Glowbal — Restaurant in Vancouver

I'll start off with the good: very central location and aesthetically appealing.

Unfortunately our Thursday night meal was plagued with a lot of issues. Firstly, our group ended up waiting nearly 45 minutes for our table even though we had a reservation in place. We were not the only party to have to wait as a few groups ahead of us also had reservations and were complaining about the wait times. The reason we were given was that with Dine Out Vancouver, Big Cut Thursday, and various shows at the QE theater, The restaurant ended up having people who did not want to leave past their due time. This tells me that management either could not or chose not to be firm with parties letting them know that their table is booked and that they would have to leave shortly. Or perhaps they have overbooked and didn't confirm with those parties that they may have a shortened dinner schedule. Either or, The overbooking or the inability to communicate with the people sitting in the restaurant is definitely a restaurant management issue that needs to be dealt with.

Almost every restaurant I've been to will have the staff communicate to you that there is a dining limit or if you show up for an impromptu meal the table will only be available for a certain period of time. This is common practice. Waiting more than 45 minutes when you have a reservation is not common practice nor is it acceptable. There was one heat lamp in the center outside but the remainder of the outdoor patio was closed and the outdoor heating elements were turned off.

There were seats at the bar and unfortunately none of the waiting parties were offered the option to sit at the bar and have a drink while we waited 30 plus minutes for our reserved tables.

When we finally arrived at our table, I noticed that our menus were sloppily piled on top of each other. A lack of attention to detail and care such early on for something very simple is not an ideal message to send to your table of customers.

It seemed like that the restaurant may have been understaffed. Because when we did get service, It was good. The servers were their usual level of efficient and personable. However we did find that at certain times we were waiting longer than expected. This was especially noticeable come bill payment time when we waited excessively long to square up. The manager had to come along to settle our bill as the staff were dealing with other party billing.

We opted for the big cut Thursday special, The porterhouse. The value is there for what you get. The salad and sides were good. Unfortunately both our porterhouses were overcooked. We asked for medium rare and it came out more medium than we preferred and some parts therefore were also more well done. At that point our table was so collectively tired for waiting so long as is.

The men's bathroom downstairs unfortunately seems to have a leak in one of the urinals which caused an unsightly puddle to run across the wall.

I write this review in hopes that management can look at over and make the necessary improvements. I'm assuming if you're going to call your restaurant Glowbal, and it's The Glowbal Restaurant Group, that this location is your flagship mainstream restaurant. Managing your reservation system is the first step. If you have to charge people a certain fee because people are bailing, then do so. This is the standard practice at many places including your competition that is within a 3km radius around you. If tables are only available for an hour or so then you need to make it known to the guests that is what they're going to get and they need to vacate when the party arrives with their reservations. We were not the only group who had to wait long times and everyone outside said they had reservations.

The reservation issue, along with the food temperature accuracy and staffing levels are why I can only give it a three out of five, And I feel that's a generous score, leaning more to 2.5 so I rounded up.

There is oversight here that squarely falls on the restaurant management that needs to...

Anyway it was not a good night until we were at the patio. I would give out a 5 star without the unpleasant experience at the front desk reception.

The gentleman (he said his name is Mr. V) and two other ladies at the front desk was not professional & not friendly, we booked the reservation for 5:30 pm on my daughter's 16 years old birthday, on the reservation we mentioned that we hope to have the Bird Cage, and we totally understand that this is not guarantee and this is under first come first serve bases, we booked the reservation early back on Nov 24.

Our booking was 5:30pm, we were there at around 5:05, Mr. V was the one greeting us with cold parental attitude at the front desk, He told us we could not have Bird Cage Seating because it was very BUSY and fully booked, I told him that I totally understand Bird Cage seating is first come first serve with no guaranteed, but sincerely asked him to check how we could have the Bird Cage seating as it was my daughter's birthday, and we could wait, he told us that waiting time about 45 mins to over an hour for the Bird Cage Seating but no guarantee on waiting spot because the restaurant was very BUSY and the restaurant was Fully Booked already.

I was so confused since no one was waiting for the Bird Cage other than us at that time, I had reservation already and under first come first serve basis I would be the first one on wait list for the Bird Cage, most importantly it was 5:05pm, I told Mr. V that I could wait but he told me that even under this situation it was still not guarantee to have the Bird Cage seating, I was so confused and I lost the logic behind this, however he had no intention to help us.

