After hearing great things in a book about this tiny little boutique in a historic area of Edmonton, three friends and I decided to go to the restaurant for dessert after dinner one night, the B&B only a short walk away from where we were.
When we arrived, it was made very clear by the staff that while advertising themselves as "informal", our business casual clothing was not appropriate. We were only one of two tables at the restaurant...the entire time we were there. And we each ordered a piece of cheesecake with coffee. This arrived almost half an hour later. Our coffee was refilled once...and our plates were never cleared. It was as though the waiter could not be bothered to actually wait on us, probably thrown off by our "appearance". The coffee was not even warm, we had to ask many times for proper coffee to be brought to us, and the dessert was not worth the five minute walk out of our way. The staff are high-brow, and yet have nothing exceptional to be proud of as the food is erratic at best (and at worst, just go to McDonalds). While I've unfortunately had to go back there since for business meetings, I've not once received service that I would expect from a business that wants to keep up an image of casual elegance, or even a fast food chain. Go to Le Tapa, in downtown Edmonton instead. The same type of establishment, without the attached hotel, and it IS informal....and they serve consistantly good food and a very good price. The owners come out and ask how your meal was, and love to sit down and talk about their restaurant (as they are both very proud).