Nice and original, deco is a little weak limited by the small room and lack of ventilation, but made up by the good food quality. Farm to table at its finest in Vancouver. Heard dinner is much stronger than lunch with a far more extensive menu? read more

After hearing such great things about Farmers Apprentice, I was a bit disappointed with my dining experience. While the atmosphere was great (my fav part about dinner, aside from the company), the food was not as good as I had hoped - definitely very overrated! I was unimpressed with our server - she gave us attitude and was unfriendly towards our table. Considering the amount of money we spent, I would have expected more. read more

Consistently nails it without trying too hard. Plates are "simple"'in the sense of not being overly fussy with too many components. Perfect example: last night's amuse bouche - a single oyster with compressed (forget what) and a few sips of basically squash water with Kirin. A ling cod with emulsion that channeled misoyaki black cod was phenomenal. Other winners included kabocha squash with brown butter (laced with vinegared shreds of more squash) and an imposing hunk of Vancouvers obviously best sour dough. Wine pairings follow a militant organic ethos that prizes narrative over hedonic value, but most work well enough. read more

My fiancee and I had dinner here on a Saturday evening while on vacation in Vancouver and both agreed that it was one of the best meals we've ever had. We opted for the omnivore tasting menu and were beyond pleased. Each course was timed beautifully, and the description from wait staff was excellent. We will definitely be back the next time we're in Vancouver! read more

Last night was my first time at Farmer's Apprentice for dinner and unfortunately I don't think I'll be back (at least not for the tasting menu), 3 friends and myself all ordered the tasting menu (2 veg/2 omni) which went from good, to underwhelming to downright bad. The highlight was the amuse bouche which would best be described as a turnip taco which was fresh and super tasty, the chanterelles with green beans and corn which was brilliant but served at a temperature that was so blazingly hot that I almost spit it out. The fish course and salad course were both perfectly prepared but they left very little impression as I could really remember them today. The two major fails in the meal were the beef course, which was served with a "Thai Style" salad. If i had to sum up the course in one word it would be "disgusting". There was so much mint in the dish that it was as if I had just licked a car air freshener, even after removing all of the mint that I could find it left a terrible taste in my mouth and ruined the course for me. Fortunately the bread course was served directly after which helped cleanse my palate, to bad it was served at a temperature so hot that I burnt my thumb picking it up off of the plate (I actually have a blister on my thumb this morning), it also could have really benefited from some more salt and fell a little into the bland category. Dessert was also just ok, a mint sorbet (I'ld already had my share of mint at that point) and sliver of peach (which could have benefited from having the skin removed, as it was quite difficult to eat with my teeny dessert spoon. The best part of the meal with the tiny bite of carrot cake that was served with the bill. It was probably one of the best things that I've ever eaten, and it was only a 1" square. Dinner with drinks came to about $100/person which is about right for that level of service but I think next time I will try someplace else. read more

What a Gem!! I was not sure what we where going into when we first pulled up to the restaurant, but it was just perfect in so many ways. Amazing Food!!!! paired with excellent choices of wines. It was worth every dollar. What a enjoyable experience for both of us.......Thank You "The Farmers Apprentice" :) read more

This place is very cute and has a wonderfully intimate atmosphere. The omnivore multicourse dinner was extremely filling and was a very unique experience. All the produce was packed with flavor, and the portions were generous considering the number of courses. I think my favorite was the halibut, although there were surprising things I liked about each dish, really. The dessert itself wasn't as memorable as the carrot cake bites that came out with the bill, though. Those were heavenly. I don't eat as many veggies as I should, and often don't seek them out, but eating here exposed me to tons of unique flavor combinations that were new and interesting. I would recommend this place, especially to veggie lovers. read more

Food is creative and interesting, but portion sizes all around were pretty small. Flavours were ok, but left everyone wanting. At the prices charged for brunch items there's little to justify the value here - pretentious foodie dishes for brunch need to hit it out of the park. This landed squarely on the outfield behind second base. Now, on to the service which was polite, friendly but unbelievably slow. 2 hours for a party of 4 in a half-full restaurant on a Saturday. Took forever for drinks. Took longer than forever for food. Took forever to get the bill. I think this falls between both kitchen and front of house. Anyways, for all the accolades I've seen about this place, I gotta say I was sorely disappointed. I don't think I'd be back for brunch at least. read more

