I hesitated to visit this place since reviews were all over the map, but my poorer judgement seemed to take over this time and I regret that I did not trust my initial instincts and just "avoid". But perhaps I can save someone else from bothering? We had just a short wait for brunch, and while we wanted to sit outside, we had to take an indoor table. It seemed odd as an outside table was almost certainly available. It would not have taken much for them to accommodate us, and I needed some fresh air after recovering from illness. But nope, they did not seem to know how to accommodate seating, so right from the beginning something was a bit "off". The server seemed friendly at first, until we were served our dishes without an offer of salt and pepper or anything else at that. Call me crazy, but I like my egg to have a bit of seasoning. We finally flagged her down for the salt and pepper which was conveniently hidden but not far away enough for her to have ignored it in the first place. Only then did I learn that my soft boiled egg was completely cold on the outside. Call me crazy again, but isn't soft boiled usually at least luke warm, because otherwise it's hard, right? I had to argue with my server over why breakfast eggs are generally warm and she defensively obliged and brought me another one. It was all very odd. Of course, by that time I had nothing else with which to eat my egg and my friends had finished their meals. So then I was stuck eating my egg, solo, and with no bread to lap up the goodness. The rest of my dish and friends' dishes were certainly delicious, and of course, since I was the one with the problem, I was ignored thereafter. I did not expect them to comp my eggs, but I know any classy place would have offered because that's how it's done and that's how good places stay in business! Instead, I was made to feel as if it was my fault that I was served a cold egg and service with the same type of lukewarm reaction. I hope that tourists read this before coming to check out this place. While Avion magazine call it "one of the best," much like the chef's predecessor, Wildebeest, very little brains can be seen beyond the braun. If this continues, I don't see it lasting long-- especially for people that look for good service with good food. Anyone remember the new Salt? Didn't think so. What a waste of a perfectly good apprentice! read more

I'M STILL SO HUNGRY. I can't even remember what I ate because it all happened so fast and was so small. If you want to experience all the fine flavours of a dish here, I suggest eating elsewhere beforehand... the flavours are fantastic but the portions are seriously so small that the wisp of roasted walnut shadow barely grazed my pallet enough to make up for the hole in my wallet. I can get behind the local ingredients farm to table movement. But like give me a potato or something. We had 3 of the vegetable dishes and the ling cod and the tuna. The tuna was spectacular (still sooo small, but yummy) the ling cod was ling cod it was two bites of ling cod and broth and a couple of fiddle heads which were the best part of the dish. I ordered cheese and bread so I didn't look like the crazy person licking the plate. (partly because it was yummy but mostly because I was still so hungry) The desert made me want to throw my plate in anger and quote zoolander... WHAT IS THIS? A BUCKWHEAT BEER SMOKED APPLE ICE CREAM FOR DIABETIC ANTS? Also smoked apple? NO. thanks for the $8 reminder to stop drop and roll. All I tasted was the smoke and in the time it took me to feverishly pick up my spoon, the teaspoon of ice cream in a giant ceramic dish was half melted. The avocado ice cream was much better except for the less than pleasant aftertaste. I get it, it's cool. Food is cool, farms are cool some of the stuff tasted good. I'll come back here when I'm rich and own a painting of a giant white square with a dot in the middle of it and have a cool grey poncho. I felt like I was in an episode of Portlandia. read more

I was in the area and decided to stop in for lunch. The waiter gave me a menu, and sat me at the last available table. I waited 5 minutes for the waiter to take my order. - Even though he kept looking over at me, and I kept looking back (to indicate I'm ready to order!) It was the lunch time rush, and I wanted to order quickly. Then, two people came in. There were no tables. The waiter looked over at me, then came over to my table. Tired of waiting I said, "Do you want me to leave so they can have the table?" He replied, "Would you mind?" Was telling another person this story, and she said a similar thing had happened to some friends. Looks like a nice enough place. Too bad I didn't get a chance to try it. read more

Do you enjoy flavors and combinations you've not had before? Are you easily board and are looking for something new? Is that new thing gong to be prepared in a creative way? If you are answering yes to these sorts of questions then you need to come here. If you are more of the type to order the one reliable thing at your favorite local, then this is probably not the place for you. But for me, this was a couple of amazing dinners. I was in town for a couple of weeks and this is the only restaurant we came to twice. Both times it was creative, flavorful and amazing. I get why some people rate this lower, but if you answer yeas to my questions above, there is no reason why you won't love this place. I'm sure they may have a dish now and then that is a miss, but for me we loved each thing we had. This is a set menu, so be prepared for that. I performed not to ask or read about what that nights menu would be to ensure the the joy of surprise helps develop the apatite. Local sourcing, some foraging, nicely paired wines, creative use of ingredients were what I experienced at the Farmer's apprentice. Both nights we had the omnivore menu, which I think is very reasonably priced for the ingredients, the creativity, and the technique you are benefiting from with this meal. There is also an optional cheese course if you are interested. We did it one night but not the second, but enjoyed it never the less. I could give you a run through of what we had but since the menu is always changing, not sure what the point will be. Although the soux vide pork belly with oyster mushrooms is something to beg for, just like the ling cod with the yellow tomatoes. Just know I went away very happy after both meals and me and the DC are still talking about this place! Probably good that I don't live close by as I would be eating here way too often for my own good! read more

