Stages Kitchen & Bar

These people know what their doing when comes to food. I had several dishes off their appetizer menu and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.
Let’s start with delicious deep fried crab. It was really light and crispy and had a perfect sauce paired with it. A fantastic appetizer.
My favorite dish was a cheesy bread with an also cheesy tomato dip. It was so bursting with different flavors that every bite has something new and delicious to it.
For dessert, try the apple pie bites! They pack all the love and flavor of home cooking into a wonderful little bite sized dessert. Only issue is there’s no way you can share it because it is too good.
All in all, a great experience with the new menu at Stages Restaurant. And worst case, if you’re still hungry, head over to the buffet at the dinner theater!

I know I have only been here for a Unilocal event, but even then, it’s been a great experience, both food and service wise. Everyone on the team is just so outgoing, friendly, eager to help, and really makes the experience. The samples of food I have had the pleasure to try, have me wanting to come back to order off the menu. You don’t think you’d get great food in hotel, but this one is definitely a cut above! I would recommend Stages to everyone I know!

ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!
I just did my review of another hotel restaurant and I’ll say the same thing here… when I hear ‘hotel restaurant’ I think diner (a la Denny’s) or dive bar.
Stages is neither. Stages is awesome.
I went for an event so was not privy to the entire menu and restaurant experience but my visit left me wanting to return for the full package.
I sampled drinks and I sampled food and they were all yum.
Additionally the place is beautiful. Really well laid out with an emphasis on a comfy, cozy dining room. Its a space that really encourages socializing. I could see myself here talking shop with coworkers over dinner just as easily as I could be sitting on a bar stool getting drunk and eating appies with my girlfriends.
I’ll definitely be back.

UPDATE:
When you hear «menu launch» you automatically assume that it’s coming from a stand alone restaurant. Not from a restaurant nestled in a beautiful hotel. But this is exactly what I got to experience. Their new winter menu items are pretty tasty.
I got to try a number of dishes serve in bite-​sized format but the one that has stolen my soul and has me wanting more is the Southern Sea Dogs. OMFG! Kentucky fried haddock, nestled in a warm soft dinner roll topped with pico de gallo and a whiskey bacon mayo. Mindblown.
The fry on the haddock was perfection. It has an amazing crisp and a bit of heat. The additional ingredients were perfectly balanced with the use of a dinner roll. I will be coming back for a full size offering of this delectable dish.
On a last note, the party to kick off the event was fantastic. Jennie, DoubleTree Hilton and the Chef of Stages did a great job with the hospitality. We were welcomed with open arms and pretty much told to have a great time. Just what you would expect from a class-​act Hotel. Their restaurant was packed with hotel guests and CFR fans that blew me away. This Hotel has become a winner in my books.

Curses!
It’s no fun writing an update which basically says the exact same thing as the previous review. It’s easy to be great one time, but Stages Kitchen continues to knock the socks off this reviewer.
Great Parking, super friendly staff and amazing dishes… wow. If you live near here, check this fun and amazing place out!

I had made a reservation here for my birthday, my family was coming to town for the night and there were 6 of us going.
This restaurant is located in the front entrance of the Mayfield hotel. It’s a beautiful open concept that is nicely spread out so you don’t feel cramped in and like you’re dining with the table next to you. They placed us in a booth which was a bit crowded, I would have preferred chairs. The thing we loved about this place is how quiet it is. It’s very hard nowadays to find a place that’s not loud and the music is blasting. It was prefect to get together and be able to converse.
The menu is great, so many choices it was hard to choose. The drink menu is great also. All the classic favorites and a few craft beers on tap. I had chosen the chicken waffles with side salad. The food took a little long to come out considering it wasn’t very busy but our server was great in coming by to make sure our drinks were full. The food was delicious! Nobody had any complaints on their meals. The chicken waffles was presented as a sandwich, something I had never seen before. Absolutely fantastic. A warning when ordering the extra sides, we had ordered the asparagus side and it was a very large portion. Great if you want to share but too much for one person. We ordered a couple desserts all of which were great, again very generous portions so you may want to share.
At the end our waitress advised that because it was the exact day of my birthday my entire meal was complimentary! It was a wonderful surprise! Can’t wait to go back and try the other delicious options. Thank you stages for making my birthday that much more awesome!

It will do the job. Actually pretty good for a hotel restaurant. Service is good and menu is surprisingly diverse. I have the beet and goat cheese salad, salmon nuggets, caesar salad, and veggie pizza. All good for a a hotel bar but nothing special. Maybe kudos for having such a selection. Beer, wine selection was good too.
Would come hang out here again — even if just for drink.

