Bar Willow Eatery — Restaurant in Regina

When this place was The Willow on Wascana the food was incredible...but pricier than we could afford regularly. Now they've revamped to suit a more casual crowd, expanded the deck to enjoy the beautiful lake views...but simplified the menu to the point that the food options are redundant, overpriced and flavorless. For instance...I ordered the Fresh made Papardelle pasta with peas, Grape tomatoes and a side of Chicken. The chicken was the bland shredded meat they use on the tacos, the salads, the Flatbread and the lakefries. The pasta was way thicker and heavier than it should have been, the sauce was nonexistent and bland bland bland and I had to pay $4 for 2 tbsps of cheese, $6 for the bland chicken and $19 for the pasta. My mom had the lamb tapas and they were wonderful!!! But she ordered the $20 corn and bean salad with a $6 side of beef and got the dry, bland shredded beef they use on all the tacos, salads, Flatbread, lakefries and who knows what else! The dressing was bland and bitter and she couldn't even eat it. Our bill with tip was over $250.00. The view is the only reason we have been there so many times. We will not be going back now. This last experience was just too much bland and all the same. We recognize that covid has put a damper on a lot of food providers menu's and we've been to this place 10 times hoping we could find something redeeming about the food to warrant going back...but if we ever go back it will only be for the view and a drink...but then again Even my spicy Gin ceasar sucked! It was so tangy I struggled to drink it. We've had some great servers there however...last summer we had a young teacher named Regan I believe and he did make our visits a blast even if the food was lacking. *Update...adding 2 stars back on because we took an out of town friend for Sunday brunch and everything was wonderful!!!!!!! Our female server was fabulous!!!! All our meals were wonderful! Well priced and generous!! Our friend ordered his eggs over medium..(Sunnyside up but flipped) and he said they were cooked perfectly. He said almost noone gets his eggs right...so this visit was a win!! We will keep going back, trying new things and giving the menu another go. Please bring back the big shrimp tapas from last summer/fall!! They were amazing 2 out of the 4 times we ordered them! (Please consider adding toppings and a more zesty flavour to the tacos...like pickled onions, radishes, jalepeno's, hot sauce options...just anything...

Horrible service out of the three times I've attempted to dine at this restaurant I've had only had 1 enjoyable experience while having a drink after canoing the lake. The other two times I left before the I could even order food. Came on my birthday and was treated like we had no money to purchase a bottle of champagne. Was told by the server Bailey to stick to the 8$ glass special instead of buying a bottle.. even after she said that we still asked what kind of champagne they had by the bottle she told us that the special was better. Very bad for business to be suggesting customers to stick to the cheap glass even after they ask you to inform about the bottle selection. intent of coming to this location on my birthday was to celebrate with a champagne bottle.. left immediately after bailey started giving us attitude. When we asked to speak to manager regarding our server she left our table and sent another server to collect bill and to ask why we wanted to speak to the manager and that there was no manager that night.. we left and had a much more enjoyable experience at Chop. .. Decided to give The Willow another chance this afternoon after a nice walk around the lake for a glass of wine with my husband. We were on the deck for about 15 minutes no water no server no menus so once again we left!!!! During this 15 minutes the table next to us was ALSO complaining about the service and time they spent waiting for a server -keep in mind this day was NOT busy- ... My first experience at the willow was lovely and we had the best service by an older lady medium height with short hair.. I wish I caught her name because if I ever return it will be only when she is working!!!! Watch out for the younger girls you will be treated like you don't belong at...

This is referring to the Fine dining portion. It’s…. FINE, but nothing more impressive than that. The food was alright. Pickerel had plenty of bones and no flavour, and the steak had a lot of gristle for 40 dollars. The lemon potatoes were good, but the fries and oven baked potatoes tasted like… well, oven. Burned aftertaste maybe? We got a reservation, and had 3 different servers, seemed pretty chaotic. First one we felt very rushed with, second was kind enough, but seemed overwhelmed and busy, and third cleared our plates for us but never brought our bill. It was very loud. They DID seat us in a corner away from people like requested, and near an opening in the patio, but other people must have been cold cause that window closed, and it got VERY loud and overwhelming. The server walked my SO through drinks she may like, and helped a decent amount while she was there, but everyone seemed tense there and we felt kinda rushed when we needed to take our time, and when we needed to go we told a (different) waitress that we were done, waited 10 minutes, then had to flag down our second waitress and wait another 7 just for the bill. It was a pretty uncomfortable stretch of time. My GF tipped and I saw the waitress kinda rolled her eyes and scoffed, happy to get to other tables. Also, we were there celebrating my GFs birthday and it really didn’t feel like they cared. Service was… okay, atmosphere was okay, drinks were pretty but the food (what we really went for) was… okay… Not my favourite place. It’s worth it to note that we are both Neurodivergent, so these situations can be easily tense for us. Next time we may just...