Brava Bistro

Although the lobster poutine barley had any lobster and was hardly a ‘poutine’, it was still pretty good! I didn’t know this place closed down though?

Wow, my friend wasn’t kidding when she said Calgarians love to go out and eat. My sis and I were supposed to meet up with a mutual friend of ours for dinner on a Saturday evening. We wanted to go to Una Pizza and Wine, one of my sis’s favourite places, but it was at full capacity by the time we got there. Over two hour wait for a two spot? No thanks. We meandered down 17^th Ave in search of another place and came across Brava Bistro. The hostess had one table left so we took it.
A partial view of the dinner menu. The menu is a short, one pager but there were a lot of intriguing options. Prices are on the higher end ($ 8.00−17.00 for appetizer/​salads and $ 23.00−34.00 for mains, exception being $ 52.00 for pork platter for two).
My sis and I were starved from our hike so we decided to order two appetizers while we waited for our friend to arrive. This place is classy with a much older, mature crowd/​vibe. Music is on the loud side (seemed to go up and down randomly multiple times during our dinner). We were a little underdressed but you can get away with it here.
— Bread — the complimentary bread was good. Fresh, chewy and perfect to soak up all the juices from the mussel broth.
— Salt spring island mussels ($ 17.00) — leeks, fresh herbs, white wine, pomme frites and a lemon garlic aioli. Awesome appetizer to start our meal off. The sauce was drink-​me-​by-​itself goodness (wish we’d had more bread to finish it off), mussels were plentiful and the frites were good filler.
— Pear salad ($ 16.00) –arugula, frisée, stilton cheese, candied pecans, compressed pears, and balsamic vinaigrette. Candied pecans are so good. I was hunting these bad boys down with a vengeance.
— Handmade tagliatelle ($ 24.00) — parmesan, herbs, house smoked bacon, kale and a soft poached egg. The egg was cooked perfectly — poke it and let the yolk ooze out, mix it and voila. Magic. The tagliatelle was perfectly al dente.
— Crispy leg duck confit ($ 30.00) — Risotto, kale, grana padano, sweet pumpkin purée and sweet pumpkin diced along with herb and garlic. This was my sis’s dish and the duck was perfectly done. Juicy, medium rare, duck is always a winner whenever we order it.
— Braised beef cheek ($ 28.00) — Heritage angus beef cheek, red wine, crispy onion, smoked jalapeño mac & cheese and local vegetables. Our friend ordered this one and gave us a bite of the beef cheek to sample. It was excellent.
Cool, hip ambiance but Brava Bistro is definitely a place where you’ll be shelling out the moola. The patio looks awesome for summertime. Next time we’ll have to try the lobster poutine (that’s sayin’ something as I don’t even like poutine).

Brava a is very nice and well appointed restaurant. The staff is friendly and attentive. We felt comfortable and welcomed. We started with the lobster poutine. There was six of us and three had the duck, one had the beef cheek and two the chicken. The food was prepared and presented well and everything tasted very good.
Although we all liked the food, we felt there was some room for improvement. The lobster poutine certainly could have used a bit more lobster. We shared these starters and I for one couldn’t tell if I ate any lobster or not. But it is poutine and it still tasted good. ($ 17). The duck was very good but the three who chose it thought it looked tad small for an individual portion. I had the beef cheek and it was extremely tender and delicious. Again the portion could have been a little more generous. It came with many vegetables; some that I can’t recall ever eating before. Really good. As a contrast to these four smaller portions, the two chicken dishes were huge. Almost an entire chicken was served; each. We all tried it and really liked how tender the meat was. The batter was crispy and flavourful but may have had just bit too much salt in it. The meals were not overly pricy.
As side note and not that it dampened the evening, the bar ran out of the gin I like to drink (1oz). They also ran out of Heineken beer (2). They only offer two types of port and they were out of one of them. We also thought the wines were priced a bit high.
All in all, we enjoyed our evening at Brava Bistro. $ 370 (with tip) for six adults. Not bad.