We loved the previous restaurant in the Mayfield Inn prior to becoming Doubletree, so we thought we would try Stages.
They offer a lunch buffet, which has a different theme everyday, e.g. Indian, Mexican, etc and an actual menu.
We normally get the buffet which is generally good, and the bread pudding is always fantastic. You can usually find a couple things out of each buffet that will tickle your fancy, but if you aren’t into a certain kind of food, the salad bar, soup, and bread sticks with the hefty dessert platter.
I tries something on the menu this time around, the chicken club sandwich on foccacia with a side salad. The portion was generous and the flavour wonderful.
Service is always very good and you get a giant bottle of water of your choice. Prices are fairly reasonable as well and the buffet often has a dish where you have a chef making food right in front of you, e.g. pasta or chicken fried rice.
All in all, this is a great place with usually good parking and great service.

For a nice restaurant/​pub as part of the Doubletree by Hilton hotel, I was pleasantly surprised with how good the food was here.
Started with Apple Cider BBQ chicken wings, they give a mountain of nice, meaty wings that tastes great. Main course was a Prime Rib Beef Burger, it was good but comparable to any other restaurant. For dessert, I got the Vanilla Bourbon Cheesecake. It was fantastic! It was deliciously mild on the cheese taste and the texture & taste reminded me of a whipped cream. I could have had two or even three of these.
This place is worth a try and would go again.

I’ll admit that I’ve only ever been here once, and it was for a special event, but the chairs were comfortable, the servers were super friendly in a good way and the food was rather delicious! I loved the thin crust margherita pizza (and the pulled pork pizza slice I tried was good too). The Asian chicken salad in a wonton cone was also super delicious!
When it comes to hotel spaces for entertaining, this was a rather nice one — it’s only too bad that there isn’t more frequent transit to this location. That said there is ample parking, and this is in a hotel so there’s that as well. I’m glad they hosted us for such a great special event.

Wow. Plus wow. I had no idea how great this place would be… I did not expect the food to be this superb. outstanding service. Delicious food. Outsanding winter menu that truly represents canadian food.
I attended the winter menu launch party which was a really an outsanding event. It was executed perfectly and had really showcased the new winter menu.
It was mostly standing room only but theres was booth seating as well. There were a total of 10 stations with food and drinks matched to each dish. But if you came earlier enough, food was brought to each table. Which resulting in a large smorgsbord of food and drinks filling up the table. Food was plenty and came frequently so I always had something to enjoy. The cucumber mojito was a great starter drink. But the signature ceasers were really good. You could taste the freshness of the tomato juice and lime. It was spicer than most ceasers and really had an awesome kick. I will order these everytime I come back here. I also throughly enjoyed the peach bellini.
There was ample oppurtunity to try many items from the menu. A pulled pork slider was good, basa fish tacos were crispy and had yummy fresh ingredients that were refreshing, chicken stirfry noodles were actually really authentic tasting (im asian-​so im super picky) and actually on par with chinese hawker food ive had in hong kong or singapore. Also I had some amazing pizza here… its a must order when I come back. Its a elk cured meat with figs… yum. it was an amazing dish and was paired so perfectly with a red wine that highlighted the sweetness of the figs and the saltiness of the elk. Highly recomended for sure. A dish that represents the uniqueness of food in alberta! The other pizzas we tried were the italian sausage and a pesto cheese. Both were very tasty and similar to pizzas in rome with minimal ingredients and a crispy crust: but this did not comprimise the flavour. Another highlight for me was the beef brisket in a saskatoon berry compote. It was tender juicy and extremely tasty. Everyone who tried them really enjoyed them. A must order again for when I come back.
I also tried the butter chicken which was disappointing to me bc of its lack of spiceness to it which made it kind of boring. But I guess it was a big event and mildness would be more accomadating for most people. It was good but it just was lack lustre when combined with the jasmine rice and naan bread.
For dessert I tried the poached cheescake which was spectacular! I actually despise cheesecake bc it ruins cheese for me. But this… it was a whole new level of cheesecake. It was creamy and soft like a whipped cheese. It was delicatly sweet and had mostly a creamy cheese flavour. I believe it has redifined cheesecake for me! I will have to come here just for this to order for takeout. Its that good. Its actually more cheese than cake. And its so mouthwatering tasty that it has topped my list for my favorite dessert in the edmonton area. You must try it to understand!!! Words dont do it justice.
Overall the new menu at stages in doubletree hotel beside mayfield dinner theatre is suprisingly delicous. The dishes are so good that they replicate dishes ive had in hong kong, mexico, and have redefined some comfort foods for me. The chef should be proud of their menu and im sure it will become a crowd pleaser!
Mustrys are: beef brisket in berry compote, fig and elk cured meat pizza and the poached cheesecake! Every bite wont disappoint you. I promise. Ill be back! And I must say the servers are extremely attentive and friendly. And knew exactly what I wanted or needed without asking. Dirty dishes were removed promptly and drinks and food came at the best pace possible. Kudos to stages for completly impressing me. Service is comparable to michelin restaurants in big cities like paris, rome or la. If you are in the west end of edmonton head here. Food is great!

