THE VERMILLION ROOM — Restaurant in Banff

Pains me to give this place a 2-star review but there were some major issues that tainted our experience. Had the privilege to dine in the private 360 dome for a relative's wedding reception several weeks ago. Stunning space, and the 360 dome was even more special. Came a bit late (about 30 mins) which I understand would delay our set dinner course. Our dedicated server was fantastic, took our drink orders and confirmed our set menus right away.

Drinks came in a timely manner, but then we all noticed our first course didn't arrive until 45 minutes later. Second course then didn't arrive until 41 minutes later. Not sure if it's standard for this restaurant to have lengthy times in between courses but we all noticed we sat for quite a while in between dishes. Which at the beginning was fine, we were more than happy to sit there and enjoy the conversations and ambiance. The 3rd course didn't arrive until 2 hours after we all got there but at least the pace in between the courses after that picked up.

After our 5th course, which only arrived at 9pm (which made it incredibly difficult on those with young kids), the manager then came and advised us that the 360 dome was booked for another party at 10pm and that they had set up another private dining space inside the restaurant for us to relocate. Can't speak for the bride and groom who booked the venue, but we understood that the 360 dome was booked for us until 11pm. To find out at 9pm the specific private space that was booked was now somehow not going to be available to us was a big shock to us all. This on top of the fact we were there only 5/7 courses in (and 2.5 hours in) was unacceptable. But no one was in a mood to discuss this with the restaurant staff so we agreed to relocate.

The second private room, now inside the space was very nice so that eased some of the tensions. But the slow food service continued, and we all didn't receive our last course just after 10pm. Most of the party then started leaving at 10:30pm, a full 4 hours after we sat down. The server or manager did offer the party a round of free drinks for the inconvenience of relocating, which was nice but this was late in the evening after we had all ordered a good amount of drinks already.

Overall, the food was stellar. The chef came out several times to discuss the dishes and where the food was sourced from. Presentation and taste were on point. Our dedicated server was also just great. Very amicable, attentive and patient with us. She was apologetic for the lengthy delays between meals and for us having to relocate. I just can't give this restaurant more than 2 stars because of the slow food service and the fact we had to move spaces during our dinner. Sure, a free round of drinks is a nice gesture but a discussion with the bride and groom about a potential discount or compensation would have been more meaningful. They have reached out to the Vermillion Room but they were told nothing would be done. They're not wanting to leave a negative review which led me to wanting to write this.

I want to give this place a 5-star review. All the potential is there. Not once did any of the staff tell us there would be a lengthy wait between the courses. Not sure if it's standard and maybe that's why nothing was said. As for the 2 kids that had food made for them, the chicken strips and fries were very mediocre. The strips were clearly from a frozen bag and were not something you'd think you'd find at The Fairmont. The fries weren't bad, nothing to write home about. The other kid's dish was a pasta with tomato sauce. Except the tomato sauce was very seasoned. Delicious for the adults who tried it, but not kid friendly at all. Fortunately there was enough food packed for them, otherwise it could have been disastrous to have 2 young starving kids up...

