acquafarina — Restaurant in Vancouver

This was my first time coming to Acquafarina and honestly I cannot wait to come back here again. To give you some context, my girlfriend and I live in Coquitlam and decided to have a staycation weekend downtown Vancouver...treat ourselves to a Spa Treatment and great food experiences. We are busy working mom's and we decided to treat ourselves before our kids go back to school. After an amazing spa experience , our next stop was Happy Hour at Acquafarina. We were feeling fabulous and relaxed after our Treatment and we were ready for some great appies and some drinks. When you first walk in, you'll immediately be impressed by the high ceilings and how airy and bright the place feels. There is an impressive decorative wall of alcohol storage lockers that lures your eyes. You'll see the strange bulbous looking wood fired ovens and even though it wasn't terribly busy for 4 o'clock on a Saturday, afternoon there was a chill vibe to the place. We were seated and immediately welcomed by our server, Nathan. Now admittedly, Nathan did look somewhat like quite a serious fellow, so I was somewhat cautious about the service we would receive. You naturally expect warm, welcoming smiles but let me tell you, what Nathan lacked perhaps through his body language he made up with his ability to read his customers and provide an exceptional experience. When you're in the service industry, top rated service comes from the ability to sense what your customers would like and executing on that. I'm sure Nathan is used to a couple of women like ourselves that come in not really knowing what they want. Now ordinarily we do, but we were after some new experiences on this self-centered weekend of ours and wanted to try something new. Nathan was honest in answering our questions and offering suggestions. We expressed our love for burrata and in addition to the Wagyu Carpaccio which was absolutely melt in your mouth amazing, he suggested their daily feature the Watermelon Burrata Carpaccio. we were going to order the Burrata Salad. This was an absolute 'wow,' and we were blown away by the flavour combinations. The chef who made it even came out and asked us how it was and you could tell he loved the positive feedback, reassuring him of his creation. Now Nathan, Nathan. This guy did so many unexpected, surprising things to convert us and let us know he know exactly how to take care of his customers and really make our day. First, my girlfriend who can't hold down a lot of alcohol was going to ask for a Negroni and proceeded to ask Nathan about it. I immediately stepped in and said I didn't think she'd like it. We also discussed the house made limoncellos and through a bit of back and forth Nathan said because they aren't that sweet, I may not like the flavour profile so I ordered the Il Monarca instead and my girlfriend, a glass of pinot grigio. Not only did Nathan serve us our drinks, he came back with a small taster of Negroni for my girlfriend to try. He didn't have to do this but honestly we were so surprised! Who does this? Nathan does! And yes, my girlfriend agreed that it was a drink that she would have liked. Second, when he asked me how my drink was I did say the drink was fine, still not as sweet as I would have liked. I thought the elderflower would have made it sweeter but it didn't. I was totally fine, but sweet Nathan silently came by with some simple syrup and told me to put small amounts in to taste and the drink was amazing with the little added sweetness. Slowly converting us to be fans of 'Nathan' - he even came by with small samples of the grapefuit limoncellos! Then as if this wasn't enough he told us that he had a surprise for us and he showed us the private dining area at the front of the restaurant. An amazing area for a private/corporate function. He then showed us the where the restaurant stores the wines and took us into this amazing room and helped us take a cool upside down photo! Honestly, the food was wonderful. Nathan was wonderful. We can't wait to come...

I’m very impressed by this place! I’m going to write a long review because this place puts a lot of effort in to everything so it’s only fair that I do the same.

My favourite part about this place is actually the bar and what the mixologists can offer. The first time I came to this place I arrived a bit early and was offered to sit at a bar first. I took a good scan of the bar to see what they could offer me. I ordered a drink from their cocktail list and a french75. I judge a lot of restaurant based on how they make my french75 so I generally have a good idea if I want to come back or not. I can see that they put a lot of effort into making the cocktail list and tried one off the menu and it’s was pretty good. I appreciate the scent it gives off right before I take my first sip.