I was at Brava last night. It was fantastic. We were celebrating a birthday, 3 people in our party. We started with crispy noochi, it was great, so tasty. Someday I will return and just have that starter for lunch. Then the entrees included duck, salmon and the pasta dish. Mine was the salmon which was served on risotto, delicious. Everyone else was truly pleased with their meals too.
Service was good and the pace of the meal was very relaxing.
Thanks for a great evening Brava!

Visited here for my birthday with my boyfriend. We sat on the patio, which had he heat lamps turned up on a brisk late summer night. Ambience was light and romantic. Inside was a bit darker with dim lighting and louder but still nice. Our server was prompt and professional. We started off with the lobster poutine and gnocchi– both dishes were amazing! Rich in flavour and delicious. I had the tagliatelle as my main– again rich and delicious and my bf had the duck. The duck had a crispy skin which I enjoyed but meat was not as tender to our liking.
Overall a positive experience– good place for a date or a special night with your loved one.

Saw the 4 stars review, thought it would be a nice dinner out with my boyfriend. Turned out to be a total disappointment. The lobster poutine was good at the top only, the bottom of the fries become very greasy… I had a clam linguini and my bf had a lamb loin… I’m not a lamb person so I didn’t try it. But my linguini was a total disaster that I have to give it up. There was sand in the clams, too salty and the linguini was stuck together… I don’t think I will ever go back again!

My wife and I sat down at Brava Bistro on 17^th Avenue last weekend, and i was super surprised on the quality of the food, i had the Lobster Gnochi (sp?) and my wife had the burger and it was some of the best food that i’ve had in a while here in Calgary. The place from the outside didn’t look like it would have the quality that it has on the inside.
I would recommend this place to all our friends.
— SM

The right rating for this place is 3.5 stars… The service is ok… Probably a 3 stars service… The food was good. Not too bad, but nothing special… The wine was good enough… The best of the menu was the bread. It was delicious!,. Only for the bread I will give 4 stars to this place… Plus the ambience was cool too. I might go back, but is not one of my favorite places in Calgary…

So yummy! I was recommended for our anniversary by a friend and
We had shared a bottle of Rosé Wine, lobster gnocchi, burger, and crispy chicken. We were early so the restaurant was able to accommodate a table an hr before our actual reservation. The service was amazing and we never felt rushed. Food was delicious. Can’t wait to come back!

Brava made Avenue Magazine’s top 10 restos in 2013 so I took my spouse for Father’s Day. All of the food was fine and cooked well, not spectacular but fine. We had lobster gnocchi, which was actually the best dish of the evening, scallops, short beef ribs and crispy roast chicken. Similar to things I would make myself at home. No fancy plating or presentation here.
But the service was so dismal. Although our waiter was nice enough, he was completely useless. We poured our own wine from the bottle, had to get up and get the pepper mill and serve ourselves, he forgot to order our entrees, he took away our bread and butter when it was half done (why?), and we had to ask for our bill and wait about 20 minutes. After the 20 minute marker of waiting to pay, I decided to go in from the patio and ask him again. I saw him coming in the front door. I don’t know where he was, or if he was just opening it for other guests but by this point I was pretty annoyed. The only reservation I could get was 5pm and we left about 6:30. The restaurant was pretty dead, maybe 30% capacity, so I’m not sure why the little details of good service were overlooked.
I think Avenue Mag missed the mark on this one. Top 10? I don’t think so.