Sadly, I have to agree with many of the over priced comments. The food is well crafted and well thought out. But, as our server unintentionally warned us, you'll need (in her words) 5-8 dishes for a table of three. At this point the alarm bells go off as the $18-$30 small plates come out and you realise what the bill's going to be. PS, you'll need a hot dog on the way home. The food is very good. But it honestly doesn't warrant the price tag at all. read more

Good healthy food that practices the farm to table methods. The portions were on the small side (I went with four other adults for dinner, they do however also serve brunch which I want to try!) so we each got a nibble of each dish. The price for each plate (that they recommend sharing) was on the higher end so come with your credit card. The ambience was nice, they have somewhat of an open kitchen, the staff is friendly. It does fill up fast so come early or make reservations :) read more

Not impressed with the fact that it's a set menu ONLY (and not cheap!) The only choice you get is "omnivore" $55 which includes ~6 dishes and "herbivore" $50 which is ~6 dishes but all vegetarian dishes. I ordered the omnivore and was surprised on how small the portions were. Example 1: one dish consisted of 2 mini carrots + horseradish dip Example 2: one dish consisted of 1 scallop + 6.5 Brussel sprouts. Yes the dishes were good quality but not for $55+tax/tip. I'm usually about quality over quantity too. It took 3 hours to bring out all of the food. I wasn't full when I left the restaurant either probably because it took so long :(. I probably won't be back unless they start serving individual dishes (non set menu) because some of the pictures on here look awesome but I thought the food I received yesterday was underwhelming and disappointing. I'm a bit upset about saying that since I've been looking forward to coming here for a couple of years. read more

Ate there last week after reserving 6 weeks ahead. Great meal and atmosphere. Odd wine list but enjoyed our two selections. For a very recommended and expensive place, I was surprised by the casual and cozy feel. Small, family style portions but enjoyed every one of them. I'd go again with some friends. read more

Beautiful and well-thought out dishes characterize this tiny little nook of a restaurant. The dishes are small portions and meant to be shared tapas style. If you want your own entree -- I would suggest not coming here. The other thing is: make reservations ahead of time and be on schedule. They normally change over tables every 2 hours. We couldn't try dessert because of this. A walk-in is likely a 1.5hr wait. The service is so-so. It's not the best, so I've given this place a 4/5. They try... but I think it's easy for the servers to get frustrated having to maneuver a cramped space and stick tightly to the 2hr table changeovers. It's more like project management than serving! Their menu changes on a regular if not daily basis so it's difficult to write a review of specific items, but I can tell you that each dish is well balanced in flavour, visually appealing, and well executed. For example, we had a sablefish topped with furikake with a side of miso infused vegetables. It was delicate, very flavorful and absolutely divine. We also had their famous sweet onion butter (which is swirled with olive oil in a dish) and house made bread which a lot of people talk about and did not disappoint. Then they also have smoked olives, which in my opinion is an understated star side dish. We rounded off our meal with their version of a Panzanella salad, lemon infused octopus, pillowy soft gnocchi, and an unusual dish of fried rice with white kimchi & duck hearts (my partner loved it. I thought it might have been a bit too pickly and with too many hearts -- though the hearts were really well prepared). For French (fusion), the dishes were light, unlike traditional French which leaves you feeling heavy in the stomach. Their cocktails are great. Try the Journalist or better yet their Caesar made with horseradish infused vodka. Lastly, don't forget to check out a framed photograph hidden in the back. It's a grainy black & white image of Kits beach back in the 1920s, and a lovely adornment to the space. Next time I'll have to come back and try Grapes & Soda (their mini bar) next door. read more

