Caramba Restaurant

OK. I recently changed my review for Caramba to reflect recent improvements. Wrong! My most recent experience was the worst meal I have had in years. The food is OK (just OK) but service is terrible. Food arrived randomly. Kids meals arrived a long time after the adults (that’s a no-​no). One adult’s main arrived 10 minutes after the entire table was finished eating. Drinks took 20 minutes to arrive. We raised concerns with the waiter, then the manager: no improvement, no real apology (just excuses about lost orders) and no reduction in the bill. Will not return.

The food was very good. The Mac and cheese is exceptional as is the wood fired pizzas.
Reasonably priced and great environment.

Our go to restaurant in Whistler. Have been here many times through the years and have always had a good experience. Great choice for a nice dinning experience at a reasonable (for Whistler) price.
In a nod to the one star reviewers, they can suffer high staff turnover and spotty service like most resort establishments. But overall I think the management does a great job. Reserve with confidence.

Great food and excellent service. Menu has great variety for all.

Had a very tasty dinner here last night. Glad we didn’t listen to the salty 1-​star reviews as the food was quite good and prices decent for a resort town.
I’ll stop here and not try to do one of the LOOOONNNGGG reviews/​creative writing exercises that others seem to do.

Ugh, where to begin…
Pleasant but unavailable waiter — 20 minute wait to get our *drink* order and we had to flag down another waiter to place it! We didn’t even know who our «actual» waiter was until halfway though our meal (we placed our drink order with one server, a second brought the drinks, a third took our food order, a fourth brought the food). Lots of excuses from our «actual» waiter (server #5 to us at this point) about how busy and short-​staffed they were.
Meal service was so abysmally slow that my very hungry 5yo son fussed up a storm for 25 excruciating minutes while we were waiting for drinks to appear, and then fell asleep in my lap. He slept through the entire meal (which arrived half an hour after he fell asleep). I ended up awkwardly eating my meal with him asleep in my lap. My 8yo daughter was also famished (we had all been skiing that day) and disgruntled… We eat at family restaurants often back at home, so my kids are well-​behaved as long as they get their drinks and food quickly, but alas, this was not the case on this night. {{insert tired, whiny 8yo here}}
The food itself was sub-​par. We had ordered lemonade for our two kids and were served two huge glasses of Sprite instead. We are not a family that finds 20oz of soda pop an acceptable drink for our kids. We promptly asked the server to correct it; the server (#2 at this point) told us that server #1 (who took our drink order) was from another country where they called Sprite «lemonade.» This is a basic training issue that should be addressed Day One on the job — lots of lovely young people from all over the world work at Whistler, the restaurant manager should expect this and train accordingly. Seriously, to someone from North America this is just as bizarre as being served grape juice in place of wine.
Speaking of wine, you would have absolutely no idea by looking at the wine list that this restaurant is on the West Coast. I felt like I had landed at a sub-​par Olive Garden in Kansas, not a restaurant within a day’s drive of some of the very best wine producing regions in the world (Washington & Oregon just south, not to mention all the boutique wineries popping up in BC). My husband and I made do with a decent local IPA on the menu but even there, the beer list was shockingly weak — so many excellent craft breweries in BC, but you’d never guess it from Caramba’s limited selection.
The food itself reminded me of something I’d eat in a college cafeteria: rubbery calamari swimming in oily butter, flavorless meatballs swimming in bland pasta sauce, pre-​cooked pasta with no «tooth» to it, «mashed» potatoes clearly made with a *blender* (which any decent cook knows will quickly turn them into a soupy glue). Anyone with basic cooking skills could do better. We gladly skipped dessert.
This restaurant is a huge missed opportunity, really. It’s in a great location on the Village Stroll, the clientele are mostly families (read: they have plenty of disposable income if they can take their entire family skiing in Whistler). They have a cute bar area, a couple of much-​sought-​after long tables for big groups, the rustic interior would be charming if they could figure out a better table arrangement (we were all crowded in like sardines). And, it’s not hard to do Mediterranean food well — it’s a culinary region known for its simple recipes, all you need are high-​quality ingredients and good cooking techniques. The management should hire someone to rework their menu, bump up their quality of ingredients, improve the beer & wine offerings to reflect the region, get their chef some better training or hire a more talented chef who can run a consistent meal service. Then, feel free to charge us more — because families are on vacation and will willingly pay more for a higher-​quality experience. These are families who are used to cooking simple, delicious food at home with quality ingredients, if they’re on vacation they want the equivalent or better.
If you can’t find a table in town and this is your last resort, go to the grocery store instead — a bottle of wine, a loaf of bread, a hunk of cheese and a bit of cured meat will be much tastier, quicker and more enjoyable!

This restaurant can’t decide what it is… Worst dining experience I’ve ever had. The buttered green beans are exactly that. Just green beans dipped in so much butter but no seasoning or flavor. The spiced prawns are just shrimps dipped in butter as well, no flavor and definitely no spice.

Recommended by a local and totally lived up to expectations. Great open kitchen with the open wood fire pizza oven, balanced food selection and great wines, all at a reasonable price.

