The breakdown:
Service: 5.
Food: 3.8.
Wine a 3.5 (specifically, my glass of Cab Franc)
Indoor ambiance on a rainy day: 3 (I imagine on a sunny day, the outdoor patio would be lovely, though!)
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The name Mica, comes from Mica Creek, which is located just to the north of Nk'Mip resort and drains into Osoyoos Lake.This restaurant itself is a part of the Spirit Ridge Resort, adjacent to the Nk'Mip winery. To find it, follow the drive past the vineyard, and the curve to the right, through the resort complex. Drive until you can go no further, and you'll find yourself in a parking lot, the entrance to the restaurant on your right.
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When we were there this evening, the rain was coming down outside -- though I imagine on a sunny day, the patio would be open and would likely double their seating. As it was, there was bench seating along one wall, with those 6 or so 2-top tables pushed together along one wall to accommodate a group, and 11 other tables outside of that, to make up the entirety of the seating (so: make reservations, to be sure).
Despite the tables not all being filled, the clean, modern, decor led to a cavernous acoustic situation, and it seemed incredibly loud. Our hostess was a sweet, soft spoken young woman, who almost seemed to just be mouthing words at times. We all had to lean in to hear her say, upon repeating herself, that there were no menus left, but that she would bring us some as soon as they became available. Later, the waitress had to repeat part of the specials as we all leaned in to hear.
The waitstaff was friendly, and the food surprisingly fast (even our waitress said she was surprised at how quickly our entrees came out, while we were still eating our app). Our chips n dip appetizer was tasty -- the chips were overly salted and sparse, but otherwise good -- the goat cheese dip was tasty. Entree portions were satisfying, though not large (a big eater might still be hungry). My cod (and another at the table) was perfectly cooked and enjoyable -- with nothing major to report in either direction. Another person at the table ordered spaghetti and said it was incredibly light and delicious.
The dark, concrete flooring, the high ceiling, the hard chairs, and large photos of slot canyons and river rocks all lent to the modern, clean, design, of which I am generally a fan. In this case, though, the acoustic situation I mentioned before really brought the experience for our group down quite a bit, as the three of us couldn't hear one another across our 4-top table (not huge), and eventually nearly gave up conversation. And it wasn't a comfortable enough seat to just kind of relax into the meal. On the downside, definitely don't bring anyone here who is even remotely hard of hearing. On the upside, if you have kids (which some families there had), they can speak as loudly as they like and jump around a bit (as was happening), seemingly without adding to the din whatsoever. The hostess came by and mouthed more words at us, a sweet smile on her face, and we all smiled and nodded back at her, without hearing the bulk of her words.
I'm torn between a 3 and a 4, as I want to give a 3.5. As I said -- if the patio was open, the day sunny -- I imagine the entire experience might be different. Ambiance, and the ability to speak to the people at your table add a lot to an experience. All in all, our experience was "a-ok", (as yelp puts it for 3 stars). read more