As my girlfriend and I were visiting Vancouver for the first time, we were given recommendations from our airbnb host. The first "must-eat" was The Farmer's Apprentice and we were so happy we took his advice. We visited on Saturday October 4th, 2014. The place is adorable and the decor is very homey. We loved the open kitchen set up and the way the seats were organized. I don't recall the exact names of the dishes we ordered, but we ordered 2 main dishes (a sockeye salmon one with poached eggs and a steak and eggs rendition), their organic bread with jam and butter, and a bowl of fresh fruit. My girlfriend loved that even though the fruit was not on the menu, they were able to fix one up for her ($4.50). The food was really good. The portions were decent and everything was very fresh. The only reason why this isn't a 4.5 star review is because the waitress was very rude. She was a younger blond haired girl who really ruined the experience.. My cup had what looked like orange juice pulp leftover from the day before (we were the first customers that day) and when I told our waitress, she cut me off mid-sentence and just walked away. She then came back maybe 5 minutes later and asked in an annoyed tone what was wrong with my cup. When I told her it was dirty, she didn't even apologize and thought nothing of it.. but at least the food was good, I guess. read more

Great tasting menu that combines really fresh ingredients that are simple on its own, yet amazingly tasty when combined with just the right mix of flavors and texture. We were there on Sunday for the cookbook series, $45 for the 5 courses, the food and menu definitely reminded me of Relae in Copenhagen. read more

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Excellent service & delicious food. Not your typical appy + entree format. Very unique dishes so you may need to keep an open mind, depending on your normal preferences. Unless you're a total foodie, you may also have to Google some of the menu items! Or ask your friendly server. The menu reads more like an ingredient list and it's hard to picture exactly what the dish will look like. But it's all amazing! All dishes are designed to share, family style. The recommendation was 4 to 6 dishes for the 2 of us. But we were there for a late supper (9:30pm) & three dishes plus a shared dessert was the perfect amount of food. We had beets, trout, quail & squash mousse. All fantastic! All of the staff were friendly & professional, creating an atmosphere that makes you want to be a regular "where everybody knows your name." It was quite lively bordering on loud (due to a few rowdier guests) but we were told that it's not normally like that. However, with the open kitchen & small space I'm sure it could never be described as quiet, which is fine by me! We will definitely return to the Farmer's Apprentice! read more

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Food is consistently somewhere between strong and amazing. There's a little bit of pretentiousness here (with the rotating menu that tends to neglect things we regularly come for like, an omelette or pancake). Servers are generally very professional though sometimes a little chilly -- I'm still trying to figure out their vibe and where it comes from. Qualifying as an item on their menu requires having at least one word that native English speakers are unlikely to know. And they change their hours occasionally without updating the website, which tends to, you know, strand people. But dammit, it's pretty awesome almost every time. Standby favorite items are the biscuit and jam, and the cappuccino. If there's pork belly on the menu, get it. read more

I'm not one for the fancy brunch but this place is reaaalllyy good. It's going to be hard to recommend a dish because they seem to change their menu weekly. I went here for brunch and at the time they served 4 different dishes to offer at that time and and we had the potato & tuna mash, ham on sourdough rye and brown rice porridge with pork belly and they were all so good. The waitress gave us a free apply on the house - it was a scone along with butter and blood orange marmalade. The atmosphere was very causal and overall everyone seemed to just be having a good Saturday afternoon brunch. I will definitely come back here again! read more

I was excited to try Farmer's Apprentice as it was advertised as a new farm-to-table dining experience in Kitsilano. When I think of farm-to-table dining, I envision local produce served in a delicious, rustic and innovative manner that would best showcase the freshness and simplicity of the local ingredients. Unfortunately, Farmer's Apprentice was the exact opposite of my expectations. No. I refuse to be charged $50/person before tax and tips for a plate of boiled beans, mushrooms with a slice of leek, a plate of celeriac strips or a bowl of grapes swimming in ginger soda. I might have forgiven the presentation or size of these dishes if the flavour combinations were somewhat tasty, but they were not. I simply cannot understand how you can call yourself a fine dining establishment and proudly serve these dishes to your customers. This was the most pretentious restaurant I have ever been to. I am saddened that this type of restaurant exists in Vancouver. I strongly recommend that you spend your hard-earned money elsewhere. read more

