Tavola — Restaurant in Vancouver

Awful experience with server Anya and general manager regarding a health and safety concern. I was using the shared washroom when I saw the server coming out of the stall and leaving without washing her hand, I didn’t know she was a server until I saw her touching glasses and serving water which made me uneasy. When I brought my concern in a very discreet manner to the supposedly general manager he didn’t believe me and went to talk to her. The server came back to confront me and with an attitude told me that she went to the men’s washroom to wash her hands (????), I said I didn’t know her and I hope she understood from a customer perspective eating at a restaurant how that situation can be seen. She then came back again, with a harsh attitude saying “the guy in white saw me washing my hands” and left. That made me uncomfortable and I asked the name of the server to write a complaint. She the. Came back one more time and said I “didn’t have to right a review” and proceeded to call me immature. I asked why she was giving me an attitude and that she didn’t have to, she said the staff is her “family” and the general manager got involved and told me “that’s not gonna fly in here you can leave”

Such a horrible, horrible experience begging to end. It was my first time there and I’ll make sure the owner is aware of the poor taste of the management to let the staff confront guests in such an aggressive way. Being called immature and being asked to leave for pointing out a safety issue is beyond ridiculous. If anything manager should have to apologize that I paid customer witnessed a staff member use the washroom and not washing their hands in the first place. I don’t know these employees, I’m a customer who is aware of what should be done in an establishment that serves food. I’ll get to the bottom of it, I’m extremely disappointed and shocked. A report has been made to safety department. Wrong in so many levels, the entitlement of the staff is...

Tavola was far and away the best restaurant we tried in Vancouver during our stay. It was so good that it was the only we returned to it on the same trip; twice in 3 days!

The first time we went was after walking around the entirety of Stanley Park (preceded by a walk across the length of the city). We were aching with swollen feet, exhausted, and ravenous with hunger.

We started with a special cheese plate with a trio of ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, and buratta. Each was excellent but the buratta was the standout, it tasted so amazingly fresh that it just melted in your mouth. We then shared a fantastic green salad with mandarin orange slices, asparagus, and pecans.

But the entrees outshined everything. My wife had the gnocchi with sage brown butter and pine nuts and each bite was like a sweet & savory piece of heaven. Mine was epic: a fettuccine with pancetta, chanterelle mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in an olive oil base. The sun-dried tomatoes were simply the best I've ever had, I will dream about them for quite a while. Also, they add a little flash of chile pepper that gives it just the right amount of heat which I loved. We paired the meal with some generous pours of Nero d' Avola. Such a fantastic meal.

The second time we had a similarly excellent experience. We weren't starving this time but the food was just as good. We started with a walnut pesto Gorgonzola crostini with pear and honey. It was good if not great, just a bit dry and too heavy on the walnut and short on the cheese. Our entrees were perfect: my wife had the spaghetti with sun-dried tomatoes and I had a linguini with pancetta, chanterelle mushrooms and hints of lemon.

So. Damn. Good.

Last, should mention the service was good if somewhat aloof, they seemed interested in talking only with local patrons but that didn't bother us too much; we were sated with our food! We will definitely be returning...

I dined here recently for a friends birthday. The waitress who served us was friendly and informed us of all the specials that evening. She mentioned it was family style and made some excellent recommendations.

The food will not disappoint. We were a large group sharing and we ordered the burrata with olive oil, two types of crostini’s, two salads, 4 pasta, and the steak. Everything was absolutely delicious. Each dish tasted different and was crafted with love.

Cons:

As much as it pains me to say, there were a couple of issues.

the waitress knew that most of our group was sharing, but two people in our group due to food allergies were not. When one of the orders of crostini came, a server (not the person who took our order) just put it down next to the nearest person and left. As that small party ordered a similar dish they started eating it. Turns out it was not their order, but rather for the larger group. The staff could have taken extra care to ask who the item belonged to. We had a good laugh about it, but I think the small party felt bad.

The other slight issue was with the restaurants service times. I believe (don’t quote me on it) they do set service times. I was not aware of this as I didn’t make the reservation. Our party had to be out of there by a certain time. This style made us feel a little rushed. As this dinner was a celebration we wanted to also order dessert, unfortunately we didn’t have time to do that.

Summary:

1-Food is AMAZING! 2- Bonus* they don’t apply automatic gratuity to parties of 6! 3-If going in a large group stress to everyone that they need to get there in time and that they have a fixed amount of time they can be there for 4- look at the menu in advance and ask for the specials in advance to plan ahead (saves some...