Reflections The Garden Terrace — Restaurant in Vancouver

I work in the industry and don't usually leave bad ratings, but I felt compelled to for this restaurant/lounge.

My friend and I arrived on time for our reservation, but the host told us our table wasn't ready for another 10 minutes. Great first impression. We politely accepted this and went to sit at the bar to have a drink while we waited. I think we waited about 20 minutes before they finally found a table, a high top right behind us. FYI, I saw the host cleaning that table, and my friend asked how long for our table, and she said we were 3rd in line (and we had a reso!!). I did not see her sit the other 2 ahead of us on that table. Weird.

Food: We ordered an entree, I forgot what it was called, but it was either pork or beef. It was great, probably the best thing I had all night, but nothing special. Just a typical premium dish. However, we also ordered the $40 antipasto, which turned out to be extremely disappointing. The only meat on that plate was salami. Also, there were only 2 types of cheese-- Cheddar and mozzarella. There was 1 type of spread, grainy dijon that came straight out of a jar. I have had many charcuterie/antipasti before from other restaurants. I have also made antipasto/charcuterie before as a restaurant cook and caterer. I can confidently tell you that everything on that plate came straight from Costco. For $40, that antipasto was NOT worth it.

Drinks: We had several drinks there. Started off with a glass of merlot, then one of the festive espresso martini, and then finished with the festive hot chocolate toddy. The drinks were average. Nothing spectacular imo. One thing that really upset me, though, is that the hot chocolate toddy was served to me in a Santa mug that had 2 cracks running 3/4 down the mug. I work in the industry, and I know this is not food safe at all. Any dish with the slightest crack harbors bacteria and should be disposed of immediately. I couldn't believe I was being served this $25 drink ($35 after tax and tip) in a cracked mug!!!!! Moreover, the drink itself was just bland. I've had better festive cocktails at Piva.

Atmosphere: I found the ambiance to be mehhh. Music was loud pop Christmas songs that play at Cactus Club or the mall. The lights and decor were nice, but nothing mind-blowing.

Server: Again, as someone who works in the industry (have worked as a server, host, cook), I got the feeling that the server was extremely stressed. She was pleasant but very short with us. I got the feeling she really didn't care at all, either. It was probably because it was very busy that night, and she had a lot on her plate. This being said, she was quite quick on refilling waters and getting food/drinks to our table. She was also quick on turning off the roof heater that was burning us. And also quick at getting our bills and payments. She was pleasant, but nothing spectacular. I have met more engaging servers at Hawksworth and Notch8.

Some positives: Nice and warm for a rooftop patio in winter. Washrooms clean. Patrons did not look snobby or pretentious.

Overall: I won't be coming back anytime soon. The food was average at best. The antipasto was absolutely horrendous. The drinks were forgettable, and the hot toddy should never have been served in a cracked mug. There is no excuse for this, considering this establishment is purportedly fine-dining upscale. That mug must have passed through 2 people, at least. The service was average. Decor and music, overall atmosphere was average. The entire experience was below average overall. Considering 2 of us spent well over $300 combined, I am extremely disappointed.

This was my first time here, and I had high hopes. Before coming tonight, I made another reservation a few weeks away for 6 people. I just told all of them to avoid this place like the plague. I canceled our reservation, and we will be going to Bacchus instead.

Save yourself the trouble and money, go to Bacchus, Glowbal, or anywhere else. This place is grossly overpriced, a scam. Don't believe me? Just check recent comments.

Whoever manages this...

A friend asked if I'd like to go to Reflections. I stared at them like they were a lunatic, as my first visit had left me less than impressed.

My friend and I lucked out and were seated right next to the beautiful faery like tree covered with twinkling lights. The outdoor layout was very dreamy, a summer nights kind of ambiance.

The entire menu was really pricey, especially the drinks. The ingredients didn't seem out of the ordinary like they had to be outsourced from a foreign country, so I couldn't tell why they had decided to charge so much. I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea {off menu} while my girlfriend asked for a Zero Proof drink. We chocked it up to the fact that such a place screams that you will be paying more than usual for your meal. Therefore, we were expecting the food to be spectacular.

Our drinks took their sweet time getting to us even though there were hardly any people about. The glasses they came in were bigger than most, I will give them that. But bigger wasn't better, as there wasn't anything so special about the taste of the drinks that made them stand out.

