Whoa! What happened? THIS is THE place to go to when you are anywhere in the Okanagan. The owners are very French and their
Chef (he’s been with them for about 13 years), is not but travelled with them when they came here.. http://www.conviviabistro.ca/
We were greeted by everyone when we arrived, the owners and chefs, all with big smiles. We were ushered into what I would call the sun room, bright, cheery and very pleasant. Our server, Lureen (forgive me if spelled wrong) was so friendly and nice. Now, here is the difference for quality french attitude…..we were always “Madame” and “Sir” but not in a stuffy way. It was natural, and very normal sounding.
I ordered a glass of Pinot Gris and, because they didn’t carry an N/A beer, Don ordered Iced Tea (he’s my personal DD). Now Don ordered a Blue Cheese Salad and half Pacifique Pizza and I ordered the Pumpkin Soup and half Royal Pizza.
Don couldn’t get enough of the salad, absolutely loved it and his pizza had a lovely thin crust, salmon lox, capers, olives, a few strands of red onion and a couple grated lemon pieces. He kept raving about it.
I ordered the Pumpkin soup and was so pleasantly surprised. It was smooth like silk, the pumpkin flavour was ever so subtle. It was soooo good. My pizza was beyond yummy. It was scallops, shrimp, crab, mozzarella cheese and lemon zest. It was the lemon zest that brought it all together. Oh my, it was fabulous.
As this was a ‘pay back’ to Don for the World Series (he picked the winner) we had to have the dessert to share. We ordered the Creme Brulee and I have to tell you, we almost licked the dish. It was, by far, the best I have ever had anywhere we have travelled.
To finish it off, I ordered a Monte Christo Coffee and Don ordered a regular coffee. It seemed to take a while before my coffee came out. Our server said it was because they were missing one of the ingredients for my coffee, and the owner ran out to get it. No one in any resutaurant anywhere, has ever done this. We often here, “sorry, not available” or “sold out” or “not on the menu”.
When we were laving, my husband went ahead (I was the one paying, remember?) and I asked Lureen to “pay it forward” to a couple in the corner from us. Paid the bill and we left. Now, I am about to be caught with my hand in the cookie jar…..read on.
We get home and, while watching TV, the phone rang twice. When Don answered, there was nothing so he checked back and played the message that had been left. He comes back laughing and said “you did it again. I didn’t know, good for you” and replayed the message for me. I couldn’t believe my ears. The gentleman I had paid it forward to earlier in the day, phoned me (from my business card) and thanked me profusely. I was choked. It is NEVER done for thanks, EVER.
It is done, simply because I can.
Be sure to visit this Restaurant…it is divine.
