Aura

Well I think I had the best salmon I’ve ever been served at a restaurant. It was perfectly seared and absolutely the most delicate texture. Over a bed of asparagus risotto with an elegant beure blanc, and some fresh arugula and pea shoots. Simple but well constructed. Delicious.

Truly an incredible culinary experience last night at Aura from start to finish. It was 100% five-​star. Beyond their amazing food, which I will post photos of and comment on, Nita’s bar – already known for their original cocktails – never disappoints. Aura just added on to their patio, overlooking Nita Lake, so I think this might be the best kept secret in Whistler right now.

Nice location, food menu looks good, however wine prices are ridiculously inflated, and they only have 6red wines by the glass of which half are BC wines… And of the 3 that arent BC wines, one isnt available. The other 2 world Reds left are $ 29 and $ 59 BY THE 8oz GLASS. Seriously??? Also… Less inportant but still to note, all their candles are fake, and ambiance lights are too bright. It’s a shame, because it could be such a gem. Maybe the management has changed recently? Because. i cant understand why anybody would give them a review over stars.

This is located in the Nita lounge. It is a convenient restaurant/​bar if you’re staying here. The hotel doesn’t offer room service so we just ordered breakfast from here for take out and brought it up to the room. Eggs, sausage, and potatoes was a standard breakfast. Nothing that special about it. The waffles are decent. I like the maple syrup. It is a lot lighter than America maple syrup. The fruit was actually pretty good. It came with a variety of melons, strawberry and apples.

Great food and great service– just a little pricey— all food here was on point and worth the money– super friendly wait staff with complimentary champagne for our honeymoon! Would defiantly go back!

Was there this past Saturday … Ok great setting great service but the portions are just too small. The Niçoise salad was not a salad. It consists of a small piece of salmon a couple of cut up potatoes and some dressing … no greens. Just be prepared not to be full. And it’s pricey too!

Wow. I am stunned by these reviews. Tuesday night, couldn’t get reservations for a party of 10 anywhere else. Walked in, maybe 6 people eating at 8:00. Alarm bell starts going off. Were seated promptly, the server was competent and took drink orders right away. She answered questions about the wine like she knew what she was talking about (I think she pretty much stuck to a script), but that’s OK. Wines were overpriced even by Araxi standards. One of our drinks came with a bottle cap in the glass. OK, send it back, get comped. Took at least 10 minutes to get another one. Nope, no comp, I guess that’s a pretty common occurrence. She came back for app orders a little slow, but not too much. Here’s where it started going downhill. Bread, which is free everywhere else in the western world, was $ 4 a plate. At least it was edible. Every app was a bite or two (literally) except for the «for two» apps (they were 4 bites). $ 10 for a salad, $ 17 for 6 oysters, $ 17 for 4 bites of albacore crudo (which was not as described on the menu). Wha? I can get more food for much less in just about any high end restaurant in Whistler.
They were a little long taking main course orders. Mains were $ 17 to $ 25. OK, must be more food. Wrong. Orzo ratatouille, one cake of dry orzo & veg, about 4″ across and 1″ thick. For $ 17. Seared scallops, 6 bite size pieces of scallop, $ 25. The pea purée tasted like nothing, the spinach was a green smear under the scallops. I could see right away that they had cut divers scallops (the big ones) up into quarters after they seared them. I guess that was to make 1−½ scallops look like 6. At $ 4.15 a piece, those are probably about the most expensive scallops I will ever see on a menu in North America. The $ 25 NY strip steak was just about warmed through, as another reviewer pointed out. Nothing about organic on the menu, and really I think you can get a better quality steak at Nester’s. Plus, it was ¹⁄₃ just about raw fat, so by the time you sawed that off you were left with ½ a small steak. And I do mean saw, apparently steak knives are too much trouble to sharpen. The biggest joke: SIDES ARE EXTRA. WTF??? Does that even happen anywhere else (after 1980 anyway)? And they are $ 5 to $ 15. Really? For vegetables? $ 8 for mac & cheese. The green pea risotto, watered down, and not all that great. At least I could detect a faint hint of pea, and it was more than a couple spoonfuls. Fingerling potatoes were no more than a handful.
So, fine, this sucks, got burned, never coming back, etc. Then no server. I saw at least 3 staff standing around a server station trying to look busy (I really think they were arranging and rearranging utensils). Finally she showed up to take dessert orders after global warming had advanced another degree. Now for the kicker: desserts were $ 12 — $ 22. that’s not a misprint. $ 22 was for the cheese plate. For that price I want the rarest cheeses in the world, wrapped in gold leaf. Obviously I didn’t order any, and I was right, what I saw was no more than a couple bites. Ok so give us the check, it’s pushing 10:30. After waiting for another degree of global warming, we finally had to ask for the checks. They were immediately brought to the table, which means that they were already printed and just sitting at the register. Maybe they were waiting for us to get drunk enough that we couldn’t read the totals. Or they were trying to figure out how to cut them into 6 pieces to make them look smaller.
The final nail in the coffin? We had scheduled their shuttle back to our place as soon as we arrived. When we finally escaped the dining room around 10:45, the driver lit into us about how the service closes at 11:00, and we were «cutting it close». No, YOU were cutting it close. Take it up with your restaurant staff, jerk. Plus, we were told that 10:45 was just fine before dinner, by a different person. SO, two of us who were going back to the village were forced to take a taxi because the shuttle would be gone past 11:00. Our driver lit out of the parking lot like he was being chased by the RCMP. Made the wrong turn onto 99. Realized he made a wrong turn and turned into the next side road. Realized he couldn’t make a left turn out to get back in the next direction. went the wrong way down 99 until he could cross the highway and go back the right way. All the while driving like an idiot.
I really don’t trash a restaurant without a damn good reason. I expect much, much better in a resort town with a rep for fine dining. Araxi, Rimrock are two that we frequent, Araxi is over priced but the food has never disappointed us, the portions are decent and the service impeccable. Rimrock has always been outstanding for the money, heck even Nagomi sushi up by the Fairmount is very nice for the price. 2 stars only because no one had to send their food back, and it was mostly edible. Which was surprising, I think our group was being too polite.

