FAIRVIEW BAR AND RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Alberta

I must say, I don’t normally send feedback when it’s not good. It’s usually when I’m wowed and impressed. But for the longest time of wanting to try and experience afternoon tea at Fairmont, I had great expectations, but it was a major let down. In fact, I am so disappointed that I couldn’t even finish eating and already wanting to leave. I was really hoping you’d be able to deliver the service and food to live up to your name. But when the food is not so good, you’d hope that service would compensate. Your afternoon tea is not cheap, and I’ve had afternoon tea in both London and Paris, but I’ve also had them in Prince of Wales and other Hotels all over Canada. I must say, Fairmont, of all places was the most subpar, pretentious and far from living up to its name and amount you pay for. Your service is poor. And when I asked about anything for birthday that I had pre informed through email, our server had no clue, couldn’t care less and initially offered for me to order some Champagne instead for the celebrant. I would’ve ordered if I wanted too. So, when I can’t hide my dismay and was clearly unimpressed, she said she’ll do something about it. Few minutes later, of all the sweet pastries to choose from, She decided to put a candle on an extra scone, and a stick of chocolate with a poor attempt of writing happy birthday, you can barely read it. A local baker would’ve done a better job. I don’t know about you, but for $140+ tax and tip, for the afternoon tea you offer, a little something for a birthday celebrant is not too much of an ask. You could’ve gotten away with a decent icing on a plate that says “happy birthday” even, or put the candle or happy birthday on the tier before serving it. We didn’t need perks, or an extra anything, I was counting on the service, effort in making your guest feel special. But I guess, you don’t care when your restaurant guests are not staying in your hotel because that was also one of the things she asked when I inquired about the note for a birthday. Also, we had asked one of your server if he could take a picture when he have the time, He replied very disinterested, said he’ll come back. Attempted to redeem himself by saying “oh he stole the job from me” jokingly, as soon as we found somebody else that would do it. Again, it’s the demeanour, the smile, the gesture and way of talking. We could eat in a hole in the wall restaurant and probably would’ve gotten a much better service than we did today. Your service made us feel like we were a bother. I was trying to box the left overs and our server decided to grab my utensils that our arms were crisscrossed each other. Like, what kind of training do you even have for your staff? Needless to say, we will not be coming back and will be sharing this experience to friends, family and any social platform. Businesses are struggling everywhere, there are far more deserving businesses to support than your big name company...

This was the only restaurant was that was open on the night that we wanted to have dinner at the hotel. We tried to avoid Fairview because of its low rating. We originally booked to dine at Lakeview (another restaurant in the Fairmont but with a much better rating), but was told that Lakeview was not open. With no other choice, we sat down at Fairview with an open mind. And it wasn't terrible, you can sense that they really do try to uphold the standard expected in a wonderful restaurant setting, with a beautiful view of the lake, in a name brand hotel. However, despite their attempt, they miss their mark. The quality was not up to standards to what you would expect at a Fairmont property. More importantly, the quality was not even close to what you would expect for their menu prices. This was the highest dollar-to-quality ratio (i.e. expensive food for low quality) that I've ever paid in a restaurant.

The hotel's website boasts Chef Nicholas Issel as their executive chef. We encourage Fairmont to re-examine this position, as this restaurant is not on par with the other wonderful Fairmont restaurants that we've experienced in other cities. If the menu prices were half of what they charge (e.g. $35 for the Sablefish instead of the $70 that they actually set), then I would rate Fairview at Three Stars. My sablefish needed to be excellent for $70, but sadly it was dry. I also ordered a lobster tail on the side, and it was overcooked, undersized, underwhelming, and overpriced at $32. I normally wouldn't rate a restaurant by its prices, but Fairmont needs to reconsider resting on its laurels with their brand when it comes to Fairview at Chateau...

Their staffs are arrogant and raciest. They treat people who dine at the restaurant without room booking as second class citizens. I read the other reviews and apparently I’m not the only one thinking this way. Surprisingly this 5 star hotel management is not improving after so many complaints on staff attitude.

I had an afternoon tea reservation and needed to use the restroom before dining. The staff asked me to get out of the hotel to use the public restroom in the parking lot instead of the one in the lobby.

I asked two different hotel staffs for directions and their first reactions were whether I am hotel guests. I said no, then they pointed the direction with their nose and one word “there”. Even a five year old kid can do better than that.

There’s a cafe in the hotel and I saw some visitors grabbing coffee and sitting at the window to enjoy their coffee. A hotel staff shouted rudely to the visitors asking them to leave even they were coffee shop customers. People were scared and moved around immediately. The staff should be more polite. I felt like people were treated as second class citizens even if they were spending money here.

If the hotel doesn’t welcome restaurant customers other than hotel guests, then please shut the gates and limit the restaurant reservations to hotel guests only. It’s ugly that the hotel wants to earn money from restaurant/ coffee shop but on the other hand pretending to be exclusive for hotel guest.

P.s we originally planned to book this hotel for our next few days, but after experiencing this, we went to Rimrock hotel instead. Way better than...