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We were served raw chicken. When we sent it back to be cooked more, it was microwaved and sent back to us. We were then basically told by 2 seperate people that the chicken was cooked, but it was the process that made parts of the meat pink. Problem is that when we got the chicken microwaved, it had changed colour from clear and pink, to white and opaque, which is a pretty strong indication that it has nothing to do with the preparation methods that make the chicken pink. Apparently we are all just morons and have no idea what cooked chicken looks like. And then after the second person came, a third one came over and basically told us that we were being argumentative. In essence the service was absolutely horrific. Aside from that. We had the same salad served 4 different ways, and each paid over $50 for our meal, with almost no alcohol to boost the price of the bill. Of the 8 of us, more than half of us had to have a second dinner. It was a poor excuse for seasonally and locally made food. read more

I had high hopes coming here only to leave disappointed. Food was mediocre and service was terrible. Had the tasting menu. Only 1/5 dishes were memorable. Dishes come to the table and with each dish we have to constantly ask for replacement cutlery that was cleared with the previous dish. Timing of the service was horrible with long waits between courses. Don't expect your wine glass or even community water bottle to be refilled. I was also pretty put off by the fact we were charged for bread set at our table... I guess living in north America I assumed bread brought unrequested was complementary. I didn't realize I was in Europe. I guess in hindsight I should have tipped like the Europeans do as well. Don't be fooled. It's only fully booked because it's a 20 seater restaurant. Would not come back... Don't trust vancouver food bloggers read more

On a sunny summer day, a few of my colleague and I decided to explore the posh neighbourhood that's called Fairview and find a new lunch spot. The location of this cafe is a bit out of the way but feels like you have just left Vancouver and are about to have lunch in the south of France. The decor is shabby chic and the staff also looks the part. We decided to sit on the patio where flower pots draw an invisible boundary for the alcohol permitted area. The decor inside is bit higher end than the patio, making this joint a perfect lunch date spot. The server was very friendly, you have to walk in and order and then food is delivered to your table. We all decided to try the Angus beef sandwich that was served with a Kale salad. The beef was cooked to perfection with a green pesto sauce. Sourdough bread was out of this world, coming from a non-bread person. The Kale salad although tasty was quite plain so could use a little vegetable company. In an area filled with just average food, this place can't be missed! read more

I'M STILL HUNGRY AND FEEL LIKE I JUST LIT $40 ON FIRE! If you like teeny tiny portions that would satisfy anorexics than eat here. If you like lighting your money on fire than eat here. If you like having management avoid your questions as to why food is so small or tasteless, roll their eyes at you and not do anything about constructive feedback then eat here. I ate here tonight for their Sunday family style supper with three other friends and at $40 a person all we could think about was heading to McDonalds afterwards as the food portions were so small and tasteless! They basically gave us rabbit food for $40 and try to pass it off as nouveau organic farm cuisine. Take a look at the photos there is nothing on the plates. We also noticed that after we complained our portions got smaller and smaller and management and staff turned very passive aggressive, which hey isn't that the typical Vancouver way to operate it seems? Have no idea how places like this stay in business. After all their glowing food write up reviews and being voted best new restaurant etc. I think this place has gone downhill. Like many Vancouver restaurants that get too hyped too fast and the managements' heads seem to have swollen so big. As soon as I sat down last night and read the family style menu I knew I was going to be hungry. I have been here twice before for other family style suppers which were $5 cheaper at $35 and we got 8 to 10 courses. Tonight we got 4 sparse courses and dessert with chai. First plate was tomatoes with chow Mein noodles in a fishy broth. Taste was okay, portion small. Next up were some carrots in a sauce and check the plating in the photo it looks like they forgot to put food on it. It only fills quarter of the plate. Then there was half a small eggplant to share between two people with a mint sauce. At this point we complained to our waitress politely. When I brought this to the attention of the waitress that the portions seems really small tonight, that we had eaten here twice previously as a large group, (I run a food group in town), she said she would speak to the kitchen. She came back and reported that the head chef and owner told her that a guest chef planned the menu for this evening. I stared at her in disbelief thinking so you have a guest chef create a crappie menu and you are blaming him. Take ownership this is your restaurant, dos something about it. They finally agreed to give us more food. The fish course we had a in a curry sauce was so small and the sauce was watered down. The amount of fish we were served was about the size for one person in a normal restaurant and here it was served for four people? I'm still thinking where is my $40 per person going, these people are making a killing of serving rabbit food and tiny pieces of fish The head chef came out to talk to other tables but never bothered to acknowledge us or talk about our poor experience. Like another reviewer mentioned the atmosphere here is made to make you feel uncomfortable and not wanted, If you ask a question the owner and staff will roll their eyes at you. One would think if there was complaint you would come out to address it, but he never did. I then asked to speak to the female owner who was serving people. When our waitress went to get her I saw them all huddled together rolling their eyes at us. She came over with the fake smile and was very passive aggressive. I told her politely that I had been here twice before and had a great meal with plenty of food yet tonight fell short. All she said was "thanks for letting me know do you still want your dessert?" I looked at her in disbelief thinking um yes I do as it comes with the family style supper and I'm damn hungry after eating rabbit food for $40. She just laughed and ran way rolling her eyes. After that we couldn't wait to get out of there. All I can say is don't bother eating here and don't waste your time. The tables on both sides of us were also complaining about the lack of food for $40. Basically they gave us a couple carrots, tomatoes and chow Mein noodles, half an eggplant, and card deck sized piece of flavourless fish with some date cake and runny ice cream and the sweetest chai ever. Does that amount to $40 worth of food? I think not. read more

