Reflections : The Garden Terrace — Restaurant in Vancouver

I visited this place before, but my last experience was unusual. We had a reservation for 5 pm, but when I arrived, I was informed that all reservations were canceled for an event. I was shocked and asked to check why this happened. I discovered that the event was only for a portion of the restaurant.

I usually order a drink called Summit?!, which is a mix of mezkal and tequila with ginger and honey. The last time I ordered it, it was too sweet - it’s the only mezkal drink they have and I love mezkal ! I asked for half-sweet this time or if they can reduce it - when it was brought to me server explained that they had added water and ice to dilute the ginger and honey in it! was surprised because this is not how a professional bartender would make a drink - it was a huge glass of drink like those you get at street restaurants that they pour Coca-Cola in it- looked funny ! Nobody does that. If she could not reduce the sweetness then I should be been explained and I would ve picked something else. I took a sip and wayyy too sweet obviously as nothing was reduced just more ice added and water . lol

I asked the server if he can just asked them simply for “half amount of ginger” ! He left to bartender and I saw bartender was not happy. She seemed to be annoyed not arguing as was watching them but not just happy ! when the drink came she intentionally made the drink with only water and ice, with a small amount of mezcal I could tell how small amount of alcohol was there compared to 2.25 stated in menu . I was shocked ! Literally just water and ice !!!! Just that ! I got her message how pissed she was perhaps. I don’t understand how hard that was to make ! I knew that if I complained, he might only give me ice next time. It was so uncomfortable and awkward to get just ice and water literally with hint of mezkal. I took the drink and just thanked the server didn’t say a word. Mind u the drink was $24.

We were also told that we could only have 1.5 hr on table rather than two because it’s a busy night - unusual for any restaurants i go to. Food: koftah were a bit cold, which was nothing compared to the poor quality of my drink. I didn’t bother saying anything anyways.

The drink itself wasn’t the issue; it was the attitude I received. They served me either a diluted drink or water with ice, which I’ve never had anywhere else. Never. The bartender didn’t know how to take a simple half-sweet request, and I ended up paying $24 for ice or a diluted drink. They could’ve explained why they couldn’t make it a certain way, iffff that was the case but they didn’t. Server was in a lot of rush and maybe that’s why. He was nice thought.

Would I recommend this place ? No ! I hate going to a place to pay and get attitude for asking simily for a half sweet drink ! I have done this soooo many times sooo many places and it was never an issue and not...

Ultimately the poor service was the lowlight of our evening.

We made reservations for a table for four at 8pm. As soon as we arrived it was absolute chaos, long lineups (but good thing we got reservations, so we thought), and we probably heard servers dropping dishes and glasses 3 times as we were checking in with the hostess. The hostess tells that they’re running behind and it would be about a 30 min wait before we will get seated. She recommended that we sit at the Georgia Bar downstairs while we wait to grab a drink, and that either she the server/hostess at the Georgia Bar would grab us or that she would call us to let us know our table is ready. Sounds like a great idea, so off we went to Georgia Bar. Well, half an hour passes, no call or notification from Georgia Bar staff. One hour passes, still no call or notification. At this time we asked our server at Georgia Bar what was going on, his response “Sorry we’re a different group from Reflections, but I’ll check for you”. He did not check as another half an hour passes (1.5 hours now). Frustrated, we went upstairs to talk to the hostess at Reflections, which at that time they said they’ll ready a table in 10 minutes for us. Wow. My best guess was that the hostess plainly though that because we were now sat at Georgia Bar, that she had more flexibility to move up some of the other guests who decided to wait instead, which is not the appropriate way to treat your guests who was willing to take some pressure off by grabbing a drink below at Georgia Bar.

So we get to Reflections, no apologies from server, hostess, manager (no interaction with manager at all actually). At this time, they’ve now been sold out of 4 drinks of the menu which we had interest in. We voiced our frustration with the server and her response was “sorry we’re simply out of the ingredients there’s nothing I can do”.

The drinks we ended up having at both Georgia Bar and Reflections were ok. The food we ordered at Reflections was ok. Atmosphere at Reflections is nice, as that is their main attraction. Unfortunately the lack of service and ownership thereof was the ultimate lowlight that dented our experience bad enough to not recommend this place. Yes, the staff were swamped that night, but there is no excuse to provide a lack of ownership and service, especially to your guests who were willing to help out the situation. ESPECIALLY at a premiere location with the prices they charge -your guests are going to expect the same level of service. I’ve received better service for less interruption at Cactus Club and Earls, so that’s embarrassing for Reflections.

Hope this feedback makes it way back to manager and staff, so they can better manage/treat guests during...

I opened the cocktail menu and loved the intricateness and thought behind the menu as I’ve always loved reflections creative cocktails, but that’s until I learned it was all for show. This edition of their menu was the biggest scam I’ve seen in a while. I was not a fan of most of the cocktails, quite unimaginative and bland, but what was worse is that it mentions they use produce from a local farm and I tried to talk up the bartender about how awesome that it was to support local but they said that it was a lie and that all there produce comes from the world of gfs and just was whatever cheap fruit the factory sends let alone none of the juice was fresh squeezed and I’m actually okay with that, but lime and lemon should always be right? The dark haired bartender said they couldn’t make a fresh squeezed lime margarita because the standard was lime juice from a bottle that tasted off. Imagine an airport hotel quality but the price of a 5 star resort.

Sadly my experience didn’t stop there. I thought well besides the Summit I didn’t like the cocktail list so I got a Negroni that had a deformed and white ice cube that they charged me for lol… I didn’t know freezing your own king cube was so difficult that it was something you pay for. And I love a Negroni and will pay $1 everytime I’m at my local cocktail bar no problem for a handcrafted kodamas… but you cant convince me that an ice cube frozen in a plastic mold from the dollar store is worth a $2 up charge.

No management in sight as well… you would think a manger would be around to even apologize for the sub par cocktails we returned. It’s a shame how low the quality has shifted.

Positives, bartender was apologetic and kept the experience fun and entertaining. Negative was the quality of products versus price. I could pay the same price at any cocktail bar downtown for a way better product.

I would recommend going down to prophecy. 3 managers were constantly dropping off drinks checking on us. I felt reassured by the staff I was getting an excellent product; total opposite experience than...