Sage Restaurant

I’ve been to Sage a few times in the recent months so it’s high time for a review. The first couple of times I was with large groups but this past time was just my wife and me which is what this review will focus on.
I was excited to be seated in the back area as it is closed off from the main area of the restaurant. The main area can be a little loud and smoky as it is directly adjacent to the casino itself. As you eat you also get to listen to the pings and dings of the VLT machines and the «yahoos» and «dammits» of the players as they give their hard-​earned money away to the casino. It’s a weird dichotomy of atmospheres because Sage is dressy and kind of upscale while the casino itself is totally ghetto and there’s no partition between each universe.
The back has its issues too. Since it is smaller and quieter, your peace will be short-​lived if you’re near another restaurant patron who hasn’t mastered the art of voice volume control. We had the «pleasure» of sitting next to somebody who spent the better part of his meal hollering into his cell phone about fishing. It reminded me of the Breaking Bad episode where Walt got annoyed with a loud, chatty cell phone talker at a gas station so he bridged the terminals of the guy’s car battery posts with a window squeegee which caused the vehicle to go up in flames. (Mythbusters moment: That could never happen in real life, btw – the metal on the squeegee is way too thin. Not that I tried it…)
Anyway, I ordered the rib-​eye steak. Again. (I had it last time too. It was better before.) It came back a little too rare this time. The guy at the table next to us also complained about his meat being too raw (His steak, that is.) – not the chatty fisherman guy but our other neighbour. He sent it back. I didn’t. I guess the chef on duty that night likes his food bloody and insists that others eat it that way too. I wonder… do vegans ever have to send food back?
The biggest snafu of the evening was when my wife ordered the chocolate cake for dessert. The server brought her a chocolate mousse cube-​type thing. She offered no explanation as to why they brought something different. When my wife asked what’s up with the cube, the server responded that they were out of cake. That’s all well and good but they should check with the customer before they substitute an order. The server offered to remove the cube from the bill since it wasn’t what she wanted.
So the previous times I dined here were 4 star-​plus experiences while this past time was a 3 so it evens out to a 4.

I had dinner at Sage as part of a work function. Food was decent, but the service left something to be desired. There is not great signage for the restaurant (I went into the Marriott entrance instead of the River Cree Casino entrance), and when you look it up on Google maps, it doesn’t even look like it’s inside the casino (but it is, so go inside).
The food was all tasty — the Caesar salad was solid, the salmon was juicy, and the dark chocolate mousse cake was decadent without being too rich. It wasn’t the most inventive or unique dinner I’ve ever had, but everything was good.
Unfortunately, the service was not great at all. My drinks were never refilled (and dinner was taken care of by work, so you’d think they’d want to try and get you to order more on the tab), and I had to ask a couple times for a refill. The orders came out inconsistently — even though we ordered off a set menu, many of the appetizers and entrees came out at random times — spaced out as much as 10 minutes between different members of the group, which disrupted the flow of our activities. Many of the orders were brought out incorrectly to the wrong person. One of my coworkers took a bite from the wrong dessert, and when he realized it was the wrong dessert, told the water who took the used dessert fork off the plate (acknowledging that it had already been consumed), and gave this partially eaten dessert to another coworker as their primary dessert! We were all so horrified this happened that we started laughing because it was so awkward!
Safe to say I won’t be back anytime soon.

