The Velvet Restaurant and Lounge — Restaurant in Rossland

I don’t usually write bad reviews, but I don’t usually have such a bad experience at a restaurant. I’m comfortable spending a lot of money on outstanding, creative food. I’m also happy to eat fast food at fast food prices. At about a third of the price, it would have been just ok. But when you combine aggressively mediocre food with the price of a very high-end fine dining meal (I’ve eaten at Michelin star restaurants for much less), it’s absolutely offensive. Our main was a “local sampler” for two, which at $170 includes 3 random (whatever the chef happens to be doing) cuts of beef, lamb and bison, and two sides. The lamb was excellent, slow cooked and melty. The bison was slow-cooked too and ok, but really nothing special. The beef was a cut that should never have been served as a steak, tough and chewy. The sides tasted like average home cooking— red cabbage, slightly glazed carrots, and plain, tough, slightly burnt spatzle with no sauce or spicing of any kind. Again, for $30 per person, this collection would have been ok but not outstanding. For $85, it’s completely unacceptable. Separately, we also had an additional appetizer of bison tartar, served with bone marrow($24). That was the only outstanding item, and the only reason this restaurant gets two stars instead of one.

On top of the insanely overpriced food, the service was below average. I had the constant feeling that the waitress was trying to upsell me even more than the already ridiculous price point. There was a separate waitress running around refilling waters, but the two obviously didn’t communicate. Our waitress came to our table two or three times when I was totally out of water and didn’t refill the water herself or get the other person to come over, just seemed not to notice. And the cherry on top: the sampler we ordered includes two sides and we also ordered a third. Two of our sides cost $8 and one cost $12. When the cheque came, guess which one was listed separately, not included in the sampler? I wasn’t going to argue about $4 out of a nearly $400 meal, but come on.

On top of all this, the whole place feels like it was put together by consultants, not a chef with any heart or taste. With a mostly bland menu, and straight-from-the-catalog decor, it can only try to be an upscale restaurant because it’s on-mountain. But the mountain it’s on is Red! One of the most down to earth, authentic places to ski left in the world, where the locals don’t even want a high speed lift to be installed for fear of tourists. That makes the Velvet not just bad, but inappropriately out of place too. It feels like a shameless, naked money grub in a place where most people would help you pull your truck out of the snow if it got stuck 50 feet down the road. After a wonderful week skiing at Red, this restaurant left a bad taste that is now unfortunately associated with this otherwise...

My boyfriend and I went for dinner here the other night and the atmosphere was great. The service was good at first, however halfway through eating our chicken burgers my boyfriend noticed his was raw in the middle. We notified a staff member who checked on us and were polite, and he apologized and said he could have one prepared to go, however the kitchen was closing soon. Him mentioning that they were closing made us reluctant to have them re-make one, especially as he had just eaten half a raw chicken burger and could potentially now have food poisoning. He took our plates and after that our server didn't come back for 15-20 minutes. When he did arrive he didn't mention the issue, asked if we wanted the bill, and when he brought the bill, didn't mention the raw chicken. It had been removed off the bill but the rest (other burger, drinks) was remaining, despite being served raw food. He did not mention the incident until I brought it up and didn't seem to want to rectify it in any way. When we said we were paying cash he stood there and then asked how much change we required, giving off the impression that he had the right to a tip. It is apparent that the staff is very poorly trained. Our dinner had been ruined as well as our night, due to the worry of potential food poisoning. I feel like management could have handled this a million times better considering the risk of salmonella. Unfortunately we will not be returning and are very disappointed.

UPDATE: My boyfriend is extremely ill today due to the raw chicken. Super upsetting

UPDATE: Manager reached out to make this right! Appreciated the willingness to rectify...

A Bittersweet Experience at The Velvet

We chose The Velvet to celebrate our anniversary, expecting a top-tier dining experience given the price and reputation of the place. From the start, the ambiance, music, and staff were outstanding. The service was excellent, and the drinks were well-crafted, setting a great tone for the evening.

However, the food was disappointing. We ordered the mussels, tenderloin, and swordfish, but every dish lacked flavor—even the sides. Something as simple as French fries was bland, which was both surprising and frustrating. For a $250 CAD bill, we expected a high-quality culinary experience, but the food simply didn’t live up to the standard. We had to put salt and lime to different things to get some flavor out of the dishes.

One redeeming factor was the desserts, which were enjoyable and well-prepared. They provided a pleasant ending to an otherwise underwhelming meal.

If you're looking for a place with great service, a nice atmosphere, and well-made drinks, The Velvet delivers. But if food is your top priority, you might want to explore...