to offer, however I didn't have a great experience at Grazers when I went. The staff were friendly enough and we were seated promptly, but it took the server 15-20mins to come greet us, after visiting the table beside us multiple times. I ordered a $5 jungle juice which is supposed to come with ginger ale and a lime, which it didn't. There was absolutely no fizz and was overall disappointing. I don't know if my meal was supposed to come with a soup or small salad but it wasn't mentioned or offered. I unfortunately forgot about this until after we left since we had to wait so long for service and my mind was elsewhere. I ordered short ribs with the mushroom ravioli and was underwhelmed. The ravioli had very little stuffing and the sauce was very watery, the meat was delicious but overall it's not a dish I would eat again. My daughter had chicken fingers with fries followed by a cup of dirt (oreo crumbles and gummy worms over vanilla ice cream). The only complaint I have about her meal is that a small plastic tab from the ice cream container was found in her ice cream. This could have been a choking hazard, but since I already paid while she was eating it, we didn't have a chance to talk to anyone about it before leaving. The rest of her meal was well prepared, a nice portion size, and she seemed to really enjoy it. Grazers has a nice atmosphere but for how busy it was, the service was lacking. We may give it another shot, but for now I think we will be sticking to the Kitamba Café.

Brought my 2 year old daughter and husband here to have some lunch before having to have a long drive home. Greeted by the hostess which was super friendly. But our waitress Dawn didn't seem as friendly right from the start. Husband ordered the meal cesar salad with chicken, daughter had chicken fingers and fries and i ordered the fish tacos with the side of soup. Fish tacos were good. Even though i only ate 1 of the 3 as i was drinking my soup of the day (vegetable soup). I bit into a rubber band. Not sure if it was a hair elastic or what, but was not impressed. Told our waitress and she seemed annoyed. Im assuming she was irritated that she had to deal with the situation and tell kitchen staff and having to apologize. Which she did; but, honestly didn't even seem sincere. Saying its an elastic band from broccoli. As we walked out, she only said "bye" under her breath. I mean come on, at least pretend you're apologetic. Now i have to make another stop for food before the drive home. Which defeated the purpose of us eating there in the first place. Not impressed.

Pleasantly surprised. When we came to the zoo we knew we were going to grab lunch their, but figured it would be some quick fried food from a concession stand. Little did we know there would be such a delicious full service restaurant. After I discovered that I assumed the prices would be outrageous but I was wrong again. We sat out on the patio, had a couple cocktails, entrees and desserts, and it was all quite tasty. The chicken club on the focaccia bread was amazing. It was a pleasant surprise

Good food and friendly service. Had the afternoon appetizer special. My son fell in love with the fried Mac and cheese. The meatballs left something to be desired. Would highly recommend if you are looking for a spot to grab a lunch or quick snack while at the Calgary Zoo.

Went to a company event hosted here. Nice, cozy venue. Service was fantastic; no concerns whatsoever. Food served was buffet style that had a variety of options that were all appetizing. Bonus to have a little walk through the zoo lights to help digest after indulging.

Since we first moved to Calgary the zoo has been our place to get away from the city. As our children were growing up they spent many hours at the zoo playing and learning. One of the best, if not the best, zoos you will ever have the good fortune of visiting.

Our Calgary Zoo is a world class facility, the animals are well tended and the keepers knowledgeable and friendly. We went to the Panda Breakfast and I highly recommend it! We were able to visit the panda enclosure as a small group before the zoo even opened and it was a treat! The buffet breakfast was delicious, but the best part was being at the zoo without the crowds. I’ll probably go again sometime in the next five years :)

Great experience from start to finish. We started with the Pandas and they didn’t disappoint! Adorable and they came from Toronto where we missed them( we live in Wasaga Beach),but were lucky enough to see them in our visit to Calgary. The other animals were great too and the variety was great. I’d highly recommend Calgary Zoo!

Calgary Zoo was a place my son coveted, MY son loves the place and I am so happy that the zoo has an engage membership, he interacts and ask the animal keepers and watch the hippo teeth being brushed and even feeding other animals. He learn new stuffs every time he visits. Thank you Calgary zoo!

for 2 kids, 1 adult & 1 senior it’s very pricey. and when you get inside 90% of the animals are under veterinarian care or gone. the only animals that we enjoyed a lot are the pandas & the penguins that’s all. if you removed most of the animals or they are gone for whatever reasons at least maybe lower down the price. paying 125 for an empty zoo. ���

overall it was very nice Zoo seems smaller there is no nocturnal animals. very pricey for the 2 of us admission $62 pulse food and drinks made it a $100 day. Probably only be able to afford it once a year All staff are very nice

We went on a very hot day. We started in the morning when it was cooler thankfully. We loved the panda exhibit, and the tiger was growling, so amazing. The one giraffe was so very close it was awesome! Even the lemurs came out, so cute! The lions were sleeping, but they do that! The bears in the Canadian wild were eating and being awesome to watch! The penguins were beautiful! Thank you for having this attraction! We are on a family holiday, and hadn’t been since 2005.

