Review + Giveaway: The Rec Room (Edmonton)

When I was younger, I used to spend a lot of time in the mall arcades with my brothers. I have really fond memories of playing different games and watching my brothers play theirs. We would spend hours at the arcade. 

Those kinds of arcades and entertainment centres have become harder to come by over the years, which is why I was pretty excited for The Rec Room to open in South Edmonton Common! 

The Rec Room (which opened in September) is a two-level, 60,000-square foot dining and entertainment centre. It’s really slick.

Read on for my review and at the end of the post, enter to win a $25 gift card and game credits! 

The place to be on a Thursday night.

This Edmonton location is the very first Rec Room to open in Canada.

Part of the Cineplex brand, The Rec Room includes three restaurants – an upscale casual restaurant, a pizzeria, and a quick service poutine and custom donut bar, and 10 private dining rooms (for all of your future birthday parties!).

Private room for parties at The Rec Room.

There’s The Yard – with more than 100 amusement games that you play with credits and earn points that can be redeemed for prizes (ah, nostalgia!), different stages for live musicians, comedy and karaoke, non-arcade or amusement park games like bowling, pool and axe-throwing, along with tons (120) screens to watch all sorts of sports games!

Mike calls The Rec Room the adults’ playground and truly, the two times we’ve now visited, that’s what we noticed: grown-ups having fun again.

Not to say kids and families wouldn’t have fun here either, it really does seem to have something for everyone. 

Busy night at The Rec Room.

We were invited to try the food at The Rec Room’s main floor dining option Three10 Restaurant, and we really enjoyed our meal.

Some of the dishes we had included: 

Applewood Smoked Bacon Maple Jam with Double-Cream Brie ($11) at The Rec Room.

Applewood Smoked Bacon Maple Jam with Double-Cream Brie ($11)

Popcorn Fried Chicken with Crispy Bacon and Chipotle BBQ Sauce ($13) at The Rec Room.

Popcorn Fried Chicken with Crispy Bacon and Chipotle BBQ Sauce ($13)

Crab and Artichoke Dip with Parmigiano, Wood-Grilled Broccoli and Crostini ($13) at The Rec Room.

Crab and Artichoke Dip with Parmigiano, Wood-Grilled Broccoli and Crostini ($13)

The Three10 Burger ADD Bacon and Fried Egg ($18) at The Rec Room.

The Three10 Burger with in-house Ground, Alberta Beef, Double Stacked, Brioche Bun, The Rec Room sauce, ($14) + add Bacon ($2) and Fried Egg because obviously ($2)

Fried Chicken Caesar Sandwich ($16) at The Rec Room.

A Fried Chicken Caesar Sandwich with Hand-Breaded Chicken, Roasted Soleggiati Tomatoes, Iceberg Lettuce, Parmigiano Reggiano, Caesar Dressing and a Brioche Bun ($16)

Wood-Grilled Pork Chop with Whipped Potatoes, Braised Red Cabbage and Rustic pIckled Mustard ($24) at The Rec Room.

and last but not least, Wood Grilled Pork Chop with Whipped Potatoes, Braised Red Cabbage and Rustic Pickled Mustard ($24).

Mike enjoying his New Fashioned at The Rec Room.

We also tried their Strawberry Basil Lemonade with Smirnoff Vodka, Triple Sec, Fresh Basil, Strawberries and Lemonade ($9), New Fashioned (a play on Old Fashioned) – Canadian 100% Rye Whisky, Mace-Nutmeg Syrup, Rootbeer Bitters and Luxardo Cherries ($9), and and a Pickled Caesar with Smirnoff Vodka, Clamato, House-made Steak Spice, Summer Sausage, and Pickled Saddled Egg ($9).

They have lots of different cocktail options (the Strawberry Basil Lemonade is great!), six draught wines and over 20 draught beers, including local craft beer! 

Draaaanks at The Rec Room!

On Opening Night, we also tried some of their poutine creations at The Shed! 

The Shed serves up a lot of different poutine toppings including the Classic, Chicken Poutine, Porchetta Poutine, Roasted Wild Mushroom Poutine, Smoked Brisket Poutine, Trio of Meats, Lobster Poutine or just regular fresh cut fries!

I always prefer my fries skinnier and crispier (even though I totally understand that’s not standard type of fry cut for poutine) so I didn’t love these but I did enjoy the fun toppings. 

So many poutine options at The Rec Room!

The restaurants try to source local ingredients wherever possible and make as much dishes and components fresh and in-house as they can, which is great. And I like how many options there are.

If you just want a burger, you get that. Poutine and donuts, got it too. Pizza? Check. Variety of appetizers – yup. More serious entrees (steak, pork chops, salmon) – there’s some of that as well. 

All-in-all, we think The Rec Room is a pretty fantastic and already proving-to-be-popular concept in our city.

It was unbelievably busy both times we went (granted, one night we went was the official grand opening). 

Live entertainment at The Rec Room!

Mike has had so much fun during both visits that he’s already planning his birthday at The Rec Room! 

Our good friend Lisa and her husband have also basically been to The Rec Room every week since it opened. They’re big fans – and say it’s lots of fun not just as date nights, but also as bros nights, girls nights, and big-friend-group-night. There’s really so much to do without getting bored (check out their event listing!). Lee even held his company Christmas party at The Rec Room! 

In terms of improvements, both times Mike and I went, we had excellent and very attentive service, but Lisa and Lee have found in some of their visits, some staff seemed more knowledgable about the various offerings than others. Lisa also wanted me to add in this post that she’d love if there were deal days for games and regular week day deals.

Playing games in The Yard.

There are plans for 10-15 more The Rec Room locations to open across Canada in the next few years. A second Edmonton location (West Edmonton Mall), Calgary, and Toronto are coming up next! (I think the Cineplex team is predicting this concept will be a hit across the country and they’re probably not wrong). 

I do want to note that since our last visit (late November), it looks like there was some type of mechanical issue in their kitchen and they’re operating on a limited menu until mid-December. Something to keep in mind in case you were hoping to try particular dishes I’ve mentioned here! 

But overall, we’re fans of The Rec Room. It’s super lively, offers a lot of different things for a lot of different people, has a good selection of food and I think it’s cool this is another venue for local live music and comedians to perform. 

Mike is serious about having his birthday there, but we’ll also likely be back before then too! 

Complimentary popcorn and some tasting items at The Rec Room (this was on their grand opening night). 

** GIVEAWAY **

There are a few ways you can enter for a chance to win a $25 gift card and game credits to The Rec Room, including: 

• Leaving a comment on this blog post telling me what you’d most like to try at The Rec Room!
  • This is mandatory. You must leave a comment to qualify 
• Tweet this message:
  • #ExploreEdmonton: @TheRecRoomCA looks so fun! Food, games, entertainment… hope I win @lindork’s giveaway! http://bit.ly/2gWX0oL #yeg 
  • You can tweet daily 
• Follow me @lindork on Twitter
• Follow @TheRecRoomCA on Twitter
• Like my Facebook Page Lindork – Linda Hoang 
• Like The Rec Room on Facebook – The Rec Room

You must check off your different entry methods using the widget below: 
 
The Rec Room Gift Card

Please note: comments are moderated so if yours doesn’t appear right away, that’s normal! 

I’ll select a winner when the giveaway closes on December 18, 2016.

Good luck!!  

Linda

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Disclaimer: I will always provide my 100% honest opinion on this blog. The Rec Room reached out to see if I would be interested in trying their food and games in exchange for a review and giveaway to readers. This does not affect the opinions stated in this post. (I wouldn’t say I liked it if it didn’t!)