My mom and I had made a reservation for dinner at 6:25 for right after some spa treatment right above the restaurant.
While in the process of making the reservation we had requested to sit on the patio and we were told that may not be accommodated as they were busy. On our way up to the spa we saw a sign that stated the patio was under renovation. So I was a little miffed and I made the comment about they should have told us this in the first place rather than lie about it. When we arrived I stepped to the hotel portion to use the washroom first (very nice facilities) and my mom waited for the host to be seated. When I came back she was discussing something quite important with someone who seemed to be the manager of the restaurant.
It seemed to be the reservation that was made, was made in error.
They shouldn’t have taken it at all.
She explained that they would honor it but we would be the only ones with one other table who slipped through as well.
This made me wowed.
We were then taken straight to the patio.
Again wowed.
We were able to sit overlooking the serene lake and walkway and had a wonderful three course meal.
It did get a little chilly and had we dressed better we would’ve stayed longer as they weren’t rushing us at all.
We were stuffed. After a long day of running in Whistler parks, shopping, and Spa we were starved. I think we ate like we hadn’t eaten all week.
The food did not disappoint.
We were limited to the 3 course choices but really it was spectacular.
To start I had the mussels. My mom the salad. Both wonderful. I had a sangria my mom tea.
The sangria was excellent.
For the main course they did have an option off the menu of sesame crusted salmon. We both got that as well as both the blood orange semifreddo for dessert.
The salmon was more medium than we were used to but it was STILL magnificent.
The semifreddo was more frozen then semi frozen but who cares it was delicious!!!
It was airy and the chocolate string on top was very good (or so my mom says as I gave her mine too).
The only downside. Which I missed because I went to the bathroom, was a train came in and the screeching was so bad that she did have to cover her ears for a minute.
Apparently there is a train station Right There attached which is kinda neat. But I guess not for the noise. It was still beautiful and it was long forgotten with everything they did considering.
Our waiter was outstanding. Everything was wonderful.

This is the restaurant inside of Nita Lake Lodge. The room package we booked included hot breakfast on both mornings. We dined here for Breakfast and Dinner so I will break down the review for both:
Breakfast
Day 1 — I had the Nita Breakfast with sausage and potatoes — it was a good serving size and wasn’t super greasy or heavy so I didn’t feel bloated afterwards. Big plus is that the toast isn’t drenched in butter like other breakfasts I’ve had so I was able to put jam on the toast and not having to deal with the greasy feeling on my lips after biting into it.
Day 2 — Tried the 3 egg omelette and the nita waffles. The waffles were so good! light and fluffy and the compote is served in a small bowl on the side you can choose how much you want on the waffles.
Dinner
I tried the Crispy skin chicken — a little wet for me, I think this might just be preference but it wasn’t bad. I loved that the produce and ingredients tasted fresh and there was no over salting.
We really enjoyed our breafasts and dinner here. For me breakfast was better than dinner. We would probably eat here again the next time we stay if we’re too lazy to leave the lodge and explore other foodie places.

