The Red Accordion — Restaurant in Vancouver

I don't recommend it unless you're overflowing money. It's not $$. It's $$$$.

First of all, if you are a lover of interior design and are tired of the endless, too-often-austere modern, do yourself a favour and visit the Red Accordion. This place is eye candy for the soul. LOVE the interior. The dark blue painted walls, warm accent lights, and candles throughout are gorgeous. I was happy as can be with all this to look at. I also appreciated the eclectic, vintage plates and glassware. This place is special. They say they want you to feel like you are coming to their home, and they have absolutely achieved that. I suspect you're more likely to have a good experience in the evening, after the sun is down. This place feels special, intimate, a real respite and hideaway from the too-often loud Vancouver. This is the best feature of the restaurant.

Now the downsides.

The menu is small. I don't like seafood, and am not vegetarian, so I'm down to almost no options. The roast chicken dinner is excellent. Aside from me hating mushrooms, the vegetables were excellent, unique, flavourful, and a side I will remember. The chicken is moist, flavourful, generously sized, consistently good. But as I've read about a dozen negative reviews about the $28 burger, I'm now down to no other dinner item to order. And that's a problem.

Wide selection of gin (if you're a gin lover, you may be happy), though I only recognized two, but expect to pay ~ $20 per cocktail. Too much.

Service is overall good but gets slow on timing, as the meal winds on. And they tell you upfront there's a table limit of 2 hrs. It's them who made it last 90 min, not us. And to make a reservation, you need to submit a credit card online, and their cancellation policy is 2 DAYS, or you'll get charged $10. Not good.

We're done with this place. $175 for dinner for two people? Come on, get serious. That is WAY too much for this place. 2 drinks, 2 appetizers, 1 entrée. The food seems to be fusion. Bizarre combination of flavours sometimes. Other times, it's classic. A lot is good about this place, and a lot of inconsistent. For these prices, it should be much, much more. We're out. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're overflowing with cash. It's a quaint, cozy, charming restaurant that seems to think it warrants...

I had a deeply disappointing experience at this restaurant and feel compelled to share it. We reserved a table through the OpenTable app, where it’s only possible to book a table in a general area, not a specific table. When we arrived, we were seated at a table in the center of the room, uncomfortably close to another table. We politely asked if it would be possible to switch to a table near the window, which we preferred.

However, we were told by the manager that the window table was reserved. When we asked for clarification about how to book a specific table in the future, the manager was dismissive and claimed it should have been possible via the app—despite this being untrue. Their system randomly assigns tables booked via OpenTable reservation, and we had booked 10 days in advance, so availability wasn’t the issue.

What upset us most was not the refusal to change tables (we understand policies), but the rude and condescending manner in which the manager handled the situation. Instead of addressing our concerns respectfully, we were spoken to as if we were being difficult, and the manager seemed entirely uninterested in resolving the issue.

To make matters worse, this was a birthday dinner, and we had mentioned the occasion in our reservation details in OpenTable. Clearly, no attention was paid to this, as the entire experience left us feeling unwelcome and upset. Ultimately, we left and celebrated elsewhere, where the staff treated us with courtesy and care.

If you value good customer service and respect, I’d recommend thinking twice before visiting...

This was my first time at the Red Accordion. The restaurant has a great atmosphere - it is very quirky but cool, and has a very local feel at the same time. Red Accordion gets busy, as it is quite small. My partner and I went around 8 on a Friday and there was one table on the upper patio or spaces at the bar. We chose to sit at the bar so we could enjoy the ambience. The service was really good. However, sometimes I was not sure who to ask questions to or felt like I could not catch the server as they were busy - I am not too picky about this but I can see how others could get upset about it. Also, service was a little on the slower side. That being said, if the kitchen is running behind I would rather them take their time on my meal than just throw something together. Which brings me to the fact that our food was delicious :) I had the pesto orecchiette and my partner had the picanha steak. Both were lovely! Based on taste I felt that the price was justified but kind of on the line (as in it could have been a wee bit better at that price point but I am also not complaining). It is not cheap though. My partner and I stuck to wine so I cannot speak to the drinks. However, the menu looked very tasty! I would love to come back and explore both the drinks and appetizers next time. Overall, great restaurant! Especially if you are looking for something that has more of that local vibe and is unique from other places. I have given 5 stars, but more accurate...