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I've probably eaten here about 4 times and have seen it progress from an a la carte to a prix fixe menu. Coming from Los Angeles, I think I have an idea of what this restaurant is trying to say. Farmer's Apprentices comes in the style of a farm-to-table restaurants. What this means is the restaurant typically cares about the sourcing of their ingredients from local farms. In Southern California, this is much easier because have an abundance of farms and produce with the sunshine and seasonality to give a large variety of produce. However in Vancouver, there are particular challenges here because during the winter time you have less ingredients to work with. The dishes work in a progression and serve to highlight vegetables and seasonal ingredients. So for example, you won't see tomatoes in the winter (they are a warm weather crop unless grown in a green house). From what I see, the courses progress from vegetable, to protein, to bread, finishing with dessert. First off, the first interesting thing I see is the bread course is in the middle of the menu instead of the beginning. And in one sense I appreciate that because there is more focus on the taste of bread. In our last tasting, they were serving bread made with Red Fife which is an artisansal whole wheat grain being resurrected in North America. The vegetable dishes are prepared with the intent of keeping flavors intact. For example sunchokes might be roasted over high head to bring out the sweetness paired with some sauces. To get the most out of this restaurant, I think it is important to know that this restaurant cares about their sourcing and how they prepare their food. For every ingredient, you could ask the waiter which far it came from and they would have an answer. Contrast that with other restaurants, and they would just say they bought their food from a local grocery market. I think every dish is really well thought out with intentional flavors. Generally speaking, I see their philosophy to cook vegetables enough to bring out complex flavors. Now is the food worth the price? It depends if you consider paying top dollar for farm to table type food. In one sense it brings up an elitism issue whether these types of restaurants are accessible, but from comparing the price of Farmer's Apprentice to one of our farm to table restaurant's in Santa Monica (such as Rustic Canyon), the price is definitely reasonable. read more

Original chef is gone , service and food quality is gone... three pice of dessert for 5 people party to share on a 500 dollar plus dinner... not going back read more

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING FOOD Nothing would have made me happier after driving up from Seattle than sitting here and tasting this wonderful meal. It is a course menu, so you do not pick the entrees. However, I have zero complaints of the food that was given to me. The first course was made of carrots, dried carrots, and a yogurt topping. You could taste the farm to table freshness. The second course was a lamb tartare that was aged for three weeks. It sat upon a bed of greens in a sauce that melded all the delicious flavors together. With this, there was a sourdough bread with a special butter. Amazing. The third course was a beet salad that was to die for. One of my favorite courses in the set, the beets were fresh and impossibly sweet, especially the dehydrated beet that was hidden in. The fourth course was a skate wing with a potato purée and crab accents. This may be the first time I can say that a fish was flaky, but still soft enough to fall off the bone. The purée added a great texture to the overall dish. The final course was made of einkorn wheat, wild garlic, and nettles on top of a risotto with butter. Words cannot explain how delicious this dish was. The vegetables were amazingly crisp and the risotto with the butter cooked was absolutely incredible. I would highly recommend this place to anyone and all my friends. Thank you for a memorable time I had at The Farmers Apprentice. It will be a great memory of my trip to Vancouver. read more

We had a medium-sized group dinner (7 people) at The Farmer's Apprentice recently, on a weeknight in the mid-evening. It was a mixed bag. First, I'll preface this by saying that I really, really enjoy well-prepared and innovative food, but I'm pretty much "up to here" with the current standard level of preciousness and fussiness I encounter at places like this. So much of the experience is designed for a very narrow selection of diner - self-regarding, affected, etc. - that it can be actually off-putting to be a merely well-experienced diner with a decent palate. Anyway, having said that up front, I think the food on its own was 3-4/5 stars; the ambience was 4/5, but the service was 2/5. There are enough reviews that I don't need to go plate-by-plate, but the warm bread and onion butter at the start was genuinely delicious, and the only thing there was enough of (and seconds of). Some of the other dishes were real winners (the white salmon, for example, although it came with a BS story that I guess was supposed to heighten our enjoyment of the dish), others were interesting but not quite successful. But overall the experience, food-wise, was good. I also enjoyed the decor and the ability to sit with a decent-sized group in a small place. It's comfortable and cozy but you're not totally on top of one another. But the service...honestly, it was both poor and poorly thought-out. The poor bits were the complete sense of irregularity to everything - when it would come, would we get more water, etc. The poorly thought-out bits were actually worse. First, it's downright stupid to have a prix fixe dinner that you then BREAK DOWN BY INDIVIDUAL FOOD ITEM on the bill, leaving your group of customers to try to decipher what the %@&$! is going on and how much they owe each. Never mind that we weren't even asked about splitting the bill - an easy call (supposedly) on a prix fixe menu. Second, if you're a restaurant that serves preciously prepared food in eensy-weensy portions, designed to be delicately consumed and appreciated - then you shouldn't PLATE SAID FOOD ON COMMUNAL PLATES. Which of those five tiny carrots is mine? There are too many to be one per person, not enough for two per person. What the hell is the point of instilling a kind of Lord of the Flies mentality in your customers? Just give us individual plates, or otherwise serve family-style portions. You can't combine the worst of those two things. In the end, we left having had some very nice food, but feeling pretty annoyed at the actual experience, I'm sorry to report. I really think that it would have been a significantly better experience if the serving of the food had been more logical, individual, and clearly tallied. read more

