The Observatory — Restaurant in District of North Vancouver

I came here for my birthday dinner with both family visiting from out of town and here. The food was excellent, on par with some Michelin-starred establishments I've been to. The service was unfortunately hit and miss, and I wanted to give this place at least 4 stars but because of that it's going to be a 3. When we arrived there was no one at front desk and we had to go inside to find someone. It turned out to be the manager who was very welcoming and accomodating in taking pictures for us. Our server was nice and attentive, and gave a couple of souvenirs to the younger children, which was greatly appreciated, but the two other waiters were lacking in any smiles or enthusiasm. In fact, when the mains came one of them said to my daughter "Aren't you going to move that plate for me?" which somewhat startled her as she didn't realize he had her main ready for her- he had made no previous verbal announcement of the dish as is usually customary in other restaurants.

Then when we had finished our mains we went outside to look at the gorgeous sunset and take a few pictures, as most other diners tend to do when they come here. We were all out for about 10 minutes, but when I came back I found that our desserts, along with my slice of birthday cake were just left on the table with the candle already lit. As the rest of the party came back in no one came to follow up with us, i.e. to wish me a happy birthday, or ask if we wanted any coffee etc. to go with the desserts. The room was not particularly busy at that time to warrant such neglect. Honestly that was the first time I have seen waitstaff leave food on the table with no guests present, and further left the impression that they didn't really care about providing an exceptional experience to match the quality of the food. Perhaps it's because they automatically add an 18% gratuity on the bill that may disincentivize staff. I would have gladly tipped more if not for the aforementioned issues. Shame really, as this place has potential...

I went to the Observatory on Valentine’s Day with my girlfriend for the first time, as we regularly do the grouse grind, and love the place, but had never dined there. Sadly, we were both quite dissapointed.

First of all, we are both Vegan. I had been in contact by email and phone to assure if it was possible to be accomodated. Both representatives assured me it was no problem at all. However upon sitting down, our server had no idea and was confused on how to accommodate us. She had to go consult the chef, and came back telling us that they would be substituting 2 of the courses for a simple salad and a sorbet, on top of having to remove many components from the other courses. Paying the same price for sub-par quality dishes and an uninformed kitchen/server, considering how high the price is, is very dissapointing and unprofessional for any dining establishment, even more so “fine” dining.

The food itself was unoriginal as 3/5 dishes had the exact same components ( beets and daikon) and missed their sauces and such. We were also advised against doing the wine pairings as advertised one the set menu, “as the glasses would be too big of a size (even though pairings are on the menu for every dish)” and we’re informed that “we wouldn’t want a 8oz glass of wine with every plate.” The view is fantastic, but the ambiance was ruined by tables being dismantled directly behind us for the closing while we had just been served our main course.

Lastly, our server was cold and impersonal, and she never even told us her name. The 18% gratuity being included in the bill shows, especially when she informed us that she “HAD to put more bread in the oven just for us”

All in all, sadly, we were expecting a fine dining restaurant, but we got the service of a 2 star tourist trap restaurant trying to pass as fine dining while charging 125$ a person for 10$ worth of root vegetables. Definitely not vegetarian/vegan friendly and ultimately will not be our future...

**f/u on my review. Management told me to email then. and no reply. Worst customer services. Not a fine dining experience. I would avoid dining here for a special occasion. Service does count as a part of dining experience and there’s no service from this venue. So many other fine choices in north shore. **

So tonight’s experience made me write a google review for the first time. I love to appreciate any dining experience with my loved ones so I don’t love to criticize. But I guess you will never learn if i don’t. I only had realistic expectations for the restaurant since not much information( chef, food) was available. Service- worse than my go to Vietnamese noodle place. Didn’t check us in on time, no water or any attention for a while after being seated, and worst of all, no happy birthday?? They ask you twice when making a reservation and upon checking in. We even saw our next table being served dessert with a candle on it. I really don’t need to beg you to celebrate bd with our family but why do you even bother to ask??? Not only that, no one bothered to ask how our dinner was tonight. I had to ask for water twice. We couldn’t dress up since we did some snow activities but we were not the only ones bundled up in winter gear up in the mt. We left feeling ignored and lil upset even.

Food-super salty and drenched in fat,oil,cream... The fish was the worst fine dining dish ever. A small piece of fish in a pool of non emulsified fatty sauce?soup? with nothing else on the plate to balance it out. Cioppino had low quality frozen seafood with canned like tomato sauce. Could almost taste Campbell. Dessert was just ok. Single dimensional sweetness. It was cheap at $65 during dine out with the gondola ride up and down. Maybe it was meant to be a free dinner with the gondola ticket. Please do not call yourself a fine dining restaurant. I almost...