I came back again for the second time yesterday for the drinks because I was curious. My first and second visit I was both helped by a gentleman named David and he was extremely knowledgable. First visit David helped me with explaining the dishes and the second time was helping me as a mixologist. He is versatile and have a lot to offer on both side. Overall I got an impression that all of the staff were very competent and knew exactly how they were impacting each customer. Even the hostess at the door made sure everything went well until I exited the restaurant. For my second visit, I tried a mule on the cocktail list. I found this drink to be very unique, unlike other mules I’ve tried in the past and very pleasant. For my second drink I wanted a mezcal based drink with the taste of citrus. David made me a cocktail based on my request and it exceeded my expectations. The friend that was sitting next to me was not a fan of mezcal but I got him to try it and he was also impressed by this. It was the perfect combination of smokey, citrus and soft foam. I feel that people should come and take advantage of the mixologist and let them be creative with your drinks because they’re really good at what they do. The only thing to keep in mind is you have to know what you want before they can help you.

I ordered 3 appetizers and 2 main dishes. I ordered foie gras, scallop crudo, beef carpaccio, wild boar and their featured pasta which was actually a wagyu risotto at the time of my order. I think scallops and carpaccio was pretty on point. The foie gras didn’t really cut nor spread as expected. Wild boar is a good dish if you want something consistent and cooked to precision. This dish was really good. For the truffles on top of the risotto, I think I would have been more impressed if they shaved it in front of me or have it shaved a bit thicker but that’s just my personal preference. I’m open to coming back to try few more dishes. I also like the plates.

I didn’t feel that this place was pretentious or snobby at all like people were saying in the reviews. I think they bring a lot to the table and just want people to appreciate and recognize what they can offer. I find the owner’s comment on the negative reviews to be actually quite witty and hilarious. The owner and the team has very high expectation of themselves and take pride in their capabilities so many they may have high expectation of their customers in return.

Im not entirely sure why they ban the phones or what their intensions are but this is hard to regulate so maybe requesting them do it in a certain manner should...

I booked a reservation for 2 people on Sat Mar 12 with the note that it would be a birthday dinner.

We ordered the set menu and wine pairing consisting of 5 courses: lobster arancini, Hokkaido scallop crudo, cacio e pepe, venison and dessert. We also ordered a la carte: kusshi oysters, a5 kagoshima wagyu and truffle pizza.

Bad things I noted: Business casual dress code Not allowed to use phones in the dining room for any reason, photos or otherwise (this made it hard to decide what I wanted to order when I was doing research in advance) Cacio e pepe was unbearably salty, we both took a bite and didn’t finish it. I was already warned of this by another friend who dined here previously who sent their dish back. The server took our dishes away without asking if anything was wrong with it when it was only our 3rd course (other fine dining establishments always ask “may I ask if something was wrong with the dish” if it was barely touched) Had to ask for our waters to be refilled Truffles on the pizza were dry when they’re supposed to be fresh I asked for my venison and dessert to be packed up because I was too full, the server agreed and we also settled our bill at this time Server disappeared for 30 mins and I had to ask another server to find him because I was waiting for my take out and last dessert wine pairing which I had to ask for My server finally came back with my packed food but didn’t provide a bag even though it was multiple boxes Server never brought dessert for my friend and didn’t pack mine either but by then we had been at dinner for 3 hours from 9pm-12am (not because we eat slow, we literally didn’t finish the pasta and had the pizza packed up immediately after 1 slice because we knew more food was coming) not sure if the server forgot or the kitchen is slow or can’t handle set menus in combination with a la carte They didn’t do anything for my birthday nor did I receive my dessert which was part of the set menu

I’m not sure if it was because we already settled the bill right before dessert course but when he came back he didn’t communicate why he was gone for so long. We were tired from the slow service times and we didn’t want to wait another 30 minutes for a total of 3.5 hours to have dessert served for my friend and my dessert packed so we just left. Also the restaurant was empty since we were one of the last two tables and I could see other servers around just not mine…

The service was mediocre until we paid the bill but I just find it funny that people try to compare this place to Michelin or that the service is impeccable when it is not even up to par with other local fine dining establishments.

Good things I noted: Offering black or white handkerchiefs depending on your attire so that it wouldn’t leave lint on your clothes Replacing silverware while wearing a glove at every course Sommelier was friendly and very knowledgeable Nice romantic atmosphere, beautiful furnishings and extravagent wine cellar A5 kagoshima wagyu was very good cooked medium rare as per the chef’s recommendation Hokkaido scallop crudo was unique and interesting for the savory salt sorbet it was served with

Overall disappointing dinner and occasion. I would definitely not return...