Biera

Maddy and Chris thank you 🙏 🌹 Beautiful beautiful place, really nice people, super awesome food, so delicious, location couldn’t be any better, environment is beyond this world gorgeous, it’s attached to the most beautiful Ritchie market. The vibes is great, the staff are super talented and all the way around it’s an experience that you don’t want to miss out. Highly recommend. There is a lot of vision behind this unique project.

** NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS ** My opinion, too big a venue and there are better valued establishments directly located in the brew pub district to the west Original review below (Summer 2024): Met for lunch, first time, was most impressed by the venue itself. Hidden gem in the Ritchie area which I seem to be fond of lately. Wide open, airy room, lots of sitting options (patio, restaurant, cafe, bar seating), we sat in the restaurant. Food choices are sufficient, we all had sandwiches-wraps and all were exceptionally prepared. I had the "grass fed" beef tartare (suggested) a good amount of beef-already placed onto a toasted bun. One lunch friend had a wrap and the other, the Trout Bagel (he liked)! One had beer the other two of us coffee, drip only available served in restaurant, but . . . you can purchase fancier coffees in the cafe and bring to your table . . . . hmmm, . . . be mindful of this unique arrangement. I will return and partake of other offerings.

I have to admit, when my husband took me here for dinner I was like "really, bar food?", but that cannot be further from what this gem is! I was so pleasantly surprised by this place! I can't even describe all the flavors happening in my mouth here, it was truly magical. Let's start with my drink. I don't usually venture off and order cocktails, but the server recommended it so I thought I would try. I believe it was called bikini bottom? So good, I had 2. It almost tasted like an old fashion but sweeter and with gin (go figure). Amazing. Let's move on to the cucumber salad, also recommended by our server. I think this was my favorite part of our meal. I could have drank the sauce on it. Again, it's hard to describe so just try it and thank me later. It was amazing. So many flavors and textures. Brilliant. For our meals we had the chicken and pork and both were amazing. Will definitely be back.

The house chips were our favourite dish on the menu. When we saw that they were no longer on the menu we asked the waiter if the 'Chips & Dip' was the same thing and were told they were. What we received was not the same item. The Chips and & Dip were as thin as paper as opposed to the thicker House chips that were previously on the menu. It was disappointing to see the House chips replaced by what we saw as a straight downgrade. The other menu item we enjoyed was the Sourdough Nuggets. We were once again disappointed by what we saw. While the flavour and quality of the dish were still fantastic, the portion was noticeably smaller than when we had last come to Biera. The old portion had enough beer cheese to cover all the pieces of sourdough. Now there is barely enough for half. The saving grace of our meal was the Strawberry Kombucha which had strong hints of strawberry and had a perfect acidity to it. It was very disappointing to see the restaurant we loved fall off so hard.

Food was delicious. Would recommend sharing multiple plates. Portion sizes are a bit smaller and took a while to come out after ordering. Beer was also good and brewed in house. Move atmosphere. Update: went for brunch this time on Sunday. The food is different from your classic Brunch but still delicious.

I should say that before my experience today, Biera was already my favourite Edmonton restaurant. I first knew of them after Mai Nguyen mentioned them and Christine Sandford on MasterChef, and after dinning there a few times, I became a big fan. They are one of the very few restaurants in Alberta that not only understands and respects food, but also values sustainability in their use of ingredients. For example: they grind their own meat for the beef tartare, and instead of throwing the fat away, it is used in an emulsion served with the dish. Everything there is locally sourced and made in house. Their phenomenal homemade cultured butter and sourdough are some examples. I'm not a fan of getting salad at restaurants but I get the chicory salad every time: it's rare for a restaurant to use Belgian Endives and burnt orange that effectively (both have a bitterness). Elements in the pork shoulder dish are cooked perfectly, with the pork so flavourful and tender, the sauce adds to the pork but doesn't take away from it. I also don't often get steaks at restaurants but all the accompaniments that come with their steak make it SO worth it (you won't get better chips and jus elsewhere). The non-alcoholic drinks (house-made sodas and kombucha) are very reasonably priced (1/3 of the price compared to the average restaurant but is way better). Desserts are well-crafted and even though they look small, they are incredibly satisfying even to share. Not a lot of restaurants know how to use buckwheat in desserts, but they do! What I am most impressed by, is how the quality of their food, service and operation remains consistently great after Covid (when most restaurant struggled with quality) and after the departure of Christine in 2023. Now, onto today's experience. Two friends and I came in to dine. We ordered drinks, 2 main dishes and a small dish. While finishing the first dish, one of my friends got an allergic reaction. Him and I rushed to the hospital as our other friend Liam told us he’d stay and take care of the bill. When we met at the hospital later, Liam told me Biera did not charge us at all (the bill was probably $130+). They told Liam to not worry about it and just make sure our friend is okay, gave Liam the General Manager's contact info said they wanted to discuss how they can prevent incidents like that from happening again. They also packed and gave us the 2 main dishes, which is really generous. Thank you Biera, for every amazing experience I've had (I've had my birthday, anniversary there), for respecting what you do, and for being incredibly considerate. I will continue telling everyone about Biera and celebrate my special occasions there!

Had a party in their private event space and it was a great experience! Staff were very friendly, helpful, and attentive. The space was open and bright, and most importantly had no stairs at the main door and an elevator inside, making it accessible for all our guests. They created a beautiful food spread of meat, cheese, and bread that was so delicious and loved by all. Definitely a great space to hold an event and can't wait to be back for brunch.

Certain aspects of the meal were good but overall the food was a bit bland. The chicken main was not great and I’m not a fan of restaurants that chop up or slice your meat for you… makes me think they are trying to hide how little they give. Overall, the experience was underwhelming however service was good and it is a very nice looking restaurant. The only dish that I liked which my friend ordered was the trout.