Basil & Mint — Restaurant in Kelowna

We came in for dinner at 6:00 PM with a reservation made three months in advance for our rehearsal dinner for a group of 15. Despite this being a significant and special night, we were seated in a private room split between two separate tables, making it incredibly difficult to socialize and celebrate together. This was weird but we shook it off trying to just have a good time!

We had just come from a beautiful wine tasting where we were treated with care and kindness. Even as a large group, the service was exceptional. My fiance and I were congratulated, served first, and made to feel truly special. The complete opposite happened when we arrived at this restaurant. There was no welcome, no congratulations, no warmth. We were sat without saying annything and eventually someone came to take our drink order.

It took over 25 minutes to get our drinks. We had six cocktails, one beer, and two sodas. With two servers assigned to us, this should have been straightforward. On top of the long wait, two of the cocktails came out wrong and had to be remade. Still we didn’t say anything because bigger groups can be hard.

Our food order was taken and seemed to go smoothly, but then we waited again just for bread. Getting just bread took 25 min! Only half of our group received bread and the other table waited another 15 minutes. When we asked one of our servers, who turned out to be the manager, he was rude and dismissive, saying the restaurant was packed and it was coming. I got up to use the bathroom and passed through the lounge and dining area where there were maybe five tables seated. His attitude was poor and this blatant lie was very bad!

Eventually, bread was brought to the rest of the table, and then we sat and waited again. After a total wait time of 1 hour and 45 min from when we sat, food finally started coming out, but again only to one of the two tables. A guest asked whether the other half would be receiving their food soon since the bride and groom still hadn’t been served, and the manager raised his voice at us, telling us to be patient. At that point, we were done!

Ten-ish min later the rest of the food came out. The food was mediocre at best. The lamb shank was overly vinegary, the chicken was undercooked and barely edible, though the pasta was fine. The signature cocktail was overly sweet and unbalanced. The other drinks were fine, nothing special.

The worst part of the night was the manager himself. His customer service was terrible, and once things became uncomfortable, he stopped coming to our table entirely. He sent out a younger server who was polite and did their best, but it was too little too late. We were out of there by 2 hours and 15 min, but that time felt painfully long for a night that should have been joyful.

All this could have been made better with a simple acknowledgment. An apology, a complimentary bread basket, a small gesture to show they cared about our experience. Instead, we were treated like an inconvenience.

Do not go here for a special event!! Just go somewhere else all together! The service was unprofessional, the food was hit or miss, and the manager clearly does not care about the guest experience. There are plenty of other restaurants that will treat you with respect and actually care, I mean for heaven sakes there is one across the road. This was a major letdown!

[Update after owner’s response:] I want to clarify a few things after the owner’s reply. Yes, we were informed that not ordering from the set menu could result in a longer wait, but nearly two hours to receive food is excessive by any standard, especially with a reservation made months in advance. I have worked in many restaurants and a ticket time for entrees over 60 min on a 15 top is crazy!

I also noticed the owner went back and edited their original response, which I’m honestly glad to see. The first version was highly defensive and disappointing, especially coming from someone in the...

I had this place on my Kelowna Bucket List for a while, but it sadly let me down... My sister booked a surprise reservation while she was visiting for the two of us and we had many issues. The first, I unrolled my cutlery and it was clearly dirty with stuck on food. I asked for a new set, no issues. Second, my sister then ordered the special, which they came back saying they ran out of the feature fish, but could replace it with cod. She said that was fine, it happens. Third, the cod came RAW. I was able to get the waiter to bring it back to the kitchen, where he told my sister "I'm sorry the fish wasn't cooked to your liking, the Chef will fix it." While I do understand that some fish can be eaten raw, or slightly undercooked, cod is NOT one of them. It's either cooked or raw. When it came back, it was still undercooked in the middle. My sister was just going to ignore it and pushed it to the side of her plate. A manager(I think) noticed and came to check. He offered to send the food back again, but we both didn't want to bother. It had already been the course of an hour and my sister had barely eaten. Fourth, after they informed us they would remove the dish from our bill because it was in fact, raw, they offered my sister a free appetizer. She ordered gnocchi (which was fine) and a glass of wine for herself (that she paid for.) The wine came the same time as the gnocchi, and the glass was DIRTY. My sister really didn't want to make an issue out of it, but I insisted we mention it. The manager came again to apologize, stating they had hired a lot of new support staff, so it must be them causing issues. It felt like a minor copout given the amount of issues we had already had.

For the most part, the service was good, although slow. They staff did try their best to correct the service, but did feel slightly manipulative at times (the fish comments, blaming others, etc) The food I had was good, but nothing extraordinary. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. I did want to love it, and I'm sure this was a fluke, given the tons of other good reviews. However, I did want to write a REAL review showcasing our experience. Maybe I'll come back one day, but for now, I'm...

Wow !!! What a fantastic place this is. I don't see how one can give it anything less than 5 stars. First....the restaurant is nice and modern. One where you can dress up if you'd like or be in more casual attire. Friendly and welcoming staff right as you come in confirms very good first impression. On to the food. We had beef carpaccio and gnocchi for appetizers. Excellent. Both of them. Carpaccio was one of the best I ever tried. Gnocchi...well I really hope they keep this one on the menus and never change the recipe. I'd go back to this restaurant just for gnocchi...or so I thought untilmthe main dishes came out. We ordered sable fish and pork. Both made to perfection. Nice, simple, and so very tasteful. I savored every bite of my pork and truly enjoyed the dish. Desert ? Creme brule was really really good. But I have to say that the tiramisu was the best I've eaten in BC so far. I decided to name it a dangerous tiramisu because it's impossible not to eat the whole.teay of this desert if you had it infront of you. Got to try a cocktail that's actually not on their menus, bit let's keep this is a secret and trust me that it was just as fantastic as the food. And house.made.limoncello is a must try if you like this type of drink. And that's.not all. Our servers were great too. Thank you Marina for a super friendly, hepful and a very fun dining experience. You have rounded the whole experience together and made it complete. Well definitely be back next time we're in Kelowna and I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who likes both, great food and great dining experience combined. Thank you Basil and Mint for a...