Monica I.
Yelp
Hotel 4*, catering & events 2* (emoji stars not allowed?) Started this review Aug 2014. Apologies for tardy posting. 8-)
Open for 4 months, there are some beautiful features, from the lighting, the carpet, washrooms, to the eye candy decorating. Even a relaxing space for a library!
A little unusual to enter from the ground floor - the check-in desk is in the second level-which makes sense if you are coming from the terminal!
Attended a Yelp Elite event at the hotel Aug 2014.
First impression... Lovely! Greeted by Trae. Such a sweetheart! Validated our parking, directed us inside, and was at the door sending us off at the end of the night with his friendly smile.
Pool was secured by swipe when we arrived-luckily there was a staffer nearby to swipe us in. Seems an unfortunate start to the evening if you are expecting a group for an event.
Started out Poolside, served lavender lemonade real lemons (yay!), a teeny bit sweet even for my candy tooth, as well as an orange float with vanilla ice cream - yes please! Oh there's beer in the ice cream. Granted it was locally source Hogshead brewery. Any plain ice cream? No. ?!? What about people with religious and dietary needs? I'm celiac-it's not optional to eat gluten free.
Nice touch, Infused water on the table how nice! Mixed with the lemonade was a great combination.
Ok appetizer-welllll really more of an amuse-bouche. Created with salmon, wrapped in a buckwheat crepe. Great! Except they added flour to the batter. Why?! Buckwheat is gluten free! My companion said it was good, ate two in fact.
Friends reported the jets for the hot tub weren't functional even though the staff attempted to resolve it. If you were expecting guests for a pool party, wouldn't that be something to check?
After the party we adjourned upstairs to the Halo lounge. There was to be several courses, people were eating, but darned if we could get some. Drinks come next - the snappily dressed gentleman brings over a delicious martini with sage and edible candied hibiscus flowers.
Finally a gent cruises by with cheesecake(?)... ok dessert first. Is that gluten-free? He is not sure. Shouldn't the wait staff know? Looks like not, so I decline. Turns out there's pretzels in it. Ok. Not getting any of that I guess.
Next someone comes by with confit turkey poutine. Smells good-not usually gluten free. I decline and ask if there's a gluten-free version. The gentleman says he'll find out for me and disappears.
Salad! Oh gosh finally! Candied pecans, cranberries, goat cheese or feta-never did find out. Server didn't know if it was gluten-free, but went to find out. Returned and said it was gluten-free, excellent! Served on a bit too much bitter green things that look like seaweed. Delicious dressing, unfortunately, the best and only thing I'd eaten so far.
The first serving gentleman did come back (yay!) and would be 30-45 minutes to get a gluten-free poutine, did I want one? Yes please. Not knowing the schedule for the evening I requested it, but I might not be here when it arrives.
We tried approaching the bar for more drinks, to get the attention of a server to get food, and without success. One of our group tried to get a drink at the bar and reported back about the not working debit machines, and the low level panic/chaos going on. We figured we'd just wait it out.
A bright, beautiful beverage appears! A smoky concoction with a tobacco simple syrup. A single large ice cube chills the drink without watering it down. Oooo candy! Delicious!
We had a moment with our hostess and she made sure we got to sample the missing dishes - a breaded chicken on a skewer, clearly not gluten free, and a bison donair in a pita, sigh. Also not gluten-free and no options were offered.
At this point my gluten-free "poutine" arrives. Ok, without gravy this is not poutine. Cheese curds were cold and hard, heat from the fries won't melt curds. The confit turkey was tender and tasty. Kudos they identified the fryer wasn't safe/gluten-free so they chose to make pan fried... but sadly unsuccessful, not quite cooked through.
Water... oh please, we just want water. A jug on the counter perhaps-we couldn't even get that from the bar. Luckily-Tanya (?) from New York stepped in to help out. She brought us glasses of elixir.
After we moved up to the 6th floor for games, but a glitch meant we needed the "human key" to get there.
The room seemed pretty soundproof-excellent news if you stay here. As a party suite, the washroom has a glass sliding door but it doesn't lock - oops!
Ushered out a little early so housekeeping could clean up for a photo shoot... we departed admiring that each room has a doorbell, door sweeps, and sweet wall plaques guiding you down the hall to your room have subtle ice glacier etchings that catch the light as you approach.
I'm sure eventually the catering and service issues will be unkinked. I look forward to re-reviewing next time I visit FlyEIA.