Stages Kitchen & Bar in the DoubleTree by Hilton (formerly the Mayfield Inn) was kind enough to invite some Unilocalers to the unveiling of their new Winter Menu last night.
There were some definite high points and a few minor lows.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Jessica’s smiling face. She gave us an overview of what we would be sampling throughout the evening and apologized that they were not quite ready for us to head in yet (we were 15 minutes early, so she definitely had nothing to apologize for!).
Kristin K. and I were the first ones to arrive, and we wasted no time hitting the bar to try out their new cocktails. I started with the Pomegranate Cucumber Mojito. I’m really not a big fan of mojitos, but I had to give it a shot. The taste over all was quite nice, but not something I would order.
Once we had our drinks, the hors d’oeuvres started circulating. First thing we tried was the Tuna Tataki. The fried wonton it was served on was perfectly crispy and I was suprised at how much I liked the tuna.
The new menu items were being prepared fresh at stations set up around the room. The three stations were: Crispy Noodle Stir Fry, Bombay Butter Chicken, and assorted desserts.
We went for the stir fry first. I really enjoyed it… the chicked was cooked perfectly and the veggies were crispy. Sadly, if the noodles sit for more than 2 minutes, they get a little soft, so they might want to reconsider the name.
The Butter Chicken was… well, it was good, but quite underwhelming. I really detected no spice at all, although again, the chicken was cooked absolutely perfectly. Also, disappointingly, the naan bread was not cooked in house and was pretty lackluster.
The other new item that we were supposed to give feedback on was the thin crust pizza, but that wasn’t available at a station, instead was circulated like the hors d’oeuvres. Sadly, it took quite a while for any pizza to make it to our table, and we ended up having to chase some down. I understand the concept of the more traditional pizzas — light on the sauce and cheese, letting the flavours shine through… but I wasn’t a huge fan of the pizzas personally. I thought they lacked the necessary flavours, and the crusts were just too crispy.
Other items that were not new to the menu, but we were able to try: Pulled Pork Sliders, Basa Fish Tacos, and Beef Shortribs with a Saskatoon Berry sauce. I’m sure there was more… but honestly, once that short rib came out, all other food was lost on me. This was absolutely the highlight for me. I will 100% be back to Stages to order this dish.
The other new cocktail that I tried was the Mandarin Sting. AMAZING! Citrus Vodka, orange juice, lemon juice, cranberry juice, a little simple syrup and a little slice of a cerrano pepper! I was blown away by this drink.
They circulated a couple of other drinks, that were not new. Their signature ceasar, which I was not a fan of at all (and ceasar’s are my go-​to drink). It seemed watered down. The other that I tried was the peach Bellini, which to me tasted a little like carbonated Boones.
Overall, this was a great event. The staff were extremely open to our feedback and seemed genuinely interested in what we thought.

Who knew a restaurant in a hotel in the west end of edmonton could have such amazing food and service! The restaurant is just off the hotel lobby and definitely does not have a very «hotel» feel. Everyone is very welcoming and service is spectacular. Not to mention the food is to die for!
They have ridiculously tasty thin crust pizzas which I think are wood oven baked. I got the pleasure of trying their pizzas, butter chicken, crispy noodles with veggies, and delightful desserts along with some amazing cocktails! They have a really refreshing pomegranate cucumber mojito! Pretty much any drink the bartender whipped up was just as delicious as beautiful.
The service was top notch as well. Servers were attentive and eager to meet your needs as well as being very knowledgeable about the different dishes they were serving. It was a wonderful evening overall and I will definitely be back soon!

