St. Lawrence Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

My wife and I decided to book St. Lawrence for our end of the year special meal date. This year 2020 has truly been a hectic one.

Although we expected this place to be expensive, it's not some place where we expected to visit often - more so for special occasions.

Thanks to this pandemic, the restaurant began offering set menus at $69 per head before taxes and gratuities. After taxes and an automatic 18% gratuities, the cost came to just around $180 total for 2 people - this includes 2 appies, mains and desserts.

Without the special set menu, all of this would have costed roughly 15-25% more in the end - roughly calculated of course.

Many here say this restaurant is overpriced despite being fabulous. My feelings on that is mixed - maybe because we came in with a set menu purchase so we kind of received a better deal overall.

Upon arrival, the first thing was the ambient interior with dark solid wood furnishings and a very warm, robust open kitchen. The walls were decorated with many French themed comforts - ie: paintings, posters etc.

We were promptly greeted by one of the waitresses and immediately brought to our table. At 5 PM, we were the first ones in when they opened.

The wife and I, we started with a Pork Rind of sorts - fried and seasoned with MTL spices and maple syrup. Super light, non-greasy and very airy. Highly recommended and a great snack to start on top of the evening's free complimentary chef's homemade brioche with mustard and a duck confit or sorts.

Next was our main appies, which we chose the Terrine of the day and Eclair stuffed with Duck Liver Mousse. I've had lots of Terrines while in Quebec so to me, this was good but not the greatest so unfortunately the main appies round I'll have to give it to the Eclair stuffed with Duck Liver - sublime.

Next up was our main dishes - a Braised French style Beef dish and something else which wasn't a part of the set menu but announced in house to us for an extra $10 - a Venison Tenderloin dish. I have to admit, my wife and I had a difficult time deciding which dish was better as both were insanely delicious and skillfully executed. The thing about this place that they do very well in is they make something that requires high skills, look simple. Dishes that looks simple, and yet, is known to be difficult to execute well. None of that "All sizzle, no steaks" or "All flare no substance" nonsense. This place has soul - first and foremost - which in my opinion is absolutely critical in retaining customers but more so - one's self respect. In the end, we both agreed the Braised French style Beef won through the flavor category despite the Venison Tenderloin being superbly executed in technicality. Maybe we were hoping for a more flavorful sauce in the Tenderloin dish as it was on the more bland side even though provided the ingredients were fresh. Truly, the waiter was right in the aspect that the Venison Tenderloin is the more difficult dish to execute hence the extra cost - but we're both just die hard braising fans in the end.

Finally, dessert. I'm a huge fan of sweets. Not those sweet only stuff but smart sweet with layers of profile in taste. Our evening's conclusion in desserts came in the form of a Traditional Sugar Pie with home made ice cream and Chocolate and Coffee Mille Feuille. Although I was a sucker for texture and flavor complexity in the Mille Feuille dish, eventually we both agreed the simple yet passionately made Sugar Pie won our hearts in the end. It's sweet, but not overpowering and the taste lingers, making one dwell upon it. Hard to forget flavors. Definitely hit home on this sweet, sweet pie of a dish. All desserts were well layered and balanced in texture, density and flavor profile though.

If the Chef or owner of this place ever reads this review, please take into consideration of maybe opening up a more casual, affordable eatery / menu that carries the same soul - but just more affordable to the general public.

I think everyone - regardless of class - deserves an equal chance to eat this kind of Quebecois beauty...

Horrible experience. I feel scammed. This isn't worth a star. Maybe at one time but not what they gave us and definitely should be reviewed for it be taken away. Its like they think the star was for the chefs and not the dishs itself.

The atmosphere felt like a prison dead flowers in old cans as decor. Bad lighting. We're cramped at a table that felt broken and was unlevel, The transfer of plating from waiter to guest was unpleasant instead of being a seemless. They kept being extremely intrusive when they gave us our dinner. Interrupted our conversations several times instead of being considerate and waiting until we're finished. They had to jank the dishes and silverware to make it seem nice instead of it just being nice when placed on the table. The cutlery felt cheap light, like something I would give an 8 year old. It was scratched and un polished. They also put it on the bare table. I failed to see sanitizer anywhere in between seatings with people leaving/being seated and just whipped down with a dry cloth. So it felt barbaric to just leave what we were eating with on the bare table. The chairs are extremely uncomfortable, so if you want what pretend nice looks like, come here

They gave me a perfect drink. I ordered another, and they changed the glass in a smaller one. Annoyed left it on the table for a while, took them over 20/30 mins to ask if there was an issue with the drink. Yes, you changed the glass, and they didn't fix it. The waiter said, "I don't remember what glass it was. It's the same drink, tho." You clearly don't understand how drinks work because the glass changes the taste of the drink. The Rim was extremely small on the scound glass, so the drink was more bitter than the first. As well as the aroma of the drink was more consintratraied with the alcohol smell because the glass changed.

