It was my dad's birthday last week and his celebratory restaurant of choice was ATLAS Steak + Fish. (Funny how his taste in food becomes more expensive when someone else is paying.) ATLAS is a modern steakhouse brand owned by Gateway Casinos. They operate two locations in Edmonton: the Grand Villa Casino in the Ice District and the Starlight Casino in West Edmonton Mall.
My family and I have all been to ATLAS on separate occasions, but this was my first time dining at their WEM location.
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The dining room goes in pretty deep. It's a classy space with an open kitchen, live piano accompaniment and half circle booths that offer a bit of privacy. The dress code was described as smart casual, but I saw varying degrees of dress in there.
On Thursdays, all seafood dishes and champagne are 50% off! It's a fantastic deal, and probably the only reason why you'll see so many Asians (including us) in the dining room. If you do go on a Thursday, make sure you have a reservation! The bar does accept walk-ins, but our waitress said the room was fully booked for the night.
YES TO FREE BREAD! Before your food arrives, they'll bring out a small skillet with four bread rolls. The fluffy bread is served warm with a touch of flaky sea salt and a side of blue cheese butter. I'm not a fan of blue cheese but thankfully the flavour isn't very strong. In fact, the first time I tried it, I didn't even notice the blue cheese until someone else mentioned it. Once you realize it's there and become a bit more hyper-aware, the funkiness becomes a little more pronounced.
If you have extra bread at the end, save it! It's great for sopping up soups and sauces in the dishes to come.
One of the showstopper items at ATLAS is their seafood tower for two ($88.00; $44.00 on Thursdays). The two-tier tower features Atlantic lobster tail, king crab legs, seasonal oysters with a champagne vinegar mignonette, mussels, clams, and poached jumbo prawns with gin cocktail sauce. The seafood is fresh and it's a great sharing piece with lots of variety.
Prawns are one of my favourites, and these were HUGE.
I don't know if I would pay regular price for the tower (since money doesn't grow on trees), but at half off, it's a ridiculous value.
The seafood tower came out at the same time as our lobster bisque ($15.00; $7.50 on Thursdays). My parents really enjoyed the soup before so we ordered two to share.
The bisque is a tomato base infused with briny lobster flavour. It's rich, creamy, and well-seasoned. At the centre of the bowl is a perfectly seared scallop and a dollop of caviar. I seldom order soups at restaurants but this was a pleasant surprise!
Another starter we ordered was the ahi tuna poke ($16.00; $8.00 on Thursdays). The ahi tuna is diced into small cubes and then marinated with shoyu. It's served with edamame beans, thinly sliced carrots and daikon, pickled cucumber, and wonton crisps. This dish was sort of forgettable for me. The tuna was on the mushy side and the only flavour I got from it was soy sauce. I also wished they included more wonton crisps to scoop the poke with.
Our last item from the appetizer section was the oysters rockefeller ($18.00; $9.00 on Thursdays). Four oysters baked in-shell with fresh spinach, reggiano-parmesan, buttered crumb, and Bearnaise sauce. Since we were a group of five, I didn't get to try one but the rest of the family said the sauce was almost too creamy, overwhelming the oyster taste.
If you weren't feeling the entrees at ATLAS, you can also order seafood a la carte! Items are listed underneath the accompaniments section. We got two orders of the pan seared sea scallops ($20.00; $10.00 on Thursdays) which comes in multiples of four. The scallops are large, meaty, and nicely seared. Because the scallops are inherently sweet, it doesn't need much else for flavour. Just a spritz of lemon and you're good to go!
The tempura soft shell crab ($19.00; $9.50 on Thursdays) is another a la carte item my family really likes. During my last visit to ATLAS, I distinctly remember the crab only being $10.00 ($5.00 on Thursdays). It must be a popular item that they've almost doubled the price!
If you have a group, the seafood mixed grill for two ($88.00; $44.00 on Thursdays) is another great item to share around the table. It comes with grilled lobster tail, Alaskan king crab legs, grilled and fried calamari, jumbo tiger prawns, and tempura soft shell crab. They pre-cut the crab legs so it's easier to get to the meat!
My brother also wanted the truffle parmesan fries ($10.00) so we ordered a side of those as well. Good amount of truffle flavour in the aioli. The fries were crispy, but they seemed a bit dry inside. We joked and gave my brother a bad time since the fries cost as much as the other seafood dishes.
Having been to both locations of ATLAS in the city, I would say they're pretty consistent, offering similar experiences in terms of food, decor, and service. Their half-priced seafood and champagne deal has been going on for a while, but I'm not too sure if it's a permanent promotion or a limited offer type of situation. Regardless, get your butts there on a Thursday and FEAST!
8882 170 St NW #2710
Edmonton, AB
(587) 460-2423
- CT
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