Crêperie Ooolala — Restaurant in Penticton

Dear Internet, I had the most bizarre experience at Loki's Garage. I specifically asked my wife on the day to find a small funky diner for lunch for our family. When we arrived I was very excited for my meal.

However, at one point our food seemed to be taking too long and I asked the server about it, and she explained that my meal would take longer to prepare but that she would check for me. When she did not return I approached her to ask her for a status update and then she turned and told me to speak to Chef, but she did not seemed pleased with the Chef. The Chef told me in a completely rude manner that my ticket was in front of him (I mean thank goodness eh? He knew where the ticket was but not where my food was). The server was then instructed to come argue with my wife about when our food was rung in, but we pointed out that people that were sat after we ordered had received their food, and that their food were the same items that we had ordered.

My wife's lunch unfortunately was not prepared well, it was supposed to be a paella but turn out to be a mushy, bland and burned rice latke. My sons hamburger was apparently meatloaf in a stale ciabatta bun. My dish was great, fried chicken and waffles. Coffee was great and my Caesar was delicious. However when I requested that my wife's lunch not be on the bill, I was confronted by a hostile manager that explained that we had apparently attended at this restaurant only to pick a fight and that we would not have to pay and that we were ordered to leave. He said we yelled at him and insulted him but there was no yelling (lol, however when told a complete lie my wife and I did raise our voices). I was then further insulted by this manager and then I did raise my voice. I live in reality and when someone invents a fiction to win an argument its hard to stay calm.

Also, as you the internet may be aware, I have dined at literally thousands of restaurants, and I dont think I have ever been insulted, yelled at and then given my meal for free. Its a very wierd feeling I have now, when I want to pay someone but they are too mad at me for coming to their establishment, offering a critique (as a customer because we are entitled to) and then being punished by not having to pay my bill.

I honestly thought I was on that old show "Punked" and that this was a joke. It was simply, and utterly, bizarre.

Further, the manner in which the manager was so quick to react leads me to believe that complaints from customers is a common occurrence. This is someone who is not taking a critical eye to his business. As well is someone who is not supportive of staff, as since he cancelled our bill I could not tip our server. I would also hazard a guess that if staff were confidentially surveyed it would be a human resources nightmare.

So Internet, take your risk in dining at Loki's Garage, cause if this manager and chef continue to execute their business as they did with me, then I do not think this restaurant will survive.

I was just too tired to follow up to receive the apology that this man owes me. Simply not a way to run a business. I will never be coming back. But I am not too tired to sit here and let you, the Internet know, how bad my experience was at...

We had high hopes for this place but unfortunately did not have the experience all the hype had lead us to believe we’d have. You’d expect any restaurant in sunny okanagan to be prepared for a Sunday Brunch rush, especially since they’re literally known for serving great breakfast food, but on this occasion, they were so clearly in over their heads. We were lucky to get a table right away, but the food took FOREVER. We arrived at 11:45 and our order was taken by noon. Then the waiting game…I kid you not, after 30 minutes the server came by to let us know the kitchen was slammed and they weren’t expecting that(!???) so our food would be a few minutes behind. 15 minutes later we asked another server if she could check and see how much longer it would be. 5 minutes later she came back and said another 15 - 20 MINUTES!!! Like this is breakfast food, are you kidding me!? How long does it take to make a waffle and deep fry some chicken? We did finally get our food about an hour and 15 minutes in, and that’s where the real disappointment came. The chicken was severely over cooked. Clearly the kitchen staff forgot about it. I’m talking dark brown/black crispy skin! The waffles were soggy and chewy, and the hollandaise had literally no salt. My husband who was facing the kitchen said that there was a stack of waffles on the bar waiting to be served, that sat there for AT LEAST 20-25 minutes before being used. I 100% would have considered going back if the food wasn’t so mediocre but honestly, if you can’t put together a basic breakfast in an hour and 15 minutes, you’re literally incompetent. Chicken and waffles is essentially fast food, so there’s no excuse for a wait like that, and to have it come out after all that time, burnt and bland? No.

So the good:

The service was good. The servers are pleasant and attentive. It wasn’t their fault the kitchen staff were so incredibly useless. (All 3-4 of them!).

The drinks were good and came out fast.

The manager comped one of our meals because of how bad it was.

The bad:

Painfully long wait times for basic food.

Food was mediocre at best.

Overpriced for the quality you get.

incompetent and underprepared kitchen staff.

The Bathrooms! Dear lord, they were DISGUSTING! I literally gagged as I walked in. Poop, pubes and pee ALL OVER the toilet! The sink counter was a literal pool of water. I couldn’t dare leave it like that so I wiped it down because ew. Not 100% the restaurant’s fault that some people are PIGS, but they could check on them at least once or twice! Just gross!

We dine out regularly and totally understand that things happen. Kitchens get backed up. It’s understandable. This was just so awful, I don’t know how they could possibly change our opinion. Service can be your saving grace, but even though it was impeccable, it wasn’t enough to turn the experience around.

At this price point, we won’t risk going again. Hope someone reads this and makes some changes because this is a sinking ship...

He (whomever he was) actually brought a thermometer to the table to prove to us that the chicken was cooked and then TOLD US TO LEAVE. Yes … for real!

My husband and I are foodies and we came across Loki some time ago. We very much enjoyed the restaurant and, in fact, had already visited the restaurant (with various friends) 3 times in the past 5 days. Our fourth (and last) visit was this past Saturday morning. There were 4 of us. Our friends ordered chicken and waffles and we ordered eggs benny. Unfortunately, the chicken was not completely cooked and so my friend naturally advised the server of same.

He (and we had no idea whether he was the owner, manager etc. as there was no introduction) came to our table with a thermometer and started with “first of all it’s real chicken and it is cooked …”. My friend said “it’s not cooked enough” and pointed to the red juice coming from the chicken onto her plate. He then referred us to the thermometer in his hand as he intended to “prove to us” that it was cooked. My friend again said that the chicken was not cooked enough. He insisted it was and again he was going to prove it to us with his thermometer. When my friend said for the third time that the chicken was not cooked enough for her liking, he said “You are going to have to leave!” His EXACT words. I was absolutely shocked. We had to leave???? He said it again and so the four of us got up and left. I had only one bite of my meal. Not only were we in absolute disbelief but my friend felt badly over what had happened.

I have never in my years of dining out seen someone bring a thermometer to a table to test the temperature of food. I have also never seen or heard of someone being kicked out of a restaurant because they were not comfortable eating something that they felt was not completely cooked. As my husband said “I wonder how he would deal with it if someone complained that their poached eggs were not cooked enough”?

We will not visit this restaurant ever again and we will not recommend this restaurant ever again. We will, however, share this horrible experience...