Farmer's Apprentice is opened by ex-Wildebeest chef David Gunawan and his girlfriend Dara Young. The restaurant is inconspicuously located on West 6th (between Fir & Granville.) Farmer's Apprentice signage is symbolized with some root vegetables playing homage to their vegetable focused menu. Don't worry carnivores! It won't be strictly vegetarian. In fact, there are lots of great seafood and meat entrees. Farmer's Apprentice brings you a new farm to table experience. Their menus are constantly changing and ingredients dependent on the farmer's delivery. The restaurant is intimate, seating roughly 30 seats indoors; 12 seat outdoor patio. Vinyl records spins softly in the background. I can already imagine the garden patio brunch! High top communal table, booth seats and vinyl spinning in the background makes this one cozy place! Farmer's Apprentice would make a great place for a birthday party! Rouge d'etent pumpkin, bartlett pear, burrata, beet 15: This is very light and refreshing salad. Thinly sliced apples, pumpkin are acidic and bright. The burrata cheese is a soft creamy mozzarella. Sprinkled beets has an earthy sweet flavor profile. The powdered-crushed beets reminds me of juicing pulp for my Beet Kidney Cleanse. Octopus, nahm jim, mint, coriander 14: Nahm jim is Thai for "dipping sauce". The vinaigrette sauce is made with octopus ink. The octopus has a nice tender char and smokey flavors. Mint, coriander and gives a light punch and lift with acidity. Scallops, sea urchin, smoked sablefish, sunchoke, bouilabaisse, olives 16: Crushed olives added a nice crunchy texture with the tender soft creaminess of the seafood medley. Buried underneath was a single piece of sea urchin. I was a bit disappointed that there was only one piece, especially after that epic uni heaven meal the other night. This dish was warm and subtle compared to the prior two appetizers. Secretly, I wished we had ordered the daily special smoked duck or the grilled whole sea bass. Bartlett pears, dunkelweizen oats, alder ice cream 8: A warm dessert of poached pears and oats cooked in a dark German beer. This earthy, smokey profiles are subtle and not overwhelming. Wood alder infused ice cream is light and sweet. The melting ice cream is creamy with warm oats making this the perfect winter dessert. Farmer's Apprentice is open for Brunch on Saturdays. I am looking forward to it but I also can't wait to come back for their smoked bird. read more

What a fab place! I love the coziness of it, the friendliness of the staff, and the food. OMG the food. It's amazing - and it reminds me a lot of Kits Daily Kitchen. We got there about a half hour early, but they had a lovely spot on the patio available for us to sit and enjoy some drinks while our table became ready. We ordered the following: - mackerel, apple dashi, kelp granola, shimeji, chamomile - sablefish, red curry broth, lovage, gai lan, spring onions - bread, onion butter, olive oil - mushroom cavetelli, asparagus, pecarino, nasturtium - natural angus striplion tartare, gem oysters, horseradish, fried potato - almond crusted lamb sweetbreads, raita, vadouvan, peas, morels, lentil jus - natural angus hanger steak, shellfish emulsion, baby carrots and leaks, herb jus The absolute top items were the mushroom cavetelli and the tartare. I would've licked the plate if I didn't have company. The food was amazing, and the service was fantastic. I would've liked a bit more lighting in the place, but I appreciated the fact that, despite sitting next to the door on a rainy day, the place was never too hot, too stuffy, or too cold. The evening was perfect. Would I come back here? Absolutely! Accessible by transit from the 4, 50, 84, 10, 14, 16. It's tucked away under Graville Bridge, but just a short walk from a variety of bus stops! read more

Chef David and his team are at the forefront of sustainability in the Vancouver food scene. He is incredibly mindful about his impact and influence through his cooking and it shows. I had a fantastic lunch that featured local ingredients showcased wonderfully. The kitchen is able to coax so much flavour yet still maintain the ingredients integrity. I hope to return soon to do the omnivore tasting menu read more

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2.5-3 stars Do not come here if you're hungry! Or else be prepared to order an extra dish (or you can plan to stop by the nearby Beaucoup for some pastries after!) I have mixed feelings on Farmers Apprentice. It follows the farm to table concept that is currently trendy. The menu items change and the items are unique... I have only been for brunch, and it's nice to have options beyond the typical eggs and French toast. I had the sablefish with poached eggs. The eggs were nicely done as well as the potatoes. The sablefish was nice but not memorable. Presentation was good. The portions were tiny though! I was still quite hungry after spending $20 here for brunch. Service is ok; I would consider it below average at this price range. Not sure I'd be willing to come back for brunch. But I'm curious how dinner is here and will update if I do. read more

One of the best meals I have ever had. The food and the service is exemplary. The food was all local farm to table and highlighted local taste in unique and amazing ways. They have non alcoholic fun drinks and a off the beaten path location with a charming patio. read more

Overrated, overpriced and seriously under delivered It's been a while since I had such a terrible dining experience.. My fellow foodie friends were raving about this place for a wile and last night I joined them for dinner in hopes of having a fabulous dining experience. We were all shocked at how terrible it was. We had the family style dinner. In my mind, I thought family style dinner would have a healthy portion of comforting food. I was really wrong. The first course was heirloom tomatoes with some crispy fried noodles in a slightly warm fish sauce like sauce. It was decent. The portion was decent for sharing. Then we had the roasted carrot dish. I was shock by the portion size. When the server brought the plate out, only half a "medium size plate" had a few roasted carrots. The next dish was roasted eggplants with a tamarind sauce at the bottom. It was pretty good but the portion was skimpy. There was only half an eggplant for two people to share. By now, I wasn't happy eating rabbit food for the first three courses. I wanted PROTIEN! My stomach was my grumbling big time! We spoke with the server about the situation. She brought it to the chef's attention. He would bring us an extra dish. His explanation for the situation was because a "guest" chef designed the menu for the night. What a lame excuse!! Please take ownership of what happened. This is your restaurant because you opened it with your wife. So moments later, the main course/"star of the meal" arrived. It was a big disappointment. The curry sauce was bland and runny. I thought a lush sauce would coat the plate instead it looked like dirty water. Four tiny pieces of fish graced the "big" plate. The skin wasn't crispy enough, wasn't fresh and totally under seasoned. Between the four of us, we got two tiny bowls of rice. As compensation for our hunger, we got an extra dish from the chef and it was awful. The sous vide chicken looked anemic and super salty. It could really use some spices or herbs to bring some flavor to it. The lentils were also super salty too. We only managed to eat the bland string beans and cucumber. At last the chai tea and dessert came. The same portion of tea was super sweet. The date cake was decent but the kulfi icecream soon melted away in the tiny bowl. When we spoke with the co-owner of the restaurant, she was pretentious and snobby. We paid $40 for this?? My friend mentioned the last she was here for a family style dinner and it was only $35. The portions were good. She had oysters, steak and fish. What happened?? So now we pay more and receive less. In the end we left with empty stomachs and extra money in our pockets because we didn't tip. Maybe we're a fussy group who wants quality and quantity. read more