We have been meaning to eat here forever and finally got a chance on Saturday night. We had a reservation and walked in and was kind of surprised with the layout of the restaurant. We had to stand there for a good 5 minutes until a waiter came by to help us. There is no hostess desk at the front so it is a little awkward standing there waiting as tables are being served in front of you. We were seated and ordered drinks. I was kind of bummed they didn’t serve any type of Pinot Grigio by the glass but they had something similar in their white wines from Italy. Okay… so our server. He was an experience. He seemed to have such attitude towards us, I have no idea why. We ordered the burrata & tomato salad $ 15 & daily soup to start $ 7. My fiancé loved the soup, some sort of a purée carrot soup. The burrata wasn’t very soft, it was more granular, I have had better. We ordered 2 sides (sautéed mushrooms and steamed spinach, they don’t have mushrooms on the menu but our server said he could have them made). My fiancé ordered the orecchiette alfredo $ 19 and said it was yummy. I ordered chef’s salad and substituted the ham and egg for avocado and broccoli and dressing on the side.
So we waited for a while for our food, asked for bread as well, everyone else seemed to be getting served bread, but we had to ask after our appetizers came. Then my fiancé pasta comes and my salad. My salad has meat and dressing on it, so I ask if they can remake it. He takes it away and were left with one slice of bread left and my fiancé pasta. Considering how long all this already took, we weren’t surprised to wait a while for my salad to me re-​made. The server offered to put my fiancé pasta under the heat lamp, he said that’s ok. So we ordered another round of drinks and I asked him if the sides were ready. He looked at me and made some puffing noise and turned around. I was PISSED! So I was like excuse me? are they? and he said umm I need to go check on them. He forgot to order them. Finally the re-​made salad comes out and the 2 sides. The salad is really small, wish it was bigger, the mushrooms and spinach was really good though.
Ordered another round of drinks and no dessert. The waiter was really odd/​angry the full time and I think if he had a better attitude we would have liked the place much better. I am surprised this place is one of Calgary’s top 10 restaurants.
Oh, and when we were given the bill the server says, don’t worry about the sides, I took those off (a full $ 10! lol). So my fiancé pays and we leave and he gives me the bill to keep (I am anal and keep my bills to match with our credit card statement) and notice that in his hurry and anger he forgot to charge for 2 of my 3 glasses of wine, 1 of the 3 beers for my fiancé, and my salad.
I guess that was the good thing about the whole experience lol…

Food was great. Had the lobster poutine to start and the pork shoulder entrée. Delicious!
However the service was poor. Took forever to even order our appetizers and get our drinks despite indicating we were in a rush. It wasn’t even that busy. The worst was when we told our server we were ready to order our entrees and he told us we had to wait for our appetizers to come out first. Weird?
Great food, terrible service.

Holy smokes! I have seen several reviews about Brava Bistro and although I was a little worried that it was over hyped… it did not disappoint. We started off with the muscles and they were incredible! I was using my muscle shell to slurp up some of the broth that it came with (classy!). Hahaha… on top of that, the fries that accompanied the muscles had a touch of aoili and anyone who knows me, knows that biggest vice is my addiction to fries.
For my entrée, I had the braised short rib and the meat was soo tender, i could cut it with my fork! Naturally, because the food was so good, it was not even an option to skip dessert either. It goes without saying that I was ridiculously full after this meal (thanks evie!).
Mellow atmosphere and surprisingly bigger inside than what you would think. Seems like the perfect spot for my next birthdayparty. Can’t wait to go back!

(I Do try to not write so much but sometimes I just cannot help it!!!)
WOW!
I had heard good things about Brava — I had no idea I was going to be dining here at all until we walked in. Just like that! It was worth the drive through killer traffic. Needed a night off from the kitchen and we found the right place. Brava — a French Bistro with modern fusion is how it was described to me.
We had a seat at the bar after being greeted by A, the best hostess ever! I could not wait to see the menu. I was told it was a big wine place — I will for sure have to come back for some. It was getting busy, I was not sure what to expect on a Wed night. It took about 10 min to get a drink but once our waiter J directed his attention to us, we truly had a great dining experience. J is very good at his job and you could tell that he wanted to be there and wanted his customers to have the best experience possible.
We ordered: (alot!)
Split the arugula and goat cheese salad. So good! LOVE the fresh, crisp apples and the cheese was SO fresh!
Loster gnocchi — OMG, amazing! That sauce. Thank you bread for doing your job tonight of sopping up that goodness!
Margarita Flatbread — classic, well prepared
Frites with aioli — a really nice side to munch on, fresh, skin on
Oreo crusted chocolate tart with espresso infused whipped cream — Lord help me! Our waiter suggested this and he was ON POINT!
Surprisingly, after splitting all of that food with 1 other person, I was not full.
I sent Kudos to the chef who obviously had passion for what he put on the plate and also gave praise to A and J who are going to make us want to come back to this restaurant ASAP!
J even made a point to leave his post at the bar and open the door for us to see us out and thank us again.
What else can I say? This was a 5 star experience.
TIPS
Make sure you get the complimentary olives once seated — so good! The bread is good too. I would give this place a 6^th star if I could had the bread been served warm.
Try a glass of the pink Bubbly Malbec — YUMMY!
The beers are so nice and cold and we saw some on the list that we had never seen before — go for it!
Brava serves very nice filtered water, nothing tasting as if out of a tap — nice touch.
Brava has a baker on site so for those non-​dessert eaters — you only live once, you have to try the chocolate tart.
Every 1^st Sunday of the month they have a supper club — you can dine on 3 courses for $ 35! We are IN!
Cannot wait to get back there!

