Grizzly House in Banff, Canada

Melting Pot... MOVE ASIDE! Welcome Grizzly House!  Yes... I actually found a fondue place that I enjoy more than the Melting Pot... exciting!!!

 

Ah hem... anyways, we had their 4 course-meal, which included a soup or salad, an appetizer, the main course, and dessert (what else were you expecting!?).  For the appetizer, we had a choice between the Neuchatel fondue or the Bagna Cauda (vegetable fondue).  The Neuchatel was basically cheese, wine, and Kirsch.  I remember gouda being one of the cheeses mixed in and I forget the rest.  Anyways... the Neuchatel was very tasty.  The bread that was served tasted like it was day-old-bread; however, when it was dipped in cheese... the bread could of had mold on it and it would have still tasted great. Yes, I thought it was just that good!  Just a caution tho, the cheese on the bottom will burn (see photo).  

For our main entree, we ordered their Original Fondue Dinner, which was beef and chicken.  They had 6 different types of combos to choose from: the Original, Beef and Lobster, Beef and Prawn, Beef and Scallop, Hunter Fondue (Buffalo, Wild Boar and Venison), and Exotic Fondue (Shark, Alligator, Rattlesnake, Ostrich, Buffalo, and Venison).  

 So we "played it safe" by ordering the Original.  What's awesome about this place is how our meats were cooked.  The server confused me when he placed a hot granite slab in the middle of our table.  Frankly, I was expecting a soup/fondue pot since we're at a fondue joint; however, the slab of granite was interesting.  It reminded me of Korean BBQ.  Anyways, the server told us that the granite was heated up to 500 degrees so it will safely cook the meat.  He also gave us two small containers of garlic butter to help us cook.  O.M.G. The garlic butter was amazing!  I basically used it all!  

Grizzly House provided us with five dipping sauces for our meats: teriyaki, baked potato, sun-dried tomato, garlic-herb, and thousand island.  Out of the 5 dipping sauce, the baked potato was the BEST!  It even had bacon bits mixed in it!  Yummm...  The runner up was the garlic-herb sauce.   The one sauce I didn't like was the teriyaki sauce. It didn't even taste like teriyaki!  I digress.  

So... for dessert... it was TOBLERONE CHOCOLATE FONDUE! O...M...G... I was in heaven :) This fabulous chocolate fondue was served in a copper pot.   It also came with fruits and hazelnut chocolate wafers.  It was soooooo good!  The only thing I was sad about was how small the fondue pot was!  Even then, we weren't able to finish all the chocolate.  After the fruits and wafers ran out... I was tempted to pour the rest of the chocolate in my mouth.  However, if I had done that... I think my boyfriend would have disowned me.

Overall, I have to say the 4-course meal was superb! The cost of it tho... one could say it wasn't really worth it because we didn't get a lot of meat (and that "one" was my boyfriend).  However, I thought the experience was fun and worth it.  

The table where we sat at had a view of outside, which was gorgeous!  Mountains and snow... What was also fun at our table was the phone.  During the middle of dinner, the phone rang right behind me.  So for fun, I answered.  It was a guest calling from either the waiting area or another table!  They asked about our meal and what we would recommend them to drink.  Before I hung up with the stranger, they thanked me for answering.  I assume other guests ignored their call so I was happy that I picked up that phone.  I actually wanted to call a random table, but there were no dials to push and I gave up trying to figure out how to dial out.  

Anyways, the decor of this place did not match the prices on their menu.  Grizzly House reminds me of a log cabin.  It looks like a place for you to escape the snow and warm up.  There were random lava lamps in the dining area and it just looked a bit random.  The server we had was a jerk.  That was also the first thing I wrote on my notes about this place so service also did not match their pricing.  

One last thing... with regards to finding the ladies room...  I was walking down what I thought was a hallway to the restrooms and I ended up interrupting this couple in a private table.  It looked like a table where you have to call ahead and book because it was completely separate from the rest of the dining area.  Needless to say, I apologized for interrupting and ran off to find the ladies room.  So... be careful when you venture off because you might awkwardly disturb a date.  

So if you're ever in Banff (and I do recommend going there to snowboard/ski... the town is beautiful), you must visit this spot!  Yes, it is pricy, but I think the overall experience I had here was worth it.