Flying Beaver Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Richmond

If it weren't for the staff, this place would get a one-star review.

Let me start by saying the hostess and wait staff gals that work here are fantastic and really try to accommodate everybody considering this is a very busy place.I was impressed with their patience and ability to handle a big crowd.

You get a collection of local people, plus airline staff and anybody that is in between or delayed flights.

and you need to know before going that this is a pub first and food second. while they have done the Vancouver thing and tried to accommodate people with special food needs, don't expect miracles.

Whomever did the menus was very smart because it doesn't say gluten free on a lot of the items, it says Gluten Aware. Although I fail to understand how a full wheat croissant is gluten aware.... But guess it's all in the eye of the beholder.

So wait staff great. The food and cleanliness on the other hand was absolutely brutal.

In the appetizer section everything is hot so how would one expect to get served PAN SEARED AHI TUNA with a sesame seed crust cold? Or rather, frozen and freshly thawed with water still on the plate.

it was so unappetizing that I didn't even try it. add to the fact that I had to pull out at 2 sets of knives and forks before getting clean ones. Yuck.

When lovely Jillian came by, she actually told me she had never heard of pan seared ahi being served hot.

Frankly I've never heard of it being served frozen. But that's no excuse for how it came out of the kitchen. Never mind being frost bit, it was served with sliced avocados that were black and bruised. That and the unusual decision to use extra large sesame seeds without crushing them and leave them whole.

The entire dish was a bit of an overpriced **show and it went back to the kitchen.

Because I was very short on time between flights, I ended up ordering the calamari. It was a solid 5/10. Not great not bad , just food when you are starving and don't have anywhere else as an option.

My waitress Gillian, on the other hand was fantastic. I really did appreciate her going the extra mile with my new challenges at trying to eat and drink gluten free.

I couldn't decide what I wanted so she brought me two samples of Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio. It took the bar stuff over 10 minutes to actually get that sorted out and then it came with what would amount to one teaspoon of liquid in each glass. But it does give you a sample and let you know that you probably don't want that wine anyway.

Instead I went with the gluten-free beer. And it was fine except strangely served.

I felt like I was at some sort of nightclub in the 1980s. I got a frosted mug and a furry rimmed unopened can of beer served at the table.

And let me reiterate - the inside of the can where you pour the beer from was dirty, even after wiping it was a towel and rinsing water in it, I couldn't get the dirt out of the well.

It should never have gone to the table like that. And again this is a bar staff issue, not wait staff.

OR maybe it's my issue for actually having expectations in a place that is that busy and obviously catering to an in-and-out pub clientele.

This is not a place you go to for food first.

Anyhow, would I go there again for a drinks only? Probably.

It's a nice environment with ample seating for any person because they have warm and cool areas plus and outside lounge area with a beautiful view of the river where the float planes are landing.

Would I eat there again?...

I have been to Flying Beaver many times. Always has been relatively consistent. Tonight, I had a ridiculously bad experience.

I was set to meet with 5 friends from out of town, four had driven today to Vancouver, the last one picked up at the airport, so the Flying Beaver seemed like a no brainer for me to suggest. Beautiful spot. Last time I was there it was incredibly hot on the patio, they had opened the overhead windows while we were there, and then closed them again to try and keep the sun out. It was stifling. So when I was waiting for a table, my friends had expressed concern about the 'patio' as it was cold, I assured them it would be nice and warm out there as it was an enclosed patio and I've been out there many times when it's quite warm and hot in the sun. I was confident it would be great out there, I had asked for it.

Took a while to get a table, no problem, pretty busy night and there were 6 of us.

Once we were sat on the patio, we sat for a long time before anyone came over to us. 20 minutes or so. Finally, when we saw the server, we were freezing. He said he would turn on the heaters. Drinks came and we ordered at the same time. That was the last time our server came to our table for 2 hours. Food was run by others, that's fine, not a problem. I get that's how kitchens work. When it arrived, we had no cutlery, napkins or anything else. Makes sense, since we knew the table was turned around quickly for us. We waited a few minutes for someone to come by but the food was quickly getting cold because it was so cold in there, the heater was not on and the overhead windows were wide open. We were sat next to the server stand, so we just got it ourselves. No one came to check on us.

Well past when we were finished, someone came and got 2 of the 6 plates. No more drinks were offered, no dessert. Both of which we were wanting. By this time, we desperately wanted to leave because we were so cold and it was clear that we weren't going to be offered anything else. We couldn't even get our servers attention for another half an hour. It was steady but not crazy. He was visiting all of the other tables and ignoring us entirely.

Finally, we managed to get his attention and just asked for the bills. And of course, when they arrived, there was an auto gratuity of 18%. Suddenly it makes sense why we were ignored. He then told us that 'yea, the heater was broken on our side of the patio'. Apparently, they're "not allowed" to close the overhead windows with people there, but I've been there when they've done so before. Including last time when it was a sauna in there.

I'm embarrassed to have brought my friends here when they had such a bad experience. Embarrassed. I won't be bringing friends from out of town here again and I'll think really hard about a group of 6 or more, to trigger the auto gratuity. We felt ignored and ripped off on the gratuity when the server didn't even do the...

Have not eaten here, and prob wont, after reading the response from the gm in regards to folks having a bad experience here, kinda turned me off, completely unwilling to except that the food may have been bad or that they are at fault for anything.

Edit to response: yes that's right in have not eaten here, looked at the reviews and not just the good ones to see if i wanted to eat here, and was turned off by you and how you responded to bad reviews. I see tons of businesses respond in different ways and yours comes off ... quite frankly like your a dic, and made me nervous to even try out your restaurant in fear of the chance it's a bad experience. As far as doing scathing reviews from the vale of an anonymous account, I mean what do you want me to say, I started this email years before ever doing any reviews. Personally, I think it's better this way for both of us i complain online, one because i always worry that if i complain about food theyll spit in it next time, secondly IF I were to complain in person, and get some of the responses I've seen you give online behind the vale of your keyboard, I would leave your establishment wanting to do something id regret. For those who also don't like reviews of the owners responses, understand that I'm so so tired of paying $30 for casual meals out and receiving sub par food and service, and wether those bad reviews are true or not , there is a much better and professional way to respond to them, considering these folks put money in this businesses pockets. So, to the guy who runs this account, I need you to a big step back and .... you know the rest, tropic thunder, if you haven't seen it, make sure you do it's so good. Dropped you from 3...