La Chaumiere Restaurant

I was a little disappointed with the food. It was pretty bland. But the chicken was cooked nicely.
Service was great, everyone was very friendly!
Overall I don’t think I’d go back, it was nothing special.

My family took me here for a celebration dinner — wow, what a disappointment!
While the staff was constantly asking you if you needed anything or how you were doing, the basics weren’t always in place. It took us 10 minutes or so to even get a wine list.
1^st course — lobster bisque. Do not order this if you are expecting any actual pieces of lobster, because it had none. You could put this through the finest of strainers with no issue.
2^nd course — the duck. No one asked me how I wanted my duck prepared. It came out more than well-​done, totally overdone. Any outer part was dry and there was no pink or red in the middle. This was the worst looking duck I have ever seen in a restaurant, so I send it back. It took them so long to bring me another duck breast that my family had completely finished eating by the time it was served. When it was served, it was ok. I have had much better duck in many other restaurants, and the outer edges were still dry and crusty. The potato latke type thing on the side was so so salty, saltier than a McDonalds hashbrown. The field mushrooms were good, and the vegetables were fine, but this could not make up for the poor duck breast.
3^rd course — we were pondering ordering dessert, but before we had an opportunity, we were brought some desserts on the house, likely to make up for the above. They were 2 eclairs; one filled with coffee cream and the other with chocolate cream. The cream inside was nice, but the éclair pastry was quite dry, tough, it almost seemed stale. Would definitely not recommend these.
Overall — poor showing by La Chaumiere. When you are paying that price, I expect a lot better. I will not be returning. There are many restaurants I would recommend over La Chaumiere

4.5 for food, service and atmosphere combined.
La Chaumiere is the place to go if you’re looking for top notch service, well constructed traditional French in Calgary and you want a great dining space.
I frequent this place for entertaining important guests, to host dinner parties less than 40, and for special just-​because private dinners.
This is one of the few restaurants in the city with a full service separate coat check, entrance alcove, wine cellar and separate dining rooms.
Because the restaurant has a private wine cellar with over 800 wines, they’ve got wines at every price point.
Located on 17^th Avenue with ample private parking. Everything from your approach, parking, dining and departure is set up in a such a way so that you have a smooth experience.
You’ve got to check it out if you live in the city or are passing through town!

I went here for the first time and I was impressed. When I mentioned it to my mom… she gasped and said «oh Expensive…» and that she hoped the atmosphere was not going to be all snooty.
Neither preconception was true. In fact I think this restaurant may suffer a bit from misconceptions or assumptions based on word of mouth. Not sure.
The price range for entrée’s is ~28 to $ 40 — something you can easily find at the Keg. If you get an appetizer AND dessert AND a bottle of wine, sure the price per person starts getting up there… but all of that is optional.
All in all I was very happy with everything. The food was good. They split our appetizer onto two plates as we just wanted to share one (rather than us picking off each others which was nice). There was no attitude or anything like that… everyone was very friendly, chatty even. The atmosphere was the opposite of the snooty French stereotype. I really enjoyed my visit and I will be back… I’m sad it has been there for 37 years and I’m just finding it now.
My first time having a Soufflé or Sweetbread (I honestly thought the later was a dessert, lol) So I got to try both and was pleasantly surprised both times. I can’t wait to go back and try the Chateaubriand Bouquetière with a fellow fan of beef.
Don’t let reviews tossing out $ 3600 as a price range fool you — you’d have to work really really hard to do that here. If you go the Keg and order 2 steaks with appy’s you’ll spend the same… try the Chateaubriand here instead… I’m betting you’ll be very glad you did.

We come here for pretty much any special family occasion, because my mother loves this place. The most recent time was this Saturday, for my sister’s birthday. I had the veal cheeks (special of the day), which were delicious. My mother had the duck, which is very very good. My sister had the wasabi crusted sablefish, which was also very tasty. My father and brother both had the elk medallions, which were everybody’s favourite –so perfectly medium rare. Their service is impeccable; equal parts wry humour and accessibly experienced. Everything was perfection, until the very end during dessert, when they forgot to bring out the «happy birthday» cake that I had called in earlier about, and that they had agreed to do. Luckily I faked a trip to the bathroom and managed to catch the waiter, who was able to hastily throw something together. Perhaps this was because we had ordered souffles when we were ordering our mains, and the cake may have slipped their minds in the interim. It was ultimately fine, but unfortunate that we had to do that after the desserts were already out.