We came to Sage to have dinner with friends and family. We made a reservation for 6PM for 10 and our table was ready and we were seating to the right near the door to the kitchen. It wasn’t too busy for a Friday but it definitely picked up throughout the evening and likely some people were seeing the show that night.
From a previous visit, there was a wine that I tried and ask if they had it. Unfortunately, they no longer have that white wine on the menu but she made a recommendation and it was a great choice.
The menu has a good variety and number of appetizers and most of our party choose crab cake or calamari (we love seafood). For entrees, there was a special for 2 that included lobster tail, jumbo prawns, beef, chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables and it was great our server let us know one person can order half of the special. Some of us ordered this and the others ordered a steak of salmon. I was hoping for scallops but didn’t see any on the menu.
After our food order was taken, 2 large bowls of bread and dipping oil arrived at our table. The bread was fresh (but not hot out of the oven) and good with the oil. We didn’t have to wait long before our appetizers arrived.
I ordered my crab cake with the sauce on the side and was pleasantly surprised at how large the crab cake was and it was complimented by the light sauce. It was one of the best crab cakes I’ve had and liked that it wasn’t fried and lots of crab. This is one of those appetizers that can substitute for a light meal. The calamari appetizers had lots of pieces and a dill dipping sauce.
It was difficult to judge how long our food took but it seemed to be very timely and not a long wait after our appetizers. It was nice the entrees all came out together so some people weren’t waiting for others to receive their food. The special for 2 had 4 large prawns, butter for the lobster, grilled chicken, beef tenderloin, and lots of potatoes. I’m glad I shared because I was too full to have any beef and had a prawn, lobster, some chicken and vegetables, and wanted to save room for dessert.
They had a good selection including chocolate cake, banana split, cheesecake, and the caramel apple dessert. Most of us at the table choose the banana split which was banana pudding, and scoop or two of ice cream. I like fruit dessert so went with the apple one. It was my least favourite food of the night because it wasn’t a warm dessert but it was tasty with the apple and caramel sauce on a light pastry.
We enjoyed a delicious meal and didn’t feel rushed when we stayed after our meal to enjoy post dinner conversation. I did mention to our friends that the restaurant is close to the smoking section of the casino, and they commented that they couldn’t smell the smoke and we agreed.
Our server was excellent with being attentive, answering questions, and providing information. She allowed for time to enjoy our meals but would promptly removed our empty plates.
Although we were close to the kitchen, it wasn’t a hustling and bustling place. There are also booths that we saw a few couples seated at. Sage is a lovely restaurant that I would come back to for a special occasion and enjoy the delicious food and excellent service!

I had the pleasure of attending a private dinner party here last month with Chef Chartrand.
His take on Aboriginal cuisine was completely unexpected. Admittedly, I was not excited about the idea of indigenous cuisine but boy was I wrong.
Chef Chartrand’s attention to detail and careful pairing of foods in natural form was second to none. His purees inspired me to start serving mains on vegetable purees at home!
I highly recommend you to engulf yourself in the talents of Chef Chartrand and his team. You will not be disappointed.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Sage Restaurant, it is located inside the River Cree Resort & Casino just West of Edmonton.
The décor is beautiful but the restaurant could be improved by being partitioned off from the casino so as to not have the lingering smell of cigarette smoke while dining.

Words don’t describe how amazing this meal was! It was authentic (family style plates or in this case a beautiful long plank) meticulously decorated, a true work of art! There were prawns the size of my palm, beef, chicken, sausage everything was exquisite!
The service was amazing! I don’t give many 5* reviews, but this deserves a 6*!

Chef Shane has his fingers (and tongs) on the aboriginal culinary scene and I’m glad I was able to try a one of a kind custom meal prepared for the Gold Unilocal Elites. This three course meal was nothing short or amazing. Not only because of the long boards that served as the family style platters but the quality and attention he paid to the food he served. Doing table side plating if the main course was entertaining to say the least. We got to see the ingredients and his plating style while smelling the different dishes and asking questions.
The restaurant itself has some variety in the different seating areas. A front lounge with a bar and some round tables with comfy seats, side room that could accommodate special parties with a closed door and a back area behind a big wall of wine that can have a long table dinner or just regular tables.

