Gowlland Harbour Resort. Quadra Island BC (2.5/10)

I hate complainers.

Really truly, I dislike people that complain every day of their lives, send food back at restaurants and make a scene.

Well, at Gowlland Harbour resort on Quadra Island BC last Sunday night, we, the foodies were complainers. The scene was beautiful, Gowlland has an excellent venue in Quathiaski Cove right on the water. You travel down a goat trail driveway surrounded by trees giving it the feeling of a grove. The cabins are nestled separately around the main building which contains the restaurant.
This was not our first visit to Gowlland, but it was our first visit there alone where we could eat in our “style”.

My first thought walking in was that it was very quiet, 7 pm and only a few tables full. This in itself was not a big deal, it was Sunday and Quadra is a small place.
Service was friendly and eager to take our drink order, this was all good. We had been looking at the menu on line and had a relative idea as to what we were going to eat.
Started the eve with a glass of Pinot Grigio as I knew that I was eating scallops for the appetizer. D started with beer and we cruised the menu.
Service came back to get our order and let us know that the place was completely out of salad . Out of salad, entirely, not a lettuce leaf in the house. Also they were out of their clams for the clam and white wine appetizer and would be servicing mussels instead. This again was not the worst thing in the world, they did have a big wedding the day before and we are understanding as to how taxing that can be on supplies, especially when orders come via ferry to the little island.

Appetizer time, second glass of wine poured. I had a Gewurztaminer on recommendation from D to go with a Seared Scallop dish on chorizo risotto. Risotto was cold, scallops were cooked well but very over salted. The dish was ugly. I mean just just ugly. NO colour at all , browns and beige. Hard to eat frankly . So salty.

While we ate our appetizer, a different server came round to ask us for our main. D ordered the salmon with a salmon berry sauce, I ordered the duck confit. We waiting in anticipation, just because the appetizer had not been the cat’s meow was no reason to think our main would be terrible. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, our glasses staring empty at us and we were beginning to reach and stretch to get the servers attention. There were only 4 other guests in the dining room.
I ordered another wine, a Gewurztraminer, when my appetizer plate was taken, with the thoughts of just enjoying that and having a red wine with my duck.
20 minutes later.. Our mains come out and so does my white whine. Fine. I can drink a white and a red with the duck. It is duck, so what can be wrong with that right?
Wrong. Terrible. Awful. Bad.
Just look at the photo to see what i am talking about. The croquette was so hard I could have walked outside to play golf with it. The veg was cold. The duck was cold and so over done. The plate was blazing hot.

Thanks for leaving my dinner in the warmer guys. D had his own nightmare on the plate. His salmon was a disaster, he can tell you about that in his post but suffice to say it was equally as bad.
We complained, we never complain. We understand how a kitchen works but this was terrible. This was a 3 figure bill for our dinner and we left hungry.
To their credit , Gowlland Harbour did take the cost of one meal off the bill, and my red wine “ (Yumbala” a shiraz from South Australia) when i did finally order it was beautiful. Best part of the meal. Bitter disappointment that was only made slightly better by the add online a week later that Gowlland Harbour was looking for cooks.
Hey Chef D! Go clean that place up.

2/10 points for wine and location.

Cheers and Bon appetit,

Whiskey. G







  I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

  Gowlland Harbour has a reputation for being a modern upscale dining experience and was recently recommended by National Geographic's "Canada's 50 places of a lifetime"  With a beautiful dining room and breathtaking view, the ambiance is nothing short of spectacular. I wish I could say the same for the food.

  On my previous visit to the resort I was underwhelmed, but since then renowned chef Andrew West has taken over the kitchen and I had hoped that the dining had improved. This was not the case.

  For a first course, I ordered 'Ballotine of Ham Hock'. Since two of the five items on the starter menu were unavailable, I suppose the decision was an easy one to make. This dish was touted to be served with apple chutney and brioche. Although resembling a tin of cat food in appearance, the actual ham was fine, bordering on good even. The chutney as well, unremarkable, but acceptable. The brioche (one of my favourite things in the world), well... it was a slice of toast. Cold, assumably toasted days ago, and stale. Served on a separate side plate, one would be forgiven for presuming it was leftovers from one of the staff's breakfast from 3 days ago.

  At this point, slightly disappointed, but still optimistic I sipped my beer and conversed with Whiskey about her selection. Not very pleased either.  Now, although foodies with discriminating palettes, I don't feel we are needy or difficult to please. As long as the flavour is good, I can forgive quite a bit. We settled in with drinks and the awesome view after choking down appetizers.

  Pan seared salmon with salmonberry burre blanc, served with roasted artichokes and purple potatoes.  The first thing I noticed was that the potatoes were not, in fact, purple but a regular variety. Not a big deal. As I bit in to my first mouthfuls it struck me that my food was cold. Room temperature. All of it. I was hungry, and at this point, miffed. As we sat for twenty minutes or more with no server coming to check on us I reluctantly ate some of the chilly entree. The salmon was over cooked by a long shot. Passed the point of well-done, it was hard and dry, hard to eat without mouthfuls of beer to help it down. The potatoes, while creamy and well seasoned were not really palatable at the temperature they were. The roasted artichokes were actually quite delicious, I only wish I could have tasted them hot, or warm even. The highlight of the plate was definitely the salmonberry burre blanc.  Even cold it was nothing short of awesome.  Whiskey's duck dish looked ugly, it was a plating travesty and apparently tasted about as good.

  When our waiter finally did return, we politely expressed our dissatisfaction to her.  She apologized humbly and then disappeared again after an extended amount of time without offering to replace our meals or even heat them up. On her return, she offered a 50% discount on one of the entree items. Looking down at my plate, which had one bite out of the salmon and a small amount of the other food consumed (I ate all the artichokes), she asked if I was done eating.  I again explained that it was cold, overdone and not good, and I wouldn't be eating it.  Still no offer of anything else to eat. No replacement. Nothing.

  In the end, we were offered one of the entrees to be taken off the bill along with one glass of wine.  Not ideal considering the experience and the amount of food we consumed, but still acceptable I suppose.  I would have preferred to have actually eaten something more however, as after dinner I had to find something to eat to fill my empty stomach.  So we set off, stomaches grumbling and a bit incredulous to our experience, to the local pub for drinks and some pub grub.

  Two not good meals in a row at Gowlland Harbour assures I wont be dining there again any time soon, and that is too bad.  The location is superb, and the menu ideas have potential, but at the price point that it is (not inexpensive) I will not take that risk again.

-Cheers and bon appetit,
D

3/10
(points for locale and the salmonberry burre blanc)