Holiday Inn CALGARY-AIRPORT by IHG in Calgary

This has to be the strangest experience I've ever had at a restaurant. First of all, it's nothing like I imagined from the name. The best way I can think of to describe it is like an "upscale" cafeteria. We weren't sure if we were supposed to seat ourselves or wait to be seated, but someone soon came to show us to our table. Shortly thereafter, the waiter came to take our order. He didn't ask us what we wanted to drink. I asked for a water and a Shirley Temple, but my husband is more reserved and since they didn't ask him, he didn't get a drink. They did bring us both a water.

Looking around, we noticed that a few people at various tables were eating Subway sandwiches, which seemed odd. And some were eating out of takeout containers. Some had their own water bottles. I've never been to an establishment that allowed that before. Very odd.

We ordered bruschetta to start. It came quickly, but there was way more bruschetta than bread (I'm used to it being the other way around), and the bread comes only partially sliced but you don't get a knife to cut it. You have to make do with your butter knife, which doesn't work very well. For scooping the bruschetta out of the bowl, it's a good thing they brought me a spoon with my utensils, I guess. My husband did not get a spoon. The bruschetta was tasty; it's a shame there wasn't more bread with it.

For my dinner, I ordered prawn linguini, which was pretty good. Although I asked for more cheese, and the guy didn't bring it until I asked him to wrap up the rest of my meal to take home. He *said* he would put it in with my leftovers, but I haven't checked yet. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

My husband ordered some sort of chicken Thai noodle bowl. He wasn't too impressed. He said it was like they dumped a spice packet on top. Then he found there was nothing underneath, but when he mixed it up, all the sauce ended up in a puddle on the bottom. Anyway, he said it was over-spiced somehow, in spite of all that.

One thing I should mention is that our food came out incredibly fast. It was kind of crazy how fast it came out. They never did come to refill our water, or take our bruschetta dish away, or ask us how anything was.

Upon leaving, everyone was going up to the counter to pay, so we did, too. They hadn't brought our bill yet. We noticed that there was a self-serve soup and sandwich station, so maybe that's where those Subway sandwiches came from. I don't know. They also had quite a few glasses of water pre-poured and ready to go, so I don't know why we couldn't get a refill. They weren't THAT busy.

It was just strange. The whole thing was very strange and sort of surreal. I don't know what kind of establishment they are supposed to be, and I don't think they do, either.