The Ordinary Cafe

[Vancouver Lee]

After reading several posters name The Ordinary Cafe as their choice for most under-rated restaurant in Vancouver, my dine-around group of friends ate there on Saturday night.

The room is small and dark, and I mean that in a good way. Lots of gold tones and a dark brown exposed wood-beam ceiling. The place feels like home, right down to the pile of well-thumbed cookbooks full of bookmarks on top of a cupboard at the back of the dining room.

We arrived at 8pm to a mostly full house, but most of the other patrons were nearing the end of their meal. A few other couples arrived after us, but they didn't seem to be very busy for a Saturday night. I guess the eGullet marketing mojo takes a bit longer to work...

I never did get a good look at the wine list, but my wife tells me that it was very very reasonably priced, with 80% of the selections under $50.

Appetizers were shared among our group: baby spinich salad, buffalo mozzarella salad, braised beef shortribs, mussels steamed in red coconut curry, seared scallops & chilled prawn cocktail, crab cakes and sautéed baby calamari.

The crab cakes were the highlight: huge meaty chunks of tender, flavourful crab with just enough filling to hold it all together. The calamari was quite tasty, too - sauteed and not breaded-then-fried.

For our mains, the group had a combination of the following: seared ahi tuna, linguine, spaghetti and saffron risotto. I had roasted lamb sirloin.

The ahi tuna looked wonderful, but I did not have a chance to taste it. The pasta dishes were good, and the saffron risotto was devoured. My lamb sirloin was OK - Well cooked and tender, good but not great. I was left with the impression that the kitchen believes in low-fat, low-salt cooking. There's no evidence of this in the menu, but my lamb tasted that way.

Most of us had dessert: flourless chocolate cake, vanilla creme brule, and a poached pear stuffed with chocolate ganache. I highly recommend the cake - heavy and rich with just the right amount (read "lots") of raspberry coulis.

The service was decent, and in our waiter's defense, we discovered that this was only his third week on the job. The guy had all the right moves, but was still working on doing them with confidence and grace. The kitchen is very small, and given the size of the room, Dennis Huang (the chef and owner) did well to get all our mains out at once with only a minimal delay.

I've hesitated to post this review for several reasons. First, the brouhaha around Sean's Rant has created a bit of a chill here, in my mind at least. But the main reason is that I find myself wondering if my standards are just impossibly high? The group I was with loved the Ordinary Cafe, but my wife and I found it, well, ordinary. Good but not great. And that's been my impression of many of the restaurants I've been to lately. Arne pointed out today that after a meal like the one we had at West a few weeks ago, it's pretty hard not to be let down the next few places you go. Maybe that's it.....

Nonetheless, there you have it. Tremendous crab cakes, some good mains (I'm kicking myself for not trying the ahi tuna) and very good deserts. Service that was good (and most likely improving each day). We had 4 bottles of wine and split the bill evenly to the tune of about $65/person (tax and 15% tip included) - pretty good value, IMHO.

Edited February 7, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[transfattyacid]

hi lee

i`m glad you went to the ordinary and had a good time .

could i ask you a few questions ?

if you had not read about the ordinary on egullet , and you just popped in by chance one evening , what would be your perseption of the place ?

and would your post have been different ?

and

do you think that by comments suggesting that the ordinary is under rated, have by default made it over rated ?

disclaimer .....

please forgive me if my tone is over protective of the ordinary , it`s not. more a questioning of how we react to opinions that we read on here. and if they ( or to what degree ) influence your subsqent dinner / lunch ,and ensueing post . etc etc etc ad nauseam

i`m have nothing to do with the ordinary cafe apart from having had my dinner there twice

and for legal reasons i dont want to fight you or anybody ( yet )

[merlin]

But the main reason is that I find myself wondering if my standards are just impossibly high?  The group I was with loved the Ordinary Cafe, but my wife and I found it, well, ordinary.  Good but not great.  And that's been my impression of many of the restaurants I've been to lately. 

We had 4 bottles of wine and split the bill evenly to the tune of about $65/person (tax and 15% tip included) - pretty good value, IMHO.

