The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald Review

Beautiful room, elegant ballroom, and amazing food! Staff were so welcoming & friendly, couldn't ask for better

We recently stayed at The Hotel Fairmont MacDonald while in town for a concert. The service was perfection as was the hotel and it's rooms. Our dinner in the Harvest room was amazing (highly recommend the beef tenderloin). Our stay started with the valet finding out our names (and they then proceed to greet us by name every time we entered or exited the building), taking care of our baggage, and guiding us to the lobby. We were greeted by the resident canine, Smudge, a beautiful and friendly golden lab. The desk staff was friendly and efficient. When they checked our booking, we found ourselves upgraded to a wonderful room. Considering this was a concert night and we were booking in as all the dance and backup performers for the concert were boarding their busses to get to the stadium, they handled the mayhem with professionalism and expertise. We had opportunity to meet the house keeping team and were impressed with their friendliness and willingness to make our stay as memorable as possible. They had made a dog out of some towels and had put a baseball cap on it from his favorite hockey team as a gift for him. I can't say enough about how wonderful it is to stay in a hotel where the quality of your stay is their most important thing. I recommend them to everyone when they're heading to Edmonton. We can't wait for the Gold floor to open next month. If their standard for regular guests is this high, I can only imagine what they're going to do for the gold floor guests.

Antique look with an historic feel. The Fairmont has great food and a spectacular cocktail menu.

Went to the harvest room for an anniversary dinner. The food was delicious, and the server even came out with a special anniversary treat.

My boyfriend and I stayed for a weekend for our anniversary. We really expected our room and amenities to match the reputation of the fairmont, but it did not live up. I feel that the fairmont is really relying on the building to impress the guests, and therefore they can cheap our on the actual rooms. The furniture, the bedding, the mattress, decor, were all very low quality. Nothing was updated - the bathroom was very old and outdated - and not in a vintage, classy way. Even the towels were thin, hard and overused. Something that was especially unsettling was the shared entrance to our room. We could always hear the door slam when our neighbors would enter and exit their room, very disturbing.
And then of coarse the amenities. We all know the food at hotels are always overpriced - but this was exceptionally bad. Example - the Avocado toast was $26.00 (literally just bread and avocado). Unjustifiable.
The only saving grace was the service. Every person we came in contact with was absolutely lovely and helpful.
That said, I would not stay here again. The cost was far too high for what we got.

Love the lounge at this hotel. The ambiance, the staff, the guests, the decor, the peanuts, the menu. Five stars, all the way.

Great seating outside with view of the ravine. Good selection of drinks and the staff was very attentive.

Attended a function here. Food was outstanding and the property is beautiful.

What a gorgeous hotel this is, always a pleasure to visit. We went for New Years Eve. They had a dinner (not the best for the price) and a gala that was amazing and fun.
The rooms are so nice, be sure to get a river valley view, worth the extra price.

Attended a lunch meeting in a private room. Food and service was fantastic as always. The best part was I got to see smudge on my way out. For anybody who doesn't know smudge he is the local resident dog.

We were treated so well by all staff. The room was beautiful and we had a perfect experience.

very disappointed...to see that they would treat a pig better than a human

Great atmosphere and location. Very pricey drinks but they and the food (french onion soup and buffalo appetizers) were delicioys

I attended a reception at the Mac this week. The food was exceptional. Excellent mini lamb chops and superb finger foods. Nice fresh fruit and dessert trays. Kudos to the catering staff at the Hotel MacDonald!

An Edmonton landmark with amazing river views. I love the hotel so much. I often go for drinks and food. I love the atmosphere, the history and the coziness of the hotel. I've been there for weddings, galas, brunch and just because. I've never had a chance to stay in the rooms so I cannot comment on that. But service is the only reason I don't give 5 stars. I find that they are not the most friendly, welcoming or accommodating staff. Maybe because it's a more upscale hotel?! But then I have been to other Fairmont hotels through out Canada and the service it's so much better then Hotel Macdonald. Anyways, the hotel itself is amazing.

Beautiful historic hotel, lots of charater. Service from all departments of operation were excellent. Friendly polite and informative staff, all staff.. Pre stay contact from hotel staff regarding special requests, arrival time, parking etc was awesome.. Harvest room restaurant.. The food was excellent.. Quantity and quality.. Service from all staff was impeccable.. Highly recommend the MacDonald hotel for those special occasions..

Attended a U of A Alumni event in the Wedgewood Room. It was very special with appetizers of spicy cauliflower and skewers of beef chimmichura. The service was excellent.

Mothers Day Brunch 2017 = a complete let down. We were seated in the Wedgewood Room where you had to walk past the buffet line - only one line of crowded people for the whole room. Needless to say 20 minutes in line, food was average and had the aura of being thrown together. That said the omelet station was outside of the buffet corner and before the line o_0. Very disorganized, poor service and the cost to experience ratio was very poor. A let down on a special day. Very unfortunate that I doubt I would be back. Consider other options before going here...

The decor is of course majestic. I ate at the "Lounge" and found portions smaller than the Fairmont in Ottawa.

Stunning decore and friendly staff. This trip back in time was a delight.

This is my wife and I and mine first time at the Fairmont hotel McDonald in the Harvest Room for the Royal Afternoon Tea . There were eight people in our party and we were served by Natalie. She was very attentive and sociable which made the tea more enjoyable. She even took the time and offered and took pictures of us.

The first thing to decide was the loose leaf tea. You had a choice of ten teas with some of them having an extra charge between two and $10. I went with the Ontario Ice Wine tea because I usually enjoy white tea. I did not hear anybody complain at our table about the choice of tea they picked.

Our palette was cleansed with blood orange sorbet with basil. We had one vegan person among us and then must be something in this sorbet since she was given a mango sorbet. I asked her later and she said she was quite satisfied with the selections she had as a vegan.

A high tea would not be a high tea without scones. We had apricot, rosemary and classic scones. They were served with Devonshire cream and mixed berry compote. They were delicious and Natalie refilled the compote and the cream as required.

We next had traditional finger sandwiches and I must say that not one of them did I disliked. The sandwiches included organic egg salad, coronation chicken with raisins and salmon to name just a few.

By the time we began on the selection of desserts several of us could not finish the desserts. In fact I took a few desserts home. There were raspberry coconut trifle, chocolate hazelnut beignet, honey lavender cheesecake, whiskey orange truffle and finally Dulce de Ameche tart.

Would I come again? Based on the quality of the food and the service I will most definitely come again!