Caramba! Whistler, BC

Rating: ***1/2 out of *****

We chanced upon this Mediterranean-inspired restaurant during one of our nights out in Whistler Village. Just on Main St. and again close to our hotel, this was another good find for casual dining. It reminded me of my past dining experience at Coza; the Mediterranean cuisine, the rustic Italian decor, the lovely patio and of course the complimentary bread...

Good thing they brought the bread out before I ordered; I wasn't feeling too hungry and actually contemplated ordering a side of their house-baked bread for $2.95... but free bread is always great.

Instead, I ordered the flatbread with eggplant tepanade, guac and salsa $7.95

My sisters shared this, and had fun spinning it around (silly kids) ... guess what it is

Well, it's cheesy mac-n-cheese of course; for $13.95, and with the ability to feed both of my sisters it was a great deal. The macaroni was so rich and cheesy that I just had to steal a bite.

My mom ordered their Caramba! Salad $6.95; it contained butter lettuce, chicken, thai peanut sauce and water chestnuts. Nothing spectacular, and I felt that given it's price it would be larger in size

And of course, we had to order drinks... it was a vacation after all.

I ordered the Mad Monkey $7.95; a bit on the pricey side, but utterly delicious. It was made with Kahlua, Bailey's and Banana Liquer... heaven in a glass

This wasn't on the menu, but my mom really wanted a strawberry margarita. Our waiter gladly took the order and my mom was very excited, since she hadn't had a margarita in a long time.

We went to Caramba! Restaurante at around 6pm, and without a reservation we were seated within 15mins. I couldn't exactly understand what took so long for us to be seated, because as we were being seated I spotted numerous tables available... perhaps those were reserved, who knows. Like Black's, this restaurante appeared to be under-staffed as the waiters were hustling around like crazy and the manager was also busy serving customers. Though, unlike Black's, the service at Caramba! was much improved. I guess it could've been a result of being served by the manager, but I felt that our server actually made an effort to make our dining experience enjoyable; often coming back to replenish our drinks, asking us if there was anything else we would like and making friendly conversation.