Convivia Bistro Cuisine — Restaurant in Osoyoos

This was one dining spot I simply couldn’t miss. My past experiences were consistently great. In fact, back in May, I had the pleasure of dining there with a few of my employees, and let me tell you—the food was nothing short of amazing. The chef truly outdid himself.

Fast forward a month later: Canada Day. I eagerly stopped by with my family, anticipating the same stellar experience. Naturally, I ordered the same dish I had raved about in May—the veal osso buco. But when it arrived, it was like someone had hit a switch. What had been a tender, flavorful dish just weeks before was now dry, with a sauce that looked… well, suspicious. And the taste? Less said, the better. It wasn’t the melt-in-your-mouth delight I remembered; it was as if I was served the distant cousin of the dish I’d loved. Yet, despite my disappointment, I said nothing. After all, every chef can have an off night, right?

Then came today. I returned with a group of friends, optimistic and hopeful that my May experience was not just a fluke. I took a deep breath and ordered the veal osso buco once more, daring the universe to let me down. And, unfortunately, it did. Again. One of my friends ordered calamari, which tasted like it had been seasoned in the Dead Sea—so salty, it made our eyes water. The other two friends ordered steaks, only to find them cooked nowhere near the requested doneness. And my osso buco? Dry as a desert, with a sauce that seemed to have taken an unfortunate color and flavor detour since May. One friend went for the focaccia, as listed on the menu, only to be served… toast. Yes, plain toast. For the record, toast is not focaccia. Just saying.

Now, I’m not one to cause a scene. So when our server swung by, I quietly mentioned my concerns. I spoke softly, hoping to keep it a private conversation. I even told her about my three wildly different experiences with the same dish, hoping they might take it as constructive feedback. She nodded, took my plate away, and all seemed fine—until two minutes later.

Cue the manager (or at least, I assume it was the on-duty manager). He stormed over to our table, and in a booming, aggressive voice that could probably be heard in the next town over, informed me that the chef had tested my dish and found it to be “cooked to perfection.” He added that while I could choose another dish, there would be no more osso buco for me. Well then.

Now, I’m not easily embarrassed, but the way he handled the situation—with all eyes in the restaurant on our table—made me feel like a child being scolded. Instead of a thoughtful, quiet conversation, I got a lecture, as if I had dared to offend their sacred recipe. And all I could think was, “Aren’t you supposed to work in hospitality?” Because let me tell you, whatever that display was, it certainly wasn’t hospitable.

So, to that manager: I understand you may have been having a bad day, but next time, please remember you’re in the business of hospitality. And perhaps invest in some communication skills. And a proper recipe for focaccia.

My friend leaned in and asked me why I didn’t say more—why I didn’t stand up and object to the way I was being treated. Fair question. The truth is, as a business owner myself, I was already imagining what the owner of this place would think if they heard about this encounter. Would they brush it off? Or would they even know how much one bad moment can impact a business’s reputation?

Honestly, I felt sorry for the business owner. I could only imagine their disappointment if they knew how loyal customers were being treated. And as for the chef who was there in May—if they were let go or left on their own, it was a real loss for the restaurant. Whoever was cooking back then was a talent, and their absence was obvious in every dish we were served tonight.

It’s a shame to see so much potential wasted, and I can’t help but wonder if the owner is aware of the drop in quality and the manager’s “customer service” approach. If not, I hope they find out soon before more loyal patrons like me are...

Oh wow. Where to begin. Horrible experience from start to the end. Il NEVER go back or send anyone there .

Food - very underwhelmed, tasteless, bland. SO, Nothing special at all folks. I have honestly received better food at cafeterias and mediocre chain restaurants. This restaurant claims to be "Fine Dining". It's French and Italian food. But they can't do either right. It's a complete JOKE . The only thing fine dining like about this place are the prices. If you want great food or a proper fine dining experience, I recommend saving yourself the dissapointment and going elsewhere. There is a steak and seafood place nearby and is an alternative.

