Blue Chair Café

Loved this spot! Definitely going back!
Great vibes, wonderful service and the food was awesome! The décor is very cool as well– love that the salt and pepper shakers are different on every table, the menus are old record cases. Looked like fantastic local art on the walls.
We had the bean dip, which I highly recommend! Just needed a few more chips.
The vegetable lasagna was amazing! The fresh salad with it was so tasty. We also had the bison burger– very delightful. Our friends ordered the salmon which looked incredible as well. Very excited to come back and try to desert menu as well which looked very good.
With live music events most nights it looks like a great set up. You would pay the cover charge in advance to hold your table. The night we went the event was completely sold out. There is light jazz Sunday mornings for brunch, no reservations unless your a group of more than 6. Otherwise it is first come first serve.
There is easily free parking for this venue and I believe a bus stop right there too.

Small but tasty brunch menu, fresh and fairly priced and a feel good atmosphere. The only thing that makes it a ⁴⁄₅ is I wish there was more options without egg for brunch. All other meal menus are perfect :)

Blueberry yogurt pancakes — oh my! That was the sweet deliciousness that hit my taste buds this morning. I was debating between this or the banana bread French toast. I think I would have won either way. This dish had three big fluffy pancakes filled with tons of juicy blueberries with a side of seasonal fruit. I also ordered bacon with it for an extra $ 4. Well worth it to have the salty, crunchy maple flavoured protein with the sweetness of the blueberries. My friend ordered the breakfast sandwich with roasted potatoes. She was mostly pleased with it. Shhh-don’t tell anyone but I stole one of her potatoes — delish. :)
I love that live jazz music plays here and that it accompanied us during our meal today. You can give the musicians a donation at the time of payment of your bill.
Interesting and funky décor. We sat at tall round table. The table part was a wee bit small so there is only room for your plates and cutlery.
The staff is pleasant and the vibe is great. I would definitely like to come back here again.

A hidden gem in Edmonton! Live music on the weekends in the evening as well as at brunch on Sunday morning. The blueberry pancakes and banana bread French toast are to die for!
Don’t expect anything fancy but this unique Café is sure to be a hit. It accommodates both large and small groups.

One poor waitress can really drag a great place down.

I love this little café so much! It’s in a residential area in Edmonton which means FREE AMPLE PARKING. I came here with my mom on a Sunday morning and the café was full, but still enough tables were free that we didn’t have to wait. In a world of online reservations it’s nice to know a place that will always have a table available for you :) My mom ordered the crab cake benny and I had the banana bread French toast. Holy man those lived up to the expectation! The banana bread wasn’t dry at all and it was fairly light. My moms crab cake bennies were so delicious and I was pretty sad she wouldn’t share anymore with me. The only real complaint is that the coffee is lackluster but they offer the option to add Baileys and maybe I need to just do that next time.
The service was so great and they had live music playing during brunch which just suited the ambiance and made our dining experience that much better.
Just a tip– when you go keep some cash on you to leave for the musicians. They pass a envelope around and we had to scrip for something to leave for them. I’ll get you next time guys!

This restaurant/​music venue is a neighourhood gem with its evening patio lanterns and dark walls reminiscent of an outdoor café on a warm summers eve. Casual seating. Fancy coffees with a shot of spirits. My black bean soup hit the spot with chunks of veggies and a little spicy kick! A great deal for $ 6. The live acoustic music most nights is not loud so as not to interfere with good conversation. Great place for a date. There is also a bar counter for those of you going solo. Prices are reasonable and entrees $ 18 to $ 28. However I find that $ 7 for a bottle of Canadian or Kokanee beer is overpriced for this place. Family business with very accommodating staff. Some patrons were well dressed and others casual. I am happy to support this venue.

Came here with my boyfriend and another couple for the first time this Sunday. They were offering a live jazz trio to accompany your Sunday brunch. The atmosphere was cozy and lively which we all really liked. The menu, although small, offers a nice array of fresh and filling meals — we enjoyed ours for the most part. I had the BELTCH sandwich (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce, Tomato with cheese) which was fresh and well made. My boyfriend ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which he didn’t particularly enjoy because too much of everything was loaded on top of the tortillas, which ended up being soggy. The other couple who came with us ordered the crab cake bennies and the banana french toast and they cleared their plates clean with no problem. The service was friendly, albeit a bit slow and attention to detail lacking — our server had to ask for our order twice as she forgot the first time. Wasn’t around to refill coffees at our table and mugs went empty. We didn’t have enough mugs or cutlery at our table so we had to wait for her to return with both. Overall I would recommend this place if you enjoy a lively atmosphere and enjoy live music at the same time! Their live music offerings vary in type and frequency so be sure to check their website beforehand to know what’s available.