As part of a wedding party at Nita Lake Lodge, we had a meal here on the day of the wedding.
I ordered a smoked turkey bacon sandwich with house toasted brioche with fries on the side. This sandwich was quite tasty, and pretty large to boot. The fries were perfectly crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
I also had a taste of someone’s duck salad which had a soy vinegar base– also very tasty.
I have no idea how much the meal cost (as it was footed by the bride and groom) — but it was a great meal! :-) Thanks F and M!

This place is incredible. We dined here for our honeymoon in 2013 and came here again with my parents for my birthday this past May. My parents enjoyed it just as much as we did. The menu goes through enough change that when you come back you get to experience new things from the chef’s travels and recent inspirations.
The location is inside the Lake Nita Lodge, a picturesque little lodge right on Lake Nita. Inside, the restaurant is nicely done with an entire wall of window doors that open onto the patio and the lake. There is a view from almost every table and you feel like you’re dining al fresco even if you’re indoors.
We chose to do the five course menu for $ 55. It was worth every penny! It starts with the yellow fin tuna tostada, a dish created by the chef during his travels to mexico. I had never had tuna raw before, and was nervous about it, but it was paired perfectly with a chipotle sauce on a crispy tostada shell and I found myself really enjoying it. The main courses were the roasted halibut with a toasted almond emulsion, english peas, and rhubarb. The emulsion paired perfectly with the halibut. It was savory with just enough sweet to undercut any saltiness from the fish. This was my favorite by far! Then we were served the aged organic beef with chive potato purée, onion rings and watercress. This was very good. I had it cooked to the chef’s recommendation and it wasn’t too raw, done just right. For dessert, they served a raspberry hazlenut tart with raspberry flake. I have no idea how they did it, but the tiny delicate flakes on top tasted like pure, fresh raspberries. It was definitely a treat and a night to remember. Aura helps to make any occasion special. We will definitely be sure to visit any time we are around the Whistler area.

I wish Unilocal!Would allow you to review service and food because the service deserved a a whopping 2 stars. The reviews on aura are mostly old. I think things have changed as I ate there near opening and it was very good. This time: The food was horrible. I mean everything sucked. The bread was stale. My steak was ½ blue and ½ blue rare. My girlfriends chicken was amazingly dry.
I am a chef by trade so I can tell you what I think happened with our food.
It’s whistler so you are going to have staffing issues.
Some totally under qualified stoner working unsupervised put the chicken and beef in around the same time. The chicken was done and the beef was far from done so they played the chicken and left it under the heat lamp. They decided in all their brilliance to slice the barely cooked beef and throw it under the salamander to finish it but the could care enough to even flip it over.
Some seriously lazy cooking. A shameful waste if a beautiful room.
On a good note our server wasn’t bad. The manager took our steak back and had it remade as it was not edible. The second steak came out well after my girlfriend was done her chicken and it was medium well (I ordered it med rare). Manager took it off our bill.
We both keep saying to each other «I can’t believe how bad the food was» several days later. I mean it was shocking.

The good: the food is quite good, and the wait staff is friendly and well meaning. Also, the setting is very nice.
The bad: prices are high ($ 32 for a 6oz ribeye…), portions are small, menu is small, service is very slow (1 ½hr for a simple dinner for 3 with no cockrail, etc).

Could not have been happier with dinner here. Quiet, calm, and modern ambiance. Over the top dishes and service.
We had the chicken, risotto, bison, desert with a couple of cocktails and coffee.
We were served some complimentary salmon tartar and chocolates as well. Absolutely flawless. The waitress was great and every dish was exquisite.
We visit Whistler frequently and have tried most of the restaurants but this one tops them all!

Came here purely by chance as we were dropping keys off to the place we were staying. Located in picturesque quarters inside the Nita Lake Lodge (a drive from the Village), good spot for casual, refined brunch.
Standard fare with eggs with bacon or sausage or eggs benedict. Attentive service (although they got my order wrong, but they quickly remedied it).
Nice change of pace from the rowdy Village environment.

Beautiful atmosphere, great service and excellent $ 39 menu. Mixed drinks sensational.

