La Bussola Restaurant — Restaurant in Kelowna

I am not a food critic, but I know what I like, think I know good value and appreciate good service. Friends made reservations, and we got in, seated and it took a bit, but we got beverage service. We had to ask about specials as it was not volunteered. Their son ordered an appetizer and eventually it made its way to our table and by then all our drinks were empty. I think no one really said anything with the expectation our server could see this, but he just dropped off the appetizer and left without checking to see if there was anything else we needed. So, we set out to try and catch his attention, but other than getting up and approaching him, he was not looking at our table. He did manage to fall all over the table of women behind us and they could not move without him running over to see if they needed anything. I finally interrupted him and got his attention. He came over, we asked for a round and he did not know what we were drinking. Our drinks showed up in a bit and he did not know one beer from another, so we had to systematically figure out who got what. We told him we were running late for a show and to please bring out bills out with our food, we would pay so we could just slip out as soon as we were done. He immediately brought out the bills, but we had to hunt him down again once we were finished to pay so we could leave. The food arrived much to our shock, we thought this was April Fool’s Day! The portions were ridiculously small for the price and was nothing but average at best, not bad, just average. I’ve had the luxury over the years to eat at several family Italian restaurants in other cities in Canada, the US and Europe. Worked lots in NYC and always enjoyed visiting Little Italy and had some phenomenal Italian food and this would rate the bottom of the bottom, hands down. When we paid our bills, our friend’s wife paid theirs and he went on and on about how empowering it is for a women to do this and for him not to traditionally think the man always pays, how his wife said for him to just sign his check so she could handle the money and on and on to the point it was getting uncomfortable for my wife (as I paid our bill) as it was getting to the point of belittling. Collectively with all this, we will never, ever go back to this place. It’s way over priced for the quality and quantity of the food and the choices are very limited. If you don’t like the thought of ‘veal’ then you are out of luck with any...

TLDR: Overpriced, good service when it is there, badly executed food, expensive wine list, avoid avoid avoid.

Dinner for two on October 30th. Server and Sommelier were very friendly, though service was quite slow as the restaurant was full, and they seemed short staffed. Not faulting them for the service, as when the service staff came by, they were polite, professional and friendly (service was the reason this was a two star experience instead of one). Wine list is quite pricey, decided to splurge as it was a special occasion for a Barolo that was quite good, but not worth the price tag (should have been priced more toward the $120 than the actual price, $190). The main issue was the food, which varied between bad and okay. The food on the menu was generally simpler dishes, that rely on quality ingredients to be good, however the ingredient quality was sub-par.

Appetizer choices were the Caprese Salad ($26) and Antipasto plate ($28). This was a COMPLETE rip-off at that price. Caprese had four little pieces of mozzarella and five tomato slices, did not taste like much and for the price, a much finer quality was expected. Antipasto consisted of seven small slices of salami/charcuterie, four slivers of cheese and some condiments. All due respect, this plate priced at $16 would have been acceptable, but for $28, both the quality and quantity of food should have been far greater. Charcuterie tasted like it was commercial grade. AVOID AVOID both appetizers.

Main dishes were the lasagna and cavatelli pasta with duck Ragu. Starting with the lasagna, it was quite honestly just really bad. It came presented like a gigantic brick, with many layers of pasta but barely any cheese or filling. To boot, the pasta was far overcooked, and when eaten, was incredibly mushy and tasted bland, veering on gross. The tomato sauce was far too sweet, and did not complement the dish well.

The cavatelli was fine, but barely any meat in the sauce (when a sauce is called a ragu, one expects a decent amount of meat). Taste was ok but for the price of $26, I would expect more.

Bottom line: we left with a dinner price tag of over $400 for two people, having not ordered excessively. Overpriced wine, bad food and spotty service, I feel like you can do much better in Kelowna...

I happened to come across this restaurant by chance while traveling. The staff were all very friendly and welcoming, giving the place a warm and inviting atmosphere.

The food was absolutely flawless—every single dish was delicious. I honestly think it might be the best restaurant in Canada.

In particular, the lasagna made with their tomato sauce—which, as the waiter told us, is carefully cooked over the course of an entire day—was extraordinary. At other places, lasagna can sometimes be too heavy and overly cheesy, leaving you feeling stuffed, but here it was so light and easy to eat. My son even said he could eat two or three plates of it by himself!

The salmon, which was the day’s special, was also outstanding—I finished it in no time. As for dessert, the tiramisu was perfectly balanced—not too sweet, not too heavy, just light and refreshing. People who prefer rich, heavy desserts might find it a bit mild, but for me, since I’m not a fan of overly sweet treats, it was simply perfect and left me deeply impressed.

After our first visit, my son insisted we go back again, so we ended up dining there twice within a few days. Honestly, if possible, I would happily come here every day. It’s that wonderful of a restaurant.

My photography skills don’t really do the food justice, so I apologize if the photos don’t fully capture how amazing it was—but I’ll share them anyway. This is truly a place you will never regret visiting, so I highly recommend...