I know that with the success of Mad Men, everyone is going retro and trying to recreate the glamour of the early 1960's. But the Faculty Club on the U of A campus isn't trying to go retro, they just haven't changed their menu at all in the past five decades.
It's a gorgeous restaurant, with huge windows over-looking the North Saskatchewan River, and you can see why, at one time, this was one of the most exclusive eateries in Edmonton. The buffet consists of prime rib, chicken cordon bleu, and other "fancy" foods that were all the rave decades ago. When ordering off the menu, dishes come with a meat and two sides (a starch and a green vegetable). There's not a lot of creativity on the part of the chefs here. Many of the club's members have been coming for their favourite dishes for the past 50 years, and the club only seems to be interested in catering to them instead of younger members with more adventurous tastes.
I hear the food is actually quite good, for what it is. However, if you are a vegetarian, you are out of luck here. The buffet is the same price, whether you eat meat or not. And the only choices you have if you order off the menu is limp, overcooked pasta in a bland cream sauce. At lunch time, your only option is an egg salad sandwich. It's actually insulting to any decent chef to have such a limited menu since there are so many wonderful vegetarian dishes they can create, but management simply doesn't feel as if there is a market for anything new or different, so they won't add them to the menu. (Yet, they wonder why so many younger faculty aren't joining. Hmmm...)
All this said, I have been here for a couple of event dinners, receptions, etc. And the food has been outstanding. They have had delicious, creative vegetarian options (along with more creative meat dishes, too). So the chefs can create outside of the box when requested to do so for a big event. It just seems the management won't let them create on a day-to-day basis.
Finally, the pub provides a nice place to kick back and relax after work. There's a decent selection of beer on tap, free popcorn, and occasionally free cheese and crackers. The staff is incredibly kind and helpful, and they remember your drink orders from week to week. The pub food is decent; I like the sweet potato fries. The nachos, however, I have usually found to be undercooked. Seriously, the cheese isn't melted and you're bringing the dish to my table? Do you even know what nachos are?
This could, once again, be a fine establishment here in Edmonton. But right now, they are just mediocre. If only the management were more receptive to change and would listen to the voices of the people they say they wish they could attract. Alas. read more