I've been wanting to try this place for quite a while. A friend and I were excited to try the brunch this morning, since we'd both heard great things about the food and admired the lovely decor and outdoor space. After ordering our coffees we waited for at least 15 minutes to order from a less than friendly waitress. We then waited another 30+ minutes for our food to arrive. At this point we were pretty hungry and both surprised at the tiny plates in front of us. The french toast is $11 for one smallish piece of toast with a few toppings!!! My quiche and salad were tasty, but too tiny to qualify for breakfast. We left feeling hungry and unimpressed by the unfriendly service and price for such tiny portions. I might try again for dinner at some point, but I won't be recommending this restaurant to anyone. read more

Read about The Farmer's Apprentice in a book on urban farming - had to check it out! Definitely a surprise with the revolving menu as you'll not ever get bored with the selection. Love the presentation of each dish, especially the colorful additions that made each dish pop. I have celiacs and they were very careful with food prep, ensuring each dish was gluten free for me. Do the wine pairing with the meal. Bradley took great care to select a great wine with each course as well as explaining why it was selected. Oh, and they got me to do something I don't normally do, eat mushrooms!!! If you're looking for eye catching and tongue pleasing food; a charmingly delightful, with simple elegant fun atmosphere, then The Farmer's Apprentice is your place. It felt right like home in my Mema's kitchen while I was here. Looking forward to our next trip to Vancouver just to visit The Farmer's Apprentice again. read more

I have heard a lot of hype about this place, and my rating for it may be affected by the fact that it has been voted one of the top restaurants in Canada; I may be rating it with more of a critical eye. The food itself is quite good. I went during the spot prawn season and the food was inventive and tasted good. Where I have an issue with this restaurant is the service. I had a question about the menu for one of the employees (possibly the hostess), and my question was met with a somewhat sarcastic remark that made me feel like I shouldn't have asked it. This tainted my experience completely as I felt that it was poor customer service. Having said that, our main waiter/waitress was much friendlier. The original hostess never returned to our table, possibly knowing my disdain for my interaction with her. read more

My wife and I had the 6 course tasting menu last week. We had some lapses in service - a missing fork that took a while to replace before we could eat our first course and a 30min wait between finishing one course and being served the next - but overall we thought the food was petty good until we noticed something late in our meal. This is a small restaurant with an open kitchen so many diners get a view of the food preparation. As we watched the head chef at the pass, we noticed that he would use one spoon to taste multiple sauces from multiple dishes as he was plating the food. So we spent the last part of our dinner watching this spoon go from a plate, to the chef's mouth, to another plate. We watched this happen over and over with dish after dish right before they were served to diners. I don't care whether I'm at a fast food joint or a Michelin starred restaurant, I don't want the chef's saliva in my food. read more

My friend and I shared bone marrow, sable fish and duck and we were filled. They were good food but weren't amazing to me. The server did everything she needed to do but it wasn't very pleasant service for some reason. Like, when we paid, she said she doesn't know how we wanted to split the bill so she ORDERED us to figure it out. When I left my ice cream dessert melting because I didn't like it so much (too much ginger tastes), she said 'Come on, eat your dessert. it's melting!'.... I know it came out for care but I didn't need that care from her. I would go back if other friends wanted to have a gathering there again but not going only for my own meal. read more

Cute place and friendly staff. I love the fresh menu inspired by fresh ingredients. I have had lunch , brunch and dinner here and they were all excellent overall. I would say 90% of the time the chefs creation are absolutely delicious. We did get a couple dishes where I think the flavors simply didn't work. My favorite has been their duck liver parfait during lunches, it isn't always on there but is must try. I recommend going in small parties as the place is quite small and intimate. Great for dates! read more

Quick Tips: Menu is constantly changing, but if you check the day of, you may get a preview for what is available. They always have a tasting menu option, but your entire table must join, so be prudent on who you invite to dinner! Highlight items are the onion butter, sablefish and potato gnocchi. If you are doing a la carte, about 2 snacks, 2 vegetable grains, 2 seafood and one meat should do it for a table of 6. Add a cheese plate and dessert on there if you are feeling decadent. Food: One item that consistently seems to be on the menu and seems to be consistently amazing is the onion butter (with a side of naturally leavened bread). Delicious! We started our dinner with a cheese plate, leavened bread and onion butter, and olives. We then ordered the gnocchi, wild and cultivated greens, sablefish, and beef sirloin. I wasn't a huge fan of the sirloin, but plenty of people at our table seemed to like it. Service: Very knowledgeable and friendly wait staff. If you don't know what to get, ask questions and they have great insight. Ambiance: Fairly casual, but eclectic ambiance. Don't worry about dressing to impress. Random aside that has nothing to do with the restaurant: You got to love when your family/family friends treat and you get to try a fabulous meal on the generosity of your loved ones. Special shout to the Sanampudi family for this great experiences! read more

