Bow & Stern Abbotsford — Restaurant in Abbotsford

Unfortunately this is the last time I will ever go to Bow and Stern not only did I receive horrendous service, but my grandmother was berated and talked down to, was over talked and treated as if she was stupid, and I was heavily lied to, to my face.

The server was a male, I'm not sure his name, I asked him the gf options and recalled to ask if they are celiac safe, was told they are, have a small section of the kitchen for gf options, and went to ask the chef of the few dishes I could have. So I came in the next day for lunch and it was awful.

The server had zero idea what gf (gluten free) was, kept telling me I'm wrong and yes bleached white flour IS gf, I'm just making a problem... (also no, bleached white flour is not gf, in ANY TYPE of regard). He then said nothing is gf and to stop asking for attention for a fake illness and just pick something. I was beyond disgusted, I still tried to be nice and asked if he could ask another server or the chef what I CAN eat, because all the options I was told was apparently not real options.... so he came back 30 mins later after i had to hound him down, he rolled his eyes and said a few options FULL of gluten, or a plain green small salad no dressing, i could habe a lemon... we left but not before he was awful to my grandma who has been with me before there and have eaten there, with no problems.

Apparently they no longer offer gf fish and chips, gf torilla chips for dip, gf salads!?!? Like huh... or anything else. They don't have a section safe for gf and as he said, "lady we really dont care about your so called allergies, or any of them, we lie, we make enough from both locations, ive been here long enough" he rolled his eyes and he walked away. My grandma was in shock and even she refuses to go back and she would go once a week at least with friends.... this might be just this server, but I'm in disbelief. I wasn't going to make a review but 2 to 3 nights ago my friend went who is gf as well, doctor diagnosed, it's been super hard for her, she was told items were gf and they were not. She spent two straight days throwing up blood, and issues. This is literally hurting people, so I came here to put my experience from 3 ish weeks ago and my friends 2 to 3 days ago.

IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES, DO NOT EAT HERE!!!!!!!!!

Please do better or train your staff. I will not be back or will ever recommend here to anyone, I'm beyond thrown off from this and after speaking to some family, friends, and co workers, this location has really gone to the dogs. I'm not the only one.

No one with allergies should ever have to deal with this, I did my work and called before hand, asked questions to be answered by the chef, asked what I need to say for gf, etc... Dont offer gf, vegan, or vegetarian dishes if you can't make sure you can honor the allergies. This is so unsafe, and someone can literal end up in a...

First time and more than likely my last!

I took my girlfriend there for dinner on Sat June 11/22. I wanted to have seafood dish as I had heard that it was excellent and had seen the menu from a previous years with lots of high quality dishes on the menu.

To my surprise the menu had very little seafood choices that a higher star restaurant would have. The menu with mac and cheese seemed to cater to a clientele of average food vs higher quality. I also noticed wine selection was limited. The server was not very knowledgeable with what wine they had and where it was from.

I ordered 2 different types of white wine, after we both tried them would decided on one we preferred for a second glass.

My girlfriend ordered the halibut fish and chips and I ordered the seafood pasta in a cream sauce. I noticed all the pasta dishes were of a cream sauce base - again limited as seafood is preferred in a tomato based sauce as it bring out the flavors more.

My girlfriends fish and chips were very good, chips hot and crisp, fish battered and very good. My seafood was tasty and full of flavor.

Why the 1 star review?

1. The server waited until we were almost done to check on the quality of the food.
2. Never asked if we wanted another glass of wine while our glasses were left empty.
3. A mussel had not opened in my dish and that is a big red flag that the kitchen staff didn't catch it. I mentioned to the server who said he would mention to the staff - A manager should have come by the table - that is very poor quality control.
4. The server never asked if we wanted dessert or coffee.
5. We waited 20 min after we had finished eating for the plates to be cleared and then another15 min for the bill.
6. No apologies for mussel issue and seemed the server as an armature with no training or experience.

If I went to Cactus club none of these issue would have happened that is for sure. And if there was an issue the manager would have stopped by to speak to us and correct as necessary.

I received a survey from the restaurant a day later, completed it and never heard back so now I am letting you know my experience.

When I go out for dinner I have expectations depending on the restaurant I go to, I don't expect a lot from fast food or take-out venues. But a restaurant that provides sit down service, wine, and prepared by kitchen staff that I would have assumed was a chef until I ate there and realized there is not chef in the back, but a...

Yummy, yummy in my tummy tum, tum! My colleague had mentioned how he dined here and really enjoyed it so my entire family hopped in the car and drove down (or up) to see (or better put eat) for ourselves! It was pretty late to be out with kiddos but out we were! It wasn’t crowded at all (being quite late on a weekday I guess) so we were promptly seated. Our appies came and made us quite happy but it still didn’t prepare us for what was to come. The mains arrived and I forget what the meals were called on the menu (will be back to update that when I confirm). People, I kid you not! It was goooood! I shared the sea food platter we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t know what sauce it was served with but I made sure to pack what was left of it along with our leftovers of course. My sister too said her meal was really good. Sadly, only our 4yo picky eater was left out of all the fun. We were really stuffed so we ordered the cheesecake to share…what an error! That slice just didn’t do! My child almost ate the plate and was talking about this cheesecake for dayssss asking when we’ll go back to that place with the cheesecake! We enjoyed the leftover again a few days after our visit and I used the rest of that sauce (remember the one I had them pack? Yup! That one) I used it for a shrimp stir fry and it tasted like a whole new meal! Do I still need to say we had a great experience here?! Yes we did! Ambience was nice and chill. Other patrons looked really happy too so the vibe was great. I think it’s a wee bit pricey but eh! Where I come from we have the saying that goes ‘better soup na money kill am!’ And I hear it’s not much different if you are looking at a good sea food place so…

If you are wondering if you should go there…put your shoes on, grab your jacket, go now! Pretty sure you’ll like it!

Update: of course I went back…with friends and we all enjoyed our food. Tacos, ‘something’ chicken (sorry I can’t remember the name) of course another seafood platter, kids’ meals (they all had 2nds)….our desserts weren’t so great though.

Washroom clean and very decent. All together another great...