The Velvet Restaurant & Lounge

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 phenomenal mountain.

My fiancé and I always have a wonderful experience at The Velvet. The food has always been very good, the cocktails are delicious and we always have excellent service. We love going for dinner and après-ski regularly.

Our first time at The Red Velvet Lounge after a spectacular day of skiing with our grown kids and friends. We just intended a 1/2 hour of quick drinks and Happy Hour specials and ordered just about every shared plate (some twice). Enjoyed every drink from “Faceplant” beer on tap, to my non alchohol “gin and tonic” and everything in between. All food was great, but the favorites were the Chicken Fried oyster mushrooms, Lumberjack Fries, Sweet Bread Veal, Bison Poutine, and Buttermilk Fried Chicken. Our waitress Blanche was flawless with a table of six, which is exceptional with all the Covid protocols. We also lingered a good 6 appies and six drinks longer due to the exceptional local music talent of Robbie Turnbell so we sure would recommend having him come back often! Watching the sun go down on the mountains and the cats out prepping for the next day was the perfect ending to a perfect ski day!

Great cocktail menu and apres scene. I enjoyed my salad and also got to have some of the soup which was great post skiing.

The lobster gnocchi they had on special this week was phenomenal!!! On the pricey side but a perfect date night! Staff was wonderful as well as the food and drinks ?

I went for the experimental tasting menu at this restaurant and it was AMAZING! I haven't dined here before but the service was above par and WOW food was awesome! I can't believe there is such a hidden gem here in the Kootenays! I will definitely be coming back. They have a great wine list as well!

Fantastic service. Great food. The sides are large portions. Two of us ordered a small steak and three sides and we had plenty of food left over. Highlight recommended.

The Velvet restaurant was perfect for a dinner out with my wife. The ambiance and style was tasteful and the service was prompt and professional. The food was beautifully plated, flavourful, and generally presented a solid spin on staples we’ve had before. Drinks were also great, with a decent selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and really great non-alcoholic options. It’s not inexpensive, so will be a special night out kind of place for us, but we felt it was reasonable compared to similar-quality restaurants. My only critique is that I’d called ahead to arrange glasses of sparkling wine, waiting for us at the table (small gesture to get the meal off well), and was told it was easy to do- but that message wasn’t passed along it seems. We got it done, but only after arriving and asking in the usual way; it took a little hint of the intended charm. Overall: Enjoyable place for a nice meal, and we will be back.