We ordered the Osoyoos pizza, lamb shank and brie cheese for a starter. The pizza was a disaster. It was under cooked. The crust was hard, dry and stale. Like day old pizza crust that sits out in a box and becomes hard and dry . Topping, soggy and cold. The only two toppings I could see were basically lots of tomatoes and onions. No other visible topping except for TONS of raw tasting onions and tomatoes with no salt or seasoning of any kind. The pizza was supposed to have basil and olive oil but I didn't taste any at all. Sauce barely there. Cheese nonexistent. I waited to ask for salt and pepper but no one ever came by the table. The worse part was my pizza arrived cold! How do you serve a table their food cold? The waitress should have noticed. The person making the food should have noticed . It should have been fixed. My fiance tried a slice and didn't like it either. His lamb shank was tough and chewy. The potatoes overcooked. The brie cheese appy was again, a dissapointment. We were both super excited to try it from the description in the menu . But again bland, tasteless and unexciting is all it was. They didn't give enough bread with the cheese and so we didn't have anything to eat the brie with after we ran out. No one came around to check or ask. As for presentation of food, it needs improvement. All dishes arrived looking sloppy and unappetizing. Not what you expect from a fine dining restaurant.

Service was poor and non existent. You are ignored for the most part. Everything seems disorganized and slow here. The atmosphere is not comfortable and welcoming . Decor and ambiance are actually decent . But the energy of the place is kind of off, uncomfortable and snobbish. Fine dining doesn't need to be snobby. I love the fine dining restaurants with that down to earth vibe. No need to take yourselves tooo seriously especially when you can't deliver.

Dessert for us was creme brule. Again a total let down. Tasted very surgery. Like literally all we could taste was sugar. The custard part was like the stuff you buy at the grocery store in the box and make at home. We could barely get two spoons in and we both have a serious sweet tooth. The hard sugar at the top was really poorly done.

The place looks clean but has a musty unpleasant odour. You notice it as soon as you walk in. I actually almost walked out at one point while we were standing around waiting to be acknowledged because it was making me feel very nauseous. But I didn't want to be rude and my fiance had chosen this place and was excited to try them. Not sure if it was the food odours, combined with the strange musty odour that was making me sick. Anyway, that should have been the first red flag. Because after dinner, I ended up with an upset tummy in our hotel room and had an upset tummy all night . I'm thinking the raw pizza was the culprit.

Awful experience....

My husband and I visited Convivia Bistro this past Labour Day Weekend for dinner. It was Saturday night around 6:30pm and the restaurant was busy. We walked in without a reservation and were seated right away. The restaurant itself is very nice with great décor and a nice ambiance. After being seated for about 15 minutes I noticed that the table next to us who were seated after us had already ordered drinks and appetizers - they had a difference server. In fact, their appetizers came before we even saw our waiter. At this point I wondered if there might be some confusion between the wait staff and the servers didn't realize that no one had been to us yet. After another 5 minutes of so (20 minutes since we were seated) one of the other servers who we had seen waiting on tables around us came over. It was odd because he had passed by our table many times in the 20 minutes we were there but in no way acknowledged us until he finally came over. He was French and perfectly friendly and we proceeded to order drinks from him. 10 minutes later the drinks still had not come, and I could see the bar from my seat. It appeared as though the servers were making their own drinks - which is weird for such a busy place. About 5 minutes later he came with our drinks and we ordered our food. After he left our table we tried our drinks. My husbands cosmo was ok, but drinkable. My Pina Colada (which I drink regularly) was the worst I have ever had. It was basically pure coconut milk and I'm pretty sure there was no alcohol in it. I would have told him this, but he never came back. At all. Tables around us with different servers received baskets of bread, we never got any. My husband finished his cosmo and wanted to order another but didn't have the opportuntuty to as our server was MIA. We could see him running around and it was clear that although his intentions were good, he had no idea what he was doing. A half an hour after delivering our drinks he dropped off our food. At the point my husband didn't want another cosmo and I didn't even care about replacing my discarded and undrinkable pina colada. We ordered a pizza, spaghetti carbonara, and the lamb. The food was really good. Although again, our server never came back to do a quality check, he never came back at all. Our water glasses were both empty and at this point even though the food was good we were just ready to get out of there. Two ladies were seated behind us and we watched as they sat there for 25 minutes with no service until at last they literally flagged down our server and politely requested service. Although they were clearly our server's table he seemed surprised by their request for service. It was really, really odd. We finished our meal and finally flagged down a hostess or busser as our server never came back after dropping off our food. We asked for water and for our bill. We paid and left and went somewhere else for dessert. Our expereice was obviously awful, which is a shame because the only thing bad was the service; but it was so bad that it totoally consumed the whole experience and made it unsalvageable. Oh, and the kicker was when we were paying the hostess was she was trying to figure out who our servier was and we described him she said, "oh, my manager". Our jaws nearly...