milestones grill and bar - edmonton, ab

milestones grill and bar
1708 99th st
780.469.9013

When Edmonton had its first Milestones location open up a few years back, it was an exciting addition to our everyday choices...at least in my eyes it was. This view may have been skewed though because I had attached the restaurant and its famous bellini to some great memories in Vancouver. So there I was, fast becoming a regular bar side patron. This happened for a few months and made for gaining a few pounds of delicious sugary alcohol goodness. But like all things, times change and eventually the novelty wore off, and I was no longer stopping in.

Recently Milestones started promoting a fantastic offer and labeled it as Date Night. You would be able to order any meal and get the second (your dates) for free from 4pm to close on April 29th. It's been a few years since my last visit, so I thought I would use this opportunity to go back and try it out..as a third wheel! Oh yeah!

Knowing this was going to be a jam packed event, we decided to dine at 4:30 and arrived to a restaurant already seating more than a few tables. Opting for the bar side, we slid into a booth/chair combo and relaxed. Our server for the evening informed us that the 2 for 1 was good on all appetizers and mains, but not on desserts. Not a big deal as it was early and we weren't exactly chomping at the bit for full meal deals. Our server did make mention on quite a few occasions that we would have to order in multiples of two, as my dish (third wheel man) would not be halved. I wonder if people give them a hard time about this, it seemed like common sense to us.

Anyways the food. It must have been seafood on the brain night for the three of us, because after a look over we all decided on seafood based dishes:

Mexican Corvina Sea Bass - labeled as imported Corvina sea bass lightly fried and served with spinach, bok choy, grape tomatoes, basil cilantro rice and a splash of Gaucho sauce. The bass was done nicely and slight spice added by the Gaucho sauce really made it.

Seafood Mix Grill - labeled as Wild West Coast Coho salmon, Corvina sea bass and tiger shrimp, all grilled to perfection and matched with a trio of house made sauces; Mango, Gogi Berry, Gaucho. Served with spinach, bok choy, grape tomatoes and lavender roasted mini potatoes. Take note - there is no roasted potatoes, just rice which isn't even in the description. Bringing this up to our server, she was quick to remedy the situation and brought out a side plate of potatoes. The dish was good, although once again the Gaucho sauce was the deemed the star. We split the side of potatoes and while I enjoyed the lavender, the rest of the table felt it was overwhelming.

Grilled Seafood Salad - labeled as Grilled tiger shrimp, wild West Coast salmon, marinated shrimp, fresh avocado, papaya, roasted Italian tomatoes, crisp noodles, lemon-chardonnay vinaigrette. This was my dish and not being a fan of the usual overdressing restaurants throw on salads, I asked for the vinaigrette on the side..you will note it did not, and where are the the crisp noodles...they were out. The server apologized and brought me a 'new' salad in reasonable time without dressing. The noodles...well, those were a lost cause so I ate more potatoes! The avocado was nice and ripe, a concern I have at times, and while the grilled shrimp and salmon were good, I felt the cold chopped up 'marinated shrimp' didn't add anything. Overall, a good salad and something I would like to order again with the noodles.

So that's how we utilized date night. A few glitches in the program and nothing that shined bright enough to bring us scrambling back. It looks like it might be a while before I venture back in, oh don't get me wrong, the bellini's taste just as good as I remembered, but maybe some memories are meant for the past. Oh yeah, one more thing. When we left around 5:30 the restaurant and bar were packed and the line was out the door!