French Table — Restaurant in Vancouver

Reserved a table for 2 for my wife's birthday, we were promptly seated and as there were 2 servers one as soon as they were free from another table they were giving the specials to asked if we wanted water to start and we sis yes. After bringing our water, he asked if we had any other drinks we wanted. I ordered a 1/2 L of Bordeaux. Once he had brought the flask, I was asked if o wanted to try before pouring for us. I said yes, so I was poured a small bit in my glass to sample before proceeding. I was satisfied with the taste and nodding yes to affirm he could proceed to serve the wine to us.

After he asked if we had been told what the specials were and we had not. He then proceeded to tell us what the specials were starting from soups, salad, and then entrees. As for this visit; the soup specials were a soup with zucchini, then a Spanish soup served cold, for salads it was a Caesar salad and a Nicoise salad with tuna. Entree specials were a salmon wellington and a beef wellington there also was a pork roulade.

For apps we decided to do with a duck terrine , and for our mains i went with the beef wellington and wife with the salmon wellington.

The duck terrine was served with a small salad; pearl onions & gerkins. It had a nice taste and thought it was a good approach to start. Those not familiar with a terrine should look it up as it may not be too your palate. This was my first time having one; but it has similarities to asian dishes I've had, so it wasn't off the beaten path for me.

The wellington was a beautifully cooked beef round wrapped in puff pastry with the proper filling in between. It sat surrounded in a nice sauce with a side of green beans and carrots. The flavor was wonderful with the sauce, and every mouth full was delicious. The sauce by itself could be a bit salty, but whose eating the sauce by itself? I just know because I gave it a taste. Overall, I was very satisfied with this entree.

The salmon wellington was also very nice, a nice size portion of salmon with some sort of cream? Cream cheese filling wrapped with puff pastry. All together cooked again perfectly, each mouthful was moist and tasted delicious. This was served with green beans and carrots as well as some seasoned white rice. Usually other places have pretty dried out salmon, but this was not dry at all. Cannot say enough how each bite hit perfectly.

Oh yes, we were also served a small basket of bread with softened butter. They were very nice as well. Not dry or stale, tasted freshly baked and of good quality.

After our entrees; we headed into dessert, again the server (although we knew what we wanted) let us know the dessert specials of the night in case we found them more appetizing. They were a blueberry and raspberry tart I believe, and the other was a rhubarb pie from the owners local rhubarb supplier ;) . But I went with the chocolate mousse and wife had the crepe suzette.

The crepes suzette was beautifully presented with a nice thickened glaze of a sauce. The flavor wasn't overly sweet and had ice cream in the center. The crepe was nicely cooked and proper consistency texture wise.

The chocolate mousse was beautifully smooth presented in a glass bowl center topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream and a mint leaf. The sweetness was perfect for most people I like it a bit less sweet but this was very delicious so it wasn't that big of a deal in the end, I devoured it fairly quickly.

In summary the entire meal was delicious and the servers impeccable, cleared our appy plates and silver ware promptly and replaced with fresh ones for the entrees. Always refilled our water and refilled my wine, I got to my wife's wine before they could. I believe the service here was spot on and couldn't ask for anything better. The price point is a bit higher but I believe the food is worth it. I've paid as much at other fine dining restaurants and been given the tiny portions with fancy plating but leaving your belly empty. Though delicious they obviously lack in filling a belly full of food. French...

Average french restaurant. The staff is really nice, but the food isn't french quality (would give a 2/5 to their cheese fondue). Plus their wine advices are quite off. But it's still a nice and cosy place. And the food isn't that bad. Just not that good either. Appreciated the service, very nice plates. Vancouver prices (eg 36$ for fondue).

Update after the restaurant manager answered. The fondue wasn't too bad, but far from good. Made from real cheese, but at best average cheese. Used cheese that was way too young, so wasn't strong enough. The meal lacked character. Made from gruyere, emmental, and appenzeller. No french cheese, quite a shame for a so-called French restaurant. It's not like if France didn't have cheese selection, specially for cheese fondue. Had too much wine, way too much. And the lack of good cheese highlighted it. As a result of previous point, the fondue was too liquid, so hard to eat correctly. Ate more bread than cheese. Fondue is cheese eaten with bread, not bread with cheese.

Served with potatoes, an heresy. And with fruity wine which absolutely doesn't go well with cheese fondue. Cheese fondue needs dry wine.

Staff is nice. Friendly. But lacks some knowledge on what they actually serve (see previous point). And should react faster: we had to ask for water, bread, and salad re-fulling.

The place is quite cosy. Clean. Probably a little bit too small, so can easily become noisy. And tables are a little bit too close one from the other.

Prices are way too high for the served quality. 33$ per person for a cheese fondue. With a glass of wine, plus taxes? At least 55. I can make you a better cheese fondue for 4 persons for that price, with adequate wine. 9$ desert for small portions. Could be a gourmet restaurant, but isn't because the bar is just not met.

To answer directly to Herve: Best cheese fondue in Vancouver? There aren't many other restaurants offering it. That helps. You say I should have told you. So what, you were going to remake it? I don't think so. Media are a way of expression. Getting your answer, the way you wrote? I'm actually happy I didn't try to talk about it with you. Better share information than keeping it in private. People have the right to know.

And the truth is, based on my experience during that meal, as said, you have a nice staff, in a very cosy place. But the food quality clearly isn't at the level of the price you are asking for and they lack knowledge of what they're serving. At least based on the cheese fondue. Can't tell about the other ones, obviously. Other reviewers seem to like it so hopefully it's better. But your cheese fondue is a clear no go. -1 star for the very bad answer, proving a lack of customer obsession which is much needed is your domain. My review was an opportunity for improvement. Instead you went to harassment. As you did previously with other reviewers that were...

Thanks for ruining our anniversary, Hervé Martin! BE AWARE OF FOOD POISONING at this restaurant, PLEASE!

We arrived on time for our reservation on Saturday, October 19, but there was confusion when they couldn’t find our name on the list. We had to wait while they figured out a table for us. Appetiser; Ordered Garlic Prawns which was overly cooked like chewing rubber! My partner got Charcuterie and he found it underwhelming. Our main course were the worst we have ever tried! My partner got Duck Confit Cassoulet; heavily seasoned and VERY salty. I have never seen him wasting food; he barely could touch it! I got Bouillabaisse; it tasted very old, fish tasted wrong and the potatoes fell apart since they were re-heated multiple times. I could tell they made that dish at least 2-3 days before and wasn't fresh! THAT IS INSULTING! People are not idiots, OK?? The waiter never came to check up on us how the food was and he acted surprised when he realized we were not happy with the food! Got the owner's attention after we paid for the carp we were served and he was: "Oh, you could have let us know"....So what that you made us wait again and try to make a FRESH meal as you were supposed to at the beginning??????

It was our fault choosing French Table while we didn't have good experience previous times we tried food there. It was around Valentine's Day and we ordered Beef Wellington which came in suggy rather puff pastry and the steak lacked a good crusty sear. Definitely wasn't a good quality cut as they claimed it was. I have more stories about our bad experiences to tell about this so called "high end restaurant". The only reason we kept coming back was that my Partner is French and he was hoping one day he could impress me with French Cooking. I am happy he admitted it is not worth it anymore as he also never enjoyed food there. Wish we didn't waste +$$$$ at this restaurant. Happy to go back to 5 Sails, Gotham, Le Crocodile and etc and pay two, three times the price but not suffer from stomach ache and throwing up until next morning!

I hope this feedback helps others make an informed decision. You all deserve a better quality food considering how much you are...