I didn’t enjoy this place at all. I wish I actually waited in line at Crêpe Montage instead.
My sisters and I decided to get a quick breakfast before we headed back down to Vancouver. We popped by this place since there was no wait.
The eggs benny we got weren’t made medium well like I had asked. They were covered in butter, then hollandaise sauce on top of that. A bit overpriced for what it is. No hash browns were served with them, even after we confirmed with the server that they would be served with the dish. We did have kids with us, I’m sure with all of the noise it was a lot to get everything right.
Maybe it will be better next time. The atmosphere is great, looking forward to visiting again.

Food was a shade below okay in my mind. We had come here as a big group and I must say the service from the servers at the restaurant was excellent and they were really attentive to make sure everyone had a great time. We ordered a bunch of appetizers. The calamari was okay nothing earth shattering and I had high hopes for my main dish the pork belly w Swiss chard. It was very rich and my only compliant was that it was served with what was an eggo waffle sized portion of waffle. Sure this is a rich dish but I was expecting a bit more than what was roughly I’d consider a kids serving size. Maybe you don’t need to eat a porterhouse size pork belly but at least give more waffle or Swiss chard. Especially since just this plate was $ 29 a plate. We each split the bill and it was $ 70 a person with wine and apps with tip. Again excellent equisite service. Food left me me feeling underwhelmed.

Went here as it was a few steps away from
Our hotel and couldn’t decide with the limited choices we had.
Like the open kitchen style. Our server wasn’t that friendly at all, he was the one bartending And for some reason he threw something up in the air (bottle caps? I dont know, doesnt matter). What matters is, you’re not technically supposed to do that as if you are playing, threw me off.
Was suggested to try thei $ 20 –3 course meal. It was a 2.5÷5 experience. Not good, don’t recommend it.
Mediocre food.

The smoked tomato soup and chopped salad was fantastic. They are known for their calamari according to other reviews. The calamari did not disappoint.

This place seemed to be a nice mixture of casual setting, extremely well cooked dishes, and a good value. We had two sides (a salad and artichoke dip), a small risotto, and a pizza margherita. Since we ordered it as a part of the 3 course special, the full bill was barely over $ 30. A great value and highly recommended.

Went here on final stop of food and wine tour. Had an apple tart and ice wine. It was delicious but I was full and kind of over the whole eating thing by then, BUT the food that was coming to the table around us looked fantastic so I kind of wished I could stay a few more days to come back and try a main dish. Definitely try it!

Caramba is my favourite go to for a casual, but always delicious meal. The Calamari is one of my favorites, and usually I try one of their specials. For a main, the halibut is amazing!!! Always great service here, and that’s tough to find in Whistler sometimes :)

Great place with good food! Your cannot go wrong with the Penne Caramba! We regularly visit Caramba when we are in Whistler. Great service, drinks, and food will keep us coming back!

This restaurant is not a place i will recommend or ever visit again.
Items ordered:
Rosemary chicken
Beef short ribs
White wine
Water (duh)
And hot sauce (for the chicken)
And this is how the night went:
1) sat down. Only to wait 15 minutes before we even got the server. And why? Because the server was a bit too chatty. Too chatty to realise when he is just wasting time…
2) placed the order. Had to ask for the water. It wasnt offered off the bat, like normal instances.
3) the entrees came out QUICK. which is why they got a ½ star
4) the drinks werent there. No water. Nothing. Funny it is because the server was directly in front of us, not even 10 feet away, behind the bar chatting up the bartender…
5) the food was bland
6) still no water…
7) no hot sauce… had to ask for it again. When the meal was nearly done… because the waiter wasnt around to ask and check up on things.
8) beer and wine came out. Both decent.
9) we complained about the bland food. As a courtesy they took the ribs off the bill… they earned 0.5 stars.
So overall? This restaurant would only come up in a conversation if the subject was worst dining experiences ever had.
Cheers

Mmmmmmm. Honestly we went from restaurant to restaurant looking for good eats and happened to sit down here. AMAZING. we loved the open kitchen, the head chef was organized and gave his team words of encouragement and props. Awesome to see a great environment. Calamari was done perfectly, simple spaghetti and meatballs was done really well. (meatballs were actually perfect). The steak on a bed of heaven mashed potatoes actually melted in my husbands mouth. Hahha. The prices match the quality and delivery. A must do.

I may be a bit biased in this review simply because I was with great company. Nevertheless, during peak winter season this has to be on your must do’s for dining in Whistler. I was here over the summer (which is beautiful by the way) and was really impressed with the staff, the menu, and of course the food.
Most people tend to gravitate to the porch to enjoy the 10:00 pm sunsets as well as people watch on the Main Street leading to the Olympic Rings and amphitheater. With our group they were able to provide us with the entire back room all to our selves with full attention from the wait staff.
As a Denver native I know how important Italian dining is when it comes to finding comfort food in cold weather. If and when I come back here to ski over the winter this will be my first dinner there. yyy
Prices are acceptable as are portions. Around $ 20 per person $ 35 if drinking and in my book worth every cent.

Food is excellent, all round. The service staff are friendly and attentive without being smothering.
Be sure to try the calamari; it is one of the best we’ve ever had the world over.
Reservations are a must when you stay in Whistler!