Do you want consistency not going to happen here. Your knowledge and implications in the dinner were much-needed to enjoy the night. It's impressive that the dirty dishes spent as much time with us as actual food when you have 3 people clearing the table instead of a deactacited waiter. They still couldn't keep my water filled. Miku had a million times better service. Please go there and learn how service is done properly. Here They'll only clean dirty dishes when everyone's done. Most of the food was mushy with a horrible texture. The dishes were much-needed in harmony. It's like we couldn't figure out what good is, just that we have good ingredients. What a discovery of revolting flavors. Fried cheese balls with horseradish. Duck balls that had the texture of rubber with a pickle on top. Like toddlers just putting on whatever on to see if it works. You gave us burnt soup. You couldn't even do that correctly. Did you forget how to stir? I asked my group if it tasted burnt, and they said a hint. It's not acceptable. The pie had the texture of dog food. The waiter asked if my food was good? I said no tasted like dog food. The waiter asked if the meal was alright for the others in my group and "okay" and "shrugs" The waiter. Good enough for me! I don't care. If you have allergic issues, dont worry, here We won't replace the item you're paying for. We'll tell you nicely to tell you to eat around it or just remove it entirely. Hopefully, it's not a contact allergies. ( I didn't ask, dont care,I guess) We'll find out someday! ^^

The waiter was nice to pretend to clean our table a few times. She cleaned the parts that were fine and didn't clean the drink that was spilled on the table from me pushing my drink away, plus the leftover water they failed to wipe up. Normally, it wouldn't have been noticeable, but failure after failure, after failure, it gets to be a bit sad. Highly not recommended 0 out 10. Will not be returning and will be telling everyone i know not to come here. They couldn't keep up with even basic industry standards. How disappointing to admit I'm even from B.C. saying this is our best.

P.s if you do, go hold your breath, going to the bathroom. 2 toilets reaks of shit...

This has been on our list for a while, even before they received their Michelin star. We made a reservation well in advance for their first seating and had a table by the window. The restaurant is small, but it has a good feel, decorated with a tasteful Canadiana style.

The menu right now is four-courses and costs $130 per person. Cocktails or mocktails will add another $15+ dollars, or you can choose from their wine list.

The meal started with a complimentary bread and house-made butter. The one piece of bread (for two people) reminded me of a French onion soup - comforting and full of caramelized onions. Next I chose the egg custard with sturgeon and my wife had the wagyu beef tartare. Both dishes were clean and delicious and had a mixture of soft and firmer textures. Next, I choose the chicken stuffed morels over peas and my wife had the corn soufflé. The morels were a seasonal dish and an interesting concept, but the peas were a the star of the dish. The corn soufflé, however, was a perfect mix of corn preparations, accompanied with side stripe prawns. This was probably our favourite dish of the evening.

For the next course, we had the trout and chowder and the pithvier. The trout and chowder dish was comforting and very satisfying, but the pithvier was a little dry and the flavours were a little one-note. To finish the meal, we had the rice pudding for two. At a Michelin starred restaurant, this felt like the chef saying, “I don’t care what you think, this is a delicious dish and it’s going on the menu”…and it was delicious and rich, but not a light way to finish the meal.

Overall, we were satisfied and full, but we felt that the chef played it fairly safe with the menu. Familiar flavours, rich and comforting food, but nothing that really wowed us. As time goes by, I’ll remember it was a good meal, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to recall signature stamps on the food.

In addition to this, we have been to Michelin starred restaurants before and received exceptional service and some surprising extras. At one restaurant, we received chocolates to take home, at another, it was a lemon loaf. At others, there were fun surprises between courses, or a personalized menu to take home. The servers were kind, but we never felt at home or like we were valued guests. This was surprising for a one-star restaurant.

Overall, we did enjoy our meal, but I think the reality did not meet our...