McTee

In mid-August I had dinner at Quails' Gate's Old Vines patio, and lunch at Mission Hill Family Estate the next day. At Old Vines, the meal was excellent, but the setting was, in a word, unparalleled. Nothing like sitting on a patio at a location like that with a glass of great wine and the love of your life beside you. Unforgettable. At Mission Hill, the lunch was very good, my gf had the tomato gazpacho, which was great. I enjoyed that they offered Library selections. Neither served wine from another winery, nor did they serve beer. To me, the highlight was the jar of Vanilla Pears that I picked up in the gift store at Mission Hill. Superb. To make a potentially long story short, I would highly recommend both to anyone going up there for the first time. The service at both was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and unpretentious, while still very professional. I only hope that one of these days, a resume from one of these people crosses my desk, I would hire them in a heartbeat.

He's the same guy I see serving tables when I cycle by. When you've lived in a city like Vancouver as long as I have you'll see a lot of strange sights-someone polishing their car on a break is no stranger than someone smoking a cigarette-tobacco or otherwise. Since when did dark pants/white shirt constitute a 'uniform'? So then I wonder who that winsome looking blonde is gazing out when the place is empty-the Chef? Given as how you're a 'cager' you have no idea how much someone standing on a bicycle can see. I can tell you this-if the window seats are full the place is doing well-if Staff is standing gazing off an empty balcony prime time on a summer night it isn't. ← Sam - I am proud of your polite and articulate response here. ← Perhaps I sounded a little heated, and for that I apologize. I know the restaurant quite well, and there are some inconsistencies with Sam's observations. Black pants/white shirt is not what the servers wear at Epic. Granted they have had some struggles early in the summer, but my original comment is that from what I hear now, in early September - the place is doing alright.

All this steak talk makes me mourn the loss of 900 West, which had the best food for a steakhouse in the city, hands down. 18oz Prime Rib slow cooked for 20 hours - unbelievable.

Just thought of this after the last post........ Speaking of transparent - I visited the new Earl's at the Paramount recently, where it was all too obvious that as they build their clientele up, part of the strategy is to parade the young, perky servers through the restaurant. While I am sure that a lot of guys won't notice the strategy and likely won't care, the point is that even the most successful restaurant businesses/chains don't try to mask their motives. I understand that this is a bit apples/oranges, but I look at it as being treated as if I am too stupid to see through it, as both are a ploy to get my money.

The fact is, any restaurant with a great view will inevitably succeed, unless the costs are out of control. I can not imagine a sunny day at Kits Beach with thousands of people outside the door, and Watermark being slow, regardless of whether they have the worst service and so-so food. The reality is that it is a place to eat with a phenomenal view. Those of us in the industry that are more educated on restaurants may choose to plan our meals for before or after going to the beach, but it is realistic to think that at any given time, 200 out of the 10,000 people at the beach will be in Watermark. I will give it another try, as I was there on the 3rd day and I'll see if I can catch David's ear for a few minutes to share my observations as well. But like I said earlier - during the slow months, the shortcomings will be addressed, guaranteed, and we will likely see a different Watermark come Spring.

Funny that doesn't jibe with the waiter polishing his car or the hostess gazing off the balcony that I see when I cycle by of an eveneing. Some people in the place sometimes true. Down the street I see the Original Bread Garden has cut back it's hours again. The 'hood ain't happenin' like it once was..... ← Cycling by you notice that the waiter is polishing his car? Do you know the waiter? How do you know that the person polishing the car is the waiter in this restaurant? Do you know any restaurant owners that would let a waiter polish his car in his uniform, risking it getting soiled? Did you know that they don't employ a hostess? Excuse me if I don't interpret your observations while "cycling by" as being very accurate, given the fact that it is upstairs.

Do my very best to ensure I never found myself in a such a position to choose, I suppose. Witness Nu... ← I would assume that they did their very best to avoid that position, but as we all know, shit happens and things don't always go as planned. So, when all is said and done, and one IS in that position, I would think that making some money to fund the place through the winter may likely be the logical choice.

Check this one out - Griffins Restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is doing "Wet your Palate Wednesdays" select bottles of wine for $25 a bottle! Some of it is a steal for $25. Open 4:30-9pm

I ate at this place a few weeks ago (mid-August) and I'll say this: The food was good (when we got it) My lady has a very sensitive dairy allergy, and the server returned to the table 4 times to tell us that the different dishes that we had asked for could not be prepared to accommodate the allergy. Now, as an industry professional, I am fully aware that it is difficult to order around such an allergy, but 30 minutes after placing the order and making the server aware of the situation, we were still discussing what could and couldn't be made. In my opinion, at the time that the food should be hitting the table, we were still discussing the order. Unimpressed. I will say, however, that the server apologized at the end of the meal, and what scored points with me is that he acknowledged what he was apologizing for - providing uninformed service. He mentioned new ownership, but at least he showed that he was intelligent enough to see what was going on.

As I understand it Epic on 1st and Cypress is doing fairly well. I really enjoyed the Zucchini Risotto on Grilled Portabello Mushroom. Very simple, but very good. Unpretentious in a cool little room, decent wine, good food. Check it out and see what you think.

As someone who has both been to Watermark as well as worked for GM David Richards in the past (The Prow), I am amused at all the comments that I have seen here. The reason for this is very simple. The David Richards that I know doesn't care in the least what people say about his restaurant. As Jamie Maw said, David is one of the best destination restaurant GMs in the province. David is confident in what he is doing, and if he can't do them his way, he will walk away and give someone else the headache. He took the Prow from a money pit into a profitable operation. Unfortunately, the reality of the restaurant business is such that there are two very different opinions on how to do business. 1. Make money by volume and good costing, as a lot of people (tourists) aren't coming back anyway. Not to say that Watermark is taking that approach, but the negative reviews will only mildly hinder the business, as our words will never compete with that sunset, and the masochistic tendencies of people to always "find out for themselves", like renting Gigli just to say that you've seen the worst movie of all time. 2. Pamper your guests and charge through the nose for it to compensate for your small space. David is in his element taking on the Watermark project, similar to the Prow, which I can tell you was virtually empty in the non-tourist season, and come May as if someone flicked a switch - 400 covers on a late weeknight. Watermark has one thing - location - that will never go away. Personally, my experience with the bone-in chicken is something I don't wish to revisit, (tasted good, but way too hard to eat) but once they go through all the transitional changes that all new restaurants go through, the staff will learn that it is David Richards' way or the highway. I learned this over the course of around 6 years, and I am better for it. David will have all winter to address the problems, and by next summer, the place will be ready to take on the crowds once again. Imagine - It's mid-July, your restaurant project is behind and you have two choices: Take your time, get things right and open in 7 or 8 months (who would open that location in October?), or open ASAP, and spend the winter working out the kinks and COUNTING MONEY. What would you do?