Andrew Morrison

james, i agree totally about your service philosophy, especially about managerial omnipresence. in my experience, it simply doesn't happen that way. i wish it did. without a manager on the floor at all times, things like standards are the first to go the way of the dodo. as for taxes...let's just not talk about it.

dundarave fish market: excellent. some of the best prepared seafood in vancouver. totally simple, unpretentious, unique and needed. chambar: massive floor changes happening in this belgian fusion bistro. we hear the night manager josie has gone and andre from lumiere in is charge. this room got busy quick so it's hard to put a handle on where it'll be three months from now. nico makes awesome food, far removed from pacwest but presentation and vibe is canuckistani par excellence. i think belgians and canadians have much in common. you get served by swingingly cool cats. the staff here are really great people. lots of places to eat. i wish i could crawl them all. i think vancouver is surfing the crest of a brilliant wave in restaurantdom right now. having lived and worked high-end in elsewhere in canada i can say with no authority that vancity is where it's at as far as leading the nation in cuisine is concerned. there's no place i'd rather be working in this biz.

well put, lee. ps. nice photos on your site! beautiful.

so then, if it is attainable, why are so many of vancouver's "best" restaurants so inconsistent? is it because we live in a culture where a life in service means something different than it does in the e.u? because the folks serving in vancouver have other gigs and dreams on the side: "i'm really an actor, writer, artist, student... and serving you is only temporary." (?) is it management? are we all caught staring at the bottom line rather than focusing on our customers' needs? are servers and their service poorly policed by management? is good, holistic from-in-the-door-to-out service under-appreciated here and therefore not that big a deal?

sorry about the name, but it's all i can afford right now considering the content of my soon-to-be-released site and what i do for a living. you can call me whatever you like, like bad name guy or scared of being fired guy, whatever.

good news: i've seen it at wild rice, il giardino, west, brix, and fiction plus many other restaurants in other cities. bad news: each time i was cozied up with a manager, a chef, or an owner in a situation where good service wasn't an option; it had to be excellent. i think that really clarifies it. service, by definition, is driven by incentive. if you skimp on service to the boss, you're likely going to hear about it in other ways that transcend the bulk of your wallet. i don't mean to dabble in extraneous psychiatry, but that's real, tangible incentive. otherwise, is it attainable? it's the best question i've heard in a while. answer: unfortunately, i believe, only through the dictates of serendipity. very interesting subject matter nevertheless...

from in the door to out the door, true service is holistic in it's approach. i think that as a philosophy, it should be pounced upon in this town and policed by gm's as their top priority. name me one restaurant in vancouver where every staff member is on the same page, day after day. the wheels come off in training and on-the-floor management. holistic service might be in the playbook of the top restaurants, but if i ever see it with my weary old waiter eyes when i dine out, i think it's a case of a broken clock telling the right time twice a day. the key is, it doesn't have to be this way. train, train, train...manage.

i've always believed that at the better restaurants good service is always the opening intent of the server. our livelihood depends on good service. most of us strive for it at every table, but there are a myriad of variables that can always sneak into play to work against us. there is a complex interplay at work with support staff, grumbly chefs etc., but the guest seldom sees anything beyond their server's face. that's the way we like it. it's an illusion. when it works well, it's seamless and you've hardly noticed that you've been served at all. when things fall apart, it's in your lap. in the best restaurants, things go wrong usually without the server knowing or is not his/her fault at all. for example, from the moment you walked in the door, things went awry. the hostess rubbed you the wrong way with her thousand yard glare, and you watched the bucolic valet rub a trail of snot on the back of his hand before taking your keys. you then are forced to wait 20 minutes at the bar for your reserved table while the bartender takes his sweet time mixing your gal a lukewarm, watery cosmo. when you finally get to your table, it's next to the kitchen door and you can hear the sous chef berating the dishwasher with epithet after epithet in cantonese as you wearily thumb a winelist stained with last night's buerre blanc. the busser brings bread that is stale and cold and then finally, the hapless server, totally oblivious, approaches the table to say "good evening" with just about the milkiest smile you've ever seen. too late, bubba. already you've likely made your mind up to never return to the restaurant and only a herculean retrieval effort on the part of the server can turn back the tide of disappointment that jades every dish thereafter presented. service can be immaculate from there on in, but the restaurant has blown it's wad. it just doesn't matter anymore. my point is this: the intent was there, but things fall apart. like in football, anything can happen on any given sunday. at the highest level, no one restaurant can claim it's service is better than another and no savant can predict how an evening will unfold for even the city's best servers. as with all illusions, sometimes they just don't work.

hi all, my first topic post. please bear with me if you've been asked this before... where in vancouver can you find the best table service? criteria: 1. experience 2. wine and food knowledge 3. execution 4. personability thanks in advance for your toleration of my post virginity.

more public chess would be nice. maybe another bridge. fewer bombshell hostesses and more maitre'd's. yes, more street food. more african game meat. kudu. ostrich. impala.