We had drunk about half our glasses before the Lobster Tacos finally arrived. We both stared at the tacos for quite some time, 1) Trying to match up what the menu said was in it to what we were actually seeing, 2) Wondering if the Lobster was playing hide and seek with us, and 3) Gouging how to eat it without losing the filling.

My friend opted to eat it the way any taco ought to be: with both her hands. She spent more time picking up the filling that kept falling than actually eating the taco. I decided to eat it with a fork and a knife. It was so ridiculous, but if I hadn't done that, I doubt there would have been much of a taco to eat at all. They looked like a mess, and they literally tasted like some vagrant had wandered into the kitchen and had decided to throw whatever random ingredients were available together and try to pass it off as a masterpiece. We both only had one small piece of lobster in our tacos, so I call false advertising, as it absolutely did not live up to its namesake.

Every time we asked about our food, our waitress would give an estimate, and after that time had passed, her next estimate would be even longer. It took an hour for our food to finally get to us.

After her first bite, I could see my girlfriend was grimacing and having a hard time swallowing her gnocchi. Turns out the chef had decided to be more than a little liberal with the salt, so she might as well have requested a salt shaker as her entrée. Every bite was a struggle and required her to drink some water.

I had the opposite problem where my Seafood Paella tasted of nothing. I found it highly ironic that the chef who cooked my dish apparently didn't use any salt, whereas they overdid it for my girlfriend's. The shrimp were rubbery, and the mussels were nothing special. I also took exception to the fact that the dish stated it had "BC Seafood" in it. I was expecting a medley of mussels, clams, squid, fish, etc. but apparently, the mussels and the mussels alone were what made up the "BC Seafood" portion of the dish. It's criminal that they had the gall to charge $44 for this.

They robbed me some $20 for my Long Island and the fun didn't stop there. It took half an hour for the waitress to come and take our payments. Of course their machine was set to 18% as the lowest tip option.

This experience was excruciating. I've had better food and service at a mall food court. This was supposed to be a high class establishment, but it ended up being a low rent patio. They seriously need to adjust their prices, or figure out how to make food that will justify said prices, which, even on a good day, is outrageous.

If you want to burn your money on a place where the food is below subpar and a "beautiful atmosphere" is the best thing about it, by all means.

To this day, my girlfriend and I still "Reflect" about this ordeal, and seeing so many bad reviews, I can only assume that they still haven't held up a mirror to all...

Came here yesterday for my birthday that my husband booked a week ago. I was excited as I have been to reflections before and have enjoyed it but yesterday was a very sad experience. The rudest service and zero customer service skills by Michael. We got there at 7:40 for our 7:45 reservations and were literally walked to a table right behind the host, very first table in the area, it felt like we were sitting with people next to us. Any other day it would have been ok but we were celebrating and had made reservations a week ago, so I asked if there was another table available, the host said nothing at the moment and if something opens up we can move you. Ok, fair enough! We offered to wait but she said we should sit because she does not know when someone will leave, ok fair enough again! So then we got seated at what looked like the reject table not a table that someone would have reserved a good week in advance to celebrate their birthday. It was the table you get a quick drink and bounce! The bar looked cozier compared to this table. We were seated for about a minute and three girls walked in and were walked down to the side we asked for! At this point I felt the need to get some clarification and stopped Michael while he walked by our table and asked how come we were refused to be seated there while we had reservations and planned in advance, his reply we seat larger groups there, to which I said well we are sitting on a table with three chairs and those were three people as well. To that his reply wAs, this third chair is just there but not for seating anyone lol. Why these double standards? You ruined my birthday! To that I said well ok, it’s fine we don’t want to be here and we walked down to hawksworth, where service, food and drinks have never disappointed! Eric has always been great, for whom I had left a review 10 months ago and we have been back a couple of times since! Prem was amazing at hawkworth and sensed I was upset and immediately cheered me up! Great service at Hawksworth as usual! I don’t use the word racism lightly but that is how I felt at reflections and Michael needs customer service training or else you will be losing customers! Treat people the way you would like to treated! Kindness cones full circle! Then I came in talks with Dale while waiting for an Uber, again amazing service!!! Reflections pull your weight, you are making hotel...