Latest Reviews
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Beautiful atmosphere, wait staff was wonderful. Excellent tasting food. We ordered 2 appetizers for dinner as we were not that hungry. Good portion si…
KMcClurg
The Vanilla Pod
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We tried not staring at the wedding couple as they strode by us on their journey to ritualized legal kinship. We were enjoying our meal when kilt-clad…
Prince Gastronome
The Vanilla Pod
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Great spot. Energetic service. Great food.…
Harrison
The Vanilla Pod
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The Vanilla Pod serves Pacific Northwest and Pizza. Incorrect or missing information? Make a report, or claim the restaurant if you own it!Details
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7 Reviews on “The Vanilla Pod”
Beautiful atmosphere, wait staff was wonderful. Excellent tasting food. We ordered 2 appetizers for dinner as we were not that hungry. Good portion sizes. I would recommend this as a nice dinner/lunch out
We tried not staring at the wedding couple as they strode by us on their journey to ritualized legal kinship. We were enjoying our meal when kilt-clad men and their respective glowing fairer companions approached the marriage commissioner on a distant hill. We were further shocked when they returned only five minutes later. That was it? A lifetime commitment over coffee. No reception, they borrowed a mound for a spell and left. It certainly was an interesting distraction, and I was left curious as to how ones goes about securing such a location. Their website lists many options but not a drop-in for five minutes rate. Perhaps it was dinner theater, or rather, in this case, lunch theater.Poplar Groves greatest strength lies not with its winery but with The Vanilla Pod restaurant it sits beside. And that speaks volumes given how impressive the winery is. Generally, youll have to cut through the tasting room, potentially sampling wines to pair with your meal. For us, we stopped at Poplar Grove in the morning, returning later for lunch before traveling onto to Kelowna for the next leg of our wine journey (one week, 60 wineries, 120 bottles bought). To review the dcor of The Vanilla Pod would be difficult given most of it sits outside. So, if rating it consequently, The Vanilla Pod would be one of the best-looking restaurants in the world. A massive canvas covers much of the serving area, though built in such a way as to not impede ones view. While other places cheaply throw up a handful of umbrellas, this single canopy only requires four posts to cover nearly a dozen tables. Said sunshade is fringed with string lights for the evening service (which must look amazing). Cut grass spreads beyond the square of pavement the tables sit on until reaching the vineyards; past that, sporadic marks population and further fields until one takes sight of the lake. A view nearly unrivaled unless you visit Bench 1775 up the hill. Further away, near where the wedding party would eventually take perch, is another dining area without cover but avoiding any annoying intrusions from the rest of the winery. So yes, you cant really get much better than thisunless it rains. Or its winter. Hell, Id pay for a dish just to waste a half-hour staring at the view.As for the food, offerings at lunch are limited and not on the inexpensive side. Even the most basic salad is $10. Not everyone wants to drop down $27 for lunch (not including drinks), but there are dishes that expensive. My girlfriend ordered the chickpea salad (which they oddly spelled chick pea), with tomatoes, red onion, spinach, cilantro, a white balsamic vinaigrette, and a heaping portion of chickpeas. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, with peach BBQ sauce, pickled fennel and cabbage slaw, spicy mayo, which was complemented by a salad. I wont make any claims that these two meals together warrant $30, but they were amazing. My girlfriend discovered a newfound appreciation for chickpeas. The dinner service can intimidate some, with prices starting at $29 for a main, but I cant speak to that quality; the lunch was very satisfying. Add to that the picturesque view, and you cant really go wrong dining at The Vanilla PodI just have one question: Why is it called The Vanilla Pod? Theres no mention of desserts being offered, and none of the dishes boast it as an ingrediant. I dont see any orchids anywhere, and you certainly cant grow them in the wild at this latitude. The winery is called Poplar Grove, which you can understand given how common poplar trees are, but do vanilla orchids grow around them? Its all very confusing. With that out of the way, I did enjoy the Vanilla Pod restaurant through the wine offered at Poplar Grove winery was nothing to write home about. The Naramata Bench thankfully boasts several above-average restaurants end to end, including Hillside and Lake Breeze, and The Vanilla Pod can be counted among them. Food: 5/5Service: 4/5Presentation: 5/5Value: 3.5/5Recommendation: 4/5
Great spot. Energetic service. Great food.
Fabulous lunch. My husband and I had a great birthday lunch here this weekend. The food was delicious, the wind good, the service very good. I had the chickpea and tomato salad, a perfect light lunch for a very reasonable $8, and the flavours in the dressing were superb. My husband had a really good chicken wrap, and a fresh side salad, with amazing goat cheese. We relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful ambiance of the elegant day lit room on the Bench, will definitely go back. Thanks to the very friendly wait staff and to the kitchen.
Great food and views, dismal service. My wife and I escaped the kids to go on a date. The Vanilla Pod looked interesting. We wanted something uniquely Okanagan as we were visiting from Alberta. We showed up around 8:30 pm on Monday July 15. It was quite dead. One other couple outside and two families inside. We chose to sit outside to admire the amazing views of the valley. Our server was prompt but not overly friendly. He brought the menu and asked if we wanted tap or sparkling water. When he returned with our tap water we asked to have a few more minutes with the menu. We decided on the 5 course tasting menu ($55/pp) with the wine pairing option ($30/pp). I asked him what he could tell me about it. He didn’t seem enthusiastic about our choice, but rather annoyed saying that it takes a while. He said he didn’t know anything about it because it is up to the chef to decide. He also didn’t know anything about the wine pairing because it was dependent on the food selection. We decided to order it anyway.With every dish the server brought, he neglected to properly introduce it along with the wine. I don’t remember the wines for this reason. Only that they were from Poplar Grove (winery that the Vanilla Pod is located at). The first course was a simple crab salad over leafy greens. It lacked acidity but was tasty and light. The second was mussels and clams in a tomato based sauce. It was very good. The mussels were fresh and cooked perfectly!Third course was lamb chops with artichoke salad. Perfectly cooked and tender. Great flavor! Fourth course was rib eye steak with Asian veggies. Steak was medium (perfect again). Veggies lacked a wow factor. Too much cabbage too. Dessert was a vanilla crme brle paired with a dessert Riesling. Sooo good! In summary, the food was great, views spectacular, wine awesome, but service dismal.
Excellent. We had a Groupon for the tasting menu. The food was great (crab cakes were a little too dry but other then that great!) the waitress was super friendly to our two kids but did not offer us coffee or tea at the end of our meal and never came by to see if everything was ok. All the staff there are very nice though. We had a pretty good time and the view is amazing. We would go back!
Sushi pizza. Awesome! Service incredible!