Prior to going to the Theatre we went to Brava Bistro for dinner (we had been given a gift card)…a Modern Fusion restaurant combined with Mediterranean ingredients.
I love to be able to check out menu’s online and so after drooling over the menu earlier that day I was hoping my husband would be a little more adventurous in his meal selections. He is however a man of simple tastes (well some of the time) and stayed true to form by ordering a cesar salad and Alberta beef tenderloin. I indulged in the cheese plate and bucatini carbonara. His tenderloin must have been good because he ate it all without offering me a bite (and hardly breathing I swear). I did however share my carbonara even though I didn’t want to because it was very tasty ;).
The wine list didn’t impress as much as other restaurants wine offerings and although it was a little on the expensive side it is a lovely restaurant. I’m happy we were able to experience Brava but with such a happening Calgary restaurant scene I am not so sure we will return anytime soon.

Intoxicated and hungover from the night before, I was walking down 17^th looking for a lunch option. Walking by Brava, I remember hearing nothing but good things about it. Many a fine dinners had recommended the place and did mention that it was «classy.» With traces of alcohol on my breath, dressed in a T-​Shirt and wearing sandals, I thought to myself how perfect my attire would be for a Brava experience!
I had the shrimp curry which was excellent and I really appreciated the mango chutney taste to it. It was subtly sweet and delicious. I cleaned my plate. It really took my mind off the hangover.
The place is nice, with a touch of classy. I did feel a bit out of place with my dress. So I would recommend not going in jeans and a T-​Shirt, but you don’t need to go there with a suit or dress either. The service was stellar, had no problems!
Bravo Brava! You’ve impressed me with a great lunch experience.

When four people head out for dinner, it’s inevitable that three of them may have a four star experience and one of them comes out feeling like their visit was a three star. I’m the «one of them» in this story, or rather in this short anecdote.
A reso was made for 3 people during Unilocal Eats for 730pm. All was well there! We arrived to a table already set and waiting for us. We added an extra person last minute and the staff had another place setting added to the table. Service level remained at a 4 star the rest of the evening. We were seated at a table on the east side of the restaurant, near the front and with a nice view out onto the patio.
Here’s where the 3 stars come in. To start I ordered the wedge iceberg salad. A wedge salad? It sounded intriguing. And it certainly looked intriguing! But once I dug in, it was literally a wedge of iceberg lettuce served with dressing and some garnish on the side. Order the lobster gnocchi or the scallops instead.
In between our starters and our entrees, there was a long wait. And by long I mean 30 – 40 minutes, probably closer to 40. Brava wasn’t overly busy. Not sure what happened there, but it was too long and we had to ask about our food. Minutes later, my prawn penne appeared in front of me. Hooray for food! But not hooray for the prawn penne. The sauce was good, but the noodles were overcooked, it was almost like I had made them at home. It’s true, I over boil my noodles all the time, it’s usually why I order pasta in fancier restaurants instead.
At any rate, Brava’s still a go-​to, I just know what I won’t be ordering next time.

