Odla — Restaurant in Saskatoon

I don't like leaving bad reviews but there were so many things wrong with my dining experience tonight I don't even know where to start, but I'll try. (I must disclose that I was part of a Christmas party group and our server, Kat, was friendly and very attentive.) The first problem was our seating, literally the first table when you walk in and only 5 feet from the entrance. No table in a fine dining establishment should be next to the entrance in winter, EVER. (The only reason I didn't wear my jacket through the entire meal was respect for other guests at our table, but I was uncomfortable the entire time and couldn't wait to leave.) The next problem was really more of an impression, but our wine menu was poorly assembled, missing pages, had duplicate pages, and was full of grammatical and spelling errors. I'd expect that anywhere charging more than $100 for a bottle of wine could afford to hire a graphic designer and avoid these costly blunders. It may seem nitpicky but it shows a lack of attention to detail that I felt was echoed throughout the rest of the night. Because we were a group we ordered a la carte rather than from the standard menu but I'll assume the items are the same: For 1st course I ordered the chicken and pork chowder. It was awful. Nobody at my table recalled seeing mushrooms in the description but my bowl was 99% mushroom and a tiny piece of chicken. I'm sure if you like mushrooms it was a fine dish, but mushrooms, like onions and pineapple, evoke strong reactions from some people and should have been listed in the description more prominently. For second course I ordered the chickpea fritters with cucumber yogurt. They were alright but a little salty. I wouldn't order them again though. My date ordered the pork terrine. She usually eats anything but couldn't finish this dish. She said it tasted like weirdly seasoned cold cuts as she pushed the plate away. For third course I ordered the beef steak and this truly put the cap on a terrible night. I ordered my steak done medium and was not setting my expectations high as I understand we were part of a group on a busy night. However, the first steak I received was only cooked rare which I only discovered after the first bloody bite because the lighting was so dim (I'll address that again in a moment). The waitress was great about it and went to the kitchen to fix my order. By the time my 'medium' steak arrived most of our table had finished eating. I was eager to eat but as I attempted to dig in I realized I had been served a cut composed entirely of inedible gristle and fat. The first steak was a great cut, just under done. The second was a cut of meat that should not have been served to a paying customer. After seeing other reviews it seems the quality of their cuts is an issue here and really a hit or miss experience and tonight I guess I missed. I sent it back and the waitress offered to replace my meal again but at that time everyone else had finished and was ready to leave. I honestly don't think I could give their food a second chance anyway, the seasoning was off and much too salty from what I did try. Now on to the atmosphere.... aside from being seated next to the entrance, the lighting was far too dim and suffered from a flickering effect that made everyone uncomfortable. It was also terrible not being able to see the food I was eating, they are asking a lot of trust in that department lol. The music was far too loud which in turn caused the general volume of conversation in the room to rise to the point we couldn't visit at our table. What can I say that's positive? The staff seemed great. They just aren't given much to work with. I was really excited to give Odla a try after seeing so many positive reviews but I highly doubt their authenticity as so many more bad reviews seem to have mirrored my experience. The problems in this place start at the top so I hope they take these bad reviews to heart and make some changes. I can't recommend eating here nor will I...

I am very sad to be writing this review. I have loved and supported Odla since they opened. Unfortunately last night I had a HORRIBLE dining experience. Our evening was ruined by a waiter who rarely checked on us- we had to call him over to ask for water (the 2 pitchers on the table had been empty for 30 minutes), we had to wait an hour between receiving our appetizers and our entrees, our entrees came out 10-15 minutes apart which led 1/2 our party dining while the rest watched, our whole meal took 3 hours to complete (seated at 6:15, left at 9:15) and we did not do the tasting we just order off the menu, there is a 20 PERCENT AUTO GRATUITY ON 5 OR MORE PEOPLE. Which explains the horrible service. He knew he was getting a large tip whether he was good or not. I would happily tip 20% on a good meal with great service. Being forced to tip on a meal that took 3 hours and you were neglected/not checked in on is unacceptable.

The website states that the auto gratuity is for 6 people or more (see photo) however the in person menu has it set to 5 people or more. I don’t know anywhere else in Saskatoon that has auto gratuity of 20% for 5 people. We were a party of 5 and we brought this up when we were paying our bill (to the hostess because our server was so neglectful he didn’t come back to check on us we were forced to pay with the hostess.) She indicated that the website is wrong and they won’t honour it. She stated that it has been 5 people for months (looking at other reviews it appears it’s been in place for atleast 5 months and yet they haven’t updated the website where every client books their reservations???) The hostess was so rude I was shocked. She also claimed their manager is in Ireland right now so there was no one for us to talk to regarding our complaint that the website and menu don’t align. She was snippy, curt, and down right condescending. We were nothing but kind just asking questions because our bills did not align with the website we booked and we were treated with hostility. There are a lot of great restaurants in Saskatoon that I will be supporting instead of Odla...

My wife and I went to Odla for her birthday dinner. I'll split this review into two parts: food and service.

Food

We opted for a multi-course meal and ordered the following in sequence: the burrata with focaccia and chips/dip, the onion rings and bao buns, and the steak frites. I admire their commitment to sourcing locally, but we found most of their dishes fairly simple and poorly balanced. The food was, frankly, bland.

Take the burrata dish, for example. The cheese was nicely supple and mild, but the beet vinaigrette it was paired with was much the same. It sat on a bed of greens with pistachio, resulting in a dish that had little flavor without the focaccia, which you must order as an extra. The chips were uneventful; they tasted like any other plain potato chip, though the crème fraîche was good. The onion rings were well done and likely the best dish of the night. We ordered the lamb bao buns on our server's recommendation but found them disappointing. The beet was overpowering, even with the spiced lamb, and the dish lacked complexity.

Lastly, and perhaps most disappointing, was the steak frites. Hanger steak can be an incredibly tender and flavorful cut, so I was shocked at how badly it was prepared. The meat was tough and under-seasoned, sitting underneath the blandest chimichurri I've ever eaten. This was coupled with some shoestring fries that, again, were nothing special. I wish some of the salt on the fries had made its way to the steak.

Service

We didn't experience the late or delayed service mentioned in other recent reviews. Our server was prompt and well-paced, which was appreciated. However, I had made it clear during our reservation that this was a birthday dinner for my wife and that I was happy to pay extra for something special, whether a dish or drink, to commemorate it. I was disappointed when there wasn't even a mention of her birthday; nothing special was done. We had high hopes for Odla, and really like the concept, but won't be back again...