Breakfast fail at The West Coast Grill

West Coast Grill at The Prestige Lakeside Resort
Nelson, BC
 
No photos as I had not intended to write about my meal here because I only went to meet with a friend who was staying there.  It was so terrible all around that I couldn't let it go though.

The easy thing I will start with is my friend.  He ordered french toast with bananas, but they brought him kiwis instead.  He was visibly upset about this as he picked them off and was kinda cursing out each piece as he did, and saying something along the lines of how can they mess up a kiwi with a banana?!  They also charged him for two teas when he only had one.
 
Of the two of us, he was the one who got the good service...

I ordered a very simple classic breakfast:  over easy eggs, bacon, sourdough toast, hash browns.
 
The food didn't take long, but as soon as it was put in front of me I zeroed in on the eggs.  Those things were...how do I put it?  The only way they could possibly have been more overcooked is if they were charcoal black and crispy.  The yolks were hard, like, can't even cut up with a fork kind of hard!  That totally defeats the whole purpose of an over-easy egg, as the whole point of those is to dip your toast in the oozing yolk.

I was immediately put-off by it as I have always felt that if you're in a building called the Prestige then your food better be prestigious.
 
My friend used to be a cook for many years, so he knows what's up with good and bad food, and he didn't even hesitate saying that he was gonna get me new food.  I told him no, that I don't send food back unless it has a hair in it, or it makes me sick immediately.  (As an example...spoiled cream or the like!)  Then I explained that if I send it back, that they're just gonna throw it out and I am not OK with that.  I'm kid of the 80's who saw countless times a day on TV the little kids in Ethiopia with bloated stomachs and flies flying around them from desperate starvation; as cliché as it might sound at times, I am very aware of people around the world who don't have food, and would do almost anything for those shitty eggs.  For me to have them thrown out is not acceptable.  My friend said they need to be held accountable.  I told him they will be, and quickly refreshed his memory that I write about food.
 
(A lesser reason I do not send food back because of quality is because I have known many, many cooks over the years, and have heard too many nightmare kitchen stories of what can happen to sent back dishes, so I don't trust round two of rejected food for a second.) 
 
I wasn't really eating the food too much.  I was more in disbelief of how terrible it was while trying to break up parts of the egg with my fork.  I ate a hash brown here and there and talked with my friend about the garbage quality.  That kind of took over the theme of our conversation. 
 
When I had only eaten one slice of toast, a few hash browns, and a bit of one egg, without asking if I was done, the server just showed up and took my food away.  My friend and I both said I wasn't done with it.  He didn't hear us I guess, which was quite impressive as we both said it clear and loud enough for anyone standing only two feet from our table to hear.  He then dropped my fork on the ground, picked it up, and put it on the plate as we both repeated ourselves that I wasn't finished.  This time he heard us and started handing me my plate back with the fork that had just fallen on the floor sitting right in the food. 

In my mind, I was like, "Seriously?!  You're really gonna give a plate of food that has a utensil in it that you just dropped on the floor?!"

His hand was outstretched with the plate, but I wasn't gonna say anything until it got to the table to see if he would actually give it back to me.  Thankfully he retracted his arm and realized what he had just done.  He hesitated for a moment pondering what to do, and then apologized, and said he would get me some more food. 

When he was gone back to the kitchen I looked at my friend and said, "I kinda just wanna leave."  That was when my friend was looking at his bill seeing that he had just been charged for two teas instead of one.
 
The food didn't take long, but I wish it took a little bit longer because this time the eggs were well under cooked.  They were disgusting...like eating snot.  When my server asked me if there was anything else I needed I told him a fork would be great because I didn’t have any utensils. 
 
By this time, my friend had to leave for a meeting, so I just sat there by myself eating gross snotty eggs.  While I was doing that, my server had walked by and taken the cloth napkins off the table.  I was thinking to myself at that point, “I’m not freakin’ done yet.”  He then realized I was not done, so he put down my friend’s used napkin for me.  He then stood there confused as to which one was which and picked up my friend’s and put mine back down, but to me, all I saw was his hands all over it, and I more impressed that he just kept finding ways to take bad and make it worse.  It was quite impressive, especially knowing that he had been a server there for many years.
 
It was a huge mistake to eat that second round of eggs because now I feel terrible.  There is this sludgy, slimy film from my mouth right down to my stomach, and my belly feels like I just ate some rocks.
 
That was quite possibly the worst meal/service combination I have ever had.  Needless to say, when my friend is in town again, we won't be eating there again.  It's really too bad because it is such a nice location, especially the patio on the water, but it's just not worth it.  The disappointment is paramount to virtually every dining experience in that place.

When I left the restaurant, I walked straight over to the Front Desk to ask if I could borrow a pen.  The lady said, "Of course."  I just wanted to write down 'kiwi instead of banana' so I would remember that mistake with my friend's dish.  I didn't finish writing 'instead' because I was kind of distracted talking to the woman at the desk.  She asked me how I was doing.  I said, "Terrible, now!"  With some alarm and definite concern in her voice she asked me why.  I told her that I just had a terrible meal and service at in the restaurant.  It kind of stopped her in her tracks, but she did ask me if I wanted the manager's card.  I told her no...that I know who he is.  I thanked her for the pen and then walked off and went about my day.

The very first meal I ever had that The Prestige in 2000 I remember looking at my friend I was with then and saying, "This is not very Prestigious."  After so many failed attempts at meals there, I gotta say that I am done with it.  I won't waste my time or money going for a meal at The Prestige Lakeside Resort in Nelson, BC.  The rooms are great, but the food is just one let down after another, and the lesson has been learned.