I recently went a private dinner cooked by Chef Shane Chartrand at Sage.
I was absolutely blown out of the water with his take on indigenous au natural cusine!
All of the meal from salad to mains to dessert was served family style on planks of wood and brought over our heads to the centre of the table.
The mains were incredible — housemate bison sausages, ⁶⁄₈ prawns, and filet mignon cooked perfectly and paired ever so delightfully and delicately with carrot and beet purees on the side.
Dessert was a fresh take on bannock served with saskatoon berries and brulee bananas! DELISH!
Everything was spot on, I couldn’t have asked for a better dining experience! I would highly recommend choosing Chef Chartrand, at Sage, for specialty dining parties.
My only complaint is that SAGE isn’t partitioned off from the River Cree Casino with their own air intake/​exhaust system. Consequently, some of the cigarette odour from the casino creeps in and definitely affected my palate.
Having glass completely closing off the air combining or almost completely closing it off would be a huge improvement!

Wonderful restaurant– great food, great atmosphere, and great service. Was there for a work party and the head chef himself came out to greet everyone, explain his ideals and concepts for his food, and later came back to ask how everything was. Very impressed.
We had a salad to start, which was absolutely delicious. It was light and fresh and certainly original. Then we had a platter which was full of different meats and vegetables. From steak to shrimp, to cauliflower and beets. It all worked together beautifully!
I’m not sure if what we were served is on the regular menu because we had a private specialized party. But nonetheless, if it is any representation of the regular menu, I am very sure the food is just as amazing!
It is located directly right inside the River Cree Casino, it is either a negative or a positive depending on what kind of night you are looking for! If you are okay with a casino atmosphere, and are looking for fine dining as well, then this is the place for you. Oppositely, if you are not into the hustle and bustle of a casino, then it may not be the place for you. It is important to note as well that inside the casino they allow smoking so that may be an issue for you if you are sensitive to the smell of smoke.

My wife and I happened to show up early at River Cree Casino for a Marty Stuart concert and happened into Sage. Turns out waiter, Jammy (pronounced Jamie), is a sommelier. Not only was our service great, the food was great (my wife and I had the salmon with sweet potato hash and creamed corn… plus exceptional wine!!!
Please, please, please come here for food and drink. Sit in Jammy’s section and task him with a wine selection. We we’re certainly impressed.
A fine, fine experience!

Clearly underrated. Excellent service. Good tasty food. A little bit expensive but the quality is there. Surf and turf at 30 $ is a great deal.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a media dinner at Sage, the fine dining restaurant inside of the River Cree Resort & Casino. Guests were being treated to a preview of the Taste of Europe tasting menu created by Executive Chef Shane Chartrand which is being featured at Sage from August 26 – 30.
At the start of the meal Chef Chartrand explained that this European menu was created in homage to some of his favourite European chefs. Each course was a traditional dish inspired by a different chef, and Chef Chartrand put his own personal spin on it.
The first course was inspired by Jose Andres of Spain: clams and chorizo sausage al ajillo with crispy ensalada. The clams were delicate and fresh, and the greens provided a crunchy texture to contrast the other elements on the plate. Al ajillo translates to «with garlic,“and in combination with the herbs and spicy chorizo the flavours in this dish made it a great starter. But my favourite thing on the plate? That egg yolk! Cooked to just the perfect consistency the yolk bound everything together.
Next up was a beef goulash with braised cabbage, potato gherkin cream and spelt bread, inspired by Sven Elverfeld of Germany. Can I just say how beautiful the plate looks? The striking magenta colour immediately caught my eye! This beef goulash probably looks nothing like what you have had in the past, but I will say that Chef Chartrand’s take on this classic dish was fantastic. The beef was tender while the bed of braised cabbage provided a different textural element. The potato gherkin cream on top gave it a light dill flavour and the potato crisps, balls, and bread on the side added more contrasting textures.
With the following course we took a trip to Italy for tagliatelle with veal osso bucco, roasted romaine and balsamic foie inspired by Massimo Buttra. This delicate serving of handmade pasta was nothing short of amazing. The contrasting flavours of balsamic, smoke and parmesan all paired so well together that I wish there had been more on the plate. Texture and flavour was spot on with this dish, and the light sprinkling of panko crumbs gave the dish a wonderful crunch. My boyfriend has officially named this the best pasta he’s ever had.
The fourth course was inspired by Pierre Marco White of England, and Chef Chartrand gave us his take on cottage pie. We were presented with a truly deconstructed pie made with tender, flavourful lamb with carrots, crispy kale, and pecorino on a bed of mashed potatoes. There was a good portion of meat on the dish, and I loved the crunchy bits of toast that were sprinkled over top. This plate was scraped clean and spotless when I was done with it!
Alain Ducasse of France was the inspiration for our fifth course, which was coq au vin with a burgundy red wine emulsion and gruyère gougeres. The sampling of moist chicken was another winner, but my favourite thing on the plate was the gougere. Light, puffy, cheesy and so easy to eat. I could eat a bucket of them!
Swiss chocolate soufflé inspired by Peter Goossens of Switzerland rounded off the meal, and it was amazing to see 50 perfect souffles emerge from the kitchen to the dining table. It’s no easy feat, but the culinary team pulled it off! The soufflé was decadent, but to make things even better, pots of light crème anglaise were available at the table to pour over dessert. Between you and I, I probably had about half a pot of it. So delicious! Don’t tell.
Chef Chartrand is an absolutely talented chef and continues to experiment and express his love for cooking. I would highly recommend visiting Sage to see what Chef Chartrand has up his sleeve!

