Pen's Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Qu'Appelle

Review of their High Tea:

This is a review I know many are awaiting to hear. I have to warn you in advance, this will be a weird one AND a long one. I want to start off saying that my stomach has been upset recently, so I was unable to try everything much less eat everything. I’m also going to be very critical because of the high praise I’ve seen mentioned but also because I’ve had Afternoon Tea in the UK.

This was a fully booked event for Saturday, the day before Mother’s Day. It is $30/person, reservations are required.

This event should be named Afternoon Tea, not High Tea. There is a difference, but even I was confused between the 2 until recently. In addition, iconically the afternoon tea is 3 tiers: the bottom being savoury nibbles, the middle being scones (with cream and jam) and the top being sweets. As you can see, the 2 tier stand was mostly sweets.

Immediately walking in, the tables are set with the 2 tier tea stands. All that was required of the staff was to fill the tea pots. I personally feel that because of this, a lot of the food sat out too long and was no longer cold when we started eating when doors opened at 1:30pm.

In addition, there was no menu in advance nor was there an explanation on the tables for what was what. I couldn’t even find anything afterwards online. I’m not 100% sure what I ate. I can’t confirm nor deny if anything was high quality or house made. That being said, I have a few guesses.

But for now, I’ll just share my thoughts as a whole. Is this worth the price? Yes actually, I think it is. Would I ever do it again? No, I’ve had much better elsewhere.

I can tell this restaurant has great potential, their dinner photos look great. The “High Tea” is a great way to bring people in, I just wish it was much more refined.

NOW! On to the actual food itself! I will share and comment on is what I THINK was given to us:

🍽️ Small Plate: 🥭 Mango cheesecake in a jar 🦢 Some sort of Swan cream puff

I wasn’t a fan of either. I thought they were both too warm.

🍽️Bottom tier: 🥚🥗🥪 egg salad sandwich 🥒🥪 cucumber and cream cheese? sandwich 🍮 crème brûlée 🥐 scone? 🧁 cup cake 🐓🥗 chicken salad bites 🐟 Salmon caper wrap bite

Egg salad sandwich was apparently good. For the cucumber sandwich… the cream cheese was too warm on the sandwich so I didn’t like it… it was melted and reminded me more of sour cream. Maybe it was sour cream? Bonus points for adding dill though. The crème brûlée wasn’t smooth, and had what seemed like water in it. Unfortunately the scone didn’t taste like a scone. It also wasn’t fresh from the oven. I never ate the cupcake, nor did anyone comment on it. The chicken salad bite was also apparently good. And finally, the salmon bite was apparently really good, but I felt the salmon was much too pink for my comfort. I’m talking dyed pink.

🍽️ Top tier: 🍪 Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookie 🍪 Shortbread with jam center 🍋 Lemon Meringue Tart 🍫 🍓 Chocolate Covered Strawberry 🫐 Meringue Nest with Berries and custard

My absolute favourite thing was the double chocolate crinkle cookie, though I felt this was more of a winter cookie than Spring. I felt the same about the short bread cookie as well. I was told the meringue tart was good, as was the chocolate covered strawberry. As for the meringue nests, this wasn’t a favourite of mine, but it was interesting. The bottom also completely fell off of one of ours.

Again, I felt that temperature at which the food was drastically changed how things tasted… And how some things fell apart. I don’t believe most of these items were made in house. But if they were, they certainly were made the day before.

However, you get your money’s worth. It was common for a few people at each table to take home a...

I was hungry going from Winnipeg to Regina so I stopped in Qu'appelle to eat something. I ordered seafood fettuccine and was blown away but the quality. The chef, Mario, is actively preparing food and checking the guest. I had to try more stuff from the kitchen and the daughter told me creme brulee is good so I ordered it. She wasn't kidding. This is gem opening in Qu'appelle. I am far from this place as I live in Vancouver but I will tell anyone who will listen to me about...

Our firstever meal here was excellent. We will definitely be stopping here again on our next trip on highway #35. My husband said the chicken fingers and fries were delicious. My garden salad with the house dressing was exquisite, and the Reuben sandwich was piled high with meat. We were told that one of the owners is a pastry chef who works in Regina for part of the week. We didn't have any dessert but the chocolate-coated strawberries...