Brava was a pretty cool little bistro. I came here for a UYE and I came for the famous lobster poutine!
And did the lobster poutine deliver? in short YES, it was great! really unique and a ton of flavor. At first when it arrived I saw that their was only a tiny bit of actual lobster meat in the dish (not surprising) but as I started to delve into the dish I got a fry soaked in sauce and OH MY! I got it! its the sauce, the only way I can describe it is: like a high end buttered popcorn with essence of seafood flavour in it hahaha, how is that for an explanation? It was amazing! Really, really good, and I will go back some day to eat it all over again! It just has a depth of flavor and is mysteriously delicious, it has something in it you can’t quite put you finger on.
I also got a lamb burger which was pretty decent, though I don’t think I would get it again. I actually wanna go back and try this lamb pasta that the lady sitting beside me ordered. It looked great and she said it was really good as well! So Brava is on my ever growing list of places to come back to!
The dessert was awesome as well, warm ginger cake! My buddy Andy thought it was a little to gingery, but I loved it. It tasted like christmas! and it was sitting in a caramel soup and topped with ice cream!
The service was fine (for our end of the extra long table) The waiters and waitresses were attentive but I heard other people down the line had some mixups and some mistakes happen.
Brava has been open for 12 years! so they must be doing a lot of things right, from everything I experienced I give this place a solid 4 stars. Check it!

I was Kenny M’s wingman on Saturday night @ Brava bistro.
I ordered their infamous lobster Poutine, along with an avocado/​bacon salad. The Poutine lived up to its reputation, it was intensely savory and buttery and the lobster’s essence transitioned well into the gravy and the fries. I kinda wished there was more Mascarpone cheese, but after a few bites, the dish didn’t really need it because it was very rich enough as it is. However, the avocado and bacon salad was somewhat disappointing. The veggies were fresh, but the bacon was thick and tough. However I liked the salty crisps placed on top.
I wasn’t really that hungry at the time so as I watched everyone chow down on their main courses, I decided to order Brava’s Manhattan to slowly drink. Kudos to our very cool and very cute waitress from Manitoba, who enlightened me with a story of how she sneaked alcoholic beverages into concerts by soaking it up with fruit, revealing that this was one easy way to get LIT. Why the story? oh it was because of Brava’s special bourbon soaked cherry. I was skeptical at first but when I tried one piece, it was definitely potent! After I finally managed to swallow the cherry, my mouth was so drunk my tongue was doing a one night stand with the back of my teeth. It was as our table described it, the «lembas bread» (re: lord of the rings) of alcohol treats.
The service was great, although everyone at the event didn’t seem to share this sentiment. I for one had no problems and found them friendly. But they seemed to have ATM issues that night and had to result in sending their customers to the bank next door to make withdrawals. I think they had enough servers on hand to be capable of escorting clients to the machine, especially girls who have to brave the elements of 17 Ave (and by elements I mean roaming drunken vagabonds heading to Melrose). But instead they just awkwardly peeked at the window. Not taking points off, but just a kind suggestion.
But I have to admit, despite the great service and flagship dishes like the lobster poutine and manhattan, I didn’t see it being on a level deserving fine-​dining prices, especially if their salads aren’t up to par (re: review on burned salad below). Besides, aren’t real French Bistro’s supposed to be affordable yet creative meal experiences?

Dear Brava Bistro,
I had to wait an hour for my food and you managed to burn my salad. However, you gave Wendy two Lobster Poutines for the price of one, so I can’t hate too much. Also, your drink prices are reasonable, your restaurant is pretty and the guy who got my coat was equally pretty. If I could rate the servers separately, I’d give them 4 stars, because even though I’m pretty sure they bungled all of our orders, they were apologetic and diplomatic. Plus, I ate the burned salad anyway (wasting food was a mortal sin in my house when I was growing up).
I’m on the fence about you.
Sincerely,
Tiffany
P. S. Bonus points for having moisturizer in the bathroom.