Cleaver: Inside Calgary's meat-centric cocktail bar and restaurant

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Cleaver is a cocktail bar and restaurant that now feels like it’s become a Calgary institution.

Located on 17th Avenue, this spot for meat-heavy dishes and stunning cocktails might also be the best place for happy hour in the city.

This spot has a dimly lit dining room with a long bar, all of it decorated with butcher shop-like decor. Dished recently visited and ordered many of the dishes on the menu that were made to enjoy with friends in between sips of cocktails with wild garnishes.

We tried many of the popular dishes in this room filled with hanging cleavers and leather and wooden furniture.

We started off with a couple of drinks — the Culture Shock and the Diddley Diddley.

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Many of the drinks are garnished with smoke bubbles, cotton candy, crispy chicken skin, rosemary on fire, and more. That’s what makes the happy hour here so great. Nearly every single one of the many cocktails is just $7, which is more than half off in most cases.

There’s food on special as well, with sliders going for $5 and the pizzettes just $10. We tried both.

But first, we tried a few starters (in addition to the complimentary and delicious popcorn given to every table).

We shared the mac and cheese balls with chicken salt aioli, the tempura kale and vegetables with sweet ginger dip, and the beet salad with chickpeas, kale, and goat cheese.

Dished Calgary

We also had a pizzette (fior de latte, ham, pesto, tomato sauce, basil, and parmesan) and four sliders. There are eight different sliders that guests can order a la carte. We had the chipotle cheeseburger, the soft shell crab with yuzu, the pulled duck with Asian slaw, and the buttermilk chicken with celeriac slaw.

The ones we didn’t get but wish we did: The lamb with harissa, buffalo chicken, meatball, and the tempura fish and chips.

Dished Calgary

Dished Calgary

For the mains, we could have gone with any of the decadent pasta dishes here, but we went for a meat-heavy dinner because that’s the name of the game here. We ordered the cock and chips, which was a full roasted chicken that came with a side of drippings, fries, and curry aioli.

We also had the 10oz sirloin steak served with potato puree, beef drippings, and horseradish cream. As a side, we added the crispy broccolini coated on Caesar dressing.

Dished Calgary

People talk about the best places for happy hours, dates, or patios, and at Cleaver, it seems like it has the best of all three.

Next time we visit? We are definitely saving room for the sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and drunken dates.

Cleaver

Address: 524 17th Avenue SW #102, Calgary

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