Hydra Estiatorio — Restaurant in Vancouver

I've tried various restaurants and cuisines, but this Mediterranean restaurant has become the first one I've added to my Favorites List! Generally, I don't write reviews for restaurants with good food because I would simply eat again there, but this restaurant is worth writing a good review for!

For starters, we chose the Scallop and Tomato Salad. The salad generously included a whole piece of cheese, paired with tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, and other ingredients, providing a refreshing and rich taste! The scallops, three in total, were cooked just right, and the beans was creamy and beautifully cooked.

For the main dish, we chose the lamb chops and the chicken with black truffles. I must give applause to the lamb chops; they were cooked to perfection, giving a sense of happiness with every bite. The chicken with black truffles had a crispy exterior and tender interior. The risotto at the bottom was distinct in every grain, offering a rich and chewy texture.

For dessert, we had tiramisu. This tiramisu was not only not too sweet but also enriched with alcohol, complementing the bitterness of coffee with the intensity of alcohol and the creamy texture of dark chocolate cream. How could one not love it!

The additional oysters were relatively ordinary, small in size and not very succulent, but you could taste that the ingredients were very fresh. The hummus was generous in portion, served with four dips, with my favorite being the eggplant one. The pita bread came in fried and baked versions, both paired well with the dips.

The only downside was that the distance between tables was a bit close, so conversations from neighboring tables could be heard. Additionally, on the day we dined, the fire alarm in the building rang for a long time, which somewhat affected the dining experience. Nevertheless, their food is really good and perfect for a...

Long-standing fan of hydra. While my overall rating is low I must be honest in that the location, the atmosphere and the food is all generally top notch. I’ll unfortunately be ending my monthly happy hour there after last night, however. After receiving our bill, we noticed that our buck a shuck oysters were not actually a buck anymore, and the price was increased an additional 50%. This was not relayed to us when we arrived, when we received our menus, when we ordered our first couple dozen, nor when we’re ordered our subsequent dozens, either. Rather, when we revived our bill and questioned the extra thirty dollars added to the bill, our server indicated that “buck a shuck was just a happy hour description they’re not actually a buck,” we pushed back a bit stating that for the longest time, and the reason we come here, and the reason “best happy hour in town,” is glued to the door, is that they were one of the last true buck a shuck locations in the city. We didn’t push the matter, we paid our bill, because even if a gm comped the difference it’s more hurtful that it wasn’t disclosed anywhere, and when we asked about it it was “just the way it is, buck a shuck doesn’t mean it’s a buck (sorry, it does), and that we are actually losing money at a dollar per,”

I’m, full disclosure, more than fine with the 1.50 price, just be HONEST about it. I suggest that the happy hour menu is maybe taken out of circulation until a price can be tagged on it. The marketing/menu certainly is confusing, now that the buck a shuck is not a buck. Note that everything else on the menu has a price. Even a “MP” would have...

We had a reservation for 5:15pm. After sitting down we were told we had to leave at 8pm for another reservation, which is not a problem as we're familiar with time restrictions in the covid era and eat pretty fast; however, the restaurant was empty on the floor level and about 1/3 occupied on the upper floor. It was still 1/2 empty when we left about 1.5 hours later. Almost 30 minutes had passed after seating and no waiter came by. Other tables around us were being served so we were forced to ask one of the maitre'd to get a server. We observed many employees just chatting amongst themselves while we tried to get their attention. A server came by who we had noticed prior, he had passed by our table several times. We also saw him wipe sweat off his brow onto his pants and proceed to serve us "clean" plates, we cleaned them ourselves. One of the cocktails we asked for light ice, however it was at least 1/2 ice when it arrived. The diet coke is definitely watered down at a cost of $4. We also ordered the roasted whole leg of lamb. It tasted like plain oven roasted meat and was badly lacking in salt and other seasoning. It was only edible with the provided chimichurri. The side of vegetables provided was half dark brown overcooked stalks of some green vegetable and half bright green roasted (or boiled) same vegetable, almost like a Gai Lan vegetable stalk. It appeared they were trying to hide wilted Gai Lan with fresh ones, and had a bitter taste. We had no less than 4 people serving us so we had no idea who was the server. The saganaki was fairly good but pricey at $17, I've eaten better for well under $11 at...