Oak+Cru Social Kitchen & Bar

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Strength: Convenient location within Delta Hotel in Kelowna

Weakness: Staff are not communicating with each other

We came here for the winery tour hosted by Amex Mariott Bonvoy card‘s special deal. It cost $650 and comes with 2 nights stay, 1 mission hill winery tour, and 3 meals. One of the meal is a 6 course dinner with 6 wine pairings. Overall, the winery tour was well worth the money. We will talk about it in detail in a future post. For now, lets focus on Oak+Cru located within the Delta Hotel in Kelowna.

Thoughtfully designed patio seating

Kelowna has higher temperature than Vancouver. In order to enjoy the outdoor seating, Oak+Cru has installed misting device above the trellis. The added moisture takes the heat away so patrons can stay cool.

Outdoor Patio next to the lake

The walkway surrounding the lake is right next to the outdoor patio. We has the luxury of sitting next to the walkway on one of our visit. There are visitors strolling the walkway. It makes the breakfast experience very lively.

Focal point of the lake

You will see Oak+Cru’s outdoor patio when walking along the walkway around the lake. It is located at the tip of the alcove. You will have the opportunity to look at it when you walk towards it. Oak+Cru creates a welcoming environment. The entrances from both left and right makes sense.

The bar is always packed

This is the view from Oak+Cru’s reception desk. No matter what time you come here the bar is always packed with people. Our first interaction with the staff at the reception desk was when we presented the voucher for complimentary beverage and canapés. We were lead to the outdoor patio and given a menu. Later on when we redeemed our drinks we were told the Amex Marriott Bonvoy group is actually being hosted at a different location.

First visit for the Canepés

I have to say the Amex Marriott Bonvoy is very sincere to show their appreciation. There is so much food. I was expecting a couple of bite-size snacks as canapé. Instead, what we got was plates of food stacked on top of each other, enough to feed a football team.

The food quality is a little hit and miss though. The pizza was good Neapolitan Style, and they were good. Satay were juicy and tasty. However, the Vietnamese shrimp roll were a bit dry after being left out for too long.

Neapolitan style pizza

The pizza was really well made. They have margherita and meat lover flavour. The dough was chewy like a proper Neapolitan pizza. The flavour in the ingredients is a bit lacking but only compared to really good Pizzaria like Via Tevera.

O+C Negroni cocktail with hard liquor

The server warned me that the O+C Negroni was a mixture of hard liquors, and taste simply like alcohol. The drink is mixed with Hendrick’s Gin, Lillet Blanc Campari, and Aperol. The server was right that this is a strong drink. I don’t think it taste too bad though. The taste of Aperol is very prominent. I enjoyed the subtle tangy flavour.

Second visit for breakfast buffet

We received a breakfast voucher worth $30. When we arrive to the table, we were given the breakfast menu. We presented the voucher to our server and asked how it works with the menu. She went to ask her supervisor because there were apparently 5 different types of coupon Oak+Cru is accepting during our visit. We chose to go with the breakfast buffet for simplicity.

Not many items to choose from

There wasn’t a lot of choices with the breakfast menu. The choice of cheese has more flavour than the canapés we had the night before. The croissant is a bit stale, not crunchy. The sausages are tough on the outer shell and overly fattening on the inside. It kind of feel like I was drinking oil after the second bite. There was not much scrambled egg left in the pot. You can see it is not fluffy. They have solid edge.

The scrambled eggs were poorly done

The scrambled egg were a bit tough. The texture is comparable to the ones served on BC Ferries. Even then, the scrambled egg ran out at 8:30 am. I saw another table come in and was wondering they would make more. They were asked to put in single orders. I also asked, and was asked to do the same with my waitress. Right after I put in my request, the scrambled egg pot was refilled and my server came to inform me that. I think Oak+Cru can benefit from better communication to the customer and their staff.

Hash brown was on par with ones served at IKEA

The hash brown were not crispy. It has been put in the warmer for too long. Can’t really complain about this because it is natural for buffet that does not get consumed fast enough.

Third visit ordering by menu item

Our experience with Oak+Cru was a lot better on our 3rd visit. I believe this is the actual experience with this restaurant without the staff being confused. I ordered a coffee. They gave me a small container for cream. I also got a thermos with more coffee in them. This is a very good practice. I don’t have to for more coffee, and the staff get to save a trip to my table.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

The smoked salmon benedict was just okay. Perhaps I have been spoiled with all the fancy brunch places I’ve been to. Hollandaise sauce taste generic, not as sour as the ones from The Gray Olive Cafeteria. There was no outstanding taste. The smoked salmon provided most of the savory flavour. The egg yolks drooling all over the English muffin when it’s broken.

The hash brown were much better than the day before

The hash brown is obviously better than the day before. They were right out of the fryer. The outside were crunchy and the inside are starchy. This is what I look for in a good hash brown.

Ketchup presentation is disappointing

I have not seen a worse way of giving customers ketchup than this. The dish limited the amount of ketchup in them. There were two small dish of ketchup because we ordered two breakfast with hash browns. The amount of ketchup were limited by the dish. Also, we could see on the side of the dish that these ketchup were sloppily squeezed. Simply giving the customer a squeeze bottle of ketchup would be better than this.

604 Food Critic Assessment

This is a consolidated review for 3 of our visit to Oak+Cru Social Kitchen and wine bar. We had experienced the different aspect of this restaurant. As a restaurant within hotels go, Oak+Cru is fairly priced at $30 per person for breakfast. The food is not the best, but above average. The service is pretty good, but staff seems to be confused by the different promotions. Awesome atmosphere and view. If you live in the hotel. Oak+Cru is going to be the most convenient location for you.

Menu

How to get in touch

• Phone: (250) 869-3508
• Address: 1310 Water St, Kelowna
• Hours: 6:30 am – 11:00 pm, Friday & Saturday 6:30 am – 12:00 am
• Reservation: opentable.ca