Great music as always… thank you to Dave McCann tonight! Wonderful wine options and the cerviche and mushroom crostini was oh so delicious! Our server, Erin, provided a wonderful experience! If you’ve not been here… you need to be;-)

The food is awesome in this place, but it’s the BALANCE that makes it truly incredible — the music is usually at a level where you can sit and listen but still carry on a conversation w/​o yelling over the bass line or percussion. Food is an eclectic mix too — had the Ceviche Peruano, which we had last summer in Lima many times and this stuff was pretty damn authentic! We also tried the Mushroom Crostini which was also amazing — this is probably the best place for live music and great food in the city! (Oh and our server, Clayton, was fun too even though he was pretty fresh and in training and his minder was always watching… ;)

This is a cozy place that should be amazing.
The problem is they have decided to go upscale and it has alienated a lot of previous customers.
Prices of gone up and the menu has changed.
The food is okay and the prices are too high.
I used to go often and rarely go now and have not been this year.
I think there are better places to go in the Edmonton area.

My sister is newly arrived to Edmonton, having transplanted herself here from Vancouver a few weeks ago for a life of academia. I’ve been trying to impress her with the variety of restaurant fare in hopes that she will decide to stay in our venerable city. I decided to take her to the Blue Chair to show her a different neighbourhood of Edmonton although admittedly, I have only been to this establishment once myself.
We enjoyed the vibe of this neighbourhood haunt and were tickled pink that there was live music for brunch — nice touch! The room itself was warm and lent itself to a relaxed, easy-​paced meal which is what Sunday morning is all about! The walls were decorated with interesting folk art and we had attentive service from our waitress. The tofu rancheros I ordered wasn’t spectacular but I’d be willing to come back to try out some of the other options.
Overall, the food was just okay but would definitely see what other fare is available for lunch or dinner!

It’s an artsy, hole-​in-​strip-​mall kind of place that sometimes serves up musical wonders like Bomba and spicy Mexican shrimp, other times sweet soothing acoustic sounds and comforting turkey curry with mango chutney, all quite nice, depending on your mood and taste preferences. Vegan options, nice martinis, old album-​cover menus (my sister’s was Cheap Thrills), cozy room.

Came here for brunch with 3 others and got a table right away. IMO, everything was average at best. The food took a little long to come out and the glasses for water are tiny yet they only offered a refill once. I had the bison burger which was decent. It was tasty but the ciabatta was probably the best part of it as it was soft and fresh.
At the end of the day the wait staff had poor communication as I was definitely surprised when the bill came. The menu states that the burger is served with potatoes. I also wanted a salad as well. Perhaps it was my mistake reading the menu but it was my understanding that the salad would be an extra $ 2 to add. I confirmed this with my server, or at least I thought I did, as did everyone else in my party. It was true I got the salad for $ 2 extra but I didn’t get my potatoes as they charged an extra $ 3.50. Apparently you can’t get the salad with the side of potatoes. This is what we gathered after the server tried to explain but left us even more confused. She basically said she did me favour by not putting me down for the full salad at $ 11, but rather did the substitute for the potatoes and then charged me the side of potatoes. Gee, thanks. Learn how to communicate.

This place continues to impress! I’ve only been here once and last time was incredible. The live jazz was beautiful and today we had a live guitarist that was just amazing.
This time I tried out the banana bread French toast that I tried a bite of last time. WOW! Fantastic! I could barely finish it, there was a lot but I couldn’t stop.
This place has some of the best bacon in this city! Best bacon! I’m telling you — go now! Even if it’s just for bacon.

Cannot go wrong with this place. Possibly THE best salmon burger I’ve ever eaten and their 3 version hummus plate with pita chips is amazing. There’s nothing bad at this place.
Popped in the other day as I was in the neighborhood and needed some meat and greens. Figured they could handle that for me, and as I walked through the doors, saw a completely transformed venue.
Apparently it’s been 4 years since I was to the Blue Chair, but what a difference.
They have music nights every Friday, featuring some local talent or otherwise, so great place for a date night with a couple glasses of wine. They do have a minimum $ 20 on music nights to cover seating, but trust me, not a problem. Just have a meal and enjoy the music.
The reason I popped in though was to check out their paleo options.
I ordered the chipotle Caesar salad and then added chicken breast to it. Wonderfully cooked chicken, fresh off the grill and the chipotle sauce on the salad was awesome.
if i wanted, I’m sure I could have gotten salmon and some greens or even salmon on the salad, so paleo friendly for sure.
The only reason we dont go here on a regular basis is that it’s on the opposite side of town from us and the Blue Plate or Dish is closer.
However, I am often over here during the day and if I’m hungry, I’ll get their meat and greens again any time.

