Underwhelmed at Wildflower Grill

I'll begin this post by saying that I've had an absolutely amazing 6 weeks of eating before eating here, so this bovine's expectations might have been set unfairly high heading into the Wildflower Grill for dinner. However, my tastes will differ from other people's and this is just my humble opinion.

Brioche

We have been to the Wildflower Grill a few times before for their Sunday brunch, and had enjoyed it. In particular the corn bread that is only made and served for brunch - though it is so delicious that we wish it was available all the time! Based on previous experiences, I finally convinced my entourage to take the time to try out their dinner menu.

The meal began with an amuse bouche, a tomato salsa type creation, followed by a wonderfully light and delicious French brioche. Although it appears quite large, it was very soft and light, not filling like normal breads.

Rack of Lamb, Yorkshire Pudding and Fontina Fondue

My entourage started with a braised short rib appetizer, which much to my chagrin was the size of me! Accompanied by mashed potato, braised root vegetable, red wine reduction and a white balsamic reduction, they devoured every tender morsel as I glared at them with all the fierceness these cute eyes could muster.

Although the sable fish main was moist and satisfying, the rack of lamb with pomegranate glaze and Yorkshire pudding with fontina fondue was somewhat of a disappointment. The portion of protein was quite small and the pomegranite glaze was uneven, the sweetness of which could only be tasted on some chops, and not others. It was also over seasoned with sea salt resulting in a saltiness that overwhelmed the taste of the lamb.

Lemon Dessert

The mild tasting fontina fondue added little to the Yorkshire pudding, and the Yorkshire pudding did not seem to complement the lamb. Although it had been requested to be medium rare and appeared to have been cooked correctly,  it was actually quite hard to chew.

Dessert was also somewhat of a let down with both desserts being overly complicated. The lemon dessert was too tart for my liking and grew more so the more I ate.  The peanut brittle served with it was more of a solid than a brittle as we found it difficult to bite into or break. The chocolate dessert consisted of a sacher torte which was what it was suppose to be, a dense chocolate dessert, and an After Eight pot de creme which was overly minty that it completely overpowered the chocolate and any other items eaten after it.

Overall, the restaurant lacked the level of food and service we have come to expect from a restaurant of this caliber.

More photos on Flickr.

Wildflower Grill
10009 107 Street NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 3J5
780-990-1938