All Seasons Cafe

This is a great place… A great selection of scotch, A great wine rack and a chef who really great food on the table with a flair. They were proactive when I gave some constructive criticism regarding service and gave me great follow up when I thought I left my reading glasses on the table after my meal. Nice and quiet without background noise that interferes with conversation.

Fantastic meal of tomato bisque, leg of duck confit (with Black French Quinoa, truffle apple slaw, Swiss chard) and vanilla bean crème brûlée — for $ 35. Really!
Paired with some great wines and port — all good.
Plus friendly chitchat with the owner — a wonderful evening in Nelson.
Bonus: a nice wine list with the vintages listed (a little pet peeve when fine dining restaurants make you ask rather than simply having the vintages listed on their wine menu)

All Seasons gave me one of the best meals and best meal experiences I’ve had in YEARS. Afterwards, I kept asking my company, «Do people know about Nelson? Do they know about this place?» There is some really good food in this little alpine town and I think All Seasons is your first order of business in making your way through it all.
I come from San Francisco, too; where every week a new restaurant opens up to join in the foodie equivalent of keeping-​up-​with-​the-​Jones’. All Seasons is so impressive because it’s small, local and personable. Also, the food and the plating are works of art. The manager (owner?) is there to take orders from tables. Our table of 4 ordered a scallop appetizer and we didn’t notice the menu said it included 3 scallops. They threw in an extra for us and didn’t mention anything.
The menu and especially the specials menu (heh) are truly impressive. They had a venison dish as a special the night my party ate here — my father ordered it and it looked really good. I had the duck and it blew me away — house-​made chive gnocchi, broccolini and very thick, lean slices of duck (not fatty at all!). The wine menu is just as long as the regular menu and includes a lot of local wines from BC. I had a viognier from Naramata Bench, BC that was on par with viogniers I tasted in Napa recently.
If you can save room for dessert, I’d recommend trying some. They even offer ice wines, which is an entirely new concept for me.
This is a small, cozy and modern designed space that’s up a small, picturesque alley. The whole evening here was kind of perfect. There was even a neighbor’s kitty right outside for me to pet once we left :)

Loved this place, including the location, ambiance, staff and the food/​drink on offer. We had the olives and a mixed green salad before transitioning to the portobello mushroom stack and the spring pea and mint risotto for our mains.
Being a vegan/​vegetarian couple it’s often hard finding places that can serve up at least one quality meat/​dairy-​free dish that doesn’t disappoint. All Seasons succeeded in making our dining experience a great one by taking into consideration our allergies and food choices. The vegetables were fresh and varied, and I liked how the chef incorporated orange and rosemary into the olive and sun dried tomato platter. I tucked into the stuffed portobello mushroom like nobody’s business and finished my meal satisfied. The only critique: my dining partner found the risotto to be a touch cheese-​heavy, but he simply lifted off the parmesan/​goat layer and devoured all that was underneath.
Another high point was the the kindness/​temperament of the staff and the variety of local BC wines on offer. I found the latter to be an especially great touch, particularly for non BC-​ers or Canadians.
Would definitely stop in here again on my next Nelson visit. (Detailed review here:
)

What a great choice for our 13^th anniversary. We had the tomato bisque, fresh focaccia, then the duck and tiger prawn special finished with espresso and chocolate torte. Great service, atmosphere and especially food! Yum:)

Great food, and, a rarity in this town, awesome service. The owner is super friendly and generous, and the three times we’ve been here have been totally worth it. Great wine selection and a decent selection of some interesting cocktails. Would definitely go back.

Best steak I’ve had in the kootenays. Atmosphere was nice. Service was great, and the wine was delicious. Can’t wait to go again.

Not a real fan of chain restaurants, but they do a really great job here. The food is fresh and creatively prepared. I had the Salmon salad and it was cooked perfect (mr) and the greens were ’ just off the farm’ fresh.

Really warm friendly service and the food is quite nice. We had the braised shot rib appetizer and it was very tasty and well seasoned, but appears to have been re-​heated as the texture was slightly off. I had the duck and my GF had the beef dish for our entrees. Both were very nice and well balanced. The owner is a very warm kind man that seems to care a lot about his guests. I wish I could have gone back.

We left so hungry, we had to go get pizza after. A shame on Valentine’s Day. We each ordered a starter and an entrée. How much can a few more gnocchi’s cost anyway? They were out of the best sounding starter by 7:30 — bummer. The food all tasted fantastic, there just wasn’t enough. Dessert items didn’t sound tempting at all to us — there were only 3 to choose from. Music was horrible and too loud. Waitstaff seemed overly harried. I had high hopes, but sadly, not a great experience.

Visiting the area from Washington DC, friends took me here to eat after a day of skiing. The food was SUPER GOOD! I had a braised short rib special which was cooked perfectly. The wine list has tons of local BC options, and the atmosphere is very warm and welcoming. Three thumbs up from me!