Our table was infested with fruit flys... Nasty! The food was good but hard to enjoy because - they only serve you single bites and my table was swarming with bugs I wouldn't waste my time here. read more

I have to say, I was very skeptical about this restaurant when I arrived. It's basically a hole-in-the-wall type place with tiny tables all mashed into a small, cluttered space with loud rock music playing on an old record player near the back of the room. The kitchen is right next to the dining area and is completely open in a jarring way. I always think it's a mistake to have the floor of a professional kitchen in complete view of the dining room because it's always a bit messy. Hard to avoid, which is why most open kitchens are only open from counter-level up. Another thing that worried me upon arriving was the menu saying something like "you'll get your food in an order determined by the kitchen." I didn't really like that and thought it a very strange thing for a restaurant to impose on patrons. How was I to know which wine to start with if we don't know what the kitchen will bring us first? But, our waiter reassured us that the kitchen usually brings food out in the order they are ordered most of the time. And for our meal, we got everything in the order we ordered it. The menu changes daily, so, I won't bore you with a description of every course. The onion butter brought with our bread was very good start. We ordered 6 dishes total for 3 people, and I have to say that every single course was absolutely delicious. Very interesting flavours and use of ingredients. Everything was perfectly cooked, including a risotto dish, which most restaurants screw up. The man who delivered our food to the table explained each course to us so we knew exactly what we were eating. As the dinner went on and the music finally changed to something less grating, I began to relax as I enjoyed each dish that came to the table. I've seen reviews saying the small portions left them hungry, but, all three of us felt pleasantly full after the first 5 dishes we all shared. Instead of a dessert course we decided to have the cheese plate to finish off our wine. I can't remember what the cheeses were, but, they were all fantastic. This was the only time I thought the portions were a bit stingy, not sure if they expect the cheese plate to be shared or not. It would be fine for two people. Our waiter seemed friendly and made good wine suggestions for us. But, I can see how some people might have a negative experience with service here, some of the staff don't seem particularly friendly or well-trained. So, service is hit-or-miss, but the food on the night we went was spot-on and delicious. If I was rating only the food, I'd give it 5 stars. But, the ambiance and the service here are lacking, especially for the prices being charged. So, I deducted 2 stars for that. If they improved the service and ambiance of the dining room, I'd probably go back again. read more

Called. The don't do take out so we drove to the place to eat there. Asked if they were open until 2pm and the. Drive there but they were closed 1 hour early. Never mentioned this on the phone. Not nice in a rain storm. read more

I thought the food was definitely overpriced and very difficult to share between 3 people as we each got like 2 bites of each dish. The food was very decadent and fresh, but the lack of quantity was disappointing, and the lack of meat options was also disappointing. One of our dishes was like mustard seed and cabbage and all I could taste was like flowers. The pork risotto was amazing, should've just ordered like 5 of those if I wanted to be filled up! read more

The Farmer's Apprentice - French Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Our meal here had inspiring elements but unfortunately also some failures. Challenging and innovative menu, a good range of vegetarian options, well-constructed dishes, and the dessert was perhaps one of the best I've ever eaten! But we also think we were served raw potato, and many of our dishes were average, and we found the hyped-up onion butter and olives to be rather so-so. The 'halibut poached in brown butter, gnocchi, nettles' (with nettle paste) was reviewed by my fellow diners totally amazing, and the cheese board was perfectly constructed and served - small amounts of five beautiful cheeses with nuts and honey. We were told that they would decide the order that the dishes came out in, but it seemed very strange because we were served our first dish of kale buds and THEN our snacks/entrees. Then we were served a lot of dishes in continuous succession (with dishes arriving before we'd even finished the earlier course) then the last dish we ordered took at least ten minutes to arrive, and unless this was intentional timing could be vastly improved. When we arrived for our reservation at 5.30pm, we were left waiting outside in the rain for ten minutes, which could have been forgiven except that service once we were seated was unfortunately surly too. We were unable to do the tasting menu since half our table was vegetarian, as they offered no vegetarian alternatives for the few meat/fish courses, and we were very disappointed as it looked truly delicious and innovative. Anyone visiting here should know that they will only serve the tasting menu if the whole table will participate. Beware of other reviewers complaining about portion sizes because the menu is designed for you to order 2-3 dishes per person. For dessert we had 'parsnip milk sorbet, caramelised white chocolate, malt crumb, chewy apples' and this was AMAZING. I'd never had anything like it before, the flavour combinations were spot on, it was perfectly portioned, and I can't think of anyway it could be improved! Definitely the highlight of my experience. All in all, a unique experience, but slightly disappointing considering this was supposed to be Vancouver's best restaurant of 2014. read more

The Farmer's Apprentice - Taster of our meal - starter of onion butter and olives, and our first dish of delicious kale buds. - French Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I really wanted to love The Farmer's Apprentice since I live a block away and always see it abuzz on my walks home. Hearing about their accolades made it even more desirable to go. It's a charming little place with a shabby chic look--very different from what you normally see in Vancouver. They have a little patio on the street, which is where I sat the both times I had dinner there. Reservations are required unless you can get there at 5:15pm (they open at 5:30pm), and there is often a bit of a lineup if you're trying to get a coveted spot. Patio seating is for walk-ins. I strongly encourage sharing your plates--that way you'll get a nice sampling of a number of dishes. The first time I went was with my vegan boyfriend. He had a salad and gnocchi to himself while I had a whole plate of beef tartare as well as a risotto--a very rich pairing for one person! We shared a very nice strawberry sorbetto afterwards for dessert. Surprisingly, there aren't very many vegetarian/vegan options on the menu; however, I appreciated that the chef whipped up a mushroom gnocchi for my boyfriend after we told the waiter about his diet. On my second visit, I shared burrata, bison carpaccio, and sablefish with a fellow omnivore friend. Everything was nicely flavoured and the meal for the two of us came to around $50. We weren't full, but we also didn't feel a desire to order anything else. So why 3 stars? I think it is worth trying their food once or twice, but it isn't impressive enough to make me want to become a regular. I don't quite know how to explain it! read more

