The Bison Restaurant

Short Ribs where outstanding as was the braised 24 hr beef with dumplings. The salmon was a distant third out of three.
Be advised though, you are not allowed to bring a special bottle of wine to celebrate an occasion. Not allowed no matter what corkage fee was offered.

AMAZING food and service! Highly recommend. Reading some of the negative reviews blows my mind, our experience was super awesome. Salmon was cooked to perfection along with the pairings. They accommodated us last minute on New Years Eve and even gave us some extra time to enjoy our espresso martinis before their second seating arrived. Decor and atmosphere was on point. We're from Edmonton and visit Banff often, we'll definitely add this one to our favorites!

I’m a 3.5. The beet app was bland, bolognese was ok, salmon crudo and bison short rib both excellent. Service was really good. Fun place to eat. I wish they had more bison dishes. I think we should’ve ordered the tomahawk but it was just my wife and I and 30 ounces is too much. Would’ve loved an 8 ounce bison strip.

This was so so so delicious! I was worried it would be overhyped - it was not! The broccoli was some of the best I’ve ever had, the octopus was delicious and the bison short rib just amazing. Lovely decor and service too!

This is our favorite restaurant in Banff! I had the bison bolognese and my husband had the bison shortrib, both were absolutely delicious. Next time, we want to book a table on the roof top terrace. The restaurant is in a great location and there's lots of parking close by. Will come back again

The bison steak is a perfect dish for 2-3 people. I prefer medium-rare steak as it is juicy and tender. The strawberry cream cake also tastes good. The cake is a bit hard but I liked it. The slightly harder body of the cake makes for a richer overall flavor.

Food was “ok”.
For Europeans: used to tasteful food and matching flavours … you’ll be disappointed.
Exemple: when you are served an octopus with mayonnaise, nope, not working. Food tastes better home.
Recommandation: Get a cook that’ll work on matching flavours.

The fried chicken dish is mind blowing. Beautiful dining room, awesome bar and cocktails, great service.

Tasty and very good quality food. We had bison Bolognese and striploin. Medium - high priced, however Banff is touristy and good quality food is not free. Reservations are necessary.

I don’t often rate restaurants because, why bother, everyone has their own tastes and what works for one may not work for another - unless it’s egregiously bad. I’m writing this two weeks after the fact when I realised I’d had an awesome Caesar salad that I was craving and it was made here. Yes I did the anchovies and yes it was very good and enormously satisfying. I followed up with a steak (forget which one but it was good - should have ordered something green to accompany it though), and a couple of Negroni’s for dessert, which were very well made. I liked it a lot!

Very nice place with very good food and extremely good service. Highly recommended! We had a great evening.

One remark: it would be great to have more than on vegetarian dish on the mains menu.

Exceptional EXPERIENCE,
Very good service By Sandra, with a super smile and courtesy. The meal was very amazing. One of the best meal ever. We highly recommend this restaurant. 11/10.
Luc from Montreal

Amidst the burgers, pizzas and other comfort foods dominating this area, Bison offers some genuinely interesting dishes.
Octopus, bison bolognese, halibut and, if you insist, they even have a burger.
Plenty of gluten free options, and if you’re with a friend, there’s a massive tomahawk to share.
Food and service was excellent, and if you’re lucky enough to sit out on the terrace on a balmy summer’s evening, it’s the perfect spot for dinner in Banff.

Bison is the thing to eat here, as the name suggests. The bison short rib is rich and tender. The wood fired duck was also quite good.

The restaurant has a very inviting environment. The server gave us an exceptional service. Food is there. You won't be disappointed.

For one of the higher end restaurants in Banff the food was fine but at that price point I would expect better quality. Farm to table concepts are great and it will be a good meal but nowhere near great.

The duck was overcooked and had a weird curry flavour but the worst part was the steak. I can confidently say that I have not had a worse steak in at least 10 years. I ordered medium rare striploin. They brought what you see in the picture. Blue/rare steak, bland, with onion (?) on top of it, soaked in onion juice (yes onion juice), with twelve (yes 12) potatoes on the side and nothing else on the plate. Service was also very bad. We were travelling from Calgary to Vancouver, saw the good reviews and went there for dinner. It was a very bad experience.

Dîner sur la terrasse, excellent plat de bisons. La serveuse parlait très bien le français ce qui était très appréciable. Service encore une fois parfait. Prix canadiens mais on n'est pas déçu.

Great restaurant right in the middle of Banff. Make a reservation, because this place is full every night. Superb views from the terrace upstairs. High quality food, attentive service. Top notch.

The bison short rib was excellent, literally fall off the bone tender. Cute upper dining patio. Not the restaurant’s fault, but I could smell smoking from down on the street below as I was eating my dinner, so it was a bit off putting. Service so so friendly and the music was relaxing.

We had the best meal at Bison. Great service, great food, and great cocktails. Highly recommend getting a meal with Bison to state the obvious. Also the Caesar salad was delicious. We will be back next time we’re in Banff. Aloha!