nonlinear
02-22-2009, 10:35 AM
Zona's used to be one of our favorite restaurants in Canmore. They had a menu to die for, great wine and beer selections, and it was located in this cozy little craftsman house that had a really eccentric paint and decor job. there was a bunch of little rooms and things, which helped separate the dining room and provide a lot of intimacy. The place was always packed and you would have to wait awhile for a table (i don't think they accepted reservations)... and it was an older, educated and liberal crowd that was pleasant and comfortable to be around.
Then they closed for renovations. It took several months, maybe even longer than a year? much longer than i had expected based on the size of the building. We hadn't been back since they re-opened, but always kept it in mind because it used to be such a great place.
we were hanging out in canmore on Friday night, and decided to walk over and get some dinner and drinks there. We approached the (old) entrance, and weren't sure if they were open or not, or if they had moved the entrance to the other side of the building. apparently, during the 'renovations' they decided that the existing porch (nice, well-lit with a strong sense of entry) needed to be replaced by a dark, cheap and ugly looking door and deck. anyhow, we tried the door and they were indeed open, so we went inside.
we were amazed at what we saw. First of all, they had completely renovated the inside, removing all of the walls and opening the room into one large dining room. gone were the candles, plants, stuff on the walls, awesome cozy paint, and that 'inviting' feel you used to get when entering Zona's. it had all been replaced with that cheesy, cliche, yellow-stained log shit that was really trendy in mid-90s mountain resorts (think woody's in kananaskis village, or grizzly paw on main in canmore). it doesn't look like a restaurant anymore, but instead a completely lame attempt at a resort bar - totally tacky.
the place was TOTALLY dead.. and it was 7:30 ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! I mean, there were a couple of other tables, but gone was that electric buzz that used to be zona's. they had opened up the kitchen, which is great if you have a passionate and skilled kitchen staff, but it just doesn't work here (see below).
we sat down at a table and the waitress said "we don't have any menus right now." what???!!?! there were 7 or 8 other people in here, the restaurant was maybe 10% full, and they were out of menus??!?!? at that point we started to sense that there was something REALLY wrong here.
so anyhow, we said "OK" thinking that we could have a drink or two before dinner, which we were probably gonna do anyway. so we waited for the waitress to return for our drink order, and in the meantime were able to observe the behavior of the kitchen staff in the 'open ktichen' (another passe concept haha). seriously, there were a few young dishwasher-type dudes sitting around in there talking, slapping each other with towels, etc. There was definitely not any food being prepared and they were definitely not a crew who looked like they cared about food. the food used to be AWESOME at Zona's, and it was obvious that they had a head chef who was educated and who was passionate about food. something has obviously changed.
during this time, the waitress busied herself with removing wine glasses from the wine glass rack behind the bar. after waiting for about 15 minutes to order drinks, and watching these losers in the kitchen stand around with their hands in their pockets, we were kinda thinking that maybe we should stop ignoring all of these clues and realize that Zona's isn't what it used to be...
so we got up and walked out. on the way, we looked at the other two tables... they both had drinks, but no food, although one did have menus. i just can't understand why the waitress was being so lazy and playing with wine glasses, when there were people obviously ready to order and put the kitchen staff to work (the table with the menus was in there before we arrived, and she didn't go over to their table the entire time were were there, so ther were waiting to order taht entire time!). we went over to rocky mountain flatbread, which was awesome as usualy.
so i'm not sure what happened to Zona's... i'm guessing it changed ownership or something, and some idiot with no restaurant experience bought it thinking he could dump some money in, rebuild the place, and it would be a success. well, it is a complete failure... they destroyed everything that made Zona's what it was... the eclectic building, cozy little rooms, crazy paint and decor, etc. etc. we didn't actually get to try the food.
has anyone else been after the remodel? what was your experience? Has anyone tried the food? does anyone know exactly what happened at Zona's? did it change ownership? It was perfected so well already, i just can't see how the same people could be running the show now (they destroyed that place and it's clientele).
Then they closed for renovations. It took several months, maybe even longer than a year? much longer than i had expected based on the size of the building. We hadn't been back since they re-opened, but always kept it in mind because it used to be such a great place.
we were hanging out in canmore on Friday night, and decided to walk over and get some dinner and drinks there. We approached the (old) entrance, and weren't sure if they were open or not, or if they had moved the entrance to the other side of the building. apparently, during the 'renovations' they decided that the existing porch (nice, well-lit with a strong sense of entry) needed to be replaced by a dark, cheap and ugly looking door and deck. anyhow, we tried the door and they were indeed open, so we went inside.
we were amazed at what we saw. First of all, they had completely renovated the inside, removing all of the walls and opening the room into one large dining room. gone were the candles, plants, stuff on the walls, awesome cozy paint, and that 'inviting' feel you used to get when entering Zona's. it had all been replaced with that cheesy, cliche, yellow-stained log shit that was really trendy in mid-90s mountain resorts (think woody's in kananaskis village, or grizzly paw on main in canmore). it doesn't look like a restaurant anymore, but instead a completely lame attempt at a resort bar - totally tacky.
the place was TOTALLY dead.. and it was 7:30 ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! I mean, there were a couple of other tables, but gone was that electric buzz that used to be zona's. they had opened up the kitchen, which is great if you have a passionate and skilled kitchen staff, but it just doesn't work here (see below).
we sat down at a table and the waitress said "we don't have any menus right now." what???!!?! there were 7 or 8 other people in here, the restaurant was maybe 10% full, and they were out of menus??!?!? at that point we started to sense that there was something REALLY wrong here.
so anyhow, we said "OK" thinking that we could have a drink or two before dinner, which we were probably gonna do anyway. so we waited for the waitress to return for our drink order, and in the meantime were able to observe the behavior of the kitchen staff in the 'open ktichen' (another passe concept haha). seriously, there were a few young dishwasher-type dudes sitting around in there talking, slapping each other with towels, etc. There was definitely not any food being prepared and they were definitely not a crew who looked like they cared about food. the food used to be AWESOME at Zona's, and it was obvious that they had a head chef who was educated and who was passionate about food. something has obviously changed.
during this time, the waitress busied herself with removing wine glasses from the wine glass rack behind the bar. after waiting for about 15 minutes to order drinks, and watching these losers in the kitchen stand around with their hands in their pockets, we were kinda thinking that maybe we should stop ignoring all of these clues and realize that Zona's isn't what it used to be...
so we got up and walked out. on the way, we looked at the other two tables... they both had drinks, but no food, although one did have menus. i just can't understand why the waitress was being so lazy and playing with wine glasses, when there were people obviously ready to order and put the kitchen staff to work (the table with the menus was in there before we arrived, and she didn't go over to their table the entire time were were there, so ther were waiting to order taht entire time!). we went over to rocky mountain flatbread, which was awesome as usualy.
so i'm not sure what happened to Zona's... i'm guessing it changed ownership or something, and some idiot with no restaurant experience bought it thinking he could dump some money in, rebuild the place, and it would be a success. well, it is a complete failure... they destroyed everything that made Zona's what it was... the eclectic building, cozy little rooms, crazy paint and decor, etc. etc. we didn't actually get to try the food.
has anyone else been after the remodel? what was your experience? Has anyone tried the food? does anyone know exactly what happened at Zona's? did it change ownership? It was perfected so well already, i just can't see how the same people could be running the show now (they destroyed that place and it's clientele).