I live in London, have lived in and travelled to many places and as such my wife and I are fortunate to have eaten at some of the world's finest restaurants (including Michelin 2 and 3 star) in Europe, the Americas and Australia and Asia over the last decade. We were having a holiday in Vancouver where we have a holiday home on the North Shore. On xmas eve, we made a last minute dinner booking at Carmelo's which had some mixed reviews with the odd complaint of poor service but overall solid. Our feedback:
Food - Good, tasty in fact, yummy risottos , nice cocktail. Value- Fair. Ambience - Above average.
Experience: Not good sadly.
We were amongst the earliest to arrive (around 530 pm) with our two young kids (5.5 and 2.5 years) in tow. Our kids enjoyed the food and as such were well behaved being busy eating. The noise level in the restaurant was high (social buzz) and as such when my son let out an excitable yell, we were surprised when a lady at the table next to ours (well dressed, late 50s i think) somewhat rudely told us to control our children as "we have come here to enjoy a quiet evening". I was taken aback and mentioned that our children, apart from the one yell by our son just that minute, had been very quiet and well behaved throughout and that she should take up any issues they had with the owner. We proceeded to have a bit of an altercation. At some point, the owner came by and fairly aggressively without the hint of a smile or any sense of etiquette or fairness told me that he had two teenage daughters and that he wouldn't take them to a restaurant unless they knew how to behave. I told him that our kids were young and largely very well behaved. My wife added that my son hadn't added much to the general sound level in the restaurant . The owner then made it a point to suggest that his children when young behaved much better than our kids. He suggested that we leave as soon as possible as the lady who asked us to get my son to pipe down was his best /regular client. At any rate, I paid the bill, we left immediately. As i got into the car, the "owner" marched out and threateningly told me that his restaurant was rated between 4 and 5 on the net and that any review i wrote " wouldn't matter, you sh*t. Sad way to end the evening... If you dont mind a provincial attitude, i would continue to recommend the place for the food and the overall ambience but the management is lacking class clearly and has a rac*st undertone (in its approach to handling a situation). My children, on the way home, said they were sad that they were not able to eat chocolate for dessert ! :). Overall evening: Surreal ...