Ever wonder if there are worthy fine dining options in Whistler aside from what’s available in the village? Well, stop wondering because I am happy to report that I found one, and it’s in Whistler Creek, which is a 5 minute drive from Whistler Village.
Nita Lake Lodge is a boutique hotel nestled away in between two lakes, Alpha Lake and Nita Lake. They provide luxurious accommodation and services to guests who are ready to indulge in what Whistler has to offer.
Although we didn’t stay here during weekend, we did wander over to Aura Restaurant in search of a worthy dining experience. We strayed away from the village, as prices tend to be even more inflated.
The restaurant is located within the lobby area of the lodge, so it’s easy to spot. We arrived early and were seated right away, after walking past their bold walls of décor. Since it wasn’t busy yet, we chose to sit in their outdoor patio, overlooking Nita Lake. Service was impeccable, as they brought heater stands closer to our table and fixed us up with some drinks. They informed us it would get colder after the sun goes own, and that blankets are readily available upon request. With a Cedar Creek pinot noir in one hand and a serene view like this, it’s hard to believe that I was still working away in Vancouver just a few hours ago.
When it was time to order food, we opted for the $ 39 Dine Out Whistler menu, starting with House Made Ricotta Gnocchi, Pacific Halibut as the main, and the Tasting of House-​Made Ice Cream & Sorbet (we picked mango, cassis, and pomegranate). We also order the Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Leg a la carte.
Minutes after, warm bread and soft butter were brought out. The butter was infused with red pepper and basil. I don’t usually eat more than one piece of bread when regular butter is served with it. In this sitting, I cleaned the whole bread basket because of the butter. Well, and the bread was good too.
The chef sent out a complimentary palate cleanser for us that consisted of Dungeness crab and mustard melon. The flavours were sweet and tart, which made it really refreshing. The specks of black were grated dried black olive. The bit of saltiness and tartness from that was brilliant.
Their House Made Ricotta Gnocchi dish was one of our server’s favourites, and we see why. The gnocchi were made smaller than usual, like the size of a dime. It had the right balance between firm and soft, and was a gentle enough dish to help open up our stomachs for our mains.
The Pacific Halibut was a pleasant dish, surrounded by soft coconut purple rice, Thumbelina carrots, sweet and sour napa cabbage, and smoked peanut sauce. There was also a relish of some sort that added a nice tartness to the carrots.
We’re not sure why we’ve never wrapped prosciutto around our chicken legs in the past, but this dish now gives us good reason to moving forward. This was a very harmonious dish, as the herb mousse, buttermilk mash, and the whisky jus all came together with the succulent chicken. The grilled corn was sweet and sealed the deal for me. One of the best chicken dishes we’ve had.
We surprised ourselves with some room for the house made ice cream and sorbet. The flavours were delicious and we were satisfied with this dinner. It would be nice to visit their rooftop herb and vegetable garden next year, if they’re able to open it up for patrons to access.

Went to Aura for a business dinner, a client from out of town. Was a bit odd to be asked about any food allergies at the hostess desk but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Sat down, waitress was very attentive, almost too much so. We ordered wine, which was very good, and from the 3 course meal which was $ 39/​person, this included an appy, dinner and dessert. I thought this was very good. The menu was somewhat unconventional, but when we ordered and received our first dish which was a soup… it was fantastic. I found it a little annoying how over-​attentive the waiters were, explaining each thing they brought to the table. Often interrupting conversation to present the food. Took forever to get the bill as well.
However apart from that, I thought the food was excellent, original, unique, and interesting. Portions were perfect.
My client ordered Scotch and they didn’t have the one he ordered so gave him a double shot of a high end Scotch instead.
I would recommend this restaurant to others looking for a fine dining experience and something original

Don’t waste your money if you are celebrating an anniversary!
It is funny, there is a posting from a straight couple who were treated like gold on their anniversary the day AFTER we were at Aura celebrating our 16^th anniversary. Apparently Aura only acknowledges hetro-​couples and not same-​sex couples anniversaries, even when we attempted to celebrate with our 10 and 11 year old kids. SHAME on Aura!!!

Delicieux!
Organic, sustainable restaurants are the new craze these days, but some places do it better than others. Aura is one of them. The menu’s chock full of fresh, unique combinations of locally grown and raised food — better yet, it’s all affordably priced for this level of quality food in already-​pricey Whistler.
$ 65 for a prix fixe 3-​course meal, or $ 45 for a 2-​course. (Note: A few of the items require supplemental pricing due to some gourmet ingredients.)
Our waitress was amazingly knowledgeable about every ingredient, dish, cooking process, and wine — almost as if we were chatting with a live food connoisseur or even the chef himself. You know they love their job and are very good at it.
Favorites:
1) Beef bresaola with organic beets, savory oats and chives, and honeycomb — a magical combination you wouldn’t think of putting in your mouth; you just have to try it!
2) Scallop, prawn and cuttlefish served with apples and lime-​injected melon
3) Dungeness crab gazpacho — fresh soup poured over generous pieces of crab
4) Venison with onion and pomme de terre — again, generous slices!
5) Duck breast — crunchy skin with tender meat
6) Golden seared seabass with chimichurri couscous
7) Crème brûlée — can’t go wrong
8) Chocolate ganache
Presentation is stellar, flavors are bursting, service is flawless. A well-​deserved 5 stars for this new restaurant that rivals other great competitors in Whistler.