Bon Voyage Restaurant (WESTGATE GRILL & BANQUET HALL INC.)

Reviews

• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  my mom wanted salad and my dad and they got none so i hate that resteront i like the hotel but not were you eat
  By Taylor Garvin, June 08, 2017
• ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
  Great place for a stop over coming through town. Good brunch buffet
  By Matt Rathjen, October 23, 2016
• ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
  My girlfriend won’t read this because she loves Bon Voyage and doesn’t want to read my criticism of it. That’ll mark the high point to start this review. It all goes downhill from here. There were four us meeting here for a supper, a broad range of ordered dishes to order, promising comprehensive coverage. Bon Voyage had been renovated since I had last been here, and following the commandments put forth in the family restaurant bible, the new décor had more shades of brown than the Clairol wall at Sears. In defense, it’s a step up from my previous visit. The Bon Voyage—or is it Westgate Grill & Banquet, because I seriously don’t know—is still a family restaurant no matter how much spackle you throw upon the foundations. It’s still open at 6:00 am. The tables are still crowded by salt and pepper shakers and a wad of crinkled ketchup packets. It still has the same confused and vague stain-proof menu (it might have changed since renovation, but good luck trying to find how). Over two pages, I can choose between stir-fry, Greek or pasta. There is a section titled sandwiches, another hamburgers, yet another for steaks and one more…for beef. Despite all the other sections, there was still enough to add more beef. My entrée came with soup, garlic bread, potatoes, beef, and onions; of course my soup came flanked with plastic-wrapped Premium Plus wafers, that’s just a given, like coming back from Africa with a virus. My entrée looked like someone dropped two fistfuls of ingredients into a hot pan and a mixed it a few minutes. Gigantic chunks of vegetables saddled beside lazily cut onion (a couple pieces were still connected to their roots) and topped with half a cow. My girlfriend’s steak still had a pulse and was flanked with enough mashed potatoes to feed an extended family of Irish immigrants (too soon?). Let’s call it what it is, a mess, something rushed. And let’s be honest, who can blame them? Go back 163 words and read that part on menu selection. How can anyone expect a chef to be prepared to make forty dishes from four different cuisines and have them flawlessly plated in less than thirty minutes? I could turn around and call this praise, a lesser chef would have seasoned the steak with his own frontal lobe. Let me stress again about how big and varied this menu was. I still haven’t mentioned all the sections, there was also seafood, appetizers, house specialties, childrens, and seniors. Hell, it took us ten minutes to even decide what to eat. After all was said and done, I still took half my plate home. A recent conversation about the history of restaurants in Prince George brought up memories of these unchanging artifacts of the city’s past, the Carmel, Camelot Court, Connaught, a time where choice was limited between either these stalwarts or the many Chinese buffets scattered about town like brothels in Ancient Rome. I fondly reminisced of the days of Binos and McCloud 9. But these are memories best left in the past. No matter how well Bon Voyage dresses itself, the menu proves that underneath its new skin, it’s still a dinosaur. I have lamented family restaurants often, and why? Why do I have to? Why do they all have to disappoint? I know they all don’t; I’ve read about better ones…but they’re not here. Here, our family restaurants are depressing relics from a time where this town was defined by a singular industry, and if you didn’t cater to people walking around with a bottle of Jake’s hot sauce in their pocket, you were doomed to fail. A friend offered a metaphor that family restaurants are like Ikea furniture, a nice façade covering cheap wood pulp. I think that comparison is an insult. I’d buy Ikea. Food: 2/5 Service: 3/5 Presentation: 3/5 Value: 3.5/5 Recommendation: 2.8/5 PS: By the way, I’m not a cocktail connoisseur, so I got a kick out of a drink called Holy Water—giving me temporary hope that Bon Voyage was a possible nearby refuge when vampires attack.
  By Chris Dias, September 16, 2016
• ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
  I ordered a steak dinner which was a great price for the size but the salad was full of water at the bottom of the bowl. Then we ordered the potato skins and the potatoes tasted frozen they were so dry we needed to add ketchup. Then when I got my entree, which was awesomely large the first bite of potato was a huge chunk of dirt that litterly grinded my teeth. I wasn't going to try again to eat it but politely ate my steak while waiting for the server to come back. She didn't until it was time to leave, at which time I told her the steak was great but my potato unfortunate. It happens and I understand but when she asked the manager what to do he said give her another potato, on my way out the door. I suggested that we were leaving but if you take the potato skins off the bill (as they were less than desirable) then we'll be good. He then got the brand new server to come out and tell me No, he would give me a potato to go. I politely thanked her for the great steak but having customer service like that from the top (Paul) is unacceptable and I will not return because and only because of the poor attitude of the manager.
  By Lisa Armstrong, July 16, 2016

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About Bon Voyage Restaurant (WESTGATE GRILL & BANQUET HALL INC.) in Prince George