The only way I can describe this pretentious restaurant is as utterly insulting. To charge $60 for a menu containing ingredients that cost no more than $5 is abhorrent. The food was bland, unappetizing and tiny. We started our night at the bar next door that they own, Grapes and Soda, and paid $25 for a cheese plate containing literally three slivers and two grape-sized smudges of cheese. The service was good but that was the only sliver of positivity. A walnut-sized scoop of sorbet sprinkled with Kalamata olives for dessert? I can't even. Horrifying. I left starving and furious over my $110 bill. This restaurant embodies the very worst of the farm-to-table movement--one where the owners have obviously synonymized it with "there goes another sucker". If I could give it zero stars I would. read more

To be fair, they change their menus and I could of been there on a bad rotation. However, after paying $250 for eating raw baby tomatoes in olive oil as one of the 'courses' I decided this was a complete waste of money. Prior was a small piece of raw fish as the course followed up by sautéed squash as the next course... We went and ate somewhere afterwards (after 6 courses) and I am a normal sized guy weighing 165 lbs. I hate leaving negative reviews in general but I feel like I had to say something because if you leave to go eat somewhere after paying $250 (two people + wine), then maybe you should skip that first stop all together. read more

Boggles my mind that some people don't like this place. Roughly $45 USD for a such a delightful 6-course tasting menu is probably the best high-end food value in the world. Even though there's usually 1 course that leaves me scratching my head, the other 5 are always lovely enough to make up for any missteps. And I love that you can usually book a primetime table just a few days in advance, sometimes even the day of. read more

We had a very good meal. Two of us shared the bread course (highly recommended) and four additional dishes - octopus, oysters, roast carrots, and sea cucumber. The stars of the meal were the exceedingly flavourful carrot dish and the unique sea cucumber dish. Each course was an adventure unto itself; with so many bold flavours and textures on the plate there's several ways to approach each dish. The flavours in all the dishes were strong and delicious, and this restaurant does not want for creativity. That said, on occasion the flavours didn't work (for my taste). For instance, the poached oysters were served with a grapefruit ice that, to my taste, overwhelmed the oyster. And our dessert was served with an edible "dirt" that similarly overpowered the rest of the dish. But that's the cost of creativity sometimes, I guess. Prices were also very reasonable for the quality. I am really looking forward to trying this place again and seeing what they come up with next. read more

Great place for a date if you both don't eat much, otherwise it'll get expensive really quick. Good thing I wasn't hungry and the date doesn't eat much. Intimate atmosphere, good service and interesting food. I say interesting because it's not exactly great, but it's interesting enough to be conversation pieces between you and your date. To reconfirm, I will only come here with a date, anything else it'd be too pricey for not tasty enough good. Also we got lucky, you should RSVP and check ahead if it's open, the place is tiny and closed for large periods of time. read more

The Farmer's Apprentice - "everything is made for sharing" -our waitress - French Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

The food was great, but it was slightly over priced for what it is. I had the ricotta toast with squash jam. It was delicious but it was too expensive. The service however was great. read more

I'm puzzled over the poor reviews this place is getting. Maybe farm-to-table type of dining is not yet common in Vancouver. Anyway, relative to where I'm from, $55 for 6-course tasting menu is a steal, considering that they have to cook and successfully execute with what is in season (winter). I had the wine pairing to go with the dinner, and I'd have to say the wine selection is spot on. They may not be something I would drink normally, but with the food, it brings out something special. The dishes are prepared very simply, to highlight the inherent flavors. I appreciate that they have included unheard of ( to my unsophisticated taste buds) root vegetables - sunchokes and celeriac - into the menu; they made the meal more interesting. I would highly recommend this place to my friends looking for a good meal in a cosy and friendly place. read more

