Forest Bistro & Lounge — Restaurant in Powell River

Hands down the best food I've had in town. I head to Powell River to visit family as well as work trips and only recently on my last trip did my boss and I head here for our dinner. The food was incredible. As far as exceeding my expectations I would say it's unparalleled. I started with the Ratatouille and it was the best Ratatouille of my life. I've found myself wishing I could make the day's trip all the way back to Powell River just for this dish. If it was offered as a main course it would for sure be my choice upon my next visit. Next, I had salt and pepper wings. I was met with three enormous drumsticks which could pass as turkey legs with cumulatively more meat than a regular pound of wings for less than half the price of one. Served with a house made BBQ sauce which was great but second sauce served with it would be the only complaint I had as it was explained to me that it was supposed to be a hot sauce but it had absolutely no spice that either my boss or I could detect and was instead just very salty. There is definite room for improvement there, but as it was so far off I'm convinced it was a mistake and not a representation of their abilities. My final dish was the Braised Beef and it was so incredibly tender I could have left my teeth at home and still enjoyed it entirely. I would order this meal again and again.

On the other side of the table my boss started with the glazed beet and goat cheese salad and told me "I would eat this salad every day of my life". I think that's all that needs to be said about that. His second dish was the French onion soup which he enjoyed but which was his least favorite of his three dishes. His final dish was the hunter chicken which was excellently done and accompanied with a phenomenal sauce. He was very satisfied with it.

Everything about this meal blew us away, and I haven't even mentioned the drinks or the service yet.

The drinks and the service are really one and the same, as our waiter, Cash-deep-singh, was also a bartender. He was incredibly friendly and personable, offering conversation, suggestions, anecdotes, and impeccable service. He brought us an old fashioned my boss will be hard pressed to forget. My negroni was perfect. The ceasar left nothing to be desired, and when asked to make his favorite drink Cash informed us he actually didn't drink alcohol but just enjoyed the art and based all of his decisions off of feedback he gets from his customers. He then brought me the best whiskey sour I've ever had. I could have sworn it had some sort of aromatic like cardamom in it but he promised me it didn't.

All in all an unforgettable dinner to tie up our work trip. We are already planning to change our accommodation next trip so we are closer to Forest Bistro as we both found ourselves wanting to stay and enjoy ourselves more but had to drive.

Incredible experience, 10/10, I cannot recommend enough. We were there on a Thursday evening, it was not too busy. There was a whiskey tasting going on and a few other tables; very quiet and great atmosphere. There was a setup for Karaoke which looks better than most but I can see that if that was going on our experience may have...

Great tasting food. Good people. Wonderful Atmosphere and Sunset views.

The Sunshine Coast has a few nice restaurants. Forest is definitely one of the nicer ones. It's not flashy, it's simply good.

We walked passed Forest's entrance twice. The items on the posted menu look very enticing: seared scallops, braise lamb, roasts. The entrance was more like a tavern than a bistro - it was flipping my brain: a gritty bistro. hmmm... nothing corporate or chainy about this bistro. I like it.

The host was very welcoming and showed us to a bench with a fantastic view of the water and the sunset. Fantastic.

We started with appetizers. The seared scallops were perfect. Just as the sun was starting to set, I had the braised lamb shank. Oh la la... savoury, moist, falling off the bone, served with Bok Choi. Crazy... who has Bok Choi in Powell River?

The team was even better than the food: friendly, helpful, and really down to earth. A good reflection on the person who hired them. They spoke very well about the Chef - John; and his willingness for trying new things, pushing the menu in different directions. Unbeknownst to me, Chef John (also the co-owner) had a few moments to mingle with his guests and team around our table. Chef John introduced himself, shared the story of Forest Bistro (the backstory, renovations, COVID pivot), and even showed me the kitchen.

To keep things fresh and exciting, I have noticed that the menu changes frequently. So go there often and try the new dishes.

Unfortunately, I live in Vancouver; so I will have to live vicariously through the on-line menu and pictures until the next time I am in...

Upon arriving we were greeted fairly quickly. We were seated and water was provided right away, along with the menus. Nice atmosphere, wasn't too busy when we arrived. Our server appeared after we had some time to make a decision on what to order, they immediately took our order for our meals. We continued with the drink menu while our server put our order in. When they returned we placed our drink order. Our drinks were brought to us soon after, while we waited for our meals. Upon arrival, our meals were hot smelled great. The steak was perfect, cooked exactly how I ordered. The lamb was, well awesome, my wife wouldn't stop raving about it. The bread tower was good too. In all, it was an exceptional dinner. After we finished eating our server cleared the table and gave us a run down of the available deserts. We ordered the one with fire involved, which was fun and delicious. Thank you to the hard working staff.

Update: We returned and ordered the same thing, except the dessert was different. We ordered the special, banana cream tart, which was delicious. The food was consistent with our last visit, everything tasted great. This time we had the pleasure of enjoying some live music with our meal from Andy Redhead. Thank you for the great night.

If you're in Powell River and looking for a nice place to eat that won't disappoint, check...