Ugh. Has this place ever gone downhill. We still come every once in a while as guests of some friends who are big regulars, but we don’t look forward to it as much anymore. Our friends’ hospitality and generosity always means we’re going to have a great time — but the food usually disappoints. In the last few times we’ve been, I’ve sent my main course back. Side dishes that are just plain raw, proteins cooked to outlandishly bad temperatures, and appetizers that miss the mark big time. Recently the Kobe meatballs were a huge mess, oysters had enough crushed up shell in them to start an arts-​and-​crafts business, and completely mismatched flavours and combinations in other new dishes as well. The kitchen here is flailing. Too bad too. They apparently lost their sous chef who was acting executive chef after theirs left. His food was great and he always came out and said Hi. The new guy sucks. Hopefully our friends can be convinced to start hugely supporting a far better restaurant.

The whole casino was packed. The buffet restaurant was a 3 hour wait. We put our name in both. Our reservation at sage was for 10pm but they were able to take us earlier.
Had the valentines set with duck consommé, scallop ceviche as appetizers.
The scallop ceviche was complimented nicely with beets and raisins and various pickled vegetables. The duck consommé was surprisingly spicy with bits of crispy duck skin. Who doesnt like crispy skin? Both amazingly executed and arrived promptly.
Our waiter is very friendly and not stuck up. His name was Aaron and made us feel at ease.
Main course was the wild pepper steak with foi gras beurre broth. And buttered spinach and corn. The broth was mouth watering but my steak was not quite consistent throughout. I did find the edge was a little more done than I liked but the flavors were fantastic.
The hosts/​managers were more than gracious throughout our meal and dishes were cleared efficiently.
Dessert. I have the biggest sweet tooth so this was what I was looking forward to the most. Chocolate profiterole with strawberry carpacchio, raspberry purée and white chocolate dip. To. Die. For.
This is definitely the place to go for quality cuisine. My compliments to the chef, Shane Chartrand.
I will be frequenting this place as often as my pocket book allows me.
Note: I have lots of food allergies and my waiter had no problems finding things or for me

Me and my boyfriend went here for a special date night and I was not impressed! First of all it took like 20 mins to get our drinks after ordering and then my boyfriends glass was dirty! It looked like someone with peanut butter fingers had used it before us! We asked for a different glass and it was still pretty dirty not with peanut butter fingerprints but water spots nonetheless! We didn’t end up staying for dinner because I feel like for how expensive this place is it should have MUCH more attention to detail.

Its OK, but thats about it.
Food was decent but not worthy of heading that far east to repeat: steak didn’t melt in your mouth, salmon was VERY fishy tasting.
The service was extremely nice but a little slow.
Décor was nice but shoddily put together. My favorite was the far curved wall from the entrance… check out the bubbled wall-​paper. It made be giggle.
The worst part is the giant entrance that showed the casino with all its inhabitants and flashing lights buzzing at you while you eat your fancy meal.