The Farmer's Apprentice is a hidden gem, nestled away on a quiet residential street on 6th. As a couple of friends and I were walking up to the entrance some pretty delectable aromas wafted towards us and you could see the chefs hard at work in the kitchen. The menu seemed foreign to me. It was filled with tons of foods I couldn't pronounce, but everything tasted fantastic. Everything is made to share, so it's definitely a social experience. We were seated in our own little corner behind an old window, which was perfect for people watching (the people at the longer more communal tables that is). I will talk about the food, but apparently the menu changes frequently, so you won't necessarily have the same options when you go: First we ordered a cheese plate. I don't remember what kind of cheese, but it paired perfectly with the jam, walnuts, and tart grapes that accompanied it better than the cheese plates at most places I've gone to. The potato gnocchi, chanterelles, zucchini, and walnuts were absolutely delicious, served in a pesto sauce with handmade gnocchi cooked to perfection. (I don't mean to repeat myself, but perfection is definitely a common theme for this place) We ordered a poached salmon dish which wasn't on the menu, served with teeny tiny sweet beets and a buttery sauce. My friend wasn't a huge fan of beets, but I think I might have enjoyed them more than the salmon. We also ordered a halibut dish which was served with lima and green beans. The fish was cooked to perfection; to that point where even one more minute would have ruined it. By this point we were getting pretty stuffed and it was a chore to finish. But, we decided to push on and finish with a lighter dish of barrata, nectarines, and arugula, which was the clear loser of all of the dishes we had that night. But, as far as losers go, it was still pretty fantastic. This place was pretty much filled to capacity when we arrived, so I would definitely suggest making a reservation, which you can do right here on Yelp. I imagine you might have to handle a lengthy wait if you decided to show up randomly. read more

Food: Everything here is meant to be shared with your group and it's recommended to order at least 2 plates for each guest. Needless to say, we ordered a ton of food. From a meal including steak bites, halibut, salmon, pasta, egg and grains, prosciutto, scallops, and complementary mini cupcakes that taste like madelines, my favourite dishes would be the seafood dishes and the pasta. The pasta comes out a chewy al dente and the noodles and kale mixed very well with the cheese and oils. The seafood was incredibly soft. It's cooked perfectly. It melts in your mouth. The fish meat looks incredibly supple. If I could have one dish 4 times it would be the salmon. I've since contacted Farmer's Apprentice and found that they print a new menu everyday, so the salmon may not be there on your visit, but I highly recommend the seafood options at this restaurant. Features: This is an especially homey establishment with little window insets within the restaurant. It's like walking onto someone's porch and the inside is the cozy open kitchen. Seating around 40, this medium-sized abode doesn't take reservations for lunch but they do for dinner. Service: Everyone in the kitchen seems to have a specialty. As dishes came out, we had a variety of chefs come explain the dishes to us. It was a short list of ingredients, but they didn't disappoint in making the food sound even tastier. Water service was done by the bottle and refills were prompt enough. One-liner: Locally-sourced, dynamic eatery Highlight: The salmon Recommended for: Those looking for a homey interior and introduction to their dish Would I go back? Yes. read more

Because this is always what everyone complains about with regards to this sort of restaurant I'll address it first: The portions were fine. They're not huge, they're not even large, but they were exactly as big as they should have been. If you come here expecting to eat for $20-$30/person, order as such, and leave hungry you have only yourself to blame. Arrived ~15 minutes early and we were seated immediately. Noise level was as expected given the small space/open kitchen, lively but still easy to talk. Like you'd want it basically. Service was pretty much par for the course, not over or under attentive and very polite. On Sundays here they do what they call their cookbook series, where they offer only a fixed menu with inspiration taken from a different cookbook every week. Tonight that meant 6 courses for $50/person, inspired by Gunnar Karl Gislason's (Head chef of the Dill restaurant in Reykjavík) book entitled North. Served in the following order: 1.Potato Chips -Buttermilk, Caramelized Whey, Radishes 2.Parsnips Three Ways -Trout Roe 3.Mussel Soup -Dry-Aged Beef, Celery Root Salad, Dill 4.Roasted Lamb Shoulder -Braised Cabbage, Leek Butter, Chervil Syrup 5.Sunchoke Ice Cream -Roasted Sunchokes, Oatmeal Pudding, Oat Crumble 6.Red Beet stone The parsnips and the potato chips were very good. The beet stone, the ice cream and the mussel soup were excellent. The lamb shoulder ranks among the best things I've eaten in this city. A fixed menu is the perfect approach for this kind of restaurant. Had we ordered à la carte we realistically would at most have tried 3 of the 6 dishes offered (The Roasted Lamb shoulder as a "sure thing", and the Potato Chips and maybe the Sunchoke Ice Cream out of curiosity). My girlfriend remarked that she had never really given parsnips a second thought before tonight. Certainly I have never enjoyed dill anywhere near as much as I did in the mussel soup. The menu is probably more experimental/shifting than anywhere else I've been in Vancouver and removing the ability to choose safely/boringly ensures you'll be trying at least a couple dishes you wouldn't have opted for otherwise, and likely a few things prepared in ways you'd never thought of. It is largely the consistency of the kitchen that will determine if this place is as good as I think it might be. Need to try it again and with the regular (albeit varying) menu to properly decide. You can eat an amazing meal at l'abbattoir 7 nights a week without putting any thought into how you order. I don't know if this is necessarily better, but I certainly had more to talk and think about afterwards. read more

