Calgary Restaurants

When there are more than three thousand restaurants in a city, any usefully listing of all these restaurants will be sorted alphabetically and subdivided by area and speciality. This page arbitrarily sorts Calgary’s restaurants into fourteen districts. Conveniently, Calgary’s grid system provides four main divisions: northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast.

Calgary’s downtown is usually thought to be south of the Bow river, north of 9th Avenue and the CPR tracks, east of 14th Street W, and west of the Elbow River. Others believe 3rd Avenue S. and Eau Claire form the northern boundary

Eau Claire is south of the Bow and may be thought of as part of the downtown or separated from downtown by 3rd Avenue South. It all depends on your point of view. Calgary’s Festival district is contained within Eau Claire, so are Eau Claire is Eau Claire Market and a wide variety of pubs and restaurants. A network of pedestrian pathways and trails are a feature of the area.

North of Eau Claire is Prince’s Island Park, a large urban park on an island in the Bow River and the site of many summer festivals, including the Calgary Folk Music Festival, Carifest, and Shakespeare in the Park.

Calgary has one of the largest Chinatowns in Canada. The district is located along Centre Street in the northeast area of downtown Calgary immediately north of the Downtown East Village. Calgary’s Chinese Cultural Centre with its traditional architecture and decor is the largest facility of its kind in North America. The Dragon City Mall is also located in this district. The area along Centre Street north of downtown and continuing for several blocks is also very Asian-influenced and is often thought of as the city’s second Chinatown.

Kensington, one of Calgary’s trendiest neighbourhoods, is north of the Bow river, so it is definitely not downtown. Kensington is often referred to as “The Village in the City”, and also has other monikers such as Hillhurst, Sunnyside, and Kensington-Louise Crossing. Coming from downtown, if you cross the Louise Bridge and reach the corner of 10th Street and Kensington Road NW then you are in Kensington. The Village in the City has Calgary's highest density of coffee shops and cafes. Indeed there are more than 140 shops, services and restaurants, with many of its shops, restaurants and drinking establishments having a distinctly Bohemian flare. Cuisines range from Ethiopian to Greek, and environments range from British pubs to upscale Italian establishments. Kensington has been voted the number one shopping district in Calgary for six years in a row.

One attraction of Kensington is the free evening and Sunday parking.

Unlike the 17th Avenue area, there are only a small number of late night establishments in Kensington. The last coffee shops close before midnight. The drinking establishments (primarily Irish pubs) are relatively calm and do not promote the party atmosphere found on 17th Avenue.

17th Avenue, the de facto party street, lies between 146 St W and 2 St. E, and is located just south of downtown. It is also know as Uptown 17th, and Red Mile. The Red Mile handle dates from the Calgary Flame's 2004 playoff run. Then, it was common to see more than 100,000 red jersey-wearing fans crowding the avenues’s dense concentration of bars and pubs each game night. On its east end the avenue connects to the Stampede Grounds, and is thus central to the carnival atmosphere that pervades Calgary the city during the festival.

Stephen Avenue, Calgary’s historical main street is a now a major pedestrian mall and the center of downtown Calgary’s primary retail area. It is located on Eighth Avenue SW and from First Street SE to Fourth Street SW. Stephen Avenue offers a full range of unique eateries, bars, pubs, night clubs, and upscale fine dining retreats. During the summer months it hosts a number of festivals and has daily live entertainment, buskers and artists. The avenue is only open to vehicles after 6:00 p.m. and before 6:00 a.m. Barclay Mall (3rd Street SW), another pedestrian mall connects Stephen Avenue to Eau Claire Plaza.

Inglewood, Calgary’s oldest neighbourhood, lies across the Bow River from Fort Calgary. The community was established in 1875 after the fort was built. It’s locus is 9th Avenue SE and runs for several blocks east of the Elbow River and downtown. The district of Inglewood contains or is next to a number of tourist attractions such as Fort Calgary, the Calgary Zoo, and Deane House. Despite being Canada’s third largest city, Calgary, has a number of several nature preserves close to the city center. These include the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, the Bow Habitat Station, and the Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery.

Mission is north of the Elbow, south of downtown, and is the east part of 17th Ave. It began as a Catholic mission, Notre Dame de la Paix, and later become the Village of Rouleauville. Mission contains the very trendy 4th Street with many popular restaurants and shops.

Macleod Trail is the main southbound drag. First Street feeds the eastern branch of the trail and between then they split southeast Calgary from southwest Calgary. There are many motels, hotels and restaurants along this strip.

Other is not really a district. It is a catchall for business that do not provide an address or are out-of-town. Ideally is should be better sorted, but it isn’t.