Infusions Restaurant at Okanagan College — Restaurant in Kelowna

I was going to start this ramble with the standard canned line like "Best kept secret in Kelowna". But I realized that it is so good and so rare in Canada that I'd expand it to the best kept secret in BC.

First, let me explain what this restaurant is. It is an outlet for the students in the Okanagan Culinary Arts program to prepared and serve their creations.

It's not a private swim or drown commercial venture. The price of the meal is so far below the quality of the meal because they need an outlet for what they make. It gives the kids a way to present their talent beyond the classroom. Behind the back wall of the dining room is a complex of commercial kitchen infrastructure that is turning out world caliber chefs from the Okanagan College culinary school. They are taught and overseen by top tier instructors and you get to taste their creations.

This place has no sign on the road. It has no signage on campus to lead you there. It doesn't even say restaurant on the outside...just "Infusions. Culinary Arts". It's buried among classroom buildings, shops and administration buildings. It's not hard to find if your looking for it but the general public doesn't even know it's there. I'd never heard of it. I don't even think they advertise. They don't even have a website.

It's the kind of place that you quietly lean over to your friends as you enter and ask if it's OK for the public to go to.

For the price of a burger and fries and a slippery plastic chair at Burger King, you get a real, meal of 5 star restaurant caliber. We went for lunch today and for $11, I had the best turkey clubhouse and Caesar Salad and a chocolate torte for dessert that I can remember. My wife had the day's special of seafood ragu while my daughter had a chicken wrap. It was all well presented as these kids are shown how the flashy joint do it and charge 3 times as much. And it was big enough to qualify as a full meal, not some downsized, detuned piece of artwork.

We saw the dinner menu and plan on going back soon.

Parking and finding the place is a challenge the first time you do it. Here's the drill...park in one of the public lots. They are well marked. Instead of doing the guy thing and wandering until you find it, ask a kid walking by and ask for the Infusions restaurant or the culinary arts building. You'll be glad you did.

Oh...and here's something you don't get at any restaurant...gratuities are not accepted. A donation to the school can be arrange if you wish. This policy appears in a footnote...

I am a student at okanagan college, and love the idea of supporting other local students training in the culinary industry.. the first time visiting infusions was great. The prices were cheap, the food tasted good, and I got a free dessert( unlike our cafeteria, which is the same price for less food). But one visit, changed my mind completely about this place.

While eating my chicken burger and fries, I noticed some of the sides of my burger were cold. I didn't care too much about it because I was really hungry. But after a few bites into my chicken burger I noticed it was COMPLETELY RAW!!!! This made me furious, knowing this could make a person really sick, this could make me sick!!! And after my friend was also served raw beef in his OC burger we called over the waitress and explained what happened, and how we would like to discuss this situation with the head chef and urged him to discuss this situation, and this potential learning curb with his students... She was kind and apologized and asked if we wanted another burger. My friend said no, and I agreed because I was still hungry... When the head chef came out we explained to him the situation with our meals. Shockingly, He wasn't shown the food when brought back there, meaning he didn't explain to the students, learning, how this is unsafe to serve to people.. and To be honest he didn't seem to care about the situation either, WHICH MAKES ME EXTREMELY CONCERNED WHAT “COOKS” ARE COMING OUT OF THE COLLEGE!!!?!?...And to top it off, when my new chicken burger was brought out the whole chicken was burnt to a crisp!!! Complete waste of my time and money, HONESTLY!!...

Like I said usually I usually love supporting my fellow students and there learning, but I am DEEPLY CONCERNED how these students are being trained.... If this was a real restaurant (like the Cactus Club, The Keg, ext.) they would be FIRED!!! NO QUESTIONS ASKED!! SUPER Disappointed In The Okanagan College... I will definitely not...

Very disappointed! I left 2 messages with questions with Infusions on the menu and Parking. Neither was returned. The Friday October 11th menu was a thanksgiving menu only, turkey or salmon. This was not indicated anywhere on the website and we expected the regular menu. When we questioned the staff about the unexpected change in the menu, they brushed it off and told us it was shown on the web site. Not true, we checked again and nothing was shown on the website. The soup was lovely, except for the 10 or 15 pumpkin seeds that garnished the soup, which were inedible and had to be taken out of the soup…..maybe someone forgot to roast them? We paid $50 for a standard turkey dinner and feel it was extremely poor value. We will not ever return...