Locanda dell’Orso — Restaurant in Vancouver

I took my parther to this restaurant to celebrate our Anniversary, and was really looking forward for a great experience but it ended up being a total disaster!

We had a reservation.

First, even though there were only two tables busy as we entered the place, we were offered a table right next to the restaurant's entrance while outside a chilly atmospheric river was coming down. You might think that maybe it's because all the other tables were reserved but during our 90 minutes in the restaurant most of the other tables stayed empty.

That being said, we asked for another table and were given one.

Then the rose wine we wanted to order wasn't available anymore, only the more expensive one was. The waiter suggested that we take a bottle of their "house rose" instead of glasses and we agreed on it even though it ended up still being a $90 bottle for "house wine". The first rose bottle the waiter opened was warm! Rose should be at least slightly chilled around 10c max. So I had to send back the bottle, and the server came with a second one of the house rose which was barely any cooler than the first one, but as it was our Anniversary Celebration I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere for my partner nor create a discomfort nor drama so we kept the second bottle. Nothing extraordinary about the rose's taste though ... for a $90 bottle.

Then the food experience started.

I am only going to write about my experience. Maybe my partner will write about his?

With a set of olives that we had received 20mn before our appetizers, i had the Polpo Alla Luciana: it was a disaster as it was not tender at all and totally rubbery . Overcooked definitely! It would have been easier to eat a shoe sole probably.

And for my main dish that we got served 30mn later after we had finished our appetizers ( and the restaurantwas not busy at all to explain such a long wait between dishes), the Tagliatelle Nere were again TOTALLY OVERCOOKED! ...it ended being a mushy salty pasta texture swimming in a tasteless black sauce. Just awful! I barely didn't eat any and we then asked for the bill right away and left... to go have a burger as my partner was still hungry and not pleased at all neither by his dishes.

As a result I wanted to thank the restaurant for ruining our Anniversary Celebration Dinner! ... even though as my partner said: we will laugh about it down the road probably.

Avoid this place! It's overpriced! ... and not up to the restaurant's wannabe aspiration. A total...

So this is going to be a long one. Went here on Christmas Eve for dinner to celebrate my anniversary with my partner.

I must clarify this was definitely a bizarre dining experience.

We made a reservation online and as the image attached shows, they would provide complimentary wine as a 'welcome treat'.

We sat down and immediately placed our order for 2 appetizers and 2 entrees. When asked about drinks, we mentioned to our server about the complimentary wine and she said 'yes'. We understood that as great, the server will bring it.

Our entrees came in, we got the house made focaccia and burrata. The focaccia and butter was phenomenal. The burrata was average and it came with the same half serving of focaccia that was a bit more crispy and they called it crostini.

Our main dishes come in, we got the Gnocchi Cacio e Pepe and the Tagliatelle Nere Bolognese.

The tagliatelle was absolutely average. I have had many 'cacio e pepe' pastas in my life and this one definitely lacked flavour. Also, the portion size for the gnocchi is similar to a kids size meal. For the price point it should easily be double the serving.

Remember the complimentary wine, we did not receive it yet. I mentioned it to the server once more and she said 'yes'. I was 1000% positive she would bring it this time around.

We are almost done eating our mains, no alcohol has arrived yet. We decided to order the Campari Shakerato (in my honest opinion, it was not worth it). The server that said 'yes' twice took the order and the drink arrived a couple of mins later.

At this point, we are done eating our mains and the server asks would we like to order dessert and I raise the point about the complimentary wine (the fact that we never received this 'welcome treat') to which the server responds with the following -

The server I originally asked for the wine (twice) doesn't speak great English. So she did not understand what I meant. However, when I ordered the Campari Shakerato that was well understood.

The server mentioned that the 'welcome treat' is not for everyone and only for "those who know, you know" type situations. So we must exclusively ask for it to receive it.

This was absolutely not cool.

Anyways, we ordered tiramisu for dessert and it's not your authentic tiramisu but it's pretty daymn good.

$150 spent and honestly, not happy with the overall experience +...

Firstly what would bring me back to the restaurant was the service and a rebalance of my ordering. With just one minor glitch the service was kind, accommodating and attentive. The food was very good, not great. I was trying to figure what the influence was and I can only come to the conclusion that it is Northern Italian, Risotto, Pesto, rich Osso Bucco, Arancini served in a way I have never seen from Rome (suppli) to Palermo. First we started with roasted vegetables, it should say vegetable, as a small plate of Brocollini came to the table $11, tasty but nothing I don’t do at home. Then the Arancini, a platter of 5, $7 each. I wish I photographed it, kind of smashed each resting on a lemon aioli. The arancini were nice but they should hold up. It is a street food, held in a hand. These could not even picked up with the tongs provided. Bread with honey butter, so good. Then the pizza, pizza? More like pizza bianco bread with toppings. The dough was great and one of my favorite snacks in Rome is pizza Bianco with mortadella. Which is basically what we got, so don’t expect a pizza. So not really pizza in the Roman or Neapolitan style. If I go back I would try the Margherita. Osso Buco agnolotti $29, rich but very good, mushroom risotto, $35, mixed opinions, some felt all they could taste is salt. Once the flavours settled it was better than the first few bites;daily pasta $29, Basil pesto pasta, excellent! There were dollops of stracciatella on it, not necessary. The pasta was hot and the cheese cold, I didn’t like the contrast. the pesto was obviously fresh, I would bet mortar made, if not it tasted and looked that way. So good, so fresh, pasta perfectly cooked. Overall, I would go back again and a) eat less 3 pizzas for 5, 3 appies, 3 pastas, too much, cut the pasta down to 1 or 2 and pizzas to one. The servers were great, not snobby, not too attentive, just right. The other note, too many restaurants have blaring music and it is too loud to talk, thank you Locanda for not...