We have gone the last 3 years for Valentine's day for the chefs menu and we were extremely underwhelmed and dissapointed with our experience this year. Food was not great and wine pairings did not match the food. The last two years we left very happy and raved about your restaurant, after this time we left questioning if we will ever go back as we left saying "that was not worth it". Every dish tasted the same, except the duck which came with four bite size pieces. The portion would be fine if the other courses were also good - however every other course consisted of root vegetables with very similar, boring flavours. If I was to compare last year to this year - I wouldn't even think it was the same restaurant. We always finish our food or atleast take it home. However, we only finished 1 / 9 courses as we did not like and got bored of all other courses and came home to eat. Not to mention that the effort we got in explaining the dishes and wine pairings were as bland as the courses we received. Very unfortunate experience. 0 read more

TL;DR: Small plates (tapas style); yummy cheese platter; delicious grilled cheese, not many gluten free options There was an article about this new restaurant last week in the Straight and being a HUGE fan of that publication I decided to give it a try. A girlfriend and I were in the area so we yelped it, found the location and made our way there. The décor is very ethereal: plain, white, wood, open kitchen. All new restaurants in Vancouver seem to have a similar concept and I'm loving this whole "no shi shi" idea. The article in the Straight was raving about the beet salad, olives, the Kombucha and the angus rib eye among other things. Needless to say I was expecting to try all of those dishes but unfortunately they were not on the lunch menu. I was also a bit disappointed (but fully understand that all restaurant can't cater to the coeliac population) about the lack of gluten free options. I found the portions to also be very very small for the price. You need to order about 5 plates to share with a friend in order to be somewhat satisfied. On a positive note, I really enjoyed my cucumber salad and my friend thought the grilled cheese was truly delicious. You can definitely see, in the presentation and by the cheese selection that the Chef is from Wildebeest, that Spanish cheese platter was a nice surprise. It comes with dates, jelly, compote, honey, candied nuts and the best grapes I've ever had in my life. I also thought the location was very strategic since there are quite a few businesses in the area and not many quick bite restaurants around. Yes you can walk up to West Broadway or down to West 4th but this West 6th location is smart. Will I be going again? ... I'd probably accompany a friend to try it. But this time I will make sure we go for dinner and try the items that were mentioned in our lovely Georgia Straight. read more

Terrible front of house service. Two tables on both sides of us were sat and got water and drinks before someone came over. Food portions were way too small for the price -- I know it's "tapas". Mixed drinks were nothing special. The tuna with the Chang Mai curry and the steak were pretty impressive though in taste. Not sure if I would return due to portions and service. read more

You won't necessarily know what you're getting when you visit the Farmer's Apprentice. As a picky eater, this made me uncomfortable. However, the server gave me a peek at the menu, which boosted my confidence to go ahead with the Omnivore menu. Of the 6 courses, 3 were amazing. The chicken poached in chicken stock was the best chicken I've ever had! The dessert was disappointing. I think the chef was trying to be too creative and it didn't work. Would have preferred a cheese plate instead. read more

The congee was delicious. Ordered side bacon on recommendation and it was incredible. I don't think I've ever had better bacon.

This place is just so Vancouver... it's like buying a tiny, shiny, precious new condo for way too much money... Once you move in, you realize living in a 450 sq. foot box is somewhat unsatisfying. Lots of hype and some interesting dishes here but "where's the beef?". Very small servings and quite over priced for what you get! We literally had to leave and go eat again just to get full... bit underwhelming... read more

When I reminisce of this place the highlight was the very very small portions. I don't have big appetite at all and can only eat small portion per meal but I still had to go for 2nd dinner that's how small it was. read more

Yikes. This place was ridiculous and fussy and pretentious. Yes, the food was well prepared but the portions were TINY. For $50 a person, I'd really expect more food. They said we'd get 7 courses-- but 4 of those courses were veggies-A random plate of snap peas a bundle of salad leaves (only one per person), a plate of asparagus and a bowl of radishes, the biggest portion of all the meals. Really who wants a giant bowl of radishes? The beef and salmon were amazing, but we only each got a tiny sliver each and finally we got some cheese which was the size of a Laughing Cow triangle that was to be shared by 4 people. So to tally everything up, I had 2 radishes, 3 snap peas, 3 asparagus with 1 mushroom, 1 bundle of leaves wrapped with seaweed, 2 one-inch strips of beef, a thin as air slice of salmon and 1/3 a triangle of cheese. Oh and some sorbet concoction with full mint leaves and white mystery sauce. Oh and we got bread and olives with a sweet onion puree at the beginning of the meal which were nice. The service wasn't great either. Never again. I gave it two stars because the sliver of beef and salmon were very good-- just not enough. read more

