Amsterdam Rhino

Hung out on the patio with a few friends for food and drinks tonight. The highballs were on special, so I decided to treat myself to a few. Being a girl of small stature, I’m fairly drunk after about two and a half pints.
After 3 doubles, I was mildly buzzed.
I don’t go out to drink at the bar very often, and was very disappointed at the blatant under pouring. I was shockingly sober which was very disappointing.
The food was ok, the service scattered and a bit frantic. With so many places I calgary to go that don’t chintz out on the drinks, I doubt I’ll be back anytime soon.

Nice bar and sitting area, not very big dance floor. Better for a casual night of drinks with some close friends and maybe a little dancing than a party night

Oh Amsterdam. You are kind of fail. Your location is great. Even the layout isn’t too bad.
But alas, service was inattentive and «short at best». The whole idea of getting people to wander around to read menus on chalk boards (some of which repeat, others that don’t) is awkward and weird. And the food itself… I’m curious what your monthly salt budget it’s because you use a ton of it (and for the record, I like salt. Just not that much). My fries also were weirdly half burnt, as were my dining companion’s. The waitress saw this, looked at them, then walked away.
Downstairs washrooms: Ghetto. Apparently there were upstairs ones that are more «appropriate» (word actually used by an employee) but we hadn’t seen them.
I’d maybe come back if I had to because others wanted to. But given the choices in the area, why bother?

I had high hopes for Amsterdam Rhino, as I’d been wanting to stop by for years. Unfortunately, one visit last week was enough.
The service was pretty slow, the late afternoon music volume was too loud, I didn’t like the concept of walking around to read the food menus, and I thought some of the food was overpriced. I wasn’t impressed that I was charged well over $ 3 for yam fries, meaning that my small-​med sized sandwich alone was over $ 13. Ridiculous for pub fare such as this.
It sounds terrible, but my fries looked like a bowl of worms that died in a fire. The fries were hanging limp over the side of the bowl and they were black all over. Some of the fries at the bottom were intact but I was stunned when the food was placed in front of me. The only thing I appreciated was the chicken sandwich with brie and cranberry spread.
The women’s restroom in the basement is a tell-​tale sign that I’m probably too old to hang out here on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s a blur of stainless steel and mirrors with minimal décor. You know there’s a disaster waiting to happen.
I do like the atmosphere so if I had to return, it would be for a weekday pint only.

This place used to be 4 stars, but as of spring 2011 it has been 1 star.
I could go on with a long rant but instead I will just say the other 1 star reviews say it best. I too have a $ 25 gift certificate that I can’t bother to use because the service at this place was so so so bad and pissed me off that I NEVER want to go back.
I wrote the management a long 1 page letter explaining how awesome this place was and how it is going down hill, no one followed up. The management and owners just don’t care.

I’m giving the Rhino 4 stars only because I go there strictly in a bar/​dance club capacity. I don’t think I’d bother with the food. So this review is basically all about the bar that Rhino becomes once the kitchen closes.
If and when I go to Rhino, nine times out of ten it’s on a Saturday. I like the music better on Saturdays, and the crowd seems to be 25+. This is not to say they play my favorite kind of music, but when you’ve had a few drinks and all you want to do is dance, it definitely does the job, and I’m getting a little old for some other bars that have an 18 — 24 crowd.
On a good Saturday, the place is packed. However I went to Rhino this past Friday (before the long weekend) and the entire customer base must have been out of town, because the place was DEAD! But this did allow us to occupy the nice open-​top patio area where the fire pit is, which was nice since it was a warm night. Not sure if Fridays are usually slow for them, or if the long weekend messed up their mojo.
The bar is pretty long, so it’s usually not too difficult to squeeze your way in to get a shot or a vodka soda and then head back to the dance floor. The music on Saturdays usually puts everyone into a pretty good mood because there are a lot of songs from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s being played, so the 25+ers sing along. But never fear, there are a lot of contemporary songs in the mix as well. The vibe is generally pretty positive and relaxed.
So if you’re too old to hang out with the 18 crowd, and you want to hear some familiar tunes you can sing along to while dancing your little drunk heart out with your friends, this is the place.

