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| - Three of us went out for dinner last night at The Lake House. We all came away thinking the same thing . . . they still don't have it quite right. Something is wrong and it is hard to pinpoint but I'll share my guesses.
For those of us in the south, the location is wonderful. There aren't a lot of fine dining choices out of the core and this is definitely fine dining, aka expensive. More about that later. The old Inn on Lake Bonavista offered fabulous views of the lake and an intimate calming environment that just begged you to sit back, relax, stare out at the water, daydream and enjoy good food and friends. The Lake House is in the same building and has the same views but they missed the mark on this one. The floors are hard, the chairs are hard, the ceilings are high, the windows have no fabrics and so the place is LOUD! Noisy, boisterous, yell at your neighbor loud. Even the staff sidle up close when you are ordering so they can hear you. The tables are close together but it is so loud you can't really hear each other at your own table much less the next.
The lighting is dim and romantic. Tiny cube candles on each table and huge antler chandeliers turned down low. The print on the menu is tiny and we saw a few cell phone flashlights being used to read. We passed the cube candle around to illuminate our menu and frankly we still had to guess on the details because we just couldn't see.
But on to the important parts. The menu is a blend of seafood and local food. Alberta lamb, Alberta beef, and an amazing charcuterie board - my favourite part of the whole meal I admit. Maybe the seafood is a nod to the lake but the scallops that I had, although beautifully cooked, were served with a mish mash of flavours and textures that didn't seem to like each other- pork cheeks, mushrooms, truffle potato gnocchi and tomato. They also offer oysters, a fish plank, crab cakes, mussels, salmon and lobster mashed potatoes. Seriously a lot of seafood on offer. The boys at my table both ordered the Ribeye but I wonder if the other seafood dishes are just as confused as the scallops. The Angus Beef was beautifully cooked but I think it sat on the warmer for a bit because the demi glaze was a bit congealed. The beets were Golden beets but they were not the sweet, yummy, tender little spring goldens, they were the big, too long in the ground, woody flavoured fall beets.
The wine selections at The Lake House are superb. I am always limited to the wine by the glass menu as none of my men drink wine. It always gives an interesting perspective. I peaked at the by the bottle selections and I was impressed. A nice variety of Spanish, Italian, Californian and Canadian (yay!) wines on offer. I had a beautiful Cab Sauv blend from Italy $13glass/$55 bottle and a Tempranillo from Spain $12glass/$51 bottle but would have loved to see a Canadian Red offered by the glass too.
Dessert was sticky toffee pudding and it was delicious. Sweet and satisfying served with a lovely little scoop of vanilla ice cream, just as it should be.
Our server was sweet. Not particularly trained or professional but sweet and kind and discreet. It took a bit of a memory act for her to tell us about the charcuterie but she got it out in the end. I think she might have been newish. The timing from the kitchen was a bit off but the place was packed, and it was Friday night, and there was a wedding party in the next room. We had quite an extended wait between our appetizer and our mains and again after. We ordered dessert and coffee and the dessert arrived in good time but the coffee was a long time after that. I know because I ordered the dessert and waited for the men to get their coffees before diving in. I was staring at that toffee for a L O N G time !!!
So final Impressions. It is a bit confusing. The food was good but not great. At $36 and $39 a main they really need to be great. The place is loud but the décor is intimate and romantic, except the chairs which do not encourage you to linger. I think with a few tweaks they will get it right. I think they should hire a designer. A real designer. Not a decorator or someone who has an eye. A professional who will come in and just fix it. It is so close but it isn't quite right. The same in the kitchen. They are so close and I want to try it again but I think I will wait a bit for them to get the kinks out. Let me know what you think when you go.
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