Restaurants I love in Banff, Alberta
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On my recent ten-day trip to Alberta, Canada I was fortunate to have had a lot of great food. This post highlights some restaurants we visited during our vacation that I particularly loved, and recommend you try!
The Bison Restaurant
While this list is in no particular order, I did want to kick it off with my favourite restaurant from the whole trip. The Bison is known for serving up some of the best Alberta steaks. We went for dinner on our first night in town and started with the caesar salad and fired roasted octopus, which were both delicious. For our mains we chose to split two of the 12oz striploins between three of us, which was just the right amount of food. The steaks were most definitely the star of the show. Before this trip, I had never had Alberta beef, and I can say, nothing compares. A steak is an absolute must-have in Banff and the Bison is one of the best places to have one!
Whitebark Cafe
Whitebark cafe is nestled inside the lobby of the Banff Aspen lodge. Its location is especially convenient because its on the way in to town if your hotel is along Banff Avenue like ours was. We stopped in here for lunch and were pleasantly surprised with the food. The salad and quiche were delicious.
Lupo Italian Ristorante
If you're looking for a break from all the Alberta beef, Lupo is the perfect place to come. The caprese was good, and the spicy rigatoni alla vodka and spaghetti and spicy meatballs were incredible. Also, the portion sizes are huge, so its a great place to share a meal if you're looking to save a few bucks.
The Uprising Bake shop
This cute cafe in the heart of downtown Banff has everything you could need for breakfast or lunch. They have a large selection of different sandwiches and baked goods, which all looked delicious.
The Vermillion Room
The Vermillion Room is one of the restaurants inside the famous Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. While we would have loved to check out 1888 Chop House, which is another restaurant inside the hotel and notoriously one of the best in the city, we, unfortunately, could not get a reservation.
Not being able to get a reservation at 1888 gave us the opportunity to try the Vermillion room, which ended up being a great meal. This restaurant focuses on French cuisine that incorporates Alberta classics. Some of my family members had the filet mignon, which was exceptional. I had the steak frites. My steak was delicious, but my only critique would be that I found the fries to be a bit thick cut for a traditional steak frite.
Park Distillery Restaurant + Bar
We stopped into Park distillery for lunch one day, and it was great. In addition to having good food, park distillery has a super cool atmosphere. For those who love spirits, they have a ton of options, and you can watch the distilling process from right inside the restaurant, as it's all done behind a glass wall. They also host free distillery tours and other experiences. For more information about tours, you can click here.
There is also a very small gift shop attached to the restaurant where you can buy spirits and merchandise!
Bonus Jasper restaurant: The Raven Bistro
We unfortunately didn't get to spend much time in Jasper, so I really only have one restaurant recommendation. Despite not having enough content for a dedicated post, I just had to mention this restaurant because it was so so good.
We started with a mixed plate of bison sausage, marinated bocconcini, and tomatoes. The bison sausage was really unique, and the marinated cheese was to die for. After that, I had the truffled and pulled elk pasta, which was also delicious and unique.
If you're in Jasper, I highly recommend checking out the Raven for a nice dinner.
Hotels - Banff
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Hotels - Jasper
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