Noah's Cafe — Restaurant in Vancouver

Noah's cafe has the feel of a speakeasy hidden away in plain sight. We almost walked past the restaurant twice. The inside was very dark and atmospheric with great indie music. Sometimes it felt a bit loud both because of the background music as well the fact that you're very close to your neighbors.

My husband and I dined here during our recent visit to Toronto. It was a 5-star experience. In fact, the food is solidly five stars and some of the best food we tasted in Toronto. Where the experience was a little lacking was the uncomfortable chairs (most of the seats in the establishment were high wooden chairs), loud environment and the sometimes long pause between certain dishes. But in the end, I'm still giving it 5 stars because of the great food and friendly service staff. Our entire waitstaff were so sweet and explained all the dishes very well. I would definitely go back very often if I actually lived here.

Between my husband and me, we ordered 4 dishes to share, almost all of which were superb:

Uni creme pasta - my tie for favorite dish and my husband's favorite. The whole pasta is so decadent with rich uni flavor - I could taste the uni in the sauce as I was scrapping every morsel and drop off our plates at the end. And the generous portions of bay scallops, prawns, uni sashimi, and caviar definitely made this pasta feel like it's well worth the money.

Beef tartare - my tie for favorite dish. The combination of cured egg yolk, amazing seasoning, caviar, and tender beef tenderloin created such a great balance of salty, sour, and acidic - it was an unami bomb in my mouth.

Squid & chips - I honestly loved this dish too and it was only slightly below 1 & 2. The name is a little deceptive because the chip is the fried brussel sprouts which has this amazing bold flavor with slightly charred notes. The squid was also masterly and delicately fried - so tender on the inside and lightly battered on the outside. Probably the lightest "fish & chip" dish I've ever had and didn't made me feel gross and unhealthy after eating it.

Confit beef tongue - still pretty good but definitely our least favorite of the night. The beef tongue itself is very tender and you really need to mix it with all the creamy sauce and mirin mustard to truly taste the complexity of the flavors. There was a portion of the tongue that was maybe a bit too crunchy but it adds an interest textural element to the dish.

I also ordered a virgin cilantro Yuzu mojito - it was very refreshing but a little too sweet. I also wish the drink came with a straw/stirrer so that we can dilute it ourself after we poured some water in there to dilute...

Entered the restaurant with with my husband today: Monday September 20th, at 7:32PM (have proof when I started my parking meter). When we walked in, there was 3 tables empty. We asked for a table for for 2 and she said the bar is free, and I asked her if any of the tables were free. She said the table is free but it will need to be cleared by 830pm. 1hour is pretty long for my husband and I bc we are very fast eaters. i said thats fine and she said that the service is slow so it might take longer than 1 hour. i told her that we will most likely be done before that but if we are not, we can move to the bar at 830pm. She gave us a table closest to the door. We were looking at the menu deciding on what to eat (we already kind of knew from reading the menu online & photos) then she asked us to move the table next to us. She didn't explain why, I just assumed that maybe since it is a bigger space the reso is for 3 people. But when the reservations were set up it was only for 2 people. Really not sure why she had to move us when we were already sitted - she couldve explained. We promptly ordered as we wanted to be out before 830pm. The food came out quickly, starting with the tofu cheese. She explained what it was as she served it to us. She didn't quality check and when we finished the tofu cheese, she came out with the squid and chips and took the tofu cheese away. She did not ask how the tofu cheese was. We felt very rushed. We had a question about the squid and chips but she did not return until we were done. Another person served us the uni pasta. When we were half way through the pasta, she came and asked how is everything. i asked for the bill (Bill says 7:58PM) as we were just finishing off the pasta. We were finished eating so we paid the bill (Receipt says 8:01PM) So we walked in and sat down and ordered and received and finished eating in 29mins. It was a very bad experience for my husband and I. The food itself was not great either. We ate it all because we were really hungry but the tofu cheese was basically just cream cheese that sounds fancy, the squid and chips were some calamari with Brussels sprouts, nothing special, and the uni pasta sauce tasted good but the pasta was way too over cooked. Also barely any uni in it. It was very mediocre. I was excited to try this place as this place has a great rating on google. perhaps the chef wasnt working? The food that we got looked different than what I saw in photos other people posted on instagram. Extremely disappointed in both service and food,...

My partner and I came back for our anniversary celebration in time for their dine out menu. Honestly It was a bit of a let down, both their food and the service. We liked that they offered 6 small plates for their dine out appetizers. But the toasts that came with the dish are cold and soggy. The pork belly was really salty and the sauce overpowering the ingredients (I.e. the octopus and toro). But I enjoyed the mozzarella and sable fish dish a lot, the soup is light but flavourful and is a perfect balance with the fried cheese and fish. The scallop was sweet and fresh too. For the main course omelette rice, it was too salty. The egg isn’t as smooth as I like for Japanese omelette rice, not the type that would be jiggly and runny in the middle. However we both think the dessert is the best dish of the night: the sesame ice cream on toast with truffle honey. The toast is nicely toasted to crispy finish. The texture of the dish is rich, with pistachio bites adding to the ice cream. Just one thing, we think the truffle taste is a bit too strong that we can’t really taste the sesame ice cream. It was the last day for dine out so it was busy, but the lady that serve us really seems like she’s done with the day lol but the bar tender was really nice and he’s checking in with us when it’s less busy later in the night. Price point is a bit high for the quality of food as I checked out their regular menu. And customer service is a factor to hold me back from coming back. Also our chairs doesn’t have a back rest so it wasn’t very comfortable but their interior design and decorations is pretty cute for a date night. Parking was a pain in that area so transit if you can or good luck finding a street parking spot on a...