Blue Canoe Waterfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Richmond

Paddling the canoe once again…

Decided to check out the boats at the Fishermen’s Wharf in Steveston Village since the City of Richmond are promoting the spot prawn season. Did a little walk around Steveston village to work up a little appetite; it’s buzzing with people buying the spot prawns (sadly and needless to say, the prices off the boats are the same as T&T supermarket or a couple of dollars per pounds more expensive then Foody World, what a useless PR and promo). Finally decided on giving the Blue Canoe another try because the last time it wasn’t so great due to a little issue with the seafood tower. Anyways, here were the food I ordered this time around;

Seafood chowder. The taste was decent but 2 little shrimps, 1 piece of clam and 1 piece of mussel is hardly considered a seafood chowder?!?! I swear the menu said CLAMS and MUSSELS, not CLAM and MUSSEL. The seafood swam away with anything good in this one, failed! Lobster Bisque (daily soup). I honestly wish restaurants would stop doing this hack for lobster bisques. All the chefs and restaurants out there, STOP using shrimps on them lobster bisques!!! Why even call it lobster bisque if you are going to do that? Call it shrimp bisque or imitation bisque or whatever. Don’t put a chicken nugget between the burger buns and call it a chicken burger. BTW, lobster and shrimps look and taste different especially their texture. Failed! Canoe coconut mussels. Most of the mussels were of decent size and plump, the coconut sauce fused in well. This dish was okay Baked canoe crab dip. Very nicely baked; nice and creamy with a nice taste of crab. Louisiana clambake (for 2 share). Every thing as described on the menu; fresh and tasty but some may find it a little on the pricey side.

This restaurant has been around for awhile now, inside the decors and atmosphere are quite casual. I have been here a few times over the years so decided to give it another go because I wasn’t feeling for fish and chips. This time around, the service was okay but quite slow with the food, it took a little over 30mins before the first dish arrived. The soups pretty much failed in my opinion. The rest of the dishes were okay, nothing to really change into cheerleading skirts and jump up and down with pom-poms. Overall, just another restaurant situated in the tourist trap area; operates and presented itself as that in my opinion. Honestly, any restaurants located in a tourist area should really pickup their game cause you represent. Anyways, this time around 2 stars are more than generous and time to give the other restaurants in the...

I came here for date night and the resteraunt was good! The staff were very kind and helpful. They gave us helpful suggestions when ordering and suggested good wine pairings. However I suggest that they stop in to check in on diners more frequently. We ran out of garlic butter sauce for our crab and had an incredibly difficult time flagging down the server. This contributed to the 3 star rating. However I would like to make special mention of a server that went out of her way to help us:

After we were finished eating, our fingers were coated with seafood bits and sauces. Our server was nowhere to be found, so I flagged down any employee I could find to ask for some wet wipes, or if I should just go to the bathroom. The employee left and returned with a very creative solution because the resteraunt was out of wet wipes. They filled a bowl with warm water and put a lemon in it. Although simple, this shows the committment of this employee to find a solution rather than taking the easy road and simply saying "we're out, sorry". Thus although I can't remember the employee's name, I would like to commend them for their outstanding committment and creativity.

The food on the other hand was phenominal! Everything was rich in flavour and noticibly fresh! The Yacht platter has a wide array of seafoods to pick from with many sauces available for dipping and coating your food! Lastly, the atmosphere was fish/sea themed. It really made the experience comfortable. However a seaside view in my opinion is critical to this resteraunt. So critical in fact that I wouldn't have ordered if I wasn't able to get a seaside view. We were placed at an area that had a seaside view, but were told that due to covid restrictions we need to sit with our backs to the ocean...... I understand that covid is serious and social distancing MUST be observed but doesn't it make sense to face the ocean where the water droplets will exit the resteraunt rather than facing inwards? And secondly shifting the table 2 feet (away from other tables) and twisting our chairs by 90 degrees would've allowed for even greater social distancing while still maintaining an ocean view (this option would make more sense to management as they understand the layout of the resteraunt). The server didn't even try consider this option when it was mentioned and this made the experience difficult for my girlfriend and I. This severely contributed to the 3 star rating. I would love to come back to this resteraunt because of the delicious fresh food and the lovely and helpful staff, but perhaps after...

HAPPY HOUR & 2025 DINE OUT VANCOUVER We decided to attend the Happy Hour for some drinks and then stay for the Dine Out menu.

Happy hour (Mon-Fri 2:48pm-5:16pm): drinks selection and snacks are quite nice. The drinks are good mixes, we particularly enjoyed the Sangria ($8). The house wines ($7) at the time were blends from Church & State, which paired quite well with the food.

2025 Dine Out: (4.5/5*) we found the dine out to be great value for $46CAD per person. Crunchy crab cake with saffron butter sauce: (5/5*) definitely crunchy, the cake is moist with great balance on flavour - not too buttery, not too seafoody. miso glazed sablefish: (5/5*) another one with great balance on flavour - not too salty, not too sweet, the risotto was cooked well. seafood bouillabaisse: (4/5*) while there's a lot of seafood, the sauce is quite bland and it is hard to remember it. housemade diplomat apple verrine: (5/5*) it is like a deconstructed apple pie. Can't go wrong when the apple sauce is done right! cheese cake truffle trio: (4/5*) the presentation is lovely. The cheese cake portion is rather small and overwhelmed by the chocolate coating.

Service: (4.5/5*) the young gentleman was happy to show us the lounge area and dining area before we sat. Really appreciate the service as it was a nice sunny day and we love the view. Our initial server semi-ignored us and took the order from another table seated later than us first, but our next server was attentive, nothing else bad. Overall, we felt we were getting great service.

Atmosphere: (5/5*) if you do get to snag a seat overlooking the waterfront on a nice day, please do so. It is gorgeous and they have plenty of heaters and blankets. I was wearing a dress and didn't feel cold at all.

Overall, thank you for a wonderful afternoon and evening dining experience. We recommend this place for both Happy Hour...