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Address: 7601-115 St. Edmonton AB
Tel: 1 780 436-1161
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| "The kind of place that makes cities work!" |
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by Marvin (from Edmonton, Alberta)
March 2008 - We often long to live in a 'real' city, like a New York or a Stockholm -- where people live and move around within their immediate communities with plenty of opportunity to mix with their neighbours as they patronize locally owned establishments. It seems that, with all its dreams to grow up as a serious city, Edmonton just doesn't offer that kind of contact. Perhaps it's the suburban sprawl that's to blame.
Jobs and family keep us here in e-town, but we recently had a taste of real city living, and it was at hulbert's. My wife and I went there for their 'fancy Sunday brunch', and it was as though we had just stepped out of our dusty spring-muck-city into the local 'krugen' in an old 'kvartier' of urban European-ness... it could just as easily have been Soho. A jazz saxophonist was grooving away in the corner, the Easter brunch food was delicious and fresh -- my wife had a crepe and an omelette (custom, made to order, and when it came to our table the wow-factor was so impressive we both gasped!) and I had the Easter spring lamb (tender, succulent, flavourful without being offensively lamb-ey) -- the atmosphere was upbeat and a perfect fit for our lifestyle.
Our server was excellent -- he was punctual, engaging, attentive, and knew just when to come around and when to leave us be. We were seated promptly even though we had not booked ahead (the place was packed, and we felt fortunate to get in. Next time we'll definitely call the day before!)
After our meal came out, one of the owners came by to check that everything was ok and we learned that hulbert's has been around for just about two years. It's a shame we didn't come in earlier, but on the other hand, it seems like hulbert's has come into its own and reached a level of maturity that marries great food with excellent service -- there's no doubt that the atmosphere has always been there.
We also learned that the place has live music four nights a week and that they are avid supporters of local musicians (yay original music!) AND local visual artists. The modern black and white photos of urban Parisian scenes they have on their 'orange stripe' wall are so intriguing... we're considering buying one for our condo's great room.
We're going to check out one of the Thursday night hulbert's house concerts in the coming weeks. We both love live performances but they're usually late at night and in crowded bars, so the idea of sitting in hulbert's cozy atmosphere and listening to an acoustic performance by an accomplished local singer-songerwriter (where everyone is actually listening, rather than chatty-chatting) is very appealing. And since their shows start at 8 and end by 10, we can both be back home in time to get a good night's sleep before we're back at the office Friday morning. They have a full schedule of music (jazz, blues, roots, etc.,) and their website looks like it's kept up-to-date.
All in all, Edmonton -- or any city, for that matter -- could really benefit from more spots like hulbert's. We loved the feeling of being transported to a more civilized and cultured place -- not snobby or overly sophisticated, but not at all shabby or run down. Kudos to the owners for the perfect balance they've created! They've got some serious fans here and we're telling all our friends about it!
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| "Great Food, Slow Service" |
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by Tara (from Victoria)
July 2007 - Hulbert's is in a nice little community in Edmonton called Belgravia and I've driven by it many times and wanted to try it. Finally one day I went there for lunch with my husband and mother-in-law because they had both wanted to try it too. We sat on the patio because it was a beautiful day and we noticed right away that the service was going to be slow. We had to wait a good 10 minutes just to get our drink order taken. And then we heard someone from the next table ask the waiter if there food was coming soon. We overheard the waiter tell them that they were short-staffed but their food will be out soon. I definitely would not recommend this place for a quick lunch - we ended up staying there for 2 hours! The food was great once we finally got it, but we weren’t asked for refills and everything took forever, from the drinks to the food to the bill. It wasn’t because he was a terrible server – he was busting his butt because he was the only server, but there’s only so much one person can do. Anyway, my husband and I shared their nachos which came with the usual cheese, jalapenos, tomatoes, olives and green onions so there was nothing extraordinary about the nachos themselves, but the pineapple salsa was delicious! We also tried the cheese lover’s loaf which was also great - very cheesy and tasty. If it hadn’t taken so long to get our food I would highly recommend this place. I would even give it another try just to see if they were having an off day because the food was good, the atmosphere was pleasant and the server was friendly (just not too quick).
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| Note about Hulbert's Reviews: Please note that the above reviews about Hulbert's reflect the subjective opinion of individual readers and not the opinion of ReviewBlue.com or its affiliates. If you represent the Hulbert's and wish to comment on any of these reviews, we encourage you to use the management response feature. |
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