Dinner at the Beachouse in Dundarave last night

[DJOblong]

Hi

I think

I had dinner at the Beach House on Dundarave Pier last night. Felt compelled to write about it.

Arrived at the restaurant not knowing what to expect save for a reputation for good seafood. Decor is nice but maybe slightly dated/80's feel to it. Interesting mix of clientele - some looking fairly slobbish in t-shirts and shorts whilst others clearly dressed for the occasion. Vancouver is a real dress-down city in my experience.

Anyway back on track... Sat down in a nice booth with a view of the sunset. Kids playing on the beach, beautiful vista. Other patrons kindly pulled the sunshade down to alleviate the glare for us. Nice.

Seated at table with menus, sans wine list. First grab of the menu - mmm! Lots of chocies. I know I am probably in for a good meal when there are 4 or 5 things from the appetizer and entree menus the jump out saying "Eat me!" I'm usually good with 2 choices.

As a table we had:

Appetizers: Calamari, Crabcake, Dungeness Crab Tower

Entree: Fish Trio, Ahi Tuna, Wild Salmon, Prawn and Scallops

(Notice the seafood theme?)

The first signs of slight doubt in the service was the no wine list but this wasn't too big a deal. Given it was peak time of night we decided to place our orders quickly. This necessiatated flagging down our server.

After ordering we enjoyed the view and appetizers arrived in good order. The wait staff bringing out the meals seemed to be around the age of 14. One in particular was shaking like a leaf when placing the meals. This same server also had the job of filling up the water glasses for the night which was executed with good regularity however it was accompanied by continually drips across the table - not one or two but small puddles. Poor chap. Felt a bit sorry for him after his grand finale. More on that later.

Appetizers were tasty however not spectacular. The calamari was a little to quite a lot tough depending on which of my companions you asked. Also it was a little too heavily crumbed/floured. Crabcake with softshell crab very nice as was the dungeness crabmeat tower.

The entrees then took roughly 45 minutes to come out. Gordon Ramsay would have been assaulting the kitchen staff with a blunt instrument if it had been Hell's Kitchen. Where's K Grease when you need him? Anyhoo the long wait meant that our wine was almost completely gone by the time the entrees arrived but I did not give them the pleasure/profit of ordering a second bottle.

Entrees were generally competent but again not spectacular. I don't think we could fault the quality of the seafood itself. The Ahi tuna was a huge hunk of fish. Nicely done but definitely not something that I haven't seen in any number of places before. It was almost like there is too much respect for the fish to combine it with any truly adventurous complementary flavours.

The entrees were completed with the coupe de grace of the service - the last vestige of our sancerre disappearing into my companions lap courtesy of our nervous serving friend. Ah well.

On the upside this faux pas was nicely redeemed by the senior waiter in the section who comped us all with a refreshing glass of moscati each. Nice comeback.

The dessrt menu tried to tempt us but unfortunately did not have the calling power of the main menu. Our mutual dread of another long wait was not doing it any favours.

All up? Good but not great. Service - below par. Location - Fantastic. Wine list - very good.

What needs changing? Facelift wouldn't hurt. More adventurous cuisine would be nice. Some seasoned waitstaff or a maitre d with a panchance for marshalling troops would be a huge winner.

I think watching all of Mr Ramsay's shows has made me into a gasto-Nazi! Yoinks!

[nwyles]

After ordering we enjoyed the view and appetizers arrived in good order. The wait staff bringing out the meals seemed to be around the age of 14. One in particular was shaking like a leaf when placing the meals. This same server also had the job of filling up the water glasses for the night which was executed with good regularity however it was accompanied by continually drips across the table - not one or two but small puddles. Poor chap. Felt a bit sorry for him after his grand finale. More on that later.

Wow , I hope this was not Andrew going through a nicotine / caffeine / alcohol withdrawl ( or the " I am just about to quit my job, I am sooo happy I think I might shake out of my boots" jitters ). He looks older than 14, but not much. I am tempted to asked him for ID whenever he comes in.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah. It was me on my last night. I spilled Sancerre in the guys lap because he was giving me grief about spilling water on his table. The nerve...

7 percent tip, too.

Kidding. I'm a kidder. I kid. Hell, I'm just 14.

Yours, forever trembling...

[waylman]

There's recently been a change of head chefs there has there not?

[Andrew Morrison]

Yup. Ryan Gauthier replaced Rob Byford. New menus coming very shortly from what I hear.

[winegeek]

What needs changing? Facelift wouldn't hurt.

←

Funny you shoud say that. Andrew can give you a better time line but The Beach house was completely gutted and re-done about 4 years ago.

I like the room.

[Andrew Morrison]

Yeah. The room was redone completely 4 years ago. The upstairs deck is finished now and opened for private functions. It really is one of the most incredible patios in the city. Totally secluded and above the fray. A private room is currently being constructed to open up on to it (french doors). Coupled with the constant construction annoyances, staff defections, fresh staff meat, et cetera, it was a remarkably busy summer.

Fini. I'm pleased to put it behind me.

Edited August 24, 2006 by Andrew Morrison (log)

[chef koo]

i'm biting my tongue here. oh how i badly want to reply.

[Andrew Morrison]

C'mon koo...

[Memo]

As Jackie Chan would say - 我咬住我的舌頭。oh 多麼我非常想要回復。

Edited August 25, 2006 by Memo (log)