There is a Moxies right in the lobby, if I’m remembering correctly, and the M bar on the second floor. You’re right by the LRT so it’s really easy to get around.
Ooh! I totally forgot about Ruth’s Chris and I helped build the bloody thing! Yes, by reputation they make a damn fine steak. 
The Sandman is right across the street from one of my job sites, along the LRT tracks. There is a Moxie’s restaurant on the ground floor, which is a franchise with decent prices. Kitty corner from there is a Mac’s convenience store which is one of the drug capitals of town, but upstairs in there is a Subway and right next door is a Macdonalds (Mmmmm… Big Macs… so wrong, but so right…). That’s about all I can think of in the immediate vicinity, but since you’re right at a C-Train station, you can zip west a stop or two and get to lots of other stuff, some of which has already been noted in here so far. Alternatively, you can pay the transit fee, head north one stop (or just walk the couple blocks north across the river) and you’re into the Kensington area which is crammed full of cool little restaurants. A quick walk around the neighborhood will take you to food of just about any type, from Tex-Mex at Julio’s Barrio to Ethiopian at Marathon to Greek at The Broken Plate, to deli-style sandwiches at Sam’s Deli. Basically, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a restaurant or coffee house in that area.
Thanks again for all the ideas.
Personally, I’m hoping to find just a simple bar/diner style place that does good steak. By the sounds of it, that shouldn’t be too hard.
By experience, I can confirm this. They also have a great wine list, and it’s nice to find that when you ask for a martini, they know what you are talking about. But they are also very expensive.
Good call on Kensington, Jimbo. Easily accessible by LRT (head for Sunnyside station on the Dalhousie line, Gary). As far as pubs in Kensington go, I’ll put in my vote for the Yardhouse. Great selection of taps. If it’s a nice day, get a seat in the front window (which you can open, if you like) and enjoy a pint or two while you watch the world go by.
You mean east, right? 
The Sandman is right on the LRT route which makes it very easy to get just about anywhere downtown, the trains are free in the downtown zone, so you can get anywhere in the downtown area within 5 minutes.
Sandman has Moxies, it is a chain though and pretty middle of the road, but for a breakfast, it is fine. For dinner, there is so much more in the area.
If you think Caesar’s is a little too costly, you could go to The Keg on 5th Street & 11th Ave SW, although it too is a chain, it is a steak house chain, the ambiance is casual and they do steak right. They have both the restaurant and the lounge, in that location, and you only need to take the train from the Sandman Inn one stop and walk 3 blocks.
It is what most of the locals do when they are up for a casual steak dinner. I probably go there about once every month or two and I am sure everyone else here has gone to The Keg many times.
Where the Keg is on 11th avenue used to be the party/bar strip long before the red mile, but now it has a daycare, art gallery, a couple pubs, one of Calgary’s best indie rock venues, and a few restaurants. It is a safe area now.
I go to that train stop every day to and from work, and I’d have to say the cops have cleaned it up - even when I work late I don’t see the crack & meth heads anymore. Sometimes I’ll see a couple of the old-timer homeless guys, but even on a Saturday night, I don’t see the druggies there. I think they moved further east between the Sherton/Convention center and the church across from the Bay.
There’s a new Keg at the Westin, as well. 320 - 4th Avenue SW
Why not get the steak while you’re in Banff? I went to the Keg there two nights in a row and had the best steak I’ve ever tasted both times.
As mentioned above, the Kensington area is nice, and the Ethiopian restaurant (Marathon) is excellent but SLOW. On the same street, the House Coffee Sanctuary makes some great espresso and had an open mic night when I stopped in.
In the Eau Claire Market area, there’s a Joey Tomato’s, which has ok food but impressive people watching. In general the women in Calgary are extremely good looking, but the waitstaff and clientele here are impressive. However, leave the area too late and you’ll notice the prostitutes hanging around on the street corners.
For a cheap lunch, go to Chinatown. There are a number of good places for Dim Sum there.
For hotels, I’ve stayed in the Sheraton and Westin, but they’re pretty expensive (once the Sheraton showed $3000/night, yes, thousands, when I was trying to book on short notice). Holiday Inn Express is pretty cheap, but feels cheap too. The International Hotel has had some renovations done, but oddly, my room had two twin beds. Still, it was relatively inexpensive.
Splendid info. Thank you.
If you do drive to Banff, make sure you stop in Canmore (just a few miles before you hit the Park boundary) at a Swiss deli called “Valbella.” It’s on the north side of the highway, about 250 metres up a hill (the locals will point it out for you).
Get a bagful of their beef jerky, and even better, some of their air-dried buffalo. Cut so thin you could read a newspaper through it–melts on your tongue.
Location! Go in and tell them that Mike from Canmore sent you. They always get a kick of out that in Canmore.
Oh you dancer.
My name is Gary Kumquat, and I am a dim sum addict.
If you plan to stay at the Sandman downtown, I would definitely recommend Caesar’s Steakhouse over The Keg. The Keg has a very franchise feel to it (and we have been very disappointed there on occasion); Caesars is one of the top steakhouses in town, and it’s a dining experience, not just a casual dinner. Walking around downtown after dark is a little sketchy, sure, but a group of four couples isn’t exactly a target. You’ll get to experience an interesting side of Calgary, that’s for sure.
Sketchy will not be a particular problem.
Yes, thanks. I don’t track very well before 10:00 am, so it’s a miracle anything I type at that time of day is coherent. D’oh.
We see a suit-and-tie guy right behind our job shacks almost every morning having a little pre-work pick-me-up, so to speak, and there are always one or two questionable characters around the neighborhood, but yeah, I actually haven’t seen any outright criminal activity in the two months I’ve been working down there. I suspect all the really good stuff happens after sunset, but maybe the cops have, indeed, cleaned the area up.