Les Faux Bourgeois — Restaurant in Vancouver

My sister chose this restaurant for her birthday dinner as three of us in our party have studied French extensively and she thought it would be a nice chance to have the full French experience . We were disappointed to discover that none of the staff spoke French. I found it to be a dingy atmosphere with old furniture void of character. My chair was wonky so I tried to trade it for another chair and that one was wonky too. The mirror along the wall had been poorly cleaned and had a very long smoky gray area of swipe marks. The drink cooler had no light bulb and made the bar area look more like a two-bit strip joint than a French restaurant where the average meal is $30. Shortly after sitting down we were reminded the table would be needed 7:30 so we should order soon. When we hadn't ordered 5 minutes later we were reminded rudely, "again, you may want to order soon as there is a time limit and as we get busier it takes longer for the cooks to get the food out." I was surprised as the only way to dine at this restaurant is with a reservation, so you think they would know how many people they were cooking for and be prepared for that. We had reserved for four but there were only three glasses of water on the table . My friend finally had to ask for a glass since the waiter had not noticed in his three visits to the table. The next disappointment was sliced bread with butter. Yes, it was a baguette, but it was not warm, nor even room temperature, and neither was the butter. I was expecting the bread to be crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, in true Parisian style. We ordered escargot and paté appetizers for the table to share. The escargot was tasty, yet typical and poorly presented. The paté was nice but very salty. Both were served with Melba toast. Our waiter came by after we had tried both appies and asked about them. We told him they were both good but the paté was very salty. As he was in the process of leaving the table when we were answering, he just acknowledged, and continued on his way. Two of us ordered the duck confit, and while the duck was rather mediocre, the veggies were palatable. The risotto got a very good review from our friend but I have never before seen liquid in the bottom of a risotto dish. I ordered the mussels special with fries, and when he put it down in front of me, I got a large waft of dirty diaper! I tried a mussel dipped in the broth and it was terrible! I ended up eating the mussels on their own, and then I tried some of the ingredients in the broth separately from the mussels and they were good too, but did not work well together! The french fries were heavily coated in salt, like they had been rolled in it . When I told the other waiter and asked him asked to exchange them, he gruffly took them and marched away. We had brought our own doggie bag containers, and ended up taking some things home to tweak. The birthday girl asked if they do anything about birthdays there. The waiter said that they put a candle in your dessert. I asked so we need to order a dessert? He said yes. So the birthday girl said so what you do is you give us a candle? He replied yes, and we kind of chuckled. Many times, it was not just what he said but also his delivery. We looked at the dessert menu and decided to go somewhere else for dessert. When he came to get our dessert order, we told him no thank you and we joked with him that we would still like the candle LOL. He returned shortly after with an empty dessert bowl with a birthday candle lit in the middle. We joked and thanked him, but we weren't sure if he was being funny or condescending. We didn't really have any positive experiences with the waiter and we felt uncomfortable as he repeatedly tried to remove dishes with food on them. The birthday girl spoke with her friend on the way home, and sent me this text. "She and I were talking about how rude and condescending they were. I always try to look for the positives but when I really thought it over I was not impressed." ...

I really wanted to have a great evening here and I will preface this review by saying the food was the standout. However, our service experience left much to be desired.

When we arrived, our table was reserved right next to the host stand. Not a bad spot but an awkward one as instead being shown to the table, the host merely motioned leaving us to seat ourselves. If this was all, it would have been forgotten about but it was our server who plummeted the atmosphere of the evening. After dropping off menus, we didn’t see him for a drink order for over 20 minutes. At this point we looked around and while most tables were full, they were two-tops and there were at least four servers on the floor plus a bartender. The room isn’t huge so we could see our server floating around, stutter-stepping as he went. He might have been new, I don’t know, but after coming for a drink order it was long enough for us to notice he hadn’t been back to the POS and the bartender hadn’t started on drinks (a glass of wine and an Old Fashioned). They were delivered as ordered, followed by bread with the server dropping the butter on my wife’s back.

Eventually, we put in our orders for the charcuterie to share and a couple of the seafood dishes. When the charcuterie came there was no description about what kinds of meats or cheeses or anything were on the plate. Just a ‘Here’s the charcuterie’ and then the server waking away. Fortunately, we don’t have any allergies or immense dislikes but, again, this dropped the atmosphere of the evening. It was like being served at a cafeteria and not a very highly recommended sit-down restaurant.

Mains arrived more than an hour after we initially sat down. By this point, I shouldn’t have been checking my watch as often as I was to note these times. The lack of flow with which regular service goes meant we couldn’t settle into our evening as there was this looming sense we had been forgotten about. When the mains arrived, they were delicious. The portions were generous and went far beyond what I could make at home. But if I just wanted good food, I could’ve ordered in.

Finally, after having to get our servers attention to get another drink, we were given dessert menus. We were out celebrating that night and when dessert arrived was the first mention by anyone on staff of our occasion. By that point, it was like putting up chicken wire to stop a mudslide. The desert was tasty, nevertheless, and by the end of the meal neither of us felt bloated. We had to ask for the bill and left over two hours after we were originally sat.

Again, if we’re just talking about the food, this place was excellent. It clearly did well at being a French bistro with a menu that reflects the history and is made to a high quality. But when you spend the entire meal craning your neck wondering when the next part of the meal will come, feeling like you’ve been abandoned, and then met with the minimum amount of interactivity, it sours what should be a savoury, warm, and homey night out. Perhaps if I lived in the area, I’d give them another shot but given the prices of Ubers these days, it’s unlikely...

Edit below from Aug 2021: Neat little restaurant on a very busy corner on Fraser and kingsway. Nice little "date" spot as inside is dimly lit. Prices are reasonable for yummy food. We had the duck confit, steak frites, lemon tarte, beef tartare and grilled squid. The frites were salty but very crispy and addicting! I asked for the steak medium rare and it was perfectly done! Love how they cut it into pieces for you.

Edit - Aug 2021

My group and I went in August 2021 and we had the duck confit and steak and fries. Last time we came, we really liked this place to try it again when we can all get together again. The fries were EXTREMELY salty this time; i noticed in my previous review that i had mentioned the fries were salty.. The duck was dry.

Our server did not come by to check on us after we got our food to ask how our food was. She only came by to take our plate when we were finished. We let her know the fries were really salty and we had remaining fries left over but there was not much of a response. No sorry, apology or anything. Also, our water container went down to empty and I had to prompt her to ask for more water. We were so thirsty from the fries.

At the start, the last guest just got seated and our server came by a few times to see if we were ready to order. She came by maybe 2-3 times, and we felt rushed and obligated to order right away. The food seemed like it took longer than it needed to be as well. When the bill came, she brought the machine right away and started punching in the numbers and we weren't able to check over the bill prior to payment. We felt rushed to order, and to pay even though we were there for less than 1.5 hours altogether.

Not sure what happened because I recently read reviews and most people have been saying the service...