Container Bar

What a cute little find! We recently moved to Calgary and we were exploring the city by bike when we stumbled onto this container bar. Ordered some great IPAs and best poutine we have had in our short time in Calgary. We will be back.

Container Bar, you just keep getting better!
First, the cool factor: It’s a bar in an alley! Checkmark. But they also do food and drinks right here. For summer sipping, you can’t beat one of their slushie cocktails in my opinion. Or go full bore and just get the piña colada out of a coconut (topped with a skewer of fruit and served with a spoon to scrape out that coconut, should you want to make your $ 17 drink into a meal).
I was a little cool on their food offerings (a lot of it is cooked in duck fat and I’m not a meat-​eater) but this summer they added several duckless $ 5 appetizers that fill the void when we’re just out for drinks (like the spiced popcorn or weird but entertaining boiled peanuts). There are salads and a veg burger on the menu too for the vegetarians and pescetarians in the crowd looking for a meal.
I like Container Bar for entertaining friends from out of town or just out of the neighbourhood. It’s good when it’s one of those too-​hot days and you need some shade and a grownup slurpee (it’s shaded 99% of the time at Container Bar). And when summer stretches into cool fall nights, they’ll hook you up blankets and switch on the heaters so you can keep on cocktailing.

Although tucked away in an alleyway, Container Bar is not hard to miss. You might stop to play with the piano parked in front but once you look over, you will see the party is actually on the other side of that metal wire fence.
While dining here I saw many people stop and look in wondering what was going on. Come in! You will be greeted wish a dish of candy gummies. It is a great place to stop by quickly for a drink but there is great food being served too (courtesy of the Brasserie).
We had some delicious salty bar snacks like chicken skin and crispy pig ears. It paired nicely with our very alcoholic cocktails. I also had the fish and chips which had a fun spin on it. The tomato soup that came with it was to die for. Deep caramelized onion flavor with bright fresh tomatoes mmmmmm…
Eating food out of an alleyway does sound creeps but out of THIS alleyway you will be pleasantly surprised.

Went here one night and it was meh. They had a cool idea with the space and aspect of service but they are just not really pulling it off. The self serve water station at the gate is a pain when you have a table larger than 2. Its a small space, patrons should not have to navigate around to get water not to mention the crappy pier one import jugs that pour super slow when your getting the waters. The food was good I had the veg burger and was happy with it although the fries were soggy. For the price you pay it should be a bit better quality. Cocktail list is ok. The service was ok pretty non chalant with the too cool to care attitude but not to the point of rude or anything. I would come back for drinks as a starter for the night but not for dinner or parties larger than 2 or 3.

Came to Container Bar by accident the first time… and keep going back on purpose.
What a fun idea!!! I love the fact that it’s such a small space, and the tiny lights at night, but mostly its a patio you can hear your table on! Its not overcrowded, its just nice.
I find it a little pricy for some things, but it is a fun place to stop. I love the infused waters and I especially love that we won a gift card for tweeting a photo! The staff are great although the last time we went the girl hadn’t tried much of the food or drinks so her recommendations were a little lacking…

I like Container Bar. And like all things I like, I five star it. A natural reaction caused by Container Bar’s cool and simple concept. It’s great that Container’s showed up in an area that seems to be loosing most of it’s cool and interesting businesses to development.
I managed to meet my friend Steph here on a day where the Folk Fest distracted the crowds that often hovered, making it a long wait to get into CB.
I sat down and ordered a gin cocktail and waited for my friend. It was a fortunate hot summer day and a community piano was situation just outside. Did I happen to have the most awesome half hour of reading, drinking, and listening to random stranger share their classical piano talents with the streets of Kensington? Yes I did! *self high five*.
Their staff was lovely and friendly. They really were because I was a fussy guy. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to sit under the sun or wanted a table, so I kept moving around a lot. They were accommodating in taking my orders and repeatedly drawing the blinds.
Their food was great. I had the brisket burger with salad. Simple food well executed. Brisket burger was rich and juicy and the salad was fresh and tasty.
Their price is about average from the usual fancy diner visit.

I have since been back (an evening visit this time) and enjoyed the experience even more than before. If that’s even possible!
A white wine was recommended to me when I didn’t know what to order, and it was crisp and perfect. Mint & Cucumber flavoured water was a tasty alternative to plain.
The menu has a decent selection of items to order from and we snacked on chicken skins and pig ears (well my partner in crime did more than I). Trying pigs ears was a first for me and I enjoyed the experience. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but then there are other menu items to choose from!
Really enjoy the ambiance here, and slowly making my way through the menu, or so it seems lol. A fun place to hang out.