This restaurant has terrific food. I don’t pull out the word terricif very often, (for various reasons), but well deserved here.
It has a classy high end feel, very nice and modern décor. Service is attentive offering food and wine advice and checking on us regularly.
I’ve eaten here a number of times and tried a few dishes. It looks to me that anything on the menu is tasty!
The one negative, in my opinion, is that it is in the Casino on the edge of town. A lottle out of the way unless you happen to be staying at that hotel, or know of the place. It lacks the downtown feel and elegance when you leave the front door and are on a casino floor. Although if you want a miniture taste of Vegas, this is as close as you’ll get in this part of the country.

This restaurant is located in the Rive Cree Casino. The décor is very nice and the food is excellent. They usually have a special on Sunday which can be Crab legs/​Lobsters or Steaks for a very reasonable price. Wine List is great as well. The Service is immaculate. You can get a discount if you are Casino Card holder. I have tried various dishes here and most were good. The steaks really stand out IMO and are among the best in the city. The truffled fries are great. The location is off the beaten path but it is worth a drive for sure. Surely one of the top dining spots in the city. 4.5 Stars.

I was disappointed with the quality of the seafood buffet. Buffets generally aren’t gourmet, and there’s usually nothing «out of this world» about them, but this particular buffet was such a let-​down after the long drive to the casino from downtown Edmonton and additional 45 min wait for our table.
Sure, they had lots of shrimp, mussels, and crab, but it’s more like chow to fill up your stomach than to savour. And I believe food should be savoured! The food lacked flavour and things that should have been piping hot were just warm. The price isn’t bad for all the food you can eat (after all, it is a buffet), but the quality kind of makes you feel like you’re being ripped off.
While the food may be lacking, the service is not — quick and friendly, and ever present. The restaurant is fairly large, with ample dining space at tables and booths lining the periphery.
But the food! Oy, the food — the dismal two stars I’m rating this place says it all :(

My husband grew up in Alberta so we make it there a few times a year. This year we had dinner at Sage with a few of his friends.
The service was slow. They just seemed to be a few minutes behind on everything. It took about 15 minutes to bring us bread (I saw the bread plates on the table, but I didn’t think there was bread since it was so delayed), 30 minutes for our soup and so on.
But, the food was good. The french onion soup was very rich. I’d say the beef carpaccio was average to slightly above. I opted for lobster risotto for an entrée (stupid me — should have gotten some Alberta beef, but I had beef the night before). The risotto was excellent, the lobster was ok. My bad ordering seafood in landlocked Alberta and expecting it to be as good as coastal locations.
Overall it was very good, and we enjoyed sneaking a peak at the Kiss tribute band next door on our way out.

Where was I? Pasadena, Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle? This was a stylish, nice, and chill restaurant… and I was north (pretty much at the North Pole — aieee!).
So, I was in Enoch at the River Cree Casino. I’ve always wanted to go here. While here I wanted to check out what dining options were available (and to also support a Native-​run business… Cuz I wasn’t going to throw my money away gambling).
I believe there were three dining options here, and opted for the swankiest, Sage.
The sleek stone and wood work set the stage for a smooth dining experience. Our server was super cool, very informative, and a little funny (well, he atleast rolled with our Indian humor). We thought he was a Cree, but when we finally asked, he told us he was from Peru. Hey, he’s still Native! Ok, onto the meal…
I was in Alberta, so I had to go for some Alberta beef. For drinks, I enquired about what was on tap, and sadly they had some of the lame mainstream stuff. However they did have some Canadian microbrew options in bottles. I pounced.
The steak was pretty darn decent. It tasted as good as my expectations had hoped. Its presentation was top notch. It was garnished with tasty vegetables as well. Our server informed us many of the vegetables were locally grown.
This place was on point. I’d go again.