It is with great sadness that I feel the need to review after a devastating trip up to the Banff Springs hotel yesterday.
The most exciting day, the start of winter activities in Banff; The first day of the Hot Chocolate trail in Banff and Lake Louise.
The start date eagerly anticipated and counted down in my phone calendar. The list of participating restaurants well and truly scrutinised, with dates and venues planned alongside work commitments in my diary. As a non tea or coffee drinker, you can understand my excitement of the winter months celebrating the only hot drink I can enjoy. A comfort and distraction through recent tough times.
My alarm was set extra early so I could come and get my hot chocolate before starting my shift in town. I arrive on the bus just after 8am and skip up the hill, smiling with excitement of the Berry Very Chocolately that your team had come up with this year, similar to the raspberry hot chocolate by Brazen in 2024 or even the velvet cherry at the Maple Leaf in 2023 both of which were wonderful. Hence my curiosity to see the Fairmont's take on this flavour of hot chocolate.
The excited anticipation of a half asleep local was swiftly replaced by confusion when I was met with blank stares by the Stock team that morning. They didn't know what I was asking for, and when I explained further, and showed them online, they apologised kindly and informed me they didn't have the ingredients. The team themselves - wonderful. Cannot fault them.
Management - come on. Seriously? The oldest, signature, most expensive hotel in Banff, currently only at 60% capacity.. not able to have the right ingredients, for an annual event which everyone SHOULD be aware of well in advance of November?!
Flabbergasted to say the least.
I am still baffled, more than 24hrs since this miserable experience. And disheartened to return soon - not only because the hard earned $10 I'd set aside for this specific hot chocolate was then spent on a regular hot chocolate, which was not the purpose of my visit.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Nina Kummer
Unfortunately, the cappuccino was very disappointing—we saw the great pictures and expected more. The quality should be consistent.
Naoki Takagishi
The service is fast, convenient and the staff are friendly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
shahram Konoodi
Ordered 2 Cappuccinos, apple juice and a lemonade! This was on our way to parking, where we had few minutes left on our ticket…also, bought playing card… Then waited…about 5 personnel were working and engaged…but no news of my order! I went and bought two tea boxes also…so paying like 100$ and yet, order not ready! They asked me, are you waiting for something!!?! I said yes!!! So, at least one person jumped on it while the other was in denial mode! Shouting Gregory! Gregory! one of the personnel looked at me, “are you Gregory?” I was like, “if I was, I would have picked up my order! I am clearly not”! From that, I noticed the crew lacks experience… Anyways finally the lady who jumped on the issue, checked with Cashier, noticed nothing was communicated in the system, prepared the order and gave to me! And we got late for our parking exit!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
Tung Nguyen
Must try their matcha kale. Best in my life. Come back twice
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Michelle Ho
I ordered a lavender honey latte and was patiently waiting at one of the window seats. I noticed one of the baristas make a hot drink and set it at the drink stand. She took the drink ticket and placed it on the metal stick where the finished drink tickets go. She then continued to talk to her coworker. No name was called out and I waited a few minutes until I had to go up myself and look at the drink ticket pile to see if it was my drink. I found this odd because prior drinks the barista would call out the persons name.. other than that the lavender honey latte was good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
bita malekian
Great gluten free options! Amazing atmosphere :)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Debbie Wilton
Beautifully constructed sandwiches and amazingly fresh bagels. The staff are just lovely and these beautiful humans really added to our enjoyment of our stay. Special love for Maxine. Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Paula Schulz
$19 (including tip that starts at 18%) for mediocre avocado toast. Will not return. Nice setting but not worth it in my opinion
Jason van Dalen
Sandwich is very good. Went there twice. Both times took forever. Staff moved in slow motion making sandwiches.
Got hot chocolate, barista was so kind, friendly and helpful and remade my partner’s cup of hot chocolate as it cooled down when my partner brought my cup up to me on the m2 level for the view, which barista recommended. View was amazing and hot chocolate was delicious!! Thank you!
Chaewul Kim
Enjoyed the coffee and dessert! Friendly staff and good vibes
Jodie
Very clearly and specifically requested that the sandwich we ordered not be toasted as weren’t going to eat it straight away…and so they served it toasted. So ruined my sandwich as who wants a twice reheated sandwich. Just annoying when spending so much money ($17 on this thing) and it was such a simple request. I don’t know if they weren’t listening or just didn’t care.. Food could also have been fresher, it didn’t look like it had been freshly made that day and they told us to get it toasted otherwise the bread would be hard…?!
Hannah Smith
We made a special trip here for pastries and tea but were quite disappointed. There is no view from the cafe, it felt underground and could have been anywhere. It was ok but felt a bit dim. The vegan chocolate cake was really good in fairness, but the lemon and yuzu sponge was quite dry. The service was ok, but very slow and not particularly attentive or friendly. We've received much better service from places downtown which surprised us given the reputation of the Fairmont Hotel. Overall expensive and not worth the effort to go here sadly.
