Osprey - BALFOUR

This is the second time we have been disappointed by rel-ish at the Osprey. In August my entire family arrived for dinner and the restaurant was closed. Today 10 minutes prior to my takeout pick time (ordered 4 hours earlier) I got a phone call that the restaurant had run out of propane! My observation regarding the rei-ish at the Osprey restaurant is that the food is better than average, but the service and the restaurant management is totally disorganized and unreliable. Don’t make serious dinner plans here.

We recently relocated to this town and discovered a new favorite restaurant in Balfour. The food is amazing - even better than our previous go-to spot, Relish on Baker.

My experience at this restaurant on Tuesday evening was disappointing. After being seated and given water by a server, we were essentially ignored for our entire visit. Other tables were served by different waitresses who appeared to be more attentive. Despite watching our original server busying themselves with cleaning tasks, they never bothered to take our orders or check on us. After about 20 minutes of being overlooked, we decided to leave as it seemed like our presence went unnoticed by any of the three servers. The lack of service was unacceptable and left a negative impression.

After a beautiful round of golf on a fantastic course, we were looking forward to the standard clubhouse beer and wings. What we found was Relish Bistro, a popular eating establishment in Nelson, BC, had opened a second location....in the clubhouse! We ordered cocktails and appetizers that you would normally enjoy in a fine dining establishment (get the stuffed shrimp). I was a little disappointed that we had dinner reservations elsewhere as the dinner menu looked amazing! The dining room was at capacity with both golfers and guests dressed up for a special dinner out. We were greeted warmly at the door by the owner/manager who led us to our table. His management of social distancing was brilliant and we felt very safe. He explained the procedures for ordering (green peg for service, red peg for servers to stay away), as well as where we were allowed/not allowed to move about. You could tell that the owner spent a great amount of time thinking about how to keep guests safe while still having a wonderful experience. We will definitely return and bring friends!!

Thursday is pasta night so mark your calendars because you don't want to miss it. All six of us had the special and each of us loved it. The menu could do with updating but that doesn't effect the quality of the items which are on it. Don't forget to book if you want to get a table outside. Simply delightful. We'll be back.