My wife and I went to Stages one night for drinks and a light meal. We sat at our table for quite a while before someone approached us to take our order. If it was busy, I could understand not being served right away but it was a weeknight and pretty dead. The bartender, apparently noticing that the waitress was ignoring us, came over to our table to take our order. The waitress did finally make an appearance at our table later on. She looked a little confused when we told her that we had already given our order to the bartender.
They were having a special that night: Yellowhead beer and a beef slider for $ 6. I ordered that. I had never tasted Yellowhead before that. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have ordered it if it hadn’t been part of the special just because I was unfamiliar with it. Good on Stages for incorporating a local product into their specials. I’ve had Yellowhead beer again since that night. Great stuff. The burger was good – a bit too fufu for my taste. I like burgers/​sliders greasy, grilled, and fat – pub style. If you’re into gourmet-​style burgers, you’ll probably enjoy the Stages sliders. I never understood why people will take pub food and try to dress it up as something fit for fine dining. But I recognize that’s just my preference. I ordered a rum-​and-​coke to top it off. Oddly enough this was also from the bartender when she came over to ask how our food was. I guess we were personae non gratae to the waitress. When she brought the drink she also brought a small glass of cranberry juice, just to spice it up. The cranberry juice didn’t do anything for me but it was cool she brought it.
We also went to Stages for breakfast shortly after that. It is required to wait to be seated during the breakfast hours. That wouldn’t be a problem if there was actually someone there to seat us. We waited around for a few minutes before we finally just seated ourselves. The breakfast is buffet-​style featuring everything you would expect (bacon, eggs, ham, muffins, pancakes, fruit, etc) After we started eating I noticed that there were now two people working the entrance to the restaurant. They went from having no one there to having two people. Whatever. The food was very good at breakfast time. I would definitely go back again for breakfast.
Overall, the food is good at Stages but service was inattentive both times we went so that brings them down to three stars. I will say that the bartender was awesome the night we went for drinks. If it wasn’t for her we probably would have just left.

I’ve eaten at Stages a few times and the food is excellent. The first time was on a Monday evening where the special was pint of Yellowhead beer and beef slider for $ 6. We ordered that and also a colourful drink for me. The drink was sweet and good and wish I could remember the name of it. There was a little bit of confusion with the server and bartender who was serving us and with regards to our order but everything turned out ok.
The next visit was for their breakfast buffet. It is one of the best in the city. It’s spacious and lots of room for people to walk, look, and get their food. The hot breakfast food was the staples of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and ham. You could also get a made to order omelette but there wasn’t anyone working it when I first went. The ham was slightly sweet and very good.
In addition to the hot food, there was a large selection of sweet baked goods, cereal, yogurt, fruit, and more foods that I can’t recall. So much variety presented in an appealing way and clean. There’s juice to help yourself to.
Again, the only glitch was the service. There was no hostess when we arrived so we seated ourselves to a booth and went to the buffet. When we got back we saw a hostess but the server took a bit of time before we knew who it was and to arrive at our table. She took our drink orders and brought out coffee and tea. The price of the breakfast buffet is about $ 18.
The last visit was for an event where we got to sample pizza and beer or wine. The service this time was exceptional as was the food, again.
I am impressed for a hotel restaurant and bar with the food quality and taste. They have other great specials on Tuesday for 35 cent wings and beer, Wednesday pizza and beer for $ 12, and offer a lunch buffet for $ 20 with buy 3 and get one free. A great deal and place or a business lunch.
They use local products and take pride in the presentation and taste. I would give it 4.5 stars and boost it to 5 if the service was more attentive and consistent.

It was great to come here on a weeknight. The fact that this restaurant is in a hotel should not deter you from checking it out, especially for a quick pizza. We tried four pizzas (and btw, they do gluten free pizzas too) and I think my favourite was the Elk sausage and Bocconcini one as it was so different and exciting (and of course very tasty).
They have a decent selection of wines from the Okanagan region, along with a couple of local brews. It’s great to be able to get local beers, however I wish they had a few more microbrews. The wine selection, on the other hand, was quite impressive. We were served two small batch wines from Sandhill Estates (Okanagan). The Sangiovese was definitely a home run for me.
Great staff, quick service, good wine and decent beer. Warrants a re-​visit!

Our group was treated to fabulous thin crust pizza party tonight by chef Willy White (formerly of River House & Hotel Mac).
We tried the Fontina Cheese, Roma Tomato & Basil; Sun Works Organic Chicken Pepperoni & Mushroom; Jerk Shrimp & Pineapple; and Bocconcini & Elk Ranch Sausage!
Our server Adam was top notch! His knowledge of wine pairings was phenomenal! He couldn’t have possibly been more attentive or funny and always there for our large group.
I cannot wait to go back!
PS — They currently have a Wednesday night special from 5−9pm with a pizza and beer (I suggest AlleyKat or Yellowhead — keep it local) for only $ 12!

