Kokanee Cafe

I ate at Kokanee Cafe back in 1999 and I often think about how fantastic the meal was.
Can't wait to go back. The prices are beyond reasonable and the food is so tasty. You immediately feel relaxed when you walk in the door. No pressure, great service, quiet and good. Very good. It was the best part about that trip to Oregon; considering I was dumped by my girlfriend, while on vacation.

This has always been a favorite stop for us but this trip it was a disappointment. The special was ordered by half of our table of 8 and very few pieces on the kabobs were cooked as long as they should have been.
We were also surprised it was not as busy as it had been in the past. There was usually a line out the door and this year there were empty tables.
The positive was the service was great and our server was fabulous.

We have been patrons of Kokanee from the day it opened and have enjoyed it since its glory days. We used to highly recommended to our friends and renters of our BBR Cabin. I am sad to say that it has hit a new low and I can no longer in good conscience recommend it to anyone...very sad.

We dined at 7:30 pm on Saturday 5/25/13...they informed us they were out of the Lamb Shanks and several other menu items...seriously, at 7:30 PM on Memorial Day Weekend?? Bad planning or financial issues?

We were able to order two pear salads for the table( the last two left) ....seriously, at 7:30? The salad was arugula but consisted mostly of stems, pretty clear they pulled it right out of a bag and did no prep work to make it edible. The "pear" consisted of about an eighth of a slice of a raw pear skin on and sliced micro thin and served on the side...my guess they were out of pears and made the last piece stretch. It was a lousy salad thinly dressed and not worth the $12 price

My wife and two others ordered the mushroom soup which came in a vegetable broth. I think there was one mushroom cut up and split between the 3 orders...they were probably out of mushrooms. Very bland, uninspiring and expensive for what amounted to vegetable broth (canned i am sure).

I ordered the "Special" which was farm raised elk tenderloin served over garlic mashed potatoes and topped with some kind of white sauce with corn in it... the cut of meat was good and the potatoes were ok, but nothing remarkable.  The topping sauce was so weird and out of place with the dish.(I pictured Chef Ramsey spitting it on the floor and swearing to the chef about ruining a good cut of meat) It was very bland sauce and frankly it detracted to what could have been a good dish...D- for execution.

There are more similar stories about the other entrees served to us, but you get the point.

As we ate our entrees we could hear the the waiter apologizing for being out of the chocolate cheesecake and trying to talk them into some odd sounding flan dish they had created...we all could not help but laugh at this point and decide we would not be ordering dessert so we could save the waiter the embarrassment of telling us of yet another thing we could not have. (BTW the waiter was wonderful...we felt sorry that he was having to make excuses for what I am sure for him was an embarrassing offering)

I dearly loved the Kokanee and am very saddened that it has fallen so far...we had sensed it last year when we dined but had written it off to a bad night and maybe a mismatch of palates....but I think this could be the last shot for me. There are now more choices within the area with innovative menus and creative chefs that the Kokanee has to compete with...and it this is their response? I fear you will lose more of your fans. Sad day.