sleeping buffalo restaurant & lounge

while staying at the lodge we thought we would try the restaurant. things started out okay but quickly went south. the waitress kept taking away the wine list and cocktail menu and we kept having to ask for them back. she would also serve and clear from across the far side of the table, weird!
the starters were good, the entrees were bland, my wife's entree was over cooked and the olives in her martini were stale. the desserts were tasty but the hazelnuts were stale. when i asked for a refill on my coffee, the waitress tool my cup to the kitchen, more weird!

overall, not worth the nearly $200 they charged for the meal.

sleeping buffalo a great experience. the service is charming, the food delicious and the room is beautiful.

phenomenal meals & customer service - highly recommend. the beautiful sleeping buffalo restaurant is phenomenal both in food & customer service!!! our excellent server (with a beautiful tasmanian accent - sorry, forgot her name) gave us exceptional customer service. she was friendly, attentive, made recommendations & even happily accommodated me when i changed my mind several minutes after ordering as decided on salmon soup rather than fries as my side dish while my husband had the truffle fries. my salmon soup was one of the best soups i've even eaten, contained a large amount of salmon & was absolutely delicious. we both ordered the alberta steak frites with grilled striploin, hand cut truffle fries, pickled carrots, peppercorn sauce, & tarragon mayo. our striploin was tender, cooked to perfection, & was heavenly. the truffle fries were amazing & we loved how it was served in a unique container. even the baby pickled carrots were fantastic. it's well worth the short trip on tunnel mountain rd & it is ocated at the buffalo mountain lodge across from the douglas fir resort. we highly recommend this restaurant & we will definitely eat there whenever in banff. sharen & lee

terrible service. we were pleased that the sleeping buffalo served lunch late, and our party of 5 were seated right away as the restaurant was empty at 2:30 pm. the person seating us gave us menus and said our server would be there right away. we then there for a full 20 minutes before a waitress came to our table. prior to that a table for 2 was seated, and a waitress came out and served them while ignoring us. we were on the verge of tracking someone down---or phoning the restaurant and asking for a manager--- when the sole waitress finally looked our way and came to our table. she apologized and said there had been a "miscommunication." someone had told her that our party had already ordered five soups and she kept waiting for the kitchen to put them out.

ok, perhaps true, and mistakes can be made ( although a bit incredulous, and really inexcusable that no manager/superviser would bother to check why this table was sitting for so long unattended---or even take a glance in our direction), so maybe it was just management sloppiness. worth another chance for her.

wine then came quickly, but our food took a long time to prepare. once it was served, we never saw our server again. never once bothered to check if food was ok. never showed up again over the course of the lunch to see if we wanted another glass of wine. forget about getting any butter or oil for the bread.

what did our waitress do during this time? she spent most of her time chatting up the two fellows occupying the only other table in the empty dining room! never a glance in our direction in an hour. i had to flag her down to pay.

we have stayed at the buffalo mountain lodge many times and have always looked forward to eating at the sleeping buffalo restaurant. however this experience has made us us rethink our next trip, both lodging at dining. it's evidently not a case of one sloppy waitress who has no concept of her job or serving customers at the establishment so unfortunate to pay her a wage. where was the restaurant manager? obviously some adult supervision paying even perfunctory attention to the dining floor would have remedied this inexcusable lapse of service.

for my entree, i had the rack of lamb, cooked just the way i like it, medium rare. nice, but not mind-blowing. next time i think i’ll try the northern caribou. the seared medallions of meat are a house specialty.

while the portions were definitely smaller than the tables next to us who ordered à la carte, for $35, b. and i both left very satisfied. we were pleased with the professional yet friendly service and were impressed by how busy it started getting as the night went on (and we started eating at 7!) we are already planning our next escape, if only to try out the in-room wood fireplace. (we went for a post-dinner dip in the hotel’s outdoor hot tub instead, but if your hotel doesn’t have a hot tub the banff upper hot springs are open late!)

highlights of my meal included: a game-centric charcuterie board, quail and pear terrine, crmr game ranch duo featuring perfectly cooked bison striploin and elk chorizo sausage and seared northern caribous medallions joined on the plate by confit potato, shallot puree and red berry gastrique.

we had the breakfast buffet before our ski. i certainly ate nineteen dollars worth of food. there was eggs benny, thick cut french toast, bacon, pork sausage, fried keilbasa, roaated potatoes and all sorts of other delights. we went back for dinner. the portions were just right, not oversized. even for a couple of hungry skiers. i love rocky mountain cuisine, especially with wild game. crmr also owns properties and restaurants in emerald lake, lake louise, and of course the ranche in calgary, where we had our wedding reception. they were booked full for dinner, so we went early to the lounge.  it was not crowded at all, and ordered from the restaurant menu. carpaccio ranch elk tenderloin, preserved wild mushrooms, sicilian olives, padano, rosemary honey crmr ranch elk shank ravioli wild mushrooms, madeira braised pearl onion

skip the breakfast. we ordered the eggs benedict served with roast potatoes, corn and red pepper. it was okay, but nothing to remember. there are so many other great breakfast spots in banff and canmore that i would not eat breakfast again at the sleeping buffalo.


-----22 jul, 2010-----

are you game?. this is the second time i have been to the sleeping buffalo and it did not disappoint. i ordered the elk carpaccio to start. it came with numerous thin slices of elk accompanied with thin slices of fennel, oranges and sundried cranberries - nice and subtle flavours. my husband had the lobster and scallop cake - he reported it was okay, but did not have enough flavour. for our mains, i had the buffalo striploin with black garlic butter, double smoked bacon, baby potatoes, white beets, and asparagus - outstanding flavour combinations and excellent portion size. my husband opted for the caribou medallions topped with a saskatoon shiraz sauce accompanied with potato and fennel gratin and white beets - yum! for dessert, we couldn't resist both having the chocolate molten lava pistachio cake with coffee ice cream and white chocolate swirls - beautiful presentation and incredibly good. i could have had two of these. beautiful meal!!!

lunch was good burger with fries. small menu but quick service well looked after by woody asst food & beverage mgr. small wine list by the glass could be amped up a bit.