It is with great sadness that I feel the need to review after a devastating trip up to the Banff Springs hotel yesterday.
The most exciting day, the start of winter activities in Banff; The first day of the Hot Chocolate trail in Banff and Lake Louise.
The start date eagerly anticipated and counted down in my phone calendar. The list of participating restaurants well and truly scrutinised, with dates and venues planned alongside work commitments in my diary. As a non tea or coffee drinker, you can understand my excitement of the winter months celebrating the only hot drink I can enjoy. A comfort and distraction through recent tough times.
My alarm was set extra early so I could come and get my hot chocolate before starting my shift in town. I arrive on the bus just after 8am and skip up the hill, smiling with excitement of the Berry Very Chocolately that your team had come up with this year, similar to the raspberry hot chocolate by Brazen in 2024 or even the velvet cherry at the Maple Leaf in 2023 both of which were wonderful. Hence my curiosity to see the Fairmont's take on this flavour of hot chocolate.
The excited anticipation of a half asleep local was swiftly replaced by confusion when I was met with blank stares by the Stock team that morning. They didn't know what I was asking for, and when I explained further, and showed them online, they apologised kindly and informed me they didn't have the ingredients. The team themselves - wonderful. Cannot fault them.
Management - come on. Seriously? The oldest, signature, most expensive hotel in Banff, currently only at 60% capacity.. not able to have the right ingredients, for an annual event which everyone SHOULD be aware of well in advance of November?!
Flabbergasted to say the least.
I am still baffled, more than 24hrs since this miserable experience. And disheartened to return soon - not only because the hard earned $10 I'd set aside for this specific hot chocolate was then spent on a regular hot chocolate, which was not the purpose of my visit.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 5
Unfortunately, the cappuccino was very disappointing—we saw the great pictures and expected more. The quality should be consistent.
The service is fast, convenient and the staff are friendly.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ordered 2 Cappuccinos, apple juice and a lemonade! This was on our way to parking, where we had few minutes left on our ticket…also, bought playing card…
Then waited…about 5 personnel were working and engaged…but no news of my order! I went and bought two tea boxes also…so paying like 100$ and yet, order not ready! They asked me, are you waiting for something!!?! I said yes!!! So, at least one person jumped on it while the other was in denial mode!
Shouting Gregory! Gregory! one of the personnel looked at me, “are you Gregory?” I was like, “if I was, I would have picked up my order! I am clearly not”! From that, I noticed the crew lacks experience…
Anyways finally the lady who jumped on the issue, checked with Cashier, noticed nothing was communicated in the system, prepared the order and gave to me! And we got late for our parking exit!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 2
Must try their matcha kale. Best in my life. Come back twice
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I ordered a lavender honey latte and was patiently waiting at one of the window seats. I noticed one of the baristas make a hot drink and set it at the drink stand. She took the drink ticket and placed it on the metal stick where the finished drink tickets go. She then continued to talk to her coworker. No name was called out and I waited a few minutes until I had to go up myself and look at the drink ticket pile to see if it was my drink. I found this odd because prior drinks the barista would call out the persons name.. other than that the lavender honey latte was good
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 3
Great gluten free options! Amazing atmosphere :)
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Beautifully constructed sandwiches and amazingly fresh bagels. The staff are just lovely and these beautiful humans really added to our enjoyment of our stay. Special love for Maxine. Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
$19 (including tip that starts at 18%) for mediocre avocado toast. Will not return. Nice setting but not worth it in my opinion
Sandwich is very good. Went there twice. Both times took forever. Staff moved in slow motion making sandwiches.
Restaurantji Recommends
Always there when you need them
Got hot chocolate, barista was so kind, friendly and helpful and remade my partner’s cup of hot chocolate as it cooled down when my partner brought my cup up to me on the m2 level for the view, which barista recommended. View was amazing and hot chocolate was delicious!! Thank you!
Enjoyed the coffee and dessert! Friendly staff and good vibes
Very clearly and specifically requested that the sandwich we ordered not be toasted as weren’t going to eat it straight away…and so they served it toasted. So ruined my sandwich as who wants a twice reheated sandwich. Just annoying when spending so much money ($17 on this thing) and it was such a simple request. I don’t know if they weren’t listening or just didn’t care.. Food could also have been fresher, it didn’t look like it had been freshly made that day and they told us to get it toasted otherwise the bread would be hard…?!
We made a special trip here for pastries and tea but were quite disappointed. There is no view from the cafe, it felt underground and could have been anywhere. It was ok but felt a bit dim. The vegan chocolate cake was really good in fairness, but the lemon and yuzu sponge was quite dry. The service was ok, but very slow and not particularly attentive or friendly. We've received much better service from places downtown which surprised us given the reputation of the Fairmont Hotel. Overall expensive and not worth the effort to go here sadly.
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