Bramasole Restaurant & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Fernie

On the last evening of a long-anticipated 4 day Fernie adventure, we attended Bramasole for an Italian dinner on May 23. Saved the best for last, or so we thought.

Our trip was booked 47 days prior to our arrival, giving us plenty of time to research the dining choices available in Fernie. Bramasole's menu and good reviews put it at the top of our list.

Fearing a full house on a Friday, we arrived right at 5:00 when they opened. We were offered one choice of seating inside (the other tables were reserved), or the patio. Other than staff, the place was empty. We chose to sit outside.

Our server was polite and cheery and brought us menus after seating us. The wine list is limited to B.C. wines. My wife chose a specialty cocktail which ended up being good, albeit pricy. As I am particularly not fond of flavorless and skinny and overpriced B.C. wines, I chose a beer.

Please, offer some international wine choices! Your misguided loyalty to B.C. wines is not a plus.

As we perused the one page dinner menu we were mystified that our previous research was in vain, as none of the offerings we had anticipated ordering were on the menu. No truly Italian pastas, and no (real) meat offerings. Our bewilderment was real, as I had just perused the menu on my phone 20 minutes before we left for dinner.

Our server, ever polite, said that indeed the menu we were reading was in fact the menu. I brought out my phone and showed her the menu I had just looked at. "Oh" she said. "That's our old menu. Our new chef has changed the menu." She suggested several alternatives, none of which came close to our anticipated Italian feast. We were convinced to order the Gnocchi and the Gamberetto. We ordered the Limon Crostini ($14 ) to start. No amount of gentle persuasion could convince our server to approach the chef for a slight deviation to cook us some fettucine Alfredo. She lost a point for that.

The 3 piece crostini order arrived, and while tasty, was overpriced for three small slices of dry bread with some dressing. And just how do 2 people share a 3 piece appetizer?

As we were seated outside and looking into the kitchen, we watched the chef and his assistant cooking our meals. Slow and steady seemed to be the pace, as our meals took almost 45 minutes to arrive. Every movement was almost in slow motion. Tough to watch.

To the chef's credit, both mains were quite tasty with nuanced with nice flavors. However, both lacked the requisite garlic, leaving them lacking in that final flavor-push. We thought the portion size was far too small for the price paid. Other reviewers have that similar complaint.

The dessert we shared was good. We declined a second drink.

It is unfortunate that this negative review is a result of Bramasole not keeping their website current. We would not have chosen Bramasole if we had seen their current menu.

Other reviewers seem pleased with the offerings at Bramasole, but we were not. It is a very limited menu, with nothing really appealing to us. We want hard-core Italian food, (loaded with garlic), when we chose Italian, not Italian Lite or Italian Fusion.

We realize that the restaurant is a converted house, between other houses, but the management would improve their image a lot by maintaining their property just a bit better.

The deck could use some stain, and the fascia that is missing above the kitchen entrance has to be replaced. Some paint would not hurt either. The general look from outside into the cramped kitchen seems to suggest disorder within. If zoning laws allow, the kitchen should be extended and modernized just a bit to add to the appeal from the rear sitting area.

Kudos to our server, pleasant and fun...

My partner and I were really looking forward to dinner at Bramasole to start our vacation. We arrived around 6:30 p.m. without a reservation, as we were driving from Calgary and weren't sure of our timing. The female hostess told us they were at capacity and couldn't seat us, but a gentleman behind her offered to put us on a waitlist with an estimated time of 30–40 minutes. The hostess seemed reluctant to add us, even pointing to a name on a notepad saying, “We already have someone on the list”.

We happily agreed to wait and wandered around town . After 70 minutes with no call, I phoned to check our status on the list. Someone answered with, “We are ready for you,” without confirming my name. When we walked back to the restaurant, the same female hostess again told us they were at capacity, making it clear our business was not welcome. After some back and forth, a different gentleman finally agreed to seat us - but only outside on a tamarack chair, hardly ideal for a fine dinner.

For a place with so many glowing reviews, our experience was unwelcoming, disorganized, and far from the special night we...

Bramasole offers a delicious menu with thoughtful dishes and a solid wine selection. The flavors were impressive—clearly a lot of care goes into the kitchen. However, the experience wasn’t quite seamless.

Our appetizers and mains arrived at the same time, which made it hard to enjoy each course properly. It felt rushed and disrupted the flow of the meal. The atmosphere could also use a bit more refinement to match the quality of the food—lighting, layout, and overall vibe felt slightly mismatched. A clearer dress code or ambiance cue would help set expectations, as the mix of casual and formal guests made it feel inconsistent.

That said, the staff were friendly and the food itself was excellent. With a few adjustments to timing and presentation, Bramasole could easily elevate the dining experience to match its...