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With respect to point one, I expect that your standards are not "impossibly high". Your "better half" shared your view and you obviously have been to a number of good restaurants and as a fellow "foodie" want to be excited by the fare, not "just" fed

My "rule of thumb" is, if I am sitting there planning on coming back the next nite, I know I like it....Divino and Il Sogno in Calgary...Jack's Grill, Culina, Wild Tangerine in Edmonton...Cru in Vancouver [should have gone back to Cru or Parkside but for a number of reasons ended up at what is usually a good spot for us but disappointed, the Beach House at Dundarave Pier] ...Bish or da Maurizio in Halifax...a la Grande Table de Serge Bruyere [now gone I think] in Quebec City...otherwise I may as well cook up something at home and save on the wine cost.

Four bottles of wine and it divided up to $65 per inclusive of tip and taxes...yes, I would say that that is reasonable.

[eatrustic]

That's an interesting and very honest point you bring up Vancouver Lee. "Good but not great" and why you feel that way. You certainly can't blame the Ordinary for overselling their name if that's the way you feel.

In fairness to any establishment, if you are going to post about them in a negative manner (or lukewarm) you really need to ask yourself if you have given them a fair shake based on the level of experience offered for the money you paid.

It must be very hard, after being spoiled be Chef H. at West (in one of the best places in Canada) for DOV prices, to feel anything else will be comparable. Any decent critic will go at least a couple of times or more to get a true feel for an establishment and ensure the level of experience is accurate. Most of us don't have that luxury but you don't always have to post right away about an evening if it was intangibly not to your liking. If the service and food were brutal by all means do so.

Given your comments I would have said something like " My dining companions raved about their evening and as for myself I'd like to give it another try to get the true feel of the place." As has been pointed out there are peoples livelihoods at stake here.

Like most quality experiences there is a bit of a" breaking in period" while you get to know the staff and they you so perhaps it is worth another try before deciding once and for all. (I say this because it appears that a lot of the elements were there but did not quite click.)

Not every dining experience needs to be magic, nice as that would be.(Unless the price tag is in that category.) Sometimes you just need good quality in a nice warm atmosphere. The twice a month outing instead of the twice a year one.

[Coop]

Lee, perhaps you should have said, exactly what you said. I think it's important to say exactly what you think about a place. If we all candy coat our reviews we will become the Georgia Straight. Well without he adds for "rub and tugs".

BTW for about a year after a big blow out dinner at West my wife and I found everywhere dissapointing, Oddly enough even return visits to West for lunch weren't as good. Cru and Parkside actually got us back on track though.

[Vancouver Lee]

could i ask you a few questions ?

if you had not read about the ordinary on egullet , and you just popped in by chance one evening , what would be your perseption of the place ?

and would your post have been different ?

and

do you think that by comments suggesting that the ordinary is under rated, have by default made it over rated ?

Good questions. I've been pondering those same questions myself lately.

First of all, I most likely would never have "popped in" to the Ordinary if it weren't for eGullet. In fact, I doubt I'd have *ever* visited were it not recommended by knowledgeable people here (It's in a strange neighbourhood for a restaurant - the snowboard-shop-and-car-repair strip isn't where I'm likely to go for fine dining). But if I ended up there by chance one day, I do think my perception would have been the same.

Would my post have been different in the scenario above? No, I don't think so. I made sure my comments were 100% factual, so I can't picture a scenario where that changes.

But your third question is most interesting. Based on the comments I read ("One of Vancouver's most under-rated restaurant", as judged by people in the trade), well, yeah, I was definately expecting something pretty good. I wasn't expecting West, but I was expecting better than "ordinary". So I do think reading about it here affected my impression to some extent.

please forgive me if my tone is over protective of the ordinary , it`s not. more a questioning of how we react to opinions that we read on here. and if they ( or to what degree  )  influence your subsqent dinner / lunch ,and ensueing post . etc etc etc ad nauseam

No worries. Interesting questions, I'm glad you asked.

[Vancouver Lee]

With respect to point one, I expect that your standards are not "impossibly high".  Your "better half" shared your view and you obviously have been to a number of good restaurants and as a fellow "foodie" want to be excited by the fare, not "just" fed   

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I agree 100%. My wife and I dine out a lot: 25% of the time, we're just looking to be fed. Those times we go to Earl's, Cactus Creek, etc, the CFD places. The other 75% of the time, we're looking for "foodertainment": interesting tasty food served by professional staff in an interesting room. But that's a whole thread in itself....