Came here for a late evening drink /​apps and sat in the open roof patio area.
I liked the atmosphere a lot… great place to chill and have some drinks.
Service was ok. Had the bucket of bacon which sounds great, but it was just a bucket of bacon with a side of maple syrup… (not super yummy gourmet bacon or anything! hehe).
Had their Tues night special drink some smashed peach (?) mint sugar something concoction and it was good! :)
It’s attached to district and I think they serve the same menu items.

Is zero a possible rating?
After the last visit to the District/​Rhino we won’t ever be back even after the manager gave us a $ 50 gift certificate.
We called earlier in the week to place a reservation. When we arrived no reservation existed. That was ok as there was room for us to sit. After some investigation they said #1) we didn’t respond to the supposed call-​back to the reservation (which we didn’t know would happen) and #2) they wrote in the reservation for the previous day.
It look at least 10 minutes for the waitress to come by for our drink order. It was not extraordinarily busy at this time. After receiving our drinks we placed appetizer orders. Over half the table ordered entrees. Nearly 25 minutes later the rest of the table ordered entrees. The appetizers never arrived. Those who ordered their entrees second received food 10 minutes before the rest of the table.
Some of the entrees were burgers which included sides. One of the options offered for the side was yam fries. We specifically asked if there was an extra charge for yam fries and the answer was no. The yam fries came out to us cold and burnt. We were charged an outrageous $ 3.50 for the yam fries.
The staff, kitchen and management represented the establishment very poorly. I don’t know how they can remain in business. I’ve had some bad experiences at restaurants and can excuse a mistake here or there but this one takes the cake.

Ah, the Rhino, a place I used to go much more often, and need to return to far more often.
Wednesday Wings with a group of friends is what brought on this review…
A few of us headed for wings, found it not too busy about 8PM, which is a little shocking for wing night in my mind. Now, pardon the brief review but, our server was slightly overwhelmed (they were a little understaffed… about two servers short, at least…) and as such missed the fourth friend of ours joining the table, for about 20 minutes.
As for the wings? The general consensus at the table was: very good, especially for wing night. The only gripe? My honey-​garlic wings were a little too much honey, not enough garlic. I consider honey-​garlic wings a staple flavor, right alongside hot wings, so I was more than a little disappointed.
The manager (Craig, Chris, something? I forget, completely, he remembers John though!) made up the slow service in typical pub style, with a round of drinks, which is always suitable when out for wings! I would return, though I would probably not order honey-​garlic in future.

We headed to Amerstdam Rhino for drinks after work. We had 2 large tables of people. Food and drink were great but there was a LOT of time spent waiting around to order a drink and for that drink to arrive. We ordered a bottle of wine (I know, I know… it’s a beer place but still). It took over 25 minutes to arrive because they couldn’t find the keys to the wine cellar. After all that time, she came back and said «Oh…we don’t have that one» so we had to start over from square 1. Thankfully the second bottle didn’t take quite that long to arrive.
Overall the night was okay but I could only stay for a little while so most of that time ended up being without a drink.

There’s good and bad about the Rhino for lunch.
On the good side:
— NO problem finding a table… on the South side of 9^th Ave means it’s not so busy and at the Rhino it’s practically empty!
— Really great courtyard patio that you’d never know about unless you knew it was there (in the former Fox’n Firkin spot).
— Pints from the micro brewery next door… and where else can you legitimately order ‘A Big Boner’?? …why they call their litre beer a Big Boner I’ll never know… and I giggle when I order one…
On the Sad It’s Not Better side:
— They’re trying to do a ‘smoke house’ thing but they are not at the level of Palomino… all their meats end up being pretty much the same from chicken to beef to pork… tender ought not to mean mushy. I’m sure they’ll eventually figure it out but their food’s just not there yet.
— Although I like the beer selection… and I know this is a silly thing to take issue with… I don’t like drinking out of jars. Surely they can invest in some pint glasses.
Bottom line: for a pub lunch, the Rhino has lots of potential but it needs work.