I should have known when I saw that their "changed daily" menu hadn't been updated for a month online, but a friend really wanted to try it so we went. I didn't go with high expectations and was still disappointed. I had been here once for brunch and it was just okay. I realize brunch is not necessarily a fair gauge for most restaurants unless that's their main schtick, and wanted to try them for dinner. I made a reservation for 4 a week in advance and the only times available were 530 and 545. This is way too early for eating out but I didn't want to bother calling, so I picked 545 and apologized to my friends for geriatric dinner hour. (They should rethink this as the restaurant was more than half empty after the first settings started to leave around 7). We arrived a couple of minutes late and the place was surprisingly full for being so early on a Thursday night. We were met by a rather abrasive and impatient hostess who mumbled and seemed irritated when I couldn't make out what she was saying in that tiny loud space. She aggressively waved us in to our table which was at the far end of the place like you get at a giant Chinese restaurant, not a pleasant start. As for the food, they do the share plates like everyone else in the city, categorized in veg, meat, seafood. The good: burrata with cucumber water and pickles Zucchini and goat cheese Potato bread (the dark bread was so freaking dry and stale though) The bad: both of the main course size proteins-blue foot chicken was all skin and kind of bloody around the bone and the pork dish was 90% fat which wasn't how the description sounded on the menu. Speaking of the vague menu, all the desserts were really hard to imagine by the descriptions. We ordered the only one that sounded reasonable which was the yogurt with grains. We were just at Burdock and Co. and had a great yogurt and honey dish so thought it might be similar. What was brought to our table was a yogurt sorbet with some sort of puffed grain and berries. We would not have ordered it if we knew it was just some icy frozen yogurt. Another irritant was that a couple of drain/fruit flies hung out around our wine glasses through the whole meal. Towards the end, our server apologized for them and said it was because they have to have the doors open. I work in food services and know that these come from dirty drains and/or food being out in the open, not brought in from outdoors. It is not okay that this is part of the customer experience. All in all, it was an unexpectedly amateurish experience (including more than a couple of loud crashes in the open kitchen/bar). read more

I appreciate what they're aiming for in their menu. It is somewhat trendy and there is some ambiance, however, highly over rated and the food looks good but seriously over priced for what it is. You're better off just going to a farmer's market and putting your own meal together. read more

Just came back from eating dinner at the Farmer's Apprentice. Still hungry and very unsatisfied. For $55 tasting menu I expect something better than boiled black beans, leeks and mushrooms. Some kind of salad with foam on top. Potatoes with more mysterious foam on top. Some sort of celeriac decorated with grapes. Dessert was a bowl of grapes in ginger water. Very pretentious, I will look around my fridge for something to eat now. read more

Had dinner at Farmers Apprentice last night, and I don't want to set expectations too high, but my husband and I voted this a top 5 meal of our lives ( and we've travelled all over the world and had a lot of incredible meals). We loved the quirky space upon arrival, and we were greater warmly and taken perfect care of throughout the evening. We opted for the "spring" tasting menu of about 8 small plates, and still can't decide what we loved most. The menu changes daily, but they used a lot of locally sourced ingredients and we were never disappointed. We also did wine pairings and they served some wines that we would never normally gain access to, and all were perfectly paired and delicious. It's not the place for someone looking to get a 12 ounce steak or typical restaurant food and over-the-top portions. Definitely meant for sharing and tastings, and for trusting a great team of chefs. It's also very casual which was a nice change of pace. I should also note they have a full bar next door and we each had a cocktail before dinner - both of which were great. We came away from the evening wishing we could do it all again tomorrow night. The combo of the food, wine, setting and excellent service, made for a perfect experience. read more