I absolutely love this restaurant and will continue to go as many times as I possibly can for Sunday brunch.
I have been eating here for years and am happy to report that the food is consistently great, the service is wonderful and their live music is always different.
Whenever we eat here it genuinely feels like we are supporting local and I really appreciate that! I have tried all of their eggs bennies and have finally chosen my favourite, which is the crab cake bennies. My fiancé’s favourite is the salmon bennies. I enjoy the crab because it actually tastes real and not process and the spinach is a great compliment to the dish. My least favourite dish was the padthai but that is likely because I have tried real street food padthai and nothing lives up to that! It was a little too vermicelli bowl for me and I would rather go to a Vietnamese restaurant for vermicelli and to Thailand for padthai.
My only recommendation is to the chef, give me more chipotle hollandaise sauce! Other than that I would say this is a great little venue to check out one Sunday afternoon for brunch.

I’ve been to the Blue Chair on two occasions because I was lucky enough to receive a couple of gift cards. I’ll break the review down into the two visits.
First visit, midweek dinner around 6pm. There were a couple of other tables occupied. We went on a night when there wasn’t anyone performing. Ellie was our waitress and was the epitome of a cool hippie all grown up. I really liked her. I love the funky light fixtures of different shapes and colours hanging all over the ceiling, and I love the cool art everywhere, even in the bathroom.
But onto the most important thing, the food. I ordered the turkey curry ($ 17) and Dave had the pad Thai ($ 16). Mine was good, but lacked any spice or real kick. Served with rice and roti, the whole plate was mostly bland with the exception of the mango chutney that came with it. I tried a bit of pad Thai and it wasn’t really my style, but I’ve never really liked any pad Thai I’ve tried, so that’s more my issue.
Second visit, again midweek. No other diners in the restaurant from start to finish. A different, younger waitress. She was ok, but no Ellie. I find it odd when I say thanks to a server (filling up water, etc.) and they say ‘no worries’ ‘no problem’ ‘not a worry’. I wasn’t worried, just saying thanks. You’re welcome will do. This time we both ate the bison burger ($ 15). Mine with salad, his with roasted potatoes. I have to say I was impressed with the size of the salad — it took up half of the plate. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette, but was also sort of bland. I liked the burger at first, but as I was getting through it I liked it a little less. Again it was good and it was probably just a preference thing for me, but there wasn’t much on it condiment-​wise, so by the end all I could taste was pure meat.
I really like the atmosphere at Blue Chair and I think it would be a great place to visit when they have live music, but I felt really disappointed in the food. Everything on the menu sounded great and everything I tasted was just average. I know they’re trying really hard, but I think they could kick it up a notch in the kitchen. The ideas are there but the delivery is sub-​par. Aside from that, I would probably go back to try brunch or if someone invited me out.

I am giving the Blue Chair a 2 because for the food, however for the vibe and music, it definitely deserves a 4 – no, I can’t cut it down the middle because I am writing about the food, not the other stuff.
To put it honestly, it is a great place for wine/​beers (not sure about the drinks), the local Alberta music and folks that come in from other parts of Canada, however, the food — though I noticed a couple of bookshelves of cookbooks – well, based on our culinary experience… the appetizers with drinks are best and the most enjoyable.
For the meal, I ordered the «Table d’Hote» which included the Gumbo and the dish, the «Accidental Tourist». The gumbo was good, a nice little bowl to have on a chilly night (this was back in January 20, 2012 – sorry folks, it’s been a BUSY winter with work and renovations). The «Accidental Tourist» (and yes, the name does conjure up a few images)…not so interesting, at all. It was a chicken enchilada with black beans and rice… done. Nothing to write home about, nor go into detail about. On the other hand, my companion’s Ceviche appetizer was quite good and very fresh tasting and his Vegetarian Pad Thai was good… not as good as the Ceviche, but better than my «Accidental Tourist» for SURE. For dessert, we ordered the «Chocolate Pâté» which was very nice… thank goodness.
One thing that I must note is that their website has changed since I last checked and their menu is MUCH more interesting… for this reason, we’ll go back to upgrade (I hope) the rating I am giving it based on my January outing there :-]
As well, you need to know that if you go and there is music, you must buy a ticket for the music part of the evening when you reserve a table… if not, you HAVE TO LEAVE before the music starts… something we found out when we called for reservations. So, depending on the time you want to go and have dinner, you’ll be told this.

After not being able to get into this place in the evening, we thought we would hit it up for some brunch. I feel I need to have a night time live music party pants evening here to really settle on an opinion buuuuut I am going with two stars for now.
Based on all of these reviews, I really thought we would get along… but alas, meh.
I was PUMPED about the Tofus Rancheros, but meh. The tofu was mushy and flavourless, the beans and mixed veg were nothing special… the overall flavour was just meh. My dining companions ordered the blueberry pancakes were not blown away by them. SYNOPSIS: MEH.
Our server was friendly enough and she kept the coffee and soy milk coming, so that was nice.