Bullwheel — Restaurant in Area E (Beaverdell/West Boundary)

This is a first for me... I've never had to write a 1-star review before, and I'm sad I have to do so now. :( My daughter and I were skiing Big White for the first time, and decided to take a break for some dinner and a drink. The nice looking pub across from the Bull Wheel was very booked with a long wait, so we tried the Bull Wheel. After waiting well over 5 minutes for the hostess to return and acknowledge folks at the door (not just us), we mentioned that we were happy to sit at the bar if it avoided a wait. They were busy, but not abnormally or at all overwhelmingly so. I've been to many restaurants and pubs that have been much busier and with fewer staff; there were only the two of us and 4 other people at the entrance, and could see tables being bussed, so keep this in mind during the review. The hostess, who was pleasant enough, seated us at a great spot at the bar. As we were peeling off our ski layers and getting settled, a friendly young Australian man bartender/server acknowledged us on his way back to the kitchen saying "I'll be with you in just a moment, ladies!" with a genuine smile. That was the last interaction we had with him as, even though we still saw him working away afterwards, he never returned to us. Meanwhile, after waiting over 5 minutes without even having been offered water, my daughter picked up a flip menu from behind the counter so we could at least start looking at what we might like to eat and drink. This went on for over 10 more minutes. We'd been trying to make eye contact with servers, who, if they came near, rushed past without looking. Obviously, we were now starting to annoyed. We were contemplating leaving after waiting now for almost 20 full minutes - again, no water, no menus, nothing - when finally a friendly-looking young Australian lady bartender/server came up to us with a smile and said "Hi ladies!" Of course we were relieved and happy, until she continued "I just need this!" and... she took our little flip menu, and brought it to the people sitting directly next to us at the bar, who had JUST come in all of 60 seconds ago, and started taking their drink order! That was it. We gathered our items and started redressing which, with ski gear, takes a few minutes. Nobody seemed to notice, or care, as there was no acknowledgement or apology. As we were walking out, the first young man did catch my eye and seemed to appear sheepish, but he still said NOTHING. Had he at least tried to apologize and take our orders right away, we would have stayed, and perhaps even ended with a great review. But, sadly, this was not the case. After an already-disappointing first experience at Big White in general, this terrible service was the icing on the cake. Even if we return to Big White itself, we won't ever bother trying the Bull...

While the food was decent and the server tried, the lack of effort in correcting the issue was upsetting. I ordered the tuna stack which was to come with fried wontons. It came with just avocado so the texture was just mushy and made it not taste good I brought it up to the server who mentioned the kitchen ran out and she didn't know. So she brought me a menu to pick something else. I picked Tuna Poke which did cost 3 dollars more. I thought my food would come out quickly but it took a long time. So long so that my kids finished their meals, got bored and antsy, so I allowed them to go on their phones. Even the waitress came by to say she has been watching for my meal and profusely apologized for the long wait. I was shocked when I got the bill and they charged me for the full price of the poke. While I understand it is a business, had I known 1) they were not going to offer any concession for their miscommunication with each other (kitchen and server) and 2) it would take so long to come my kids got antsy and bored, then I would have said don't worry about it, I can eat what they don't as they never finish their meals. I asked for the manager regarding the bill and I was shocked to hear he made it sound more like an argument saying, "well how long exactly was the wait?" I explained I don't know but it was long enough for my kids to finish their meals and get bored and antsy and for the server to come and apologize for the long wait? Then he went into a speech about how people came in after me and they got busy with their orders. While he eventually gave me a whopping 25% off the tuna poke bowl (a whole 6 bucks) it left a bad taste in my mouth. Just not good customer service. I hope they take this review and choose to do better in the future. Honestly if the manager didn't argue when ai brought up my concern and just said I am so sorry how about I give you the Poke for the Tuna Stack price right away I would have likely been happy even though it is actually only 3 dollars vs 6, it was how he handled it rather than the concession itself. I am not sure I...

Average to below average food, painfully slow service. Food has come out at different times. We have given this place a lot of tries (hoping) it was just a one off. Nope. Consistently bad. Waiting for food for an hour on average during dinner time. They are not apologetic at all about it either, as this seems to be the norm. Told both our server AND the person who seemed to be managing that we were unhappy. Blank stares basically. Ate there tonight (for the last time) food was rang in at 6:24 pm. (According to the receipt). My spouse’s meal and my meal came out after I had already paid and asked for to go boxes for when the food came and that was at 7:26! One of our children’s meals came out a full 7 minutes after ours, and by the time we were leaving my other child still hadn’t received his meal. We just left.

Our seat mates at long table with us had an identical experience as two of them pretty well finished their meals before the other two were served and that was after an hour wait for food. They were quite upset as well I could hear. Anyway, poor experiences. It’s unfortunate, as it’s conveniently located to us, as we own a ski home at this mountain and eat out up here nearly nightly in the winter season. Side note: my spouse says the lasagna is terrible. I’m not a fan of the poutine, I don’t know how they do it, but it just isn’t very good compared to other...