I’ve had reasonable experiences here before but after today’s lunchtime fiasco, I don’t think I’ll be back.
Three of us decided to hit the Rhino for lunch. It wasn’t especially busy and we were able to find a table on the patio but moved inside after about 20 minutes as the bugs were bothersome.
Our waitress took our food order within 10 minutes of us arriving. We didn’t order anything too crazy — the special (sandwich), a burger, and a small order of poutine. We were patient as there was a large table that ordered before we did.
However, after about 50 minutes with no explanation and no food, we asked our server how much longer we could expect to wait. She came back and informed us that our food would be there «soon». I asked for clarification — had our order even been started? She told me that she didn’t know what happened to the chit but that the kitchen can rush these things out in minutes.
15 – 20 minutes after that our food finally arrived without apology.
I’m not bothered by the fact that a mistake happened, these things happen from time to time. What bothers me the most was her complete lack of caring whether we got our food or not, her attitude when we asked her what was going on, and the fact that she didn’t apologize. In any situation, I can roll with the punches as long as my expectations are managed.
After our food arrived, she did the obligatory quality check with a snarky «Was it worth the wait?» My colleague replied that it wasn’t, but it was clear our server had more important people to chat with, namely her own colleague.
The manager came over and gave us 20% off our bill and a card for a free pound of wings on our «next visit». Our credit card sat on the table for an extra 10 minutes before our server returned to process payment.
If you’re a sadist who likes unpredictable service and have excellent fasting blood glucose levels, then the Rhino will not disappoint. However, if you prefer the pleasant yet predictable formula of a workday lunch with good food and good service, you may wish to eat at your desk.

This is seriously my favorite place to go and dance. I have gone here both as a club and restaurant.
As a restaurant, its really just the menus from The District which is right beside the Rhino. The food was okay, just a little too fancy for me, I’m a pretty simple kind of girl, but if you like fancy sauces on your food, you’ll really enjoyed it. We were out for a birthday so werent in any rush so for time wise, I cant really judge. they food got to me fast enough that I didn’t feel like I wanted to complain. Since I was there when it was a restaurant I didn’t have to pay any cover to get in, so if you plan on come here for the nightlife, you should consider having dinner first, then there is no line or cover.
As a club, this is defiantly my first choice of all the venues in Calgary. The cover is only $ 5 (even during Stampede) and if your there before 11, there is never a line. Even when there is a line, its never long and doesn’t take too long to get through. It can get pretty busy there, but they do have 2 floors (best idea ever) that play 2 different styles of music. Upstairs is always mainstream with a mix of old school hip hop and dance jams. Downstairs is always electro/​dubstep mixes, (for those who were fans of The Warehouse, this is a good replacement) drinks are crazy overprices ($ 5.75 for a highball) and never feel watered down. The staff is always nice when I go there, bouncers, waitresses, bus boys, all of them. The girls never seem to snooty or overly done up like at other clubs.
I always recommend the Rhino as a venue for people to have a good time, as I always do.

Nice venue for events. Can’t say much for friday and saturday nights since I’m not hip and happening enough to ever have found myself in this place. I mostly find myself going to Broken City next door.
I didn’t get to order from their menu, but had a chance to try the catered food offered. From what I could remember, there was a cheese platter, chicken spring rolls, and bacon wrapped shrimp. I’m not usually impressed with catered food since it always taste like week-​old leftovers to me.
They also have a nice but simple stage setup. I like how it is presented to the Rhino’s open room, I didn’t have to elbow too many kidneys to see what was going on stage.

In a heroic attempt to get attention from the bartender on a thursday night (his washing of glasses was far more important than serving a human), I loaded Solitaire, Notepad, and Norton on the little Point of Sale Touch Screen thing they have at the bar. He lost it on me. I lost it on him and lectured him on customer service. He kept losing it on me. I kept lecturing him. I got my tab and asked him how much I should tip him. He said the machine costs $ 800. I tell him that there is nothing I can do on the software end that would cause the machine to be physically damaged. He sicks the bouncer on me. Bouncer asks what’s up. We both tell him. He grins, shakes his head, and walks away. I leave a nice fat «0» on the tab, and write «a penny saved is a penny earned» on the bottom of the slip for our bartender. We walk out, he yells something, we thank the bouncer for being awesome (+1 star).
Oh, and my jacket got stolen from here.
Lounge fail. This place has gone to shit. Well, actually, the service here has always sucked.

O man. I’m SO torn over this place. I don’t have too much to say… it’s not a very nice place– kinda like a big dance hall. sticky sticky floor.
I give this place 3 stars because i LOVED the DJ and the music. LOVED it. However. the crowd is soo young, questionable if the majority of the patrons are even of legal age. It made me feel really old! Did I mention the DJ was amazing? I felt he was under-​appreciated!
As always, I needed to be extremely drunk to enjoy this place. I’d consider going again with a big group of friends, drunk and in the mood to dance.
I believe there’s a house music room downstairs — I didn’t spend any time there.
O. and there doesn’t seem to be much of a dress code at all… wear flats — you’ll have more fun.