I came for the Unilocal Elite pizza party. I’m going to start this off with 4 stars, but I think I need to come back to assess this place properly. I will say that the pizzas that I had are all excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate in ordering them again. The pizza dough is made in house and it was backed perfectly. My favorite has to be the elk pizza with elk from a local (Morinville) farm but the shrimp and pineapple was a close second.
We had a choice between wine or beer. I’m a beer geek, I like the occasional wine, but given the choice between the two, it’s almost always going to be the beer. Unless it’s not good beer and I’m sorry, but their beer selection is horrible. They have about 15 taps and all but two of them are macros; stuff I would never touch. They have two local beers, Yellowhead (a lager) and Alley Kat’s Aprikat (an apricot ale). It’s great to have local beers, but these aren’t a good choice. Alley Kat makes much better beers than Aprikat. So initially, I had an Aprikat and then I switched to the wine.
Wow. I loved the wines. Both were small lot Sandhill Estates wines, but my favorite was the Sangiovese small lot which was only 23 barrels. It was very dry, medium bodied, and full of tannins. I got a lot of cherry and fresh herb notes. It was quite spectacular.
Next up, I got my hands on some menus. The menu in this place is big, the dinner menu has 35 dishes which could be hard to provide consistency. I’m willing to give them a try though. There are things on the menu that sound exquisite, but most of them are on the appetizer section. I also am happy to see that their philosophy is «farm to table» and they have a list of local farms that they use.
The thing is though, that it can only go down unless they fix their beer selection. I think the rating is accurate given my experience here at the party, but I would like to try out more of the menu. The thing is though, that their rating can only go down unless they fix their beer selection. I cannot give a restaurant 5 stars if they carry such horrible beers, no matter how good the food is.

Staying at the hotel, decided to give the Stages restaurant a try. I Sat at the bar to baseball on the three big screens while the World Cup is going on. What no highlights? Strike one.
Beer came promptly, ordered the calamari and the Applewood Smoked Prime Rib burger.
Unfortunately I was not overly impressed with the bar service on this June 18^th night at 6:00pm.
If the bartender had even bothered to ask how my meal was, mid meal or even after I had finished while clearing my plate, he would have learned that I thought the calamari was overly greasy, (deep fryer probably needs an oil change), and judging by the skin formed on top of the aioli dip I’m curious why the place feels they need the mise en place overkill of pre-​prepping the individual dips, that speaks volumes. Strike two.
On top of that, if my fine server had even bothered to ask how my meal was, he would have also learned that I just had the Bison Burger with Swiss Cheese and mushrooms, and not what I had ordered. Strike 3.
I’m not one to outright complain and because I’m the current Duke of the Doubletree, (too easy) I ate it and chalked it down to maybe an off night, until, I overheard the patron beside me commenting to the barkeep how he didn’t get the meal that he had just ordered.
I’m seeing a pattern here tonight. Your out!
Oh well, like a previous reviewer had stated, the food was OK, but, if I wasn’t staying at the hotel, I probably would not go out of my way to make it a destination for dinner out. Not in the current state at anyway. There’s always hope!

We headed out to the West End to check out the new Doubletree, which is in the old Mayfield hotel. I’ve been so glad to see this hotel get a full refresh. It was necessary and the place looks great. We checked out Stages for dinner as well as a friend had given us a gift certificate.
We sat in the lounge as there was no one else in the dining room and we could still have the full menu. The lounge is nice and open, and the service was great. It wasn’t a busy night, but our waitress was attentive and gave us her recommendations.
We had the calamari to start, which was tasty and a bit different with a sweeter seasoning, almost cinnamon. I love calamari and never say no to it. This was not the best I’ve had. But it was different and interesting, and cooked the right amount. Crunchy but done.
I had the beef short ribs for dinner which were tender and had a Saskatoon sauce and veggies and potatoes on the side. It was good, but didn’t have as much flavour as I would have liked. I was excited about the sauce but wanted it to be a little bit tastier. That said, I didn’t leave any behind. The potatoes were really good as well. That might have been my favorite part.
My partner had the elk pizza which had much more flavour — he noted it wasn’t as well done as he’d like — a bit doughy in some places, and crispy in others.
Overall, we had a good evening, but for what we spent (70 for the two of us), we wouldn’t come here first. The menu has a good mix of price points though which was nice to see for a hotel.
If you were staying there, it’d be a great place to have on site. But I wouldn’t drive there just for dinner.