I seldom write reviews but I had a very disappointing experience at the Vermillion Room in Banff yesterday. Several of my family members are Fairmont Platinum Members and I have dined at the Vermillion Room before with good experiences. I booked by phone for six and informed we were celebrating my mother-in-law's birthday. We had many stops scheduled for that day so I took the first seating at 11:30. When we sat I asked the hostess to send our server right away as we were ready to order. I then told the server that we were playing the "Amazing Race" that day and that we would order entrées and drinks all at once. I then ordered cocktails, beverages and entrées myself without referencing the menu for the entire table. (No time for appetizers! Lol) The orders were not complex or customized in any way. In fact, 4 people ordered the same dish. Bread arrived about 8 minutes later and I could see our 3 cocktails, two juice and a bottled pop slowly make their way up on the side bar. There were two bartenders and the restaurant was quiet. My intention was to wait for our cocktails then show my niece and nephew the view while we waited for our entrées. 15 minutes after ordering the simple drink requests hadn't arrived and the bread was eaten so I suggested we get the view-taking out of the way. All of us went out and spent about 10 minutes taking pictures and talking. When we went back in and sat for another few minutes waiting for drinks. My cocktail didn't arrive. Everyone elses did. When I inquired I was meet with, "Oh, did you ordered that." I had and was heard by the whole table. So another 4 minutes for that to arrive. I can be accurate about times because of the time stamps in my photographs. Food arrived almost forty minutes after our seating. I had ordered the King Crab chowder as I am a huge soup fan and had never had King Crab in a chowder before. The soup was tepid, at best. There was barely detectable heat in the bottom center of the underside of the bowl. Chowder is not served cold but the temperature was so low that I thought maybe it was supposed to be. I have never returned a dish to a Kitchen before, but I did. I contemplated eating it anyway becouse of our time crunch but this was a $32 bowl of soup and I was actually looking forward to it! Plus I was paying the bill for all! Meanwhile one of the 4 orders of Steak Frites were over cooked. This was mentioned to the server and met with, "Oh the Chef uses a (particular method) to ensure its cooked to specifications." All of us could see the pinkness difference with the other steaks cooked the same way. It was eaten anyway and not returned. No time. My soup arrived before my guests had completed their meals and I scarfed it down. Hot yes, but I could not see or taste any crab in there, whatsoever. Just five whole clams floating in along with some small bits of some type of seafood that could be white fish and thin potato slices. Not a delicious or memorable soup in anyway, but I did not complain further. Time to pay and go. As a final bit of incompetence. I asked the server if she could call down to the valet and get our car brought up as we're ready to go. She said she had no way or idea how to do that. I went and asked the hostess who figured out how to pick up an in house phone and push Valet. Not too hard and I thanked her for it. All in all, not a great lunch stop for a $350 bill, a $45 valet ticket and a $20 valet tip!! Nice hotel though, and lots of history there, but, in my opinion, the Vermillion Room should not rest on...

TL;DR: Food was great; service was egregiously slow and poor. There were 7 of us and we tried the 360 Dome experience this past weekend for brunch as our first stop of a stagette and were left mostly disappointed. The food was excellent but our server Jonah left us nothing to write home about. Right off the bat he forgot our water orders (4 still/3 sparkling; split right down the middle of the table) which wasn’t a big deal at the time but worth bringing up given the rest of our experience. The first course that came out were the pastries which were all delicious. Much time had passed before the fruits and charcuterie came out. In his favour, Jonah did warn us that a lot of food was coming so we were trying to pace ourselves which was difficult given how much wait time we had between courses. While we were waiting for the rest of the food, it seemed like we went mostly forgotten in the dome (the water pitchers went empty and we had all stopped eating). At this point, the sun started to peak around the shadow of the hotel and it became HOT and uncomfortable through the greenhouse effect on the clear dome. When our server finally returned, we asked him to open up the vents to in attempts to cool it down which he was unable to do an didn’t return for another 20+ minutes to which his solution was to turn on the portable AC unit, clear and give us clean plates, and then close the door to the dome. At this point the AC was not able to do anything. At about 2 hours in is when the rest of our food was also brought out. Up until this point everything had been served family style. The bavette initially arrived on 3 plates, and these were placed in the middle of the table. We thought it was odd plating choice for the meat to reside on only half of a large plate but proceeded to share and pass these around as we were aware that more food was on the way. One of the chefs helped bring out the remaining 4 of the plates and confirmed these were intended to be personal portions but we’d already started using the little plates we were previously given so these also ended up in the middle of the table. This told us that our server had no idea what was going on. When the potatoes, lardon, veggies, scrambled eggs, and eggs benny also arrived, we had to stack up the empty plates to make room which should have been taken away much sooner. The dome was still hot and stuffy so we all lost most of our appetites leading us to pack up most of the meal. Our understanding was that this brunch should only last 2 hours max. By the time we wrapped up, we'd spent 3.5 hours which ate into the rest of the itinerary for the day. I understand the long weekend could have contributed to slower service but nothing was communicated to us to acknowledge the slow pace. To spend $125 per person for this experience, we were expecting the Fairmont Standard for service but this was not the case. The sun heating up the dome wouldn’t have been an issue if this hadn’t dragged on for so long. Food = 10/10; service = 2/10 (he was at least nice...