Tableau Bar Bistro — Restaurant in Vancouver

I don't often post reviews unless something is either exceptional or unfortunately just not good enough. Sadly his is not the first reason. I was there on Thursday with my Board of Directors (8 people) like we have done several times before. We have also had several Christmas functions here and my wife and I went to Tableau on many occasions with friends.

I always like to start with the positives. As usual on this most recent visit i) the food was solid, ii) most of the staff were helpful and polite and iii) the wine markup is reasonable.

Now for the reason for my review. We arrived at 6.30 pm on time for our booking and were shown to our table. Our first round of drinks arrived 35-40 minutes later despite me following up with the server at about 20 mins. Three people had ordered starters which arrived around 7.20pm and they were done with those by 7.30pm or so. Between then and the first entree plate arriving around 8pm I had a second conversation with the server who also sent the Manager to talk to me. (The rest of the entrees arrived over a ten minute period). I discussed my concerns with the manager who suggested it probably wasn't the server's problem but likely the kitchen. I suggested to him that whose fault it was was not my concern. He suggested that to fix it he would comp deserts, which I explained was not what I was looking for. One person actually did order a desert. (As I said getting anything comped was not my objective but I did have a smile when the one desert was there in the bill).

Around 9pm a young lady who we hadn't seen before brought the bill. She informed me that an 18% was already built-in. I asked her to take the 18% tip out to which she quite smugly advised we that she couldn't do that as in BC the law say's they can charge an automatic tip in groups of six or more and "they all share it". ( I would recommend if there is more than five people in your group maybe consider two bookings so you can decide what tip is actually earned). We won't be back but who knows if you decide to come anyway you may actually have a good experience as I actually have before. Just don't expect a lot of accountability...

Came here countless times: many Breakfast, one Happy Hour, one Lunch, and two or three dinner. Overall four stars! One star reduction from five because of one incident over dinner and the seafood tower being not too fresh. Amazing ambiance though, great for girls night out or date nights. Despite the incident, I would still return.

Breakfast: avocado toast, tableau breakfast, mushroom on a roast, omelette, followed by two latte, one mocha. Food was generally good, not the best but worth 4.5 stars. Latte was pretty terrible. I would not order their latte again. Mocha was okay..

Happy hour: Eiffel tower ($115) - two oysters were really bad, foie gras was something we couldn’t swallow due to smell and this was not the first time having foie gras, we've had better ones in the past, mussels/scallops/snow crab were fresh. Given that this is the most expensive item (basically their signature thing) on the menu during happy hour and we were not too satisfied, I removed one star from this experience. Fries were tasty.

Dinner: NY 10oz steak, french onion soup (I thought it needs more cheese compared to the soup I had tried in France), and truffle topped fries followed by two glasses of red wine. Steak was amazing, top quality. French onion soup was also one of the best I found in North America. Fries = heaven. Just one flaw was the service, the server spilled french onion soup all over the table and onto our pants and arms, but she just said “oops”, and moved on. We did not burned or anything, but the fact that she never said sorry was a disappointment. The wait was quite long to get the table ready. Yes it was Sat night, but we were quoted 20mins and we waited almost 45mins.

Overall, we still had a great experience here. Will return and...

Atmosphere: Classy, inviting, French bistro accents, roomy, candlelit tables Service: Big shout out to our French server, Kai. His three cocktail recommendations for pairing our first and second courses were spot on and his service throughout our 2 hour stay was attentive and personable. He also changed our plates and cutlery few times. You'll be happy to be served by him. Food: Oysters (West coast and East coast mix) fresh and clean. Kampachi Crudo: well prepared and because it was sashimi level fresh, the kampachi was very enjoyable Steak tartare: modern twist and well made and goes especially well with large potato chips instead of crostini. Demi baguette with porcini mushroom butter: warm and had a nice chew. The porcini mushroom butter made the difference. Cowboy bone-in ribeye steak: definitely enough for 3 adults to share. Perfectly medium rare. It came with salad and frites. The salad had a light vinaigrette with sliced sun-dried tomatoes and thinly sliced shallots. Very nice and not wilted. The frites were perfectly crispy and warm throughout dinner. We ordered a bottle of 2021 Chateau Pesquie Quintessence. Our server Kai's attentiveness took care of the pouring at the right level in the glass which is at the wine glass widest point and not over. Dessert: Excellent recommendation by the manager - a glass of Sauternes and a glass of Rivesaltes to pair with a slice of chestnut buche de Noel cake topped with liqueur whole cherries. And finally, a shot of Dubonnet each for the three of us.

Final: It was our first time dining at Tableau French bistro. A definite recommend and we will definitely return to enjoy the other items...