My "rule of thumb" is, if I am sitting there planning on coming back the next nite, I know I like it....

←

Again, same here. We'll come back again (and again) if we like it, but we'll move on and try another place if we're not impressed. That's pretty tough on a restaurant, I know, and it's certainly not fair, but unfortunately with so many restaurants to choose from, that's just the way it is with us. Most places only get one chance to make a good impression.

[Vancouver Lee]

You certainly can't blame the Ordinary for overselling their name if that's the way you feel.

←

Yep - no quibbles there. In fact, that concept goes well beyond the name: they aren't trying to be West/C/Cioppino's/Chambar/etc. They're a neighbourhood restaurant serving good, well-cooked food. Period. Kindof like Tomato on Cambie (except Tomato's food is better! ).

In fairness to any establishment, if you are going to post about them in a negative manner (or lukewarm) you really need to ask yourself if you have given them a fair shake based on the level of experience offered for the money you paid.

It must be very hard, after being spoiled be Chef H. at West  (in one of the best places in Canada) for DOV prices, to feel anything else will be comparable. Any decent critic will go at least a couple of times or more to get a true feel for an establishment and ensure the level of experience is accurate. Most of us don't have that luxury but you don't always have to post right away about an evening if it was intangibly not to your liking. If the service and food were brutal by all means do so.

←

You are absolutely correct, eatrustic. It's not fair at all to judge a place based on one visit. And it's especially not fair to judge a neighbourhood restaurant (called the "Ordinary" Cafe, no less) right after having eaten at West. Apples and oranges.

Given your comments I would have said something like " My dining companions raved about their evening and as for myself I'd like to give it another try to get the true feel of the place." As has been pointed out there are peoples livelihoods at stake here.

←

I thought about phrasing my comments that way, but it's not true. As I posted above, the truth is that we're either impressed or we're not, and if we're not impressed we mosts likely won't be back. My two rules for posting on the 'net are 1) never post anything you wouldn't say to someone's face, and 2) never lie. Hence why I posted what I did.

Like most quality experiences there is a bit of a" breaking in period" while you get to know the staff and they you so perhaps it is worth another try before deciding once and for all. (I say this because it appears that a lot of the elements were there but did not quite click.)

←

Who knows, perhaps we will end up back there. The group of friends we were with certainly loved the place, so perhaps a birthday or some special event will end up there again. That's OK with me.

[Vancouver Lee]

Lee, perhaps you should have said, exactly what you said. I think it's important to say exactly what you think about a place. If we all candy coat our reviews we will become the Georgia Straight. Well without he adds for "rub and tugs".

←

Oh, I'd be happy to post my reviews of the rub and tugs......

Did I say that out loud?

[appreciator]

In fairness to any establishment, if you are going to post about them in a negative manner (or lukewarm) you really need to ask yourself if you have given them a fair shake based on the level of experience offered for the money you paid.

It must be very hard, after being spoiled be Chef H. at West  (in one of the best places in Canada) for DOV prices, to feel anything else will be comparable. Any decent critic will go at least a couple of times or more to get a true feel for an establishment and ensure the level of experience is accurate. Most of us don't have that luxury but you don't always have to post right away about an evening if it was intangibly not to your liking. If the service and food were brutal by all means do so.

Given your comments I would have said something like " My dining companions raved about their evening and as for myself I'd like to give it another try to get the true feel of the place." As has been pointed out there are peoples livelihoods at stake here.

←

You know.... this kinda get's me.....

First off.... we aren't "critics" (well with an exception or two) we're either the the dining public, chefs, waiters, restaurant owners, busboys, dishwashers etc.

I have been to the Ordinary and I like it from what I can remember... but the whole notion of having to post a certain way.....

If this forum becomes one of "if you are going to say something negative then you must say it this way or not say it at all" ... and if you've had a few drinks then whatever you do, don't post right away because lawd knows your judgement will be clouded by the booze....

Aaack...

[*Deborah*]

I'm sure a lot of these posts will be pruned as being O/T but honestly, what is so damning about "good but not great"?

Aren't most people happy to be judged good?

I have said of several things I've eaten over the past few weeks, something to the effect of good but not great. Perhaps my flip mode of speaking makes it less offensive to the sensitive, PC reader, but it doesn't change the fact that something was judged good--acceptable--but not great--outstanding.

