The Hard Deck Smokehouse & Rec Room - Cold Lake, Alberta

Lucie D.

Drinks are great, from start to finish! Try there specials! BBQ chicken could be more tender, happy I chose the spaguetti to go with it, was good, brisket meal had too much fat on it, classic nachos are good, but we could've dig more into them if we haven't receive them at the same time as our meal. Pecan pie was good and gluten free chocolate torte was tasty. Amazing and fast service! Good job DJ!

thomas F.

Awesome bar and restaurant. Being a smokehouse, the meats are very tender and delicious, and the atmosphere is great.

The daily specials are creative and well balanced, and being a native owned restaurant, the menu reflects dishes you won't find anywhere else. The Monday special is the Bannock burger, and Tuesdays is Indian tacos. If you're lucky enough to order on Saturday its steak and lobster for under $50, and is a top quality AAA steak with a lobster tail that would make your newfy cousin envious.

Game day specials offer the best priced draft in cold lake along with wings specials. Being a sports bar, almost every available square inch of wall space is filled with a TV, and the remaining is full of sports memorabilia. The heritage of the airforce is also nicely noted with subtle references to the movie top gun.

Away from the sports bar the facility boasts a top of the line arcade for kids of all ages. There's a lot a party room for booking birthdays, and in the back you can find 4 well maintained pool tables, and 2 full size golf simulators.

Its not right down town cold lake, nor is it right on the beach, but if you are headed to or from cold lake north, it's certainly worth the stop for lunch, dinner, or any excuse you can find.

Kevin K.

I stopped in to the Hard Deck on a work trip and will definitely come back the next time I am in town. I ordered a brisket platter and when I opened the box up, I was blown away by the amount of brisket there was in there and it tasted really good too. Such a great value for the price. The beans and slaw were a great as well

Michael

Came here with a large group of people and overall it was a good experience. My food was great and overall all the food on the table looked good and I didn't hear any complaints. We phoned ahead and they knew we had a large crew coming, so it was a little surprising that they only had one person taking care of the 20 people - but she did great and the food was quicker than I was expecting for our size table.

kim J.

Was really good . Was so much going on there really loud but I guess it would be loud in the bar durning trivia night . Love the place . Needs more room

Steve F.

Top-Gun theme. Highly versatile atmosphere. You can be very comfortable here alone, with a date, with your Grandparents, with your drinkin buddies, girls night or with the family. The staff are fast, friendly and attentive. The owner runs a tight ship and is on the floor, personable and interactive. Everything is clean and freshly updated I'd say. The drink menu has all your favorites and prices like 20 years ago! Now, the food. I judge a place on 3 things: The main meat, Caesar salad and poutine. This place rivals Everything in every way Big, clean, tender rack of ribs with BBQ and honey garlic sauce on the side for however you want to dip or pour it. The way it should be IMO. The Caesar was perfect and in a bowl separated from the rest of the food. The poutine was made with perfectly cooked seasoned fries with good gravy and real curd cheese. At no extra charge it came with individual dishes of coleslaw and baked beans. The all black dishes and Cutlery were classy, and I loved that the sides and sauces came in ready to go containers that you can slap a lid on and bring with you if you don't eat it all. Be ready for that because the portions are generous. Most of the choices on the menu came with meat upgrade options so you can have it your way. There are massive big screen TVs throughout the dining area and Bar if you want to watch sports. The music was satellite streaming service that I'm sure they would adapt to your request. There is a separate but connected section of the building that I didn't go to but I noticed they have pool tables and I heard them talking about having a large area for private parties. I can't think of anything this place is lacking and there is nowhere else like it in the area. I went there late at night and they still had full kitchen available. This is where it's at in Cold Lake. The food prices are more than reasonable for the quality quantity and presentation. I got the Fanboy half rack of ribs with a Caesar salad and poutine upgrade and a drink for under 40 bucks. Unbeatable!!!

duncan B.

Made a reservation for 6:00pm. Got there everyone was friendly enough, but wait time for food was ridiculous. They gave out some bannock bread bites to "tie us over" till our food came (which there were 6 bites). Shouldn't be almost a 2 hour wait for food. That's kinda ridiculous. They were not prepared at all, and 5 tables were waiting at minimum from what we could see for that long if not longer. Really need to work on being more prepared and having the food ready to go. They also need to work on properly updating customers about times and how long it will be. A smokehouse shouldn't have issues with food not being ready if it is a real smoke house. Ended up taking our food to go as we were on a time crunch and 2 hours is just too long for food to even get to your table after you order.

Food was not really that good. Also missing half the things we were supposed to get. Not very impressed with this place at all. Will tell everyone I know that it is terrible and will not be going back ever again.

Tmjo

Very distasteful place, and the staff is rude I get people have rough days but cmon. I was excited to finally check the place out, games in there aren’t something to look forward to, and the food isn’t really that good. But hey if you wanna get stared at like an alien the whole time you eat, then this is the place for you! You’d be better off finding somewhere else to spend your hard earned money at :))