With no hope and we didn't want to cause any trouble, we finally decided to cancel the appointment since there was NO WAY to get the Bird Cage seating and we still had time to go for another restaurant, then Mr. V suggested we could first take the seat in the patio and once the Bird Cage is available then we could sit in, it was exactly what I was thinking since we were willing to wait, we were the first one on Bird Cage waiting list and we were there already, however I lost the trust under all that unprofessional handling, with no guarantee & no promises from anyone, I sincerely asked Mr. V (3 times) to confirm that we are the first one on the wait list to be seated in the Bird Cage, then the other lady led us into the patio seating, she was steering at me with unpleasant attitude, I had a very bad feeling, It was a very impressive experience.

Once we got to the patio, a gentlemen came to me and told me not to worry because they knew we were waiting for the Bird Cage, he said they will move us there once the Bird Cage is available, I felt so relief. All other staffs at the patio were very nice to us with warm welcome, our server Barret was super nice & friendly, he told us that we could order first and they would move all our foods & drinks to the Bird Cage once its ready. We were not happy with those front desk experience, but Barret told us not to worry and gave a warm birthday greeting to my daughter, it was so nice of him.

Front desk is the place to greet customers, and give out a warm good first impression, there’s no such thing as a perfect restaurant that everyone would agree, but I never had such unpleasant experience with other fine dinning restaurants, we did not think that it was a warm welcome to us with reservation, I felt that my reservation & request was causing trouble to the staff members, we felt very disappointed.

It was not a good night until we were at the patio, foods were just fine, we were so grateful that Barret & all other staffs on the patio changed the other half of our night, we felt guilty for the night for my daughter's birthday, however we didn't let this effect our night, we were happy on the patio, my daughter forgot the front desk already with the warm & professional service we got on the patio, we thank you front desk for giving a growing up lesson to my daughter to...

UPDATE Aug 23, 2024: After my initial review (now deleted due to character limit), the manager responded asking me to email her to "continue the conversation" so I did. It has been a week and I have not heard back regarding the matter. So I will post it here instead.

I understand that busy brunch, pacing, staffing and seating sections all play a role in how many guests a restaurant can serve at a time. I have worked in the hospitality industry and am no stranger to the chaos that comes with working busy shifts especially when there is a promotional event. However, while working busy shifts, especially knowing that guests waited upwards of an hour to dine in the restaurant, I would hope that team members want to ensure that the guests' experience is one that is worth the wait.

What I found interesting during my visit was that the staff at the time was willing to offer a young woman who casually walked in at 2pm a reservation for next weekend; yet, when we asked if we could make a reservation for next week, "all bookings were booked up a month in advance due to brunch promotion so you'll have to come early and wait." Additionally other guests, ones who were at the end of the line at around 12:45pm, ones who had already waited in line for 15-20 mins were told that they couldn't dine in because of capacity and the line was cut off. My question is, why were they not offered the opportunity to make a future reservation?

My other observation, perhaps the more concerning one, is the level of discrimination that I experienced during my visit. As mentioned in my review, I was dining towards the end of brunch and by this time many tables on the patio were wrapping up. A female team member took our order at the bar, and then provided us with the smoothies and donuts. Then, a male team member took over the area shortly after. The male team member is the one who stood behind us and looked at us then the two women sitting at the bar right next to us and decided to give them the bar menu instead. I would have no issues with this if he returned to provide us with another drink menu or hand theirs to us when the women were done with it. The same male team member then proceeded to check on multiple tables as well as converse with the young women seated next to us. However, we were not provided with the same level of service and at this point, the patio tables beside us were cleared, so there were less guests to be attended to. At this point we could have asked for the mimosa/caesar bar menu but we were so disappointed with our experience that we simply wanted to leave.

There should be no reason why the only times we were interacted with was when food was dropped off to us while all the other tables beside us were checked on by the team members. I have been to other restaurants during promotional events or busy times and have never experienced a similar occurrence. As someone who has experienced discrimination throughout my life, this experience left me wondering if had I looked or presented myself differently, would the level of service and attention I received be different as well.

I look forward to...