Reader's Garden Cafe

We went to the cafe as we heard some great reviews from friends. Everything seemed fine. We did take a while to order because we had to settle the kids down. We received our food and everything looked great. One of our guest had their eggs overcooked and it was handled efficiently and we got our eggs done perfectly. Then half-way through the meal, we found a long piece of hair in our guest meal. She was eating her croquet madam when a long piece of hair was tangled up in her food, in her mouth. It was rather long and she had to literally dig it out of her mouth. To which she completely lost her appetite and we waved a server over to show them the hair. It was just taken away and we felt like it was an extreme bother. They were short staff and nobody came over to acknowledge anything. Obviously at this point, our guest had no interest in a new meal. I saw the server grabbed the hair from our guests hand and placed it on the plate. She walked and placed the plate on the table near the back. After which we proceeded to serve guests rolled up napkins with her unwashed hands. Followed by running plates of food. I understand they may have been busy, wishing hands and sanitizing is an important step. We were also told that nobody else that was cooking had long hair. It seemed they were trying to say that it was our hair. Our guest’s hair was a short layered cut. He sat next to my partner which was a clean cut men’s hair. I sat on the other side of the table which was no where near her meal. I was definitely disappointed with the SERVICE.

We had a lovely last minute brunch at the Reader’s Garden Cafe. The place was very busy but service was friendly and timely. We ordered the Chicken Pot Pie and Smoked Salmon Bagel. The portions were perfect for lunch and the food came out quickly. The Pot Pie was baked fresh, very delicious and had a hint of thyme sneaking through. The Bagel was excellent and the bagel:cheese:salmon ratio was perfect served with a twist of lemon. Finally, the homemade lemonade spritzer was a delightful surprise - not too sweet but not too tart. Will be coming back for sure.

Amazing cafe! You do have to get a server's attention to get seated during peek hours, but they take amazing care of you once you're seated! I recommend reserving a week in advance if you want to guarantee a seat outside on the weekend (small space). There is a bit of noise from traffic below, but not terrible. We ordered the homemade chicken pot pie & soup (split pea featured that day), and lox bagel & salad. The chicken pot pie could use a bit more salt, however, the bagel was very refreshing! The salad is also very fresh, highly recommend. The portions do run on the smaller side for the price in my opinion, but worth it for the atmosphere! Will definitely come back again to try the weekend menu!

Readers Garden Cafe hosted an event for us on the weekend - and it was great. We had 20 or so people plus kids, and found the food to be of excellent quality. Every single appetizer was wonderfully tasty - the balance of flavours for each of them was spot on. Service was attentive and friendly - we were very happy with our event and I highly recommend it for any parties or receptions. 5 star experience for sure and many thanks to Helmut and his team for their patience putting this together for us and their flawless execution. Next up - I really want to give their brunch a try!

While we were wandering the gardens we ran into several parties trying to find the cafe. Signage could be improved, definitely with regard to accessibility. There is an accessible drop off zone, but it is not well marked. The parking marked as accessible is a long walk from the cafe. Take the road if you want accessibility. It is steep, but has no steps. If you take the path by the cafe sign it has many steps and is rugged and uneven.

This garden and cafe are definitely a little hidden gem in Calgary. The garden is absolutely beautiful and the cafe is rustic. We tried the High Tea here and the setup was beautiful. For $45 you get: - 4 sandwiches: egg salad, smoked salmon with cream cheese, asparagus red pepper with goat cheese and brie spinach with some sort of a berry spread - 2 scones with cream and strawberry jam - 2 desserts - cream puff and chocolate cake My only thoughts on the food were that the sandwiches were left out so the bread was noticeably dry. The scones however were chewy and moist. I was a bit disappointed with the selection in the sweets. I think it would have been better if the food wasn't left out/ pre-setup when we arrived. I would like to try the regular menu here and would definitely recommend checking out the garden and cafe!