Restaurant Review: Yakima Social Kitchen & Bar - Calgary International Airport

As part of our recent stay at The Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel we thought we would try the food out at the in-house restaurant, Yakima Social Kitchen & bar. The name is based on the Yakima Valley Legend that tells the story of how the famous Calgary Chinook Winds came to be.

Related: Hotel Review: Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel

Yakima can be seen towards the back in this picture of the lobby at the new Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel

Yakima's open kitchen

Dinner
Drinks were ordered off of their fun bottle menu. I tried out the Green Coyote and my wife had the on-tap Red Rooster Pinot Gris. Both  The bar didn't have lemonade on the menu but the waitress gave a recipe of hers to the bartender to make a lemonade for my younger daughter.  It was awesome and talk about great service! Fun fact: Yakima makes all of its own syrups in house for their drinks!

Overall the dinner was amazing. They brought homemade beef jerky to the table and it is simply divine with its Latin American spices (we had already tried some in our room as that was an item on our treat trays - read about that here)

We started off with the braised Pork Belly with Zuzu pearls appetizer.  It was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us.

For mains, my wife had the Braised Bok Choy Potato Cakes and she loved them. She isn't vegetarian but this vegetarian dish was delicious!

My older daughter had the Braised and Pulled Elk sandwich. She loved it as well and looks forward to having it again sometime in the near future.

I had the Braised Duo. The Braised Duo of Short Rib and Pork Tenderloin was Alberta on a plate. Both cuts of meat were cooked to perfection with great sauces and being combined with the celeriac puree was pure bliss (our family is well known for loving everything celeriac!)

The Chicken Consomme that my youngest daughter ordered was so-so. It required us asking for salt and even then with that added the flavours were somewhat dull. This dish could use some revamping!

Breakfast

The menu looks great for breakfast however we noticed right away their weren't too many options. Our youngest was hoping for something more on the sweet side so she ended up taking the continental breakfast option with a side of fresh berries. My wife had an omelet and I had the Yakima Breakfast and my older daughter had the Traditional Eggs Benedict. All options were good but in all honesty nothing to write home about.

Thoughts
Overall we were very impressed with Yakima and it will definitely be on our list restaurants when we want to head out for dinner in YYC. Seeing that many families will choose the restaurant on their overnight layovers at the hotel one suggestion to Yakima management would be the development of a kids menu for all services and some more sweet options for all at breakfast.  The thought of having some delicious waffles or pancakes with local fruit or berries would make the Breakfast menu more appealing.

The restaurant will be a hit for those who may have a longer layover in YYC who don't mind leaving the secure areas of the airport (having to go through security again) as well as those from Calgary who want a good, filling meal before jumping on a flight. No flight or travels planned? No worries, eating at Yakima includes 4 hours of free valet parking so you don't have to worry about paying the high airport parking fees. Simply pull up to the hotel and let them you are going for dinner at Yakima and they'll do the rest.