Dachi Vancouver — Restaurant in Vancouver

I was having one of those weeks, and then my friend pulled me out that night to get a drink and maybe some food. And well, we wounded ourselves here for a night of debachery. I literally just called ahead to see if they could accomodate us for the night, and they said yes. We have a bar seat for the both of you, and I told them I'll be there in 10.

A little story about me and Dachi, every single time I have wanted to come here to have a drink or like come to eat, I have been denied. Both of the times I have arrived, they were having a private function. And I was so sad, until this time around.

Anyways, once we arrived, they sat us at a table instead of a bar, because we came around 6, which is usually early. And once we were seated, we walked over to their wine wall. The hostess went over the wine wall with us, and we chose a fun wine. We drank some of it, and my in training friend sommelier said it was good, we opened the bottle and started drinking it.

While drinking, we were waiting looking over the menu, and decided to go for the full tasting menu. It was a good decent price too. I knew they were all about tapas, but I wasn't expecting SO MUCH FOOD. When I was walking out, I literally told my friend, I am rolling out. The menu was 9 plates, and 5 courses. So the tasting menu is as follows: 3 plates of hors d'oeuvre 1 salad & 1 soup 1 appetizer 2 main course 1 dessert

Each plate has a very specfic flavour, but I remember the most was that salad. Holy cow, their mousse that was used on that salad was beyond phenomenal. From what I remembered, that was a pho inspired salad with pate.

Smoked coho with huckleberries and friend enoki This was fantastic, I enjoyed the smoke coho salmon as this was my first taste of dachi, and it was a good start. I loved how flavorful it was, especially with the amazing texture of the enoki on top.

Beef tatare A typical beef tatare. They really doused it with a lot of cheese at the top to give it that added savoury flavour. Might need a bit more oil, but overall a good plate.

Herb churros with kalamata olive dip This was a fun type of food. I enjoy how you can just pick up a random food item and just eat it with some dip. I get it, and it was fun too. Me and my friend were swordfighting each other, I'm such a child.

The soup and salad were: Pho inspired sald with pate, as I have said this was my highlight of the night. I would come back just for this plate anyday. Wow.

Root vegetable stock soup This was fun, I loved how each vegatable was cut into little cubes and then cooked in a stock type of soup. It was a deliciously dark flavour with each vegtable and on top of that, the amount of vegetables covered the whole bowl at the bottom.

The appetitizer was a gnocchi in ragu sauce. I wished this was more promiment, as I felt it was a bit rushed on the piece, and there could have been more in quantity. On top of that, the plating seems so half par for this.

The Savoy Cabbage and Roasted chicken being the main dish was extremely wholesome and delicious. I loved that they grilled the cabbage perfectly and added a bunch of different vegetables within each layer of each leaf. Smokey and perfectly seasoned. The Roasted chicken was a good main dish too, as the chef didn't just use the breast, but there were cuts of meat from the drum stick on there too. I tasted some dark meat too.

Ice cream & graham crackers with local berries A simple cup of ice cream and berries with graham crackers was just enough for me. The berries weren't overly sweet and it was tarty enough for the night.

Loved the night at Dachi, and will be coming back in the future with some friends or maybe with another...

We made advanced plans to visit for a birthday. The friend who coordinated the reservation both emailed and called asking if they could accommodate a VEGAN diner, which they said they could. Upon arrival the waiter informed us the tasting menu was “protein-heavy” tonight according to the chef, effectively making it moot for us to come for the prefix experience. Really disappointed off bat but we went with it. Upon reading there is nothing on the menu tonight that was vegan, only vegetarian. Thankfully our diner was flexible and could enjoy dairy but this was disappointing and we felt misled.

The food was beautifully presented, and emphasis on fresh ingredients was clear. Menu felt a little bit too busy in terms of plate descriptions and was printed super small, but had an interesting variety for a summer menu— salad, fish, beef, etc. Salad was underdressed and a little salty, and the waiter emphasized the cucumber so much I was excited to try, but it only had a few razor-thin slices on it. Polenta was good. Pickles were ok. Service was honestly a little too attentive.

The major issue I took aside from the lack of vegetarian follow through was that the portions were laughably small. Waiter recommended about 2 plates per person which was not enough. Shockingly the most expensive dish (a wok beef) was $30 with just a small handful of fries as a side. Every single entree was insufficiently portioned for one person and was too small for the price. My ginger beer was not even a full can, just a small glass with a large ice cube.

Finally with dishes this pricey I’d expect real seating? Only wire metal chairs and picnic tables available which felt a little lazy. The seating does not say "fine dining". It has a coffee shop vibe with the prices and ego of a fine dining restaurant, with waiters in slacks and button downs but others in ripped jean shorts and a tee shirt? I think this place may need to decide on if it is fine dining or a casual, family-style shared plates experience, otherwise folks will continue to leave hungry.

I also emailed the establishment after our experience and the reply stated that they never got confirmation about a vegetarian diner. Either there was a communication breakdown or these folks straight up lied to us, either way we won’t be coming back unless we want to over pay for not...

The food was pretty good, however the front of house service was a bit too strict and overbearing.

I had made reservations online which the restaurant called to follow-up on. They advised me that the kitchen was not equipped to serve multiple dishes at a time for large groups and that we would have to do family style only – we were cool with that.

I had made reservations for 7 people but unfortunately 2 people had to cancel at the last minute (30 mins before arriving). I arrived at the restaurant 7 mins late and was the first to arrive in my group. The hostess asked if the rest of my party was following shortly and I told her yes. I was a bit taken aback that she asked since we weren’t THAT late. I also let her know that our numbers have dwindled which she replied with “You should have called me to let me know.” I explained to her that I only found out recently and asked her if she wanted us to switch to a smaller table – which she replied no. I understand the importance of maximizing the restaurant’s capacity, however I didn’t appreciate the lack of understanding or patience. It was an unfortunate start to the evening and left me feeling uncomfortable and like we were inconveniencing the restaurant.

Overall the food was pretty good, the pork cheek was the group’s favourite dish of the night.

Burrata ($19) – THREE STARS (very creamy burrata but overpriced dish) Duck Croquettes ($12) – TWO STARS (a bit bland) Perogies ($16) – FOUR STARS (more like a dumpling) Octopus ($20) – FOUR STARS (super tender) Clams ($22) – THREE STARS (the broth was a bit too salty) Pork Cheek ($21) – FIVE STARS (tender and flavourful) Roasted Beef ($27) – THREE STARS (the beef was flavourful but a bit tough) Chocolate Ganache ($10) – TWO STARS (nothing really stood out in this dish)

The dinner service was friendly and attentive – sometimes a bit over the top.

Unfortunately, the dishes were good but I would not return again based on the negative experience with the...