La Chaumiere is as good as it gets.
You can easily over spend here. Bottles of Bordeaux can be as high as $ 3,600. Be warned. This restaurant is for the couple who are looking for a treat.
The menu covers all the necessities of French cuisine and is one of the few places in town that does sweetbreads. If you have never had sweetbreads cooked with proper French expertise and passion, try it soon. It is a delicacy that cannot be described with words.
Don’t hesitate to ask for a wine pairing when in doubt. The sommelier is well trained and very friendly.
Don’t forget the credit card.

Took my wife here for our first wedding anniversary dinner at La Chaumiere. It was a comfortable fine dining experience and the staffs were super friendly. We had foie gras and oyster pouched in champagne as an appetizer, both dishes were superb. I had the duck breast as main dish and I thought it was slightly over cooked, my personally preference is to have it somewhere between rare to med rare. My wife had the elk medallion and it was fabulous. As for dessert, we had a slightly higher expectation than what we got, as we just came back from Paris and had some of the best plated dessert.

I went here with my family recently for a formal dinner to celebrate my dad receiving an award from the Lieutenant Governor’s office. My family doesn’t get all gussied up too often, so it was nice to have a reason to put on our best duds!
The food and service here were both very good. We all had appetizers and entrees, the former of which seemed more standout. The entrees were quite tasty but a little lacking in excitement; Half of our table had the crispy sea bass and the other half had the veal. We also ordered the soufflé to share which was really delicious and somewhat entertaining. I had never eaten one before, and was a little horrified when the waiter threw a glob of whipped cream on top and smushed it all up… until I realized that was how it’s supposed to be served!
The service staff were very courteous and helpful. They were very considerate of our needs and questions, and I was also surprised to find that they had a good sense of humour! I expected the place to be much more stuffy than it was.
Overall a very great spot for a special treat!

Everything about our dining experience was fabulous. The wait staff are friendly and knowledgeable, the wine was delicious and the food absolutely amazing. It’s worth it.

I’ve been to La Chaumiere twice now for formal events, so I don’t know what an intimate dining experience would be like here. The restaurant is moderately elegant and food presentation is delightful. I’m glad there’s adequate free parking.
At a Christmas party last night, we were served numerous pastry and skewer hors-d’oeuvres to start. The pastry was quite greasy but certainly was tasty. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the chicken skewers but my spouse thought the steak was excellent and we both really enjoyed the prawns. The white wine chosen for the occasion was just okay and one of the servers somehow poured red into my white wine, which clearly was very embarrassing for him. He promptly brought over a new glass.
Our main dishes included risotto topped with a jumbo prawn, salad and salmon, all of which were excellent. Dessert was a generous portion of crème caramel, which I couldn’t get enough of.
Being that the evening was not rushed, we were okay with the pace of the food, but we were being served from 6:30 to nearly 10pm with long breaks in between courses. Honestly, I’d rather have been done earlier than this but if that’s the culture, then you must embrace it. I consider the regular menu to be pricey and don’t know if I’d make an effort to visit this restaurant otherwise. It’s a great venue for parties but it doesn’t strike me as a place I’d choose to frequent.

I had my wedding reception here last year! We had about under 100 guests.
The whole experience was great and well managed! Staff was attentive, food was good! Venue was excellent! Manager was very super helpful from beginning planning to the finishing touch! They helped us to decorate and arranged everything, so we did not need to worry about anything. On the date of the reception, we just show up beautifully, greet our guests, and celebrate!
Price was acceptablly expensive, but we believe we had our money well spent! And it was a great experience and memory to last forever. I would recommend this restaurant for a dinner for 2 to corporate event to wedding reception!

i enjoyed this experience very much. wonderful service and great food. i will visit again.

I have been here several times. I had my wedding here, I had my 30^th birthday here, I have taken my wife here several times. I have also eaten at every trendy restaurant in Calgary that has opened and closed every 2 years for the last 10. This is basically what you are going to get at La Chaumiere every (I mean every) time:
1. Service — Excellent, you cannot beat it anywhere in Calgary. Very professional but extremely warm and helpful.
2. Décor — Traditional but not dated. It is not a trendy place that will look cool today, but dated tomorrow. It tells you they have been around a long time, and will be around for a long time.
3. Food — Excellent. As a French restaurant, I am not sure if the food is 100% authentic French, but it is exceptionally good every time.
4. Wine — 800 wines in all price ranges, how can you go wrong? The wine selections from Joe are bang on.
5. Price — The best value for food of this quality in Calgary. Main Courses run the $ 20-​$ 35 range, not $ 50+. Right where it should be.
New people to Calgary need to go here and not some trendy place that is all smoke and mirrors. Trust me on this one.