Ok. First time at at Rhino. I will make it easy for you
1: DJ main level. Good. Played alot of vintage 70,80,90 dance music with obvious club back beat.
2: Service. Efficient but unfriendly
3: Prices. Outrageous. I was drinking Appleton and Coke. $ 11 is outrages and is very typical Calgary style. No one knows anything about Appleton and that it is as cheap as any other dark rum. FAIL, FAIL, FAIL
4: Patrons. Nasty and stupid !!! Younger stupid crowd with woman looking for action and guys dancing like they don’t know how to dance. This is very Calgary and hasn’t changed over the years. Guys Hi Five’ing and falling over drunk and making themselves look like idiots. Some other guys pretending that they are pimps or in a gang. They will bump into you and not even break stride or look at you. Come on Calgary grow up
5: Venue. What a nasty dump. The name sounds like a cool club but it really just is the Fox and Firkin with a new name and a fresh coat of paint. Very ugly. I can’t believe they cover the pool tables with wooden boxes
Overall this dump is a huge failure and if I’m going to pay $ 11 a drink then I better be at a club in South Beach.
FAILFAILFAIL

I checked out this place on Friday night and I gotta say, overall, it was a good time. Here are the Coles Notes for your reading pleasure:
The Good:
— Located right downtown Calgary
— Tons of street parking around
— Attached to District — so you can decide if you want to do the dinner thang or the pub thang
— Starts out as a pub, turns into a dance club
— Serve a mean poutine and they let you customize it to your palate
— Staff is friendly, fun and approachable (the gentlemen that work here took care of grabbing enough chairs and tables for our party throughout the night)
— On-​site DJ spins tracks once the pub transforms into a club
— Great music! They played old-​skool tracks all night long!
The Bad:
— What’s with the crowd here? I felt like the oldest person here and I’m *not* old. Seriously — it felt like Spring Fling or After Grad… I swear the crowd was between 15 – 17 yrs of age.
— The DJ was spinning great tracks, but within an hour and a half, he was already repeating songs! Come on man! They came out with more tracks in the 80s and 90s than just the 12 you already played!
— The place got packed very quickly. We went from being the only ones on the dance floor, to being surrounded and crowded by the pre-​teen crowd
— The washrooms are all the way at the front, and down the stairs. It made me feel like I was going into the basement to pee. Dingy and creepy — not cool!
Overall, a cool place to meet up with folk for drinks and a great place to START the night off dancing. But be forewarned, once all the KIDS pile into this place, it’ll be due time to get your groove on elsewhere.

The Amsterdam Rhino quickly rose to prominence among Calgary’s classy but younger generation. It is a quiet lounge in the early evening that offers very nice ambiance that transforms into a dance bar/​lounge after 9 (on weekends, anyways!). The drinks are delicious, the cocktails especially are very tasty and they have a good selection of beer. They also have some of Calgary’s better DJs spinning upstairs.
Even when the Rhino moves into Dance Bar territory, it never loses the low-​key lounge vibe. It definitely fills a hole in Calgary. It is a fun place to hang out and also a fun place to dance. It is classy enough to dress up for, but you don’t see too much cleavage or leg because it isn’t much of a meat market. The lack of game means that douchebags are minimized too! A major plus.
If you arrive early, you have time to chill and pre-​drink and watch the lounge come alive. If you come later, do expect a small line and to have to pay (minimal) cover. The Rhino usually gets packed by midnight, but has enough space to avoid that Sardine feeling. The different music upstairs and downstairs is really fun too. It is nice to have that selection.
In the summer, the patio is nice but blocked off from the street. So no people watching, but it is a great place to enjoy a nice day. I like the ambiance and the service of the Rhino, and I enjoy the crowd that fills the place. It aims for class and high-​end, and gets the right mix in all areas. One of my favourite bar/​lounge/​dance places in Calgary.

One of my fav. weekend hangouts. The line is usually short and the crowd is generally alright. On the main floor they’ll have a live band or DJ laying down some good beats. Also on the main floor is a large patio, great to cool off on when escaping form the packed dance floor.
Downstairs is some great techno and electronic DJ’s. Its hard to miss this since the bathrooms are downstairs also.