Roundel Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Vancouver

If I could give Café El Roundel more than five stars I would!

This is one of those restaurants where you wished you had a bigger stomach so you could eat more! The food is amazing, authentic, and delicious; prepared in an immaculate kitchen with traditional ingredients but with the modern ingenuity that you can only find in Mexico City or Guadalajara. Simply the best Mexican food in the lower mainland.

The atmosphere is modern but welcoming and comfortable; our server Eileen made us feel at home and made great recommendations for our first time. We're planning to become regulars because this is one of those places that you can eat exceedingly well without ever feeling uncomfortable; ingredients are fresh, top-quality, and dishes are healthy but oh so satisfying.

For instance, nowhere in BC will you ever find chayote (pear squash) salad, aguachile (like a ceviche), or tortas ahogadas (typical subs from Guadalajara with Livia bread) because this kitchen is miles ahead of the cookie-cutter Mexican food that we're used to here, offering us vegetarians and meat eaters sophistication and deliciousness at great prices.

The drinks are another refreshing (lit) feature: cocktails prepared with care in vintage glasses or wonderful brews, and a fun zero-proof selection like Jamaica (sorel).

As if that wasn't enough, they have a great playlist that had us grooving and vibing for the whole time! I can't wait to try the whole menu because every dish and drink our party order was scrumptious, satisfying, and prepared with care. We were so happy here!

We have officially tried all items in the menu including...

The Roundel has long been a favourite of mine. Home-y diner feel, with incredible eggs benny specials and great coffee- much higher caliber than the greasy spoon atmosphere suggests. There is often a Mexican flare, and condiments are made from scratch. Sadly, the last time I was there I left unhappy. The service seemed flustered and disorganized ( we never got our coffee refilled, and despite asking multiple times for syrup and whip cream our pancakes were cold before we were set up). The pancakes were flavourless, the blueberry compote lacked sweetness and tartness and the syrup was mysteriously pale (certainly not maple). I ordered the Benny special and asked if it was possible to replace the chorizo with a slice of tomato. My order showed up incorrect twice. My partner was done his food before mine came. I was disappointed. My potatoes were undercooked, the avocado mousse had an overwhelming lemon flavour that made everything else taste curdled and the cheese was a rubbery latex texture. The chorizo that was taken off, apparently was stewed with all of the ingredients that had drawn me to the special to begin with (despite the server saying it would be an easy substitute). I was left with a dry, flavourless plate. When I asked for a side of hollandaise (which it was mysteriously lacking) I was brought a small cup of fridge-cold yellow paste. I’m hoping it was just an off day and that I haven’t lost my favourite brunch spot. The owner who’s usually present was no where to be found. I’m hoping she didn’t sell and that her absence was the cause of the flustered feel. I’ll give it one more shot before...

In the past I've had a good experience with this place. Good food, and good staff.

Today the restaurant was pretty empty and waited 45 min for our food, asked our server (I think her name was Gillian) if it was on its way.. 10 min later it shows up but 2/3 dishes were wrong. The server tried telling us she had delivered the wrong tables food to our table.. She took 2 of the 3 dishes back and said it was seconds away for our real dishes to come out.. 10 minutes later the other dishes come out.

No apology from our server, she just kept saying "I owe you a drink". I had to push for a discount - why would I want to go back for a drink after the service she gave us? When she brought the discounted bills it was only for the 2 wrong dishes, even though it took almost an hour to get 1 correct dish. I had to ask her again to discount all the bills, which she reluctantly agreed to after I complained the first meal took almost an hour.

1. server forgot to put in our order
2. when we called her out on it, she took a guess at remembering our order and had the kitchen rush it
3. lied about why she brought out the wrong order ("it was another tables order")
4. made the kitchen remake the correct order a second time
5. never apologized and tried to joke about it.

The only reason I left a tip was for the kitchen staff who rushed our meals twice to us and did a tasty job on those rushed dishes. I'd recommend for that server to own up to her mistakes, if she had communicated honestly and accurately it would have changed the...