At $100 a head for a tasting course plus wine pairings, the experience is underwhelming. Was the food good? Meh sums it up, for the price you have one opportunity to get it right and this was a miss. The staff are fantastic and able to speak knowledgeably on anything from the menu and were very polite. The place itself is quaint, but the seating means you are packed in and it was decidedly uncomfortable. Where the experience fell down was the food. I'm willing to concede that it may have not been catering to my palate or the menu items were a little bit of a miss that night? There were two of us so we decided to take the vegetarian and the omnivore options and try each others food. Both of us came to the same conclusion, whilst there was a lot of thought and effort in the dishes, they lacked any wow factor, it wasn't aided by any of the wine pairings either which typically failed to do anything to truly complement the food. The only dish that stood out was the duck and likewise the wine pairing was superb. However, the dessert was a basil chilli sorbet (which was great) paired with a sweet Gewürztraminer which was a jarring taste combination. I did mention it to our server and she was excellent in listening and we were surprised when they brought us a lemon curd dessert with berries which was a nice gesture. Whilst this was my first time to the Farmer's Apprentice, Vancouver is amazingly competitive place for food and at this price point I'd look elsewhere. read more

This is a very nice nook on W 6th. I ordered the Flatbread but it was too crunchy and rich for my liking. I was expecting something softer. I couldn't even cut it with a knife. But, my friends dish was fabulous!! The meat with the potatoes and eggs....yum!! Clearly I ordered the wrong thing. I was dissapointed that there was no sweet option besides bread butter and jam. So...I gotta give 3 stars. read more

The Farmer's Apprentice - Flatbread with eggs - French Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I have super mixed emotions about dinner last night. Things I loved: Fresh baked bread with onion butter, carrots in curry sauce & burrata. Ok, I'm a carb whore. For me to give bread a bad review, impossible. I felt like we could have used double the amount of onion butter / olive oil. The carrots were great, but it was a Thai curry flavor i know and have tasted so many times. Then the burrata, again... it's hard to not love burrata. A little oil, salt, herbs... hard to go wrong. So basically the basic dishes, we all enjoyed. Here is where they did go wrong. Update the menu on your website! 75% of what i saw online that day was not available. Tiny, tiny, little portions. I get the concept, I really do, but the prices don't match the value in the dishes. We recently ate at the Blacktail Florist & while they are also doing TINY share plates, at least their pricing reflected the size of the portions. Tomato salad was bland and the tomatoes were overly ripe. The zucchini, had there been more food, i probably would have left alone after the first bite... but i was frikkin hungry so we ate it! Clam pasta was lacking in flavor too, except for the clams which were, I don't even know how to say... too salty, briny? I love clams, raw oysters, etc but these just didn't taste right. Our server wasn't rude but she also wasn't friendly. The whole thing left me with a meh kind of feeling. Anyways, $240.00 later, the 3 of us had 2 drinks each and shared 8 tiny little plates of mostly veggies. I won't be back, Vancouver has much better to offer! read more

They serve great food... What else do i need to say!! Yes it's mostly small & medium plates and yes they are a tad costly, but for the flavors I would willing pay that amount. It just means that I can't eat here everyday but once a month is still ok. 2nd time in today and the menu is totally different so it's like a brand new experience in taste and texture. If you love trying out new stuff this is a must try. But if you are a burger and steak kinda guy don't expect to be full. Fortunately I love small dishes... going to westernized restaurants that serves large portions just ruins any appetite I have. There you go... my very first review on yelp of a restaurant I found worth my time and hard earn money. read more

The interior of this place is cozy. I like the coziness of it. Service was ok and the food was very interesting. Many different flavours I had never experienced before which was neat. But nothing really stood out to me. I'm glad to say that I've tried it, but for the price point which I thought was quite high I really expected a bit more. read more

smoked chicken hash, root vegetables, escarole, salsa verde, 63C poached eggs $13 4.5/5 - I wasn't planning to order this but then our server recommended this. It was better than what I expected. very tasty hash. smoked steelhead trout benedict, biscuits, spring greens, 63C poached eggs, dill hollandaise $13 4/5 - the smoked steelhead was too salty. Not sure if it was smoked in-house. angus beef bavette, red fingerling potatoes, flowering kale, fried eggs, mushroom jus $15 4/5- I googled bavette and I thought it was going to be a pasta. More like a flat iron steak. Not sure if they used the flowering kale on purpose but it was a little too old and harder to chew. omelette, red wine braised oxtail, spring onions, walnut pesto $13 3.5/5 - My least favourite. The red wine sauce was a little to strong for brunch. The person ordered this enjoy it. We were planning to go to cafe salade but there was a 20 mins wait. This place just got broken into Fri night but they are still opening for business on Sat! Crazy! The brunch was as good as dinner. Portions were on the smaller size. I guess coz I could order more sides for dinner. All of our eggs had a darker yolk, so they are defintely free range farm egg. Yum! My friend complained that the tables were too close. It might be a little hard to go to the washroom but I didn't find it too close for conversation. They only have an espresso machine so no regular coffee. There were people waiting in line when we left (~1:30pm). So try to come here earlier. read more