The Columbia Diner — Restaurant in Kamloops

Took my fiance to try out Columbia Diner for our date night, and can't say we'll be coming back again.

The first water they poured me had a black speck floating in it, so I asked for a new one. They provided the new one and it didn't have any floaties so service was redeemed.

When it came time for drinks they brought out my classic margarita which also had a black speck floating in it.

I asked for the margarita to be remade as well and they took it away and gathered all the staff around the bar. I'm not sure if it was the GM or the owner but somebody with authority was involved in looking at it. They had a small meeting about it, remade my margarita, and had the server bring it back.

When the server dropped it off she told me it was just a piece of lime floating in it but they remade it anyways.

This to me shows a severe lack of caring about food safety. Limes don't contain anything black and there was no lime in my ice water that had the same black speck.

I've been in the food industry for over 13 years. Black specks in drinks come from 4 main sources: mold in the ice machine or ice wells, bugs flying around, soda guns not being cleaned, or debris leftover from the dishwasher. Either one of these problems is really quick to fix, and is things that happen time to time and I would have totally understood. Even not telling me any reason and just fixing my drink I would understand.

What I don't understand is trying to flip it on the customer by saying it was just lime. That's treating my like a diva for not wanting to pay over $10 for a drink that contained mold or bugs.

The food was good. Potentially a little generic but that's what you expect from a diner. It came to us hot, fast, and the flavors weren't bad at all, so had there not been issues with the drinks, or more importantly had they owned up to it being wrong this would be a 5 star review. Instead they got all the staff together to come to the conclusion that the customer was wrong and...

My boyfriend and I were on our way through town and thought the ratings on this cute diner was nice, but we quickly realized after a long wait that we might not get what we’re expecting. Since there was only one other table being served, we thought the service would be quick, but we waited at least 30mins after ordering. The staff was nice but the quality of food was just not to par at all! I wanted a light breakfast and ordered the protein breakfast which was made with liquid scrambled eggs (the waitress told me), 2 meat options and toast (picture attached). I decided to get fruit instead of toast and I’m glad I did because I felt that was the best part of the meal. My boyfriend got the lumberjack breakfast which was overall 2/5 but had real eggs scrambled (because of the option of eggs any style). He did not enjoy the sausages as well. The difference in the eggs was night and day when I tasted his and I didn’t bother finishing mine because they didn’t taste real.

We would’ve liked to have the staff check on us after receiving our food as I felt our server just disappeared as we tried to find ketchup which was not provided on the table. Just a little more of a check in would’ve been nice.

To finish it off when we paid, the tip option was ridiculous which started at 20% and went up from there. UM NO. For the quality of food, slow service and overall experience, the tip was not worth that much.

It’s unfortunate because the design and look of the place is really cute and designed well, but the owners need to make some changes in their kitchen. Looking back, it says something when you’re not busy on a Sunday afternoon at 2:15pm. Hope this review helps to make this place better as it has a lot...

I am very torn on this review. We have been there 5 times including our first visit in January of this year. We love the casual atmosphere and the people that work there. However the food has been very inconsistent unfortunately. I frequently get the breakfast which I really enjoyed. The last time though the hash browns had some kind of seasoning that was not there before and was before and was not needed. We went there with a group for breakfast and some people had 4 slices of bacon and others had 2. Garnishes were not the same for everyone. I have had the turkey dinner a couple of times. The last time the stuffing was shaped in a round patty and it was not before. This made it kind of dry. I had brown gravy on the potatoes and turkey (or pork?) gravy on the side. Just seems wierd to have 2 kinds of gravy. I love the green beans and there is a good amount of cranberry sauce and turkey. My husband usually gets the smashburger which is good. He did try the steak tips but was not really a fan of the gravy. Not a fan of the curly fries though. They're just frozen fries anyway so maybe provide an unseasoned, straight option. But the biggest thing I notice is they are always understaffed! On 2 very busy days lately there was only 1 server and 1 other person who might fill some water glasses and nothing else - not even clear tables! But servers are always pleasant no matter how busy they are. We really like this place but they need to be...