on a short holiday in vancouver last week, i managed to eavesdrop on a conversation between a waiter at cafe medina and the couple next to us wherein he suggested that if they like food, they should try farmer's apprentice. when we got back to the hotel, i emailed for a reservation. we sat at a table at the back near the record player, where johnny cash and the like serenaded us. everything was perfect! the portions were ample, the prices reasonable, but the highlight was the interestingly flavors. we had: 1. warm bread with onion butter and olive oil. lots and lots of it. you just cannot imagine how delicious the onion butter was. i honestly could've eaten only this. 2. beet (with a T) tartare: i am in love with beets, and this was the most unique beet dish i've had. complex flavors (apple mustard, tarragon, horseradish) with a texture somehow similar to beef tartare. amazing! 3. kale & radicchio salad with pork, goat cheese, and honey vinaigrette. 4. redfife risotto w a poached egg and crispy pork: this was probably the highlight for me. it had such a phenomenal texture with a rich flavor. 5. beef cheek. while the beef cheek was delicious and tender, just like it should be, i felt it lacked a lot of the complex and interesting flavors that so many of the other dishes had. still amazing, but the predominant taste was simply beef. all this was paired with several delicious glasses of wine. and the total bill was dramatically less than i had anticipated when i made the reservation - with tax and tip and everything, it came in right around $100 (total for 2 people) which is a super deal when compared with seattle restaurants. this meal was the highlight of our trip, and i will definitely go back every time i'm in vancouver! read more

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We have been reading about this place in magazines and newspapers for quite some time now. This was re-inforced by friends that have recently had a great experience at this restaurant. So we finally booked a time to go. Getting a reservation was easy. We got an 8pm table for 2 on a Thursday. We arrived at 8pm and were seated right away. The tables are quite close together so you had to squeeze in. The tables were a little too close together actually. When the waiter was speaking to the table beside us, his shirt would fall into our wine glasses (gross)! We always had to move our wine glasses if someone had to get out, or a waiter was coming to serve something. The bench seating with cushions was comfortable and at a good height. The chairs on the other side, however, were uncomfortable and felt too low for the table. So it was a little awkward to sit there. As dinner took quite sometime, we had to change seats about 3/4 of the way through because my boyfriend's seat was so uncomfortable. The wine list was sufficient and both the waiter and the sommelier were knowledgeable on the wines. We ordered a bottle from Corsica and were quite pleased with the wine and the service surrounding the wine. The menu was great and had a lot of options. I think the changing menu and interesting foods are what makes this place. We were recommended to order 2 dishes/person but we couldn't decide and there was so much that we wanted to try so we settled on 3 dishes/person. And we definitely needed the 6 dishes. We definitely would have been hungry if we had only ordered 4 dishes. We ordered the heirloom tomato salad, an eggplant dish with cream, nuts and raisins, gnocchi with chanterelle mushrooms, mackerel, linguini with kale & clams, ribeye steak. The tomato salad was just like any other and we could have definitely passed on this. The eggplant was very interesting and tasty - definitely not like anything we have ever had. The mackerel was excellent. The gnocchi was bland and definitely not recommended. It also came with nuts which I didn't feel fit in well with the dish. The linguini was a bit fishy and definitely my least favourite dish. The steak was fantastic. We were later told that this dish is a favourite and has been on the menu since day one. In terms of the food service, it is always nice to get 1 dish at a time rather than bringing everything out at once. We did find that there was sometimes a long delay between dishes. At one point, it was so long that my boyfriend had to comment on this. We also decided that since there is such a delay that we should order dessert at that time too so we don't have to wait too long after dinner. I ordered a pear tart that was very tasty but unfortunately didn't come with cutlery to eat it. I had to use the knife that came with my boyfriend's cheese plate to eat the pear tart. We were waiting for the waiter to come by again so we could ask but they didn't pass by for quite some time so we just went ahead and ate dessert with a knife. So, it was an interesting experience in terms of the food but not the greatest overall experience. We may go back late nite and sit at the bar to see what is offered on the menu but definitely not going to make a reservation and go out of our way to go here. I just don't see the longevity in this restaurant remaining one of the top in Vancouver. read more