This was my second visit to All Seasons. The first was in December 2011. I had never been to Nelson before and I was surprised by the quality of the food in general. I found this place to be above all else I was able to try over my 2 nights. When I returned, I checked the reviews and some gave me pause but I decided to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt. And I’m really glad I did.
Both times I have been here, I came midweek without a reservation. Both times, the room was not full but well over half of the tables were seated. Also, both times, there was only one guy working the front of the house. It was no wonder I had to wait a minute or two but I was acknowledged and greeted warmly.
I was sold on the specials — prawns in a honey garlic sauce on a bed of cooked baby chard and a chicken breast with a truffle cream white wine sauce, new potatoes, baby onion and heirloom carrots. Both dished were perfectly done. It was not cutting edge cuisine but it was excellent. Very fresh and simple.
I would not hesitate to recommend All Seasons to anyone visiting or living in Nelson.

Regrettably, I’m going to have to give the All Seasons Café a low rating. I was excited to visit this restaurant because I’ve been here several times in the past, and have enjoyed it greatly on each of those occasions. But this time was a huge disappointment.
It started with the service. I think I stood at the door for at least 5 minutes before I was greeted and seated. The restaurant was busy in the other room, but no one was in the front.
The server took my order but could not answer some questions that I had about the menu properly. I settled on a goat cheese and onion turnover for my appetizer and the scallops for my main.
As for the turnover, I don’t know why they even bothered to mention goat cheese, because it was no where to be seen. It was an onion turnover drowned in a balsamic reduction (hello 1990s!?). The scallops were overcooked and rubbery, and the dish was uninspired at best.
I decided against dessert because my meal was so bad.
All in all, a huge disappointment.
I will say though, my beer was very tasty. I had a lager from the local Nelson Brewery which was quite nice.

I have eaten here several times now while visiting friends in Nelson. Every time we try to find another restaurant option in town to try «something different», but each time we end up back at All Seasons. Bibo, for example, could not guarantee an outdoor table on their deck (which has a view, but is not as nice as All Seasons) via a reservation while All Seasons can. The combination of the patio, which is a very relaxing and beautiful world, and the super food is very worthwhile.
All ingredients are fresh and local. Service is great and very knowledgeable about the menu items.
Between the four of us we sampled cocktails, salads, appetizers, we have had quite a number of different (ever changing) entrees, and desserts. All really, really good.
Not cheap, but really good food. Great atmosphere as well. I would go back next time we are in Nelson. I just don’t see anything else coming close at this point.

This was our favorite restaurant in the Kootenays, but our last two meals (each a year apart, 2010 & 2011) have not been stellar, especially given the price (2 people, one glass of wine each, $ 125 + tip). Beautifully presented food, but the fish was somewhat overcooked, and the overall flavors were OK, not special like a few years ago. Too bad, we used to make the 100 mile round trip drive to eat here a couple times per year… now we’re looking elsewhere.

Excellent food. Beautiful setting. Good service. We had a scallop dish to start that was out of this world. Very unusual pairings of flavors that worked supremely well together. I love their focus on local and sustainable food. Everything tasted fresh and exciting because of it. We eat here every time we come to Nelson, which isn’t often enough.

On the right night, can be excellent. Top-​drawer chefs, and first class ambience and cuisine. On form, they can safely claim to be competitive with most anything in British Columbia… trouble is, you never know if they will be on form or not.
Whilst the environment is always a guaranteed hit, what might not always satisfy is the service. Nelson sometimes appears to suffer from what might be termed ‘small-​town arrogance’ (and I submit this as a resident). The All Seasons exemplifies this. Servers can be downright rude — which never would have happened two years or so ago.
The menu had, until recently, been wonderfully innovative and rewarding. However, like the service standards, it has recently taken a plunge. When I last visited, there were only three starters and seven main course options. That is simply not enough, and also a major mis-​reading of its customer’s requirements. I struggled to find a choice to suit me. As it wasn’t what I really wanted, when it arrived, I have to say it was disappointing.
They used to have a stellar reputation, which was way beyond the pretensions of a small, remote town in nowhere BC. But nowadays they are hit-​and-​miss. I’ve eaten at the ASC seven times, but see it gradually declining in appeal. After the last visit, in October, I am in no mind to rush back. Sorry, but I’m not the only one in Nelson who is sad to see the decline of one of our most beloved institutions.

Does this place really not have any reviews yet?
This is one of our two must-​visit stops in Nelson (along with Oso Negro). All Seasons is probably my very favourite restaurant in the world. Fresh, inventive west-​coast food served simply and elegantly in a beautiful setting by servers in clean, nice shirts and jeans.
On our most recent visit:
Appetizers: Chili-​rubbed grilled corn on the cob on a bed of seared garlic scapes and whole leaf Caesar salad.
Mains: Orange-​glazed halibut with roasted radishes, goat cheese and roast fennel, and black-​sesame encrusted spring salmon with quinoa risotto and a green curry sauce.
Dessert: Earl Grey Crème Brulee (shared — it was plenty!)
No wine this time around (I hope someone who is more knowledgeable than me can comment on the wine list) — I’m on a budget, after all, and my total for the two of us with tip came to just over $ 100. WORTH IT. Worth a trip to Nelson just for a visit to All Seasons.