Dovetail — Restaurant in Vancouver

We were looking forward to trying this restaurant for a very long time and decided on celebrating my birthday dinner here. First, I don’t quite understand the California inspired theme as the decor and food doesn’t reflect it. Our table was so small and the chairs were uncomfortable, everything is so close together there’s barely any room to walk. We forgot to mention to the server we wanted all our items to come at the same time but we let the expo know and he agreed. However, the expo still brought all items at different times and when we said it again he seemed annoyed and didn’t care about our request. The spicy vodka pasta was bland and wasn’t spicy at all, needs basil. The portions of our appys were quite small and not worth it. Towards the end of our meal my partner let the server know that it was my birthday and he asked if they do anything special. The server offered a cake or donuts, we opted for the donuts, which just tasted like oil. We noticed everyone else’s desserts came with a candle and ours didn’t— it felt like we were being singled out. My partner asked the server if we can get a candle and she said she didn’t know that we would want one, which was a weird response and as a server wouldn’t you want to go the extra mile to ensure your guests are happy! When we got the bill we noticed how they charged for donuts and when we asked the server she said they weren’t complimentary but she never communicated that when my partner initially asked if they do anything special for birthdays. If we knew this beforehand and we’re told we wouldn’t have got the dessert then because we bought a whole cake from a bakery. I think it’s quite cheap that they don’t really do anything for birthdays where as casual restaurants we go to do a complimentary dessert! The overall experience was very disappointing and we felt...

Just dined with my girlfriend.

We ordered Brussel sprouts and bang bang shrimp for appetizers For main we had spicy vodka pasta and carbonara

The food was decent. The appetizer was okay for us but the pastas were great.

Everything was great except for the service. I have read all the reviews and did not get anything extraordinary. The service is actually the reason we are hesitant to come back to dine.

The host was friendly and accommodating as we came in a bit early for our reservation. However the server, who we do not know the name she was wearing glasses, was not accommodating at all. She never checked on us after the food came out except for when she was just passing by grabbing some leftover dishes from other tables. Never smiled but just had this still face. We thought maybe she was having a bad day, yet she was smiling fine to other tables. Only time I saw her working fast was when we grabbed our bill and was ready to leave, she got the dishes out of the way very fast indeed.

The default tip was 18% which we don’t mind paying at all on other days but not today. However this server was holding the machine and looking at the screen like looking and waiting for my girlfriend to make the payment.

Overall the service was very unpleasant. I really do not want to think like this but I felt like this could be some sort of racism on us since we were the only asian customers in comparison to other customers she served.

I really hope it’s just our misunderstanding. We had so much expectations before coming to this restaurant but its very disappointing for us. We left early in like 40minutes.

Wanted to give 1 star but the food was great and had nothing against the restaurant so we gave 4 stars.

Sorry for the...

The experience started great overall; reservation at 5pm and only a short wait for our table, and the restaurant has a lovely modern ambiance. Appetizers came very quickly after ordering, within 10 minutes! The shishito peppers and the broccolini were cooked perfectly and tasted great. The butter beef tataki had good flavour with the sauce/marinade, and the shallots were crispy and added good texture. However, if you’re expecting a butter beef similar to say, Phnom Penh, I wouldn’t order this dish as the beef is tougher as it is cooked more throughout, versus the having the meat mostly soft and rare.

What was unexpected was how long it took for the pasta to come out. We ordered 3 pastas, the vodka, carbonara and the mushroom. Unfortunately, it took 50 minutes for the pasta dishes to arrive from the time of our ordering, which was unexpected based on how quickly the appetizers came out.

Quality and taste wise however, the pasta was excellent. Texture of the pasta was great, and the various pasta shapes paired well with each sauce. I especially enjoyed the unique shape of the pasta paired with the carbonara, which really allowed the sauce to be picked up by each piece. While some at my table thought the carbonara was a little salty, I thought it was perfect for my tastes, so no issues with quality or taste of food from my perspective.

While I’m unsure why there was such an extended delay between appetizers and entrees, I would highly recommend this place for delicious, high quality pasta and a lovely ambiance. If when I come again, I hope that the timing issues with the food was just a one off, and then I would likely increase my rating to five...