This is the only alley in Calgary where you’ll find mint sprig and cucumber infused water.
Everything’s got a purpose, but Container Bar takes it one step further and gives every part of this bar a repurpose. They make fantastic use of a Kensington Alley, just sitting there doing nothing for nobody. Which, I guess means it was doing something for somebody… but not very much.
Just as Container bar has repurposed the alley into an outdoor patio, they’ve modified and old shipping container into a bar, shipping pallets into tables, and reused old stackable school chairs for you to sit. Container Bar is exciting through its contrast between the lowest of the low and the highest of the high. Paired with this dumpster dived wonderland is some of the best food you’ll find in all of Kensington. Owned by Brasserie (
) and Winebar (
), Container Bar makes use of the same incredible kitchen as these two high class foodie destinations but welcomes a menu showcasing finest street food style grub you’ve ever seen.
A Chili Dog with a house ground pork sausage and chilli with a fancier name… hell, I don’t remember what it’s called, but container bar is the kind of place where you’d get frites, not fries. I don’t know the difference, nor do I care because they’re delicious and they’re damn well cooked in duck fat. Yes. Duck fat.
This is THE place for creative cocktails outside of downtown. Everything is very high quality using fresh herbs and berries and even creating a pineapple rum cocktails out of Sea Cider Rumrunner, my absolute favourite in the cider world.
Give Container Bar a try. It’s truly unique to Calgary, high-​class sketchiness serving 5-​star food sets it apart from any other alley in town.

I was really excited to hear about this interesting new bar that was going to be coming to our neighborhood and really wanted to like it.
My husband and I decided to try it out for the first time this past sunday and unfortunately were fairly disappointed and wouldn’t likely return.
The concept of the bar was really cool and the whole set up and everything was really neat and we did enjoy that aspect of things, however nothing on the menu really appealed to us. I was expecting the menu to match the «low key» setting and it didn’t really do that. Would have liked to seen more snacky type items. Even something as simple as a cheese plate. Since we were already there we decided to order a couple beer and the Parmesan fries to share. While waiting for our food we did notice some others getting their food and to be fair it did look good. Just not what we were in the mood for when coming to a place like this.
Anyway the fries arrived quickly enough and were actually really good (and I don’t usually even like fries very much). However after we were given our food we were hoping to ask for more aioli sauce for dipping but we didn’t see the server again until our food was all gone. We then waited for 15 mins with empty glasses before anyone came around. So we decided against ordering another drink.
My major complaint with this place though was the pricing. Very expensive for what it was. It cost over $ 7 for a beer which wasn’t even a full pint. Our total for 2 beer and one order of fries to share was $ 27 and with tip put it over $ 30. Not really what you would expect for a place thats supposed to be low key and for something as simple as a beer and fries. I also didn’t notice anything any where about any future specials or anything so looks like that is the standard price for their beer.
Overall I would say it is a very cool concept but I would have enjoyed it more had we been able to share maybe a pitcher of beer and a plate of nachos. Just seems to be more suiting for a container bar. Doubt I will be back unless I hear of some changes to the food or drink menus. And come on… I am never impressed by a place that doesnt know how to pour a full pint.

Normally I reserve reviews to be written until a place has been around for at least a couple months — There are always bumps that need to be ironed out, staff that needs more training, dishes that need re-​working. But honestly, not here! Container Bar is just simply put: Fun, fun, foodie, fun!
Snugly nestled in the alleyway beside the sister wine bar/​resto of Container Bar, the Brasserie, an old shipping container that has magnificently been refurbished into a working cantenna-​style bar is the basis for the outdoor attraction. Around the container the rest of the alley is filled with about 6 tables. So this quaint spot really feels small and special.
The staff is super friendly, fun and quick on their feet. The food is Canadian-​comfort like to-​die-​for poutine! I had a fantastic Fisherman’s sandwich — I definitely recommend it. And the cocktail/​wine list is small but nicely assembled. I hear that they will soon be getting casks of beer in weekly for those brew loving boys and girls.
For originality, outdoor-​only dining and out of sight eats; I give Container Bar 5 big stars!