The Velvet Restaurant and Lounge

A Bittersweet Experience at The Velvet We chose The Velvet to celebrate our anniversary, expecting a top-tier dining experience given the price and reputation of the place. From the start, the ambiance, music, and staff were outstanding. The service was excellent, and the drinks were well-crafted, setting a great tone for the evening. However, the food was disappointing. We ordered the mussels, tenderloin, and swordfish, but every dish lacked flavor—even the sides. Something as simple as French fries was bland, which was both surprising and frustrating. For a $250 CAD bill, we expected a high-quality culinary experience, but the food simply didn’t live up to the standard. We had to put salt and lime to different things to get some flavor out of the dishes. One redeeming factor was the desserts, which were enjoyable and well-prepared. They provided a pleasant ending to an otherwise underwhelming meal. If you're looking for a place with great service, a nice atmosphere, and well-made drinks, The Velvet delivers. But if food is your top priority, you might want to explore other options.

I'm usually pretty forgiving when it comes to takeout or room service, but the Velvet Restaurant inside the Josie Hotel was a big miss on more than one occasion. First off, the room service order of calamari was cooked in the bowels of Mount Doom: way overcooked until it tasted like hard rubber. My fork had trouble piercing the tough squid exterior. I also ordered the caesar salad and it was one of the worst salads I've ever had from a restaurant: huge pieces of roughly cut lettuce and not much else. Both of these dishes came out to over $50 with the room service charge and auto tip. Not only that, we had The Velvet cater our business lunch (buffet style) and it was more of the same: mediocre food (chicken and potatoes) and not enough to feed our large group (around 40 people). I encourage The Velvet in Rossland to work on the quality of their food and adjust their prices a little lower. Until then, I would not return.

We arrived at the hotel in the evening of Christmas Eve and were too tired to go out and explore so we decided to stay in for food. Everyone was nice here from the host, the server, to the bar bartender. We did not make any reservation, and were glad that we were given seats at the bar. We were told that the kitchen was behind and we were not in a rush and not hungry, it was fine with us. Just in case, we ordered sourdough to start with and it was great. The place looked nice and spacious. We ordered two main courses. The duck confit two ways and the burger. The portion for the duck was smaller than expected but again we were not hungry, so it was not a problem for us. It was also a tiny bit under cooked than expected, as currently I could only eat food that has been fully cooked. I should have told the staff about that, so that was on me. The burger was quite tasty and reasonably priced. Overall, it was a good experience and relaxing time for us who had driven a long way from Vancouver, BC.

Where to begin? The Velvet was such an incredible experience to have shared with my wife on our honeymoon! On our first night, I being the ever extroverted one in our relationship, spoke with who I believed to be the food and beverage manager about possibly having a tasting menu take place. The manager, Jay, went later on to take with the evening executive chef and had organized such a feat to take place. Essentially, we had shared portions of 2 appetizers, 3 mains and the chocolate dessert. And our experience was just being blown away by the service. Should we visit BC again, we will gladly make a pit stop by the Velvet to enjoy such an amazing experience of food creativity again!

We had many meals at this restaurant as we were staying the week with whole family at the Josie Hotel where this restaurant is located. Our son has celiac and the local options were limited. The chef was incredibly great about this and we felt safe eating here with our need for gluten-free options. This is our second long stay at the hotel and I will say this time around the food was MUCH better. Dinner was particularly strong. We had vegetarian, meat, fish, and I was very happy with everything. We splurged one night for their special event Winery dinner, a local winery was pouring their wines and the chef created a special menu. One of our boys was underage and they brought him a special non-alcoholic creation for each course. For our son with celiac he substituted some menu items for us and he had a great meal. We plan to come back again to Red which is a great ski mountain and we will come back to The Velvet Restaurant. I may have gained a couple pounds despite all this skiing! One caveat- this restaurant is expensive, but the value felt ok as it was delicious.

4 of us went out for dinner and we tried the steak, calamari, gnocchi, and salmon pasta dish. We all found our dishes amazing! Service and the atmosphere were also 5 stars. Highly reccomend checking this gem on red mountain ski hill out.

Amazing spot to grab some fiber while tour staying on mountain. Service was exceptional, meat was a little dry/overdone, but overall a terrific experience

New Years Eve we booked an appy hour after skiing and they were just getting ready for their three course serving for dinner. The food was terrible and expensive. It took them 1hr to bring out the food then we were rushed through eating because they were getting ready. They shouldn’t be taking tables if they can’t handle it. Photo of the $19 cheesy artichoke dip that I don’t think I found one artichoke in. I don’t recommend. Too pricey for the lack of quality.