Nathaniel K.
Yelp
TLDR: Marek is friendly and chatty. Pork chop is top 5 ever!
I don't know if you know this, but it was made abundantly clear in many of the signs through the restaurant, that BILL CLINTON ate here.
Perched atop the peak of Queen Elizabeth park, is this wonderful restaurant with gorgeous views. We made a reservation, and was lucky to get a window view of Northern Vancouver, with the hazy mountains in the back. Unfortunately, we were seated RIGHT next to another table, even though there were PLENTY of open tables around. It was.. a bit odd.
The biggest highlight of the dinner was actually our server, Marek, who was an absolute delight to talk to. When he heard we were visitors, he immediately gave us a small puzzle... What was something missing from Vancouver, that is present in all other major cities? (Hint: it was infrastructure-related) When we also told him where we were staying, he also mentioned another great phenomenon... the ravens nesting at dusk, and the best place to see them, which was near where we stayed. He also wrote down some must-see sites, such as Whistler and Granville Island. Honestly, he made the dinner wonderful.
The second biggest highlight was my wife's pork chop! It's REALLY hard to do pork chop right... often it's a case of how dry is it on a scale from super dry to a little dry. But in this case, every bite was juicy and soft! Not a dry morsel to be found. I was even worried because my wife took her time before she even started on her dish, but turns out my worry was unfounded... even after it "rested" for 5 additional minutes on her plate. I believe this to be the best pork chop we ever ate. Glorious!
In comparison, my halibut was ok. It wasn't cooked badly at all. It was flaky and I liked the sun-dried tomatoes on top, which add a bit of sourness and sweetness. But, my mind still kept dwelling on the heavenly pork chop.
As usual, we ordered WAYYYY too much food. We also got the brussel sprouts, which were also good. It was cooked just the way we liked it... with a nice sear on it, and dressed with oil. The sprouts tasted sweet and tangy, and I didn't get that much of the raw sprout taste. I wouldn't say it was top 5, but it's definitely good. Would order that again.
We also got the truffle fries. They were crunchy and crispy. And they had a nice, not over-powering garlic flavor as well. Luckily I couldn't taste too much of the truffle oil. But it's something we could have definitely skipped.
As is our wont at Western dinners, we ordered a cocktail. Ever since I got one for my lovely wife way back in Utah, this has been our thing. For this time, we got the Bumu Breeze, which is a rum-based drink with strawberry and lime. She loved it... probably her second favorite. It even tasted better at the end of the drink, with the diluted rum at the bottom.
Finally, we ended our wonderful night with some creme brule. It was another could-skip. The brulee was not enough, as the top wasn't crispy at all. The inside was dense. Another skip.
However, with the excellent service and best pork chop we've had, this place easily earns 5 stars from us. This is a place we would not only love to go back to, but worthy of a trip to specifically go to eat. There is valet here... as of 2024, it was $18 for dinner valet. Normal outside parking is $5/hr.