Everything cannot be outstanding, by definition.

Edited February 8, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[SushiCat]

In fairness to any establishment, if you are going to post about them in a negative manner (or lukewarm) you really need to ask yourself if you have given them a fair shake based on the level of experience offered for the money you paid.

It must be very hard, after being spoiled be Chef H. at West  (in one of the best places in Canada) for DOV prices, to feel anything else will be comparable. Any decent critic will go at least a couple of times or more to get a true feel for an establishment and ensure the level of experience is accurate. Most of us don't have that luxury but you don't always have to post right away about an evening if it was intangibly not to your liking. If the service and food were brutal by all means do so.

Given your comments I would have said something like " My dining companions raved about their evening and as for myself I'd like to give it another try to get the true feel of the place." As has been pointed out there are peoples livelihoods at stake here.

←

You know.... this kinda get's me.....

First off.... we aren't "critics" (well with an exception or two) we're either the the dining public, chefs, waiters, restaurant owners, busboys, dishwashers etc.

I have been to the Ordinary and I like it from what I can remember... but the whole notion of having to post a certain way.....

If this forum becomes one of "if you are going to say something negative then you must say it this way or not say it at all" ... and if you've had a few drinks then whatever you do, don't post right away because lawd knows your judgement will be clouded by the booze....

Aaack...

←

Appreciator, you beat me to it, as I was reading this thread my thoughts were along nearly exactly the same as what you have posted.

Lee, thanks for the info. I think it is good to give an account of your impressions/views and I now know that it is likely worth it to go there just for crab cakes - a restaurant can make it based on a few great dishes!

[transfattyacid]

evening all

thank you lee for answering my questions.

my opinion of the ordinary is kinda similar . its a good place to go when you dont wanna head down town . and stay local but eat something nice.

i kinda like those places west it aint.

yaletown , hell no .

but a good honest place non the less .

peace out

[Jeffy Boy]

I'm sure a lot of these posts will be pruned as being O/T but honestly, what is so damning about "good but not great"?

Aren't most people happy to be judged good?

I have said of several things I've eaten over the past few weeks, something to the effect of good but not great. Perhaps my flip mode of speaking makes it less offensive to the sensitive, PC reader, but it doesn't change the fact that something was judged good--acceptable--but not great--outstanding.

Everything cannot be outstanding, by definition.

←

I agree. "Good but not great" is still good, and I'd be likely to return.

[Daddy-A]

While all this discussion about what's the best way to post about a place is all fine & dandy ... I'm missing where any of it has anything to do with The Ordinary.

Seriously, this is great stuff. But venture forth into other areas of eGullet! Somebody start a discussion under General Food Topics or Policy Discussion. You can even participate in a great discussion on this already going on HERE. In fact, appreciator, you started this discussion ... we just moved it to where it's appropriate.

Anybody else like crab cakes?

A.

[*Deborah*]

I love crab cakes! Maybe I'll head over to Ordinary one day after Ming Wo-ing.

[appreciator]

In fact, appreciator, you started this discussion ... we just moved it to where it's appropriate.

Anybody else like crab cakes?

A.

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Yah but...

I did mention the Ordinary in my comment.... didn't I???? I like the place... it's good.... I'm going back real soon to enjoy some of those.... mmm... crab cakes... yes indeedy

[Vancouver Lee]

In fact, appreciator, you started this discussion ... we just moved it to where it's appropriate.

Anybody else like crab cakes?

A.

←

Yah but...

I did mention the Ordinary in my comment.... didn't I???? I like the place... it's good.... I'm going back real soon to enjoy some of those.... mmm... crab cakes... yes indeedy

←

Coming in March: Crab Cake Club at the Ordinary!

[transfattyacid]

In fact, appreciator, you started this discussion ... we just moved it to where it's appropriate.

Anybody else like crab cakes?

A.

←

Yah but...

I did mention the Ordinary in my comment.... didn't I???? I like the place... it's good.... I'm going back real soon to enjoy some of those.... mmm... crab cakes... yes indeedy

←

Coming in March: Crab Cake Club at the Ordinary!

←

yah !

[peppyre]

I'm all for a crab cake club.....mmm.....crab cakes.......*drool*