C|PRIME Modern Italian Steak and Wine — Restaurant in Vancouver

In my quest to sample the best that this city has to offer, I came upon "C", a quietly elegant little restaurant tucked away in the Century Plaza Hotel and Spa. There's really no signage for the place that would grab your attention as you're walking down the street, so that's exactly what I did, was walk right by it countless times. What did catch my eye was the huge banner for Mocha Pastries, which I have yet to try. This is a hidden restaurant, so to speak.

Upon first entering, there was a dizzying display of wine bottles pressed up against the glass. I'm not a wine connoisseur, but it looked quite formidable. We were led to the back of the restaurant to a spacious U Shaped Booth, and left with the menus.

Both my girlfriend and I had already studied the menu prior, so we knew what we wanted. We did hem and haw about the Dungeness Crab Tortellini, which both of us had been eyeing. On the way in, we had seen a poster advertising it for all to see, and lo and behold, the dish only had 6 pieces of pasta. At $39 it seemed a rather expensive dish to swallow for the quantity given, so sadly, we opted for other dishes.

We ended up getting an Ahi Tuna Tartar and Beef Carpaccio to start. The presentation was exquisite, and we both thoroughly enjoyed the dishes.

For mains my girlfriend went with the Risotto Fungi for $28 while I chose the 12 oz. Ribeye from McLeod Farms. I knew that I wanted Ribeye, but I couldn't justify paying $125 for it. The McLeod Farms one was $58 which was the "cheapest" Ribeye on the menu.

One thing I didn't particularly care for was the fact that you had to purchase the Sauce and Sides separately. I guess you could make a case charging for the Sides, but the Sauce? I just felt that it should have already been included in the price. I tacked on a $6 Demi~Glace and a $10 Potato Rosti as I wasn't about to eat a Ribeye without any accompaniment. It does add up.

The Risotto was a very generous portion and was declared as delicious. The Ribeye was one of, if not the best I have ever had, it was so tender, and the Demi~Glace must have been concocted by a wizard because it was like a magical elixir.

For dessert we went with 3 Scoops of Gelato. Our server was very sweet and let us customize the flavors as we wanted two scoops of chocolate instead of just one. We eagerly devoured the scoops with zest.

This was probaby one of the most expensive restaurants I'd been to, and the bill was pretty hefty. I would go back, because the service was wonderful and the food was mind~blowingly good.

Treat yourself here, if you...

I decided to try somewhere different for my birthday dinner. I wanted to try the dine out menu as I always get carpaccio and wanted the beef short rib because it had truffle. We are all seated and everyone but my husband were asked what we wanted to drink, I said to the waiter when he came back that my husband would like to order a drink. He orders a Coke. We all get our drinks BUT my husband... (our server came up to the guy pouring our water and grabbed it out of his hands rudely and said I'll do that) about 15 mins later he asked if his drink was coming, our server was kind and appologized and offered him refills (which he kept up on) the appitizers were good I wouldn't say amazing but good, the calamari was probably my favourite. We got our beef short ribs but it was missing the fresh grated truffle so I mention it to the gentlemen who brought it out to us and he brings it back to the kitchen then comes right back out drops off our food, mumbled something and walks away, 10 mins passes by and no one comes back so here our food is sitting because I wanted the truffle it's supposed to come with. Finally we see our server so we flag him down and he brings it to the kitchen and talks to I'm assuming the head chef? The chef Beheshad then stormed out with the truffle in a hostile tone "it actually doesn't come with the truffle it's cooked in the polenta" as he's grating it so I responded saying that my friend who went a week before sent me a photo that had the truffle and so does every single food influencer on Instagram so if you're going to offer something I would keep it consistent. After our dinner our dine out menu desserts were brought out but no one else was offered dessert until long after ours was finished. They never brought us our side mushrooms we ordered so we asked to cancel them (our server said he thought we changed our mind on that but what we changed our minds on was the pasta) We all agreed it was not a good experience at all. No one said happy birthday (it was stated on the reso) and our server did not say thank you or goodbye he just walked away without a word. The only friendly people in there are the hostesses & the one gentlemen (I'm assuming he's a busser) he was wearing glasses and had a lovely smile (he deserves better as the server was so rude to him) I'll stick to cin cin my go to...

A TOTAL MUST TRY I would give it a 5.5, if I could. Probably top 4 restaurant experiences I have ever had in Vancouver! I have been here a couple of times and the food has been phenomenal! Now, where do I even begin?!

Service: all the people involved were great! Sam served us the first time, and he is wonderful - very knowledgeable. Our second server was Lalo and he did a great job as well, always there to serve us accordingly. The helpers were great, too; always helping to clear plates, provide the food, or provide us water. They all were pleasant! I was very pleased with the service; it was top notch!

Food presentation: Pictures would not fully do most of them justice! They were beautifully presented - total eye pleasers.

Food taste (the most important part): From appetizers, to the pastas, to the entrees, each dish was well put together and masterfully crafted; well thought out. The head chef is a complete genius! An elite all-star in my books that may one day reach legendary status - keep an eye out for him! With that, the team must be a cohesive group that has depth, in order to present these dishes! I had the privilege of trying the bone marrow (layers of goodness), foie gras, tuna tartare (best I have had), Humboldt squid (amazing), beef carpaccio (delicious), mushroom risotto (one of the best risottos I have ever had), seafood linguine (handmade and wonderful), a stuffed ravioli (again, one of the best in town! Rivals the top Italian restaurants in all of Vancouver), and the 9oz wagyu steak (it was good, but it came medium rather than medium rare - still good though!). Lastly, we ended with desserts that bumped off a couple of my favourites down to the top 5 rather than the top 3. The tirimisu (#2 on my list of desserts in Vancouver) and the Chocolate (#3 on my list now).

Lastly, we had a couple of well thought out and amazing drinks! Consistently delicious and nicely presented; the bartender is a serious mixologist - concocting greatness.

1000% this is a place you must try! Thank you, C-Prime - you've...