Restaurants in West Kelowna

The savoury scent of sauces and charbroiled steaks waft through the air as Kevin Rodden and Frank Sham hand-stretch pizza dough in La Cucina Ristorante's open kitchen. With 40 culinary medals between them, the duo uses their gastronomic expertise to fashion local ingredients into authentic Italian specialties. They whip up pastas and housemade soups during the day to accompany the lunch buffet's daily entrees, top pizzas with smoked salmon for dinner service, and cook rainbow cheese tortellini whenever storms clear. To help wash down those hearty portions, Kevin and Frank keep the restaurant stocked with hand-selected local and Italian wines by the glass, half-litre, and bottle. Meals unfold in an intimate dining room and on a cozy patio, though the chefs also supply frozen sauces and soups for take-home feasts.

The Waterfront Grill & Pizzeria celebrates not only its location along Okanagan Lake's public harbour, but also the Okanagan Valley, buying its seasonal produce from local farmers and drawing its fish from the nearby waters. Every seat, whether inside or on the patio, looks out onto the mountainous horizon and the tranquil lake. Nods to the great outdoors can also be detected in the dining room's wood floors, rustic beams, stone accents, and boat-shaped wooden shelf.

In addition to the fruits of the sea, The Waterfront's chefs bake traditional—including gluten-free pies—with natural, housemade tomato sauce and a special cheese blend. Handcrafted burgers and Greek-style entrees such as chicken souvlaki can also be spotted on the menu.

As night falls on Fridays in July and August, live jazz musicians serenade diners at 19 Okanagan Grill + Bar. The music drifts across the massive outdoor patio and onto the adjacent Two Eagles Golf Course before blending with the sound of the wind rippling across Okanagan Lake. This elegant scene suits the year-round kitchen's upscale steakhouse cuisine, which includes made-from-scratch soups, steaks, and grilled tiger prawns. While bartenders pour wines by the bottle or glass and garnish martinis with errant golf balls, they chat with regulars about the day’s round.

Led by a husband-and-wife team, the expert kitchen crew at The Patio Buffet beckons patrons to take unlimited culinary journeys through a buffet spread brimming with classic comfort fare and homestyle brunch cuisine. Hash browns, bacon, and scrambled eggs form edible mountains atop limitless plates, and diners can raise their opera glasses to marvel at chefs as they transform custom ingredients into made-to-order omelettes. Customers venture to the hot bar to break from breakfast fare and sample the savoury flavours of meat loaf, brisket, and chicken. Rivers of gravy cascade over potatoes as eaters devour handmade cabbage rolls between sips of apple, orange, and cranberry juice. Meanwhile, televisions spring to life to add sides of hockey, football, and basketball to meals. Many buffet options are gluten-free, and patrons can break from balancing brunch-loaded plates atop their heads to ask staff members which foods match their dietary needs.

At all hours, the sound of a whisk against a bowl rings through Cafe Soleil as chefs scramble eggs for an all-day breakfast menu. Omelettes bursting with pepper jack cheeses, grilled chicken, and house-made salsas rest alongside eggs benedict prepared in several different fashions. As the morning sun fades and even roosters that know “Stairway to Heaven” pipe down, guests switch to grilled turkey burgers and pork-rib sandwiches. On the weekends, the café often hosts live bands, which add a lively aural backdrop to the happy chatter of guests.

Itto Sushi’s chefs aren't content to stop at regular sushi rolls. They're always looking for new ways to express their creativity, such as the edible cones that they painstakingly construct from sheets of dried seaweed. Inside each of these handmade cones, you're liable to find sliced salmon, spicy tuna, tobiko, and creamy avocado. Of course, the chefs still make the classic rolls as well as anybody, piling up to 55 pieces of sushi onto party trays.