Cask Whisky Vault — Restaurant in Richmond

This place could be great - a quiet room with nice decor, focused on whiskey and Japanese bites. I want them to do well and am offering this feedback to encourage and to also help with guest expectations as the gushing reviews set me up for a big disappointment. I honestly want it to work as it's close to me and I'd love to return. I wish I had tried it when the previous chef was setting it up. Things to work on - check on all tables regularly! I had to get people's attention (difficult) to ask for everything. It's a nice hotel and the prices in the restaurant were very high - not checking and not filling water is not acceptable at a place like this. I would have felt ignored even if I was at a Denny's. And it was super quiet - they were not busy, just not attentive. They are emulating izakaya style dishes - you can give people a teapot of green tea or a carafe of water and that will solve part of it. Or come around with a teapot. Don't be stingy with tea and water - just make it complimentary. People are trying high end whiskey. I honestly asked for water at the end along with a take out box and the bill and guess which didn't come to my table but the bill still made it over. So I had to ask again. My table smelled strongly of Lysol much of the night and it was so bad that it would have interferred with tasting (if I wasn't easy going about it). Thank goodness I wasn't trying to taste expensive whiskies. Some food was tasty (calamari and tasting skewers, good char on the shishitos), but texture could have been improved with the calamari - would be nice crisp. But yaki udon was terrible. So much sauce. And the noodles were too soft - it should have a chew to it. I am going to guess that they were not made in house. But when I cook frozen ones, I can get a better texture by making sure to not cook it too long. And there was nothing on the menu that wasn't intensely flavoured, salty and fatty. I actually ordered the udon as a starch to balance and it was just as fatty and intense and "yaki" udon should be drier. It was priced at 26 without a major protein. If you want to elevate it to make the food match the space, put a beautiful little piece of steak or duck on top and then it could feel worth it. Just have something like an a la carte plainer starch or veg dish to balance all the fat on the menu. What was the previous menu like? You could add some refreshing cold tofu dish. Or maybe some fry bread? The potato dish was sold out for some reason. They had fries but really something less fatty would be good. Fruit sando? Mini chirashi? For the amount of food, everything was too expensive. Some food took a LONG time to make. Simple skewers too, don't really understand why it took so long. However, happy hour price of my cocktail was good and it was tasty. I liked the burnt dried orange garnish. Service was actually very friendly and there were plenty of staff around, but it was just the weirdest timing and they just didn't poke their head around the corner when they knew I was there. The whole experience was perplexing and disappointing in many ways. Please fix these things. I could see that they wanted the experience to be good and that they were trying. Again, I only offer this to help. The food looked attractive. Everything besides the visual aspects of the restaurant just needs...

By far...one of, if not the best hidden gem of restaurants in British Columbia. Possibly Canada. This was a birthday surprise from my wife. She knows I love scotch. So as soon as we walked in the place, it looked like a vault. I was hooked. My eyes were immediately drawn to the scotch sitting room to the left. A circular, almost non belonging portion of the room, but it fits so perfectly. On display, multiple shelves of scotches and whiskey you've only heard of encompass a majority of the circular room. Right there for you to explore (look and take pictures, not indulge in). When the doors to the room are pulled closed for private events, the stone table in the middle of the scotch room has an ethereal, medieval, almost secret society feel to it. Even the light fixture above is reminiscent of an open cask.

Now the food. My goodness, the food. Every item we tried, must have been a time tested project before the final product. The fusion of flavors, the aromas, the textures... Everything was perfect and amazing. Every time we thought it couldn't get any better, the next course came and dispelled that thought. It wasn't that the next dish was better than the last, everything complimented every other dish. From the Spicy chicken nanban to the truffle potato okonomiyaki to the beef tongue and wagyu skewers, everything enhanced the flavors of everything else. Even the dipping sauces were taken to a higher level of taste.

And the spirits. Cask has such a diverse selection. If you have a favorite, it will be there. Heard rumors about it, it will be there. My advice, if you know your favorite, try something else. You can have anything from a single that will cost you $15 to well over a thousand. I'll never spend that kind of money for a drink, but the fact that they offer it is phenomenal. They offer whiskey flights. I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried a Japanese and Indian whiskey and was NOT disappointed. They were very complimentary to the food. My scotch experience has just been given new life. All thanks to Cask.

The server Yuka was SO NICE and so knowledgeable about everything. Some servers just know the menu, Yuka knew the subtle nuances about each dish and how to pair everything. My wife doesn't drink scotch but she decided to try with me. She asked me what to try and me and Yuka said the same brand that a beginner should try. So I was highly, highly impressed. She even sang happy birthday to me! All of the staff were amazing. The host looked after us like family. You could tell he was a no nonsense kind of guy, and would check any trouble before it even starts, but respectful and honorable as the best person you know. Truly an amazing, unforgettable experience.

Bottom line, Cask is a diamond in the rough. THEE diamond in the rough. You will not be disappointed. We will definitely...

Avoid CASK Whisky Vault if you can!

We have visited this establishment for my son's birthday for 3 years in a row and kept coming back because of the atmosphere and good service we had for his birthdays.

But this time, on November 16th, 2024, it turned out to be a disaster in all ways. It started with them changing our reservation time for the 8 of us, which we took in stride, and then upon arrival, we find that our waiter for the evening, Kelvin, started off the evening by being very abrupt and rude as we asked various questions about our drinks and food. Others at our table were wondering if anyone else felt the same way about his attitude and demeanor?

We decided on our drinks and also decided that we would just order a ton of appetizers.

The food was okay, but we also noticed that some of the dishes we had ordered in the past, had actually gotten smaller in portion and even more expensive than previous visits? We took this all in stride and went on to try and enjoy our birthday evening.

His service was very slow and as we went to order a special dessert platter with a candle for our son's birthday, our waiter seemed to find it a chore and did not even light the birthday candle until he got my son to move and he proceeded to put it on the table???

So much for a small surprise!!

Some of our party had to leave a bit earlier, but 6 of us stayed on a bit and I asked my son if he would like one more birthday Whiskey Drink before we wrap up for the evening?

He got our waiter to bring over the drink menu, at first bringing the wrong one, and then when he got the right one, my son ordered his Birthday drink.

A few minutes past and our waiter approached the table and bent over and whispered in my son's ear.

My son looked up at me and said, "Dad, we have to leave. I can't have another drink"

I asked the waiter, why and he proceeded to say that we had already been there 2 and a half hours and they were very busy, so he couldn't serve us any more, even though I saw other tables that were there just as long us, and they were still getting served?????

I realize that there were some people waiting to get in and if our waiter had thought, he could have taken a portion of our section and actually moved it to accommodate at least 4 people, until my son got his drink and we paid for our bill!!

Our waiter had no reaction to our questions and I just asked for the bill so we could get out of there.

Cask may not care about this at all, but in the industry we are in, we treat our clients and friends to many dinners and drinks and constantly go back to the establishments that treat other customers and us right!!''

We won't be coming back or recommending CASK!!

CASK, you have not only lost 8 customers, but everyone else that we will tell this story to.

Another sad case of bad...