I don’t regret buying memberships for my whole family. Every time we visit the zoo we have an amazing experience.

too expensive for a family! ticket prices keep going up and up shutting out average families that can not afford to go any longer! not worth it.

I’ve eaten here three times now, as we are Zoo passholders. It offers a much more relaxed pace than the fast food of the lodge. <br/><br/>The food at the Thai buffet was excellent, but the Harvest buffet this past week was disappointing at best. I paid full price for the buffet, but the main entree was unavailable and needed to be brought from the main building. It was never available while I was there, yet I paid full price. Our waitress was flustered and overwhelmed at lunchtime and took an awful long time to take orders that weren’t buffet.

My wife and I have been buying family memberships for the past few years yet somehow only just noticed Grazers (across from the flamingos at the Calgary Zoo) a month ago and so we decided to go. The restaurant is easy to miss if there isn't a server dressed in black standing out front under an umbrella and that to me gave it a curious feeling of exclusivity. Inside you'll find a small bar at the front (no seating) and about 16/20 tables with a doorway to a back patio of about 10 tables. We sat inside as it was drizzling outside and got to appreciate the ambiance of the building. The structure is repurpose from something other than a restaurant but the server we spoke to wasn't aware what had been there before June 2014. The tables and chairs are comfortable and the decor is minimal other than a painting at the entry. The building is bright and lofty with heavy timbers and rough hone wood panel walls. Personally I like the look.<br/><br/>I'll start with what I'd like to see different. Being a seasonal restaurant the staff are probably new to the surroundings and after being asked by three different servers what we would like to drink upon sitting down it seemed like they haven't got the table to server plan sorted out. Something else that stood out to me is that the servers moved around too quickly. Wait. What? I know it sounds strange but when a server walks around with purpose rather than reacting it can bring a sense of calmness to the space. Just go to the Hyatt Sandstone Lounge on Stephen Ave and see how the servers glide around the room with restraint and grace (remember, the Sandstone is essentailly a bar that serves sandwiches but both the building and the servers step it up several notches). The coffee was freshly brewed when we got there and was really quite good but plunking down a plate of plastic creamer cups and sugar packets really isn't necessary in a space like this. And finally, no music. No music means soulless.<br/><br/>These are pretty simple fixes to me. Now on to the good.<br/><br/>Given that there was a peacock outside the building when we came in I figured I would try a cocktail called Peacock Tail. I don't know cocktails from a hole in the ground but I found it to be refreshing and tasty and appreciate that Grazers made the effort to make up a cocktail with a name that fits. We ordered the Smoked Tiger Prawn Quesadilla with salad and the Alberta Farmhouse Chicken Focaccia Club with Fresh Cut Locally-Grown Fries with Zoo-Grown Herb Aioli (as I write this I just realized we didn't get the Zoo-Grown Herb Aioli. Boo!). Initially my wife and I had agreed that we would have lunch at Grazers and then enjoy a soft ice cream cone while walking around the Zoo. Wrong. The portions are generous and I can honestly say I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day after eating. We didn't get our soft ice-cream but it just means I'll have to do it another zoo visit sometime soon. The food itself was really good and nicely presented on the plate. Large slices of chicken, flavourful bacon, great slices of bread all came together to make a very satisfying club sandwich ( the fries, the more I think of it, were cold and old but I hardly touched them given the sandwich I was loving). My wife enjoys food but her reviews of the quesadilla was limited to "it was really good". I'd believe her as to my eye it looked great. All in all I would say the food it definitely worth sitting down at Grazers if you are hungry at the Calgary Zoo and you'll be happy you did. All that needs to happen to make this an amazing experience is to step up atmosphere and server style.<br/><br/>Now I know it's easy to say "Yeah, but this is a family restaurant, pal" and I would agree with you completely. But the bones of the building, the great menu, the tasteful decor makes this easy to knock one out of the park. This is a kid friendly restaurant but wouldn't it be cool for parents to feel like they are kinda-sorta Fine-Dining-it while at the same time being a good parent by taking their kids to the Zoo? I know I'd appreciate the juxtapose, and the coolness of the structure and the location can absolutely pull it off. Am I suggesting that downtown office workers would zip down on the C-Train to the Zoo to have lunch at Grazers? If they had memberships I could absolutely see it happening. Grazers is a place that is layered with so much potential that I wouldn't be surprised if Friday reservations were suddenly "recommended". And the exclusivity? How many restaurants in Calgary have an admission fee of $23 or require a membership just to enter the grounds? Grazers can honestly pull it off I am really looking forward to going back again.