Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar — Restaurant in Whistler Resort Municipality

Whistler’s hot new restaurant is buzzy, boozy, and just ok.

First off, it was too hot inside, I would have been fine in shorts and a t-shirt. I spent all week dining at whistlers go-to restaurants and this one was the only one where I was dressed too warm. My fault? You decide.

Next, the bathroom was a mess: hand towels everywhere and one of the two soap dispensers was out. I went back a bit later and the towel situation had been cleaned up but the soap dispenser was still empty. Lack of attention to detail by the staff. Maybe this is just a Saturday night thing. Bonus points for the Dr Bronner’s mint soap though! I recognize that stuff anywhere. Also, The art at the end of the bathroom landing is SO UGLY. Get rid of that thing ASAP.

The architecture was beautiful and the lighting was spectacular. The little lamps on each table are an incredible touch. The restaurant clearly has a lot of money invested into the furniture, cups, silverware etc.

Drinks, please: I had the spicy mezcal drink which was pretty good, albeit a tiny bit too spicy - and I’ve had a lot of spicy margaritas in my life - I think the house made Chile liquor could be toned down a few scovilles and it would be better. Afterwards I ordered the dirty martini from the menu. I asked for three olives with the drink. It came with only one olive. I had to ask for more. Lack of detail from my bartender. Drinks were ok - 4/5

Food: The sourdough was good: thick, and tasty! The butter was soft and salty. Just like I like it

The asparagus salad is a rip off. One asparagus sliced into four tiny bits with some onion, lettuce, mustard seeds, and like an aoli or something? The redeeming quality of this dish is that the white asparagus was unique and very well cooked. But 16 dollars or more for one asparagus stalk?? That’s insane. This dish is better enjoyed in photos.

For our second starter we had the octopus. Another rip off!! Look at the pictures from other people. It’s literally one octopus tentacle cut into 4 or 5 pieces with a chickpea “pasta” in the middle. I don’t know if the supply chain is expensive for octopus in whistler but ONE tentacle? The redeeming quality is that the single tentacle was expertly cooked and charred but it just left me wanting more bites. Not worth the $$$. it was really beautiful plating however. The squid ink circle made the whole dish look like art and every bite made the plate more and more beautiful.

Pasta: We got the rigatoni with mozzarella. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the mozzarella was well curdled. The sauce however, was missing something. Either it could have been further reduced, or maybe have a bit of pasta water added in the cooking process, it wasn’t really sticking to the pasta. It was good but not great.

Mains: The 14 oz rib eye was pretty bad. It was well marbled, and well cooked but the crust was missing some flavor. And frankly you can get wayyy better steak at so many places in whistler. The house made yukusomething sauce had WAY too much ginger and sugar and not enough umami. It felt like I was dipping my steak in melted ginger chews mixed with peanut butter and soy sauce.

The Chicken was good albeit a bit dry. And the skin could have been crispier. It had a good sauce, though. The cheesy, grainy, moment that it was paired with simply did not make sense with the chicken.

Desert: got the pecan bar which everyone thoroughly enjoyed and ate up quick.

Part of me wishes we for got fish or a crudo dish but we didn’t.

With so many great options in whistler, don’t make this one your...

Went to this restaurant on 2 separate occasions. First time in Jan 2024 as a party of 12. Second time just this past weekend as a party of 3. While food was great, service was quite disappointing.

The first time in Jan 2024 as a party of 12, took us a while to get settled down. While the server came check in with us about 15 min in and we weren't ready to order, he didn't come back until another 15 min, so overall 30 min after we sat down. There's a 2 hrs dinning time limit and the server never came to check in with us for any potential dessert need, but rather only inform us after we are done with our main that we are out of time and they would not be serving us desserts.

This past weekend, we booked in as a party of 3 at the bar seat. The check in at the front was a bit chaotic, which was the same as our experience a year ago. While food was great, our "server" which was one of the bar tender in front of us, was often missing in action. Now mind you, this is not the only bar tender at the bar, but one of 4 bar tenders there. He was obvious to be responsible for our section of the bar, which was only 6 seats. We repeatedly struggle to get his attention for our need, including ordering of wine, getting a bowl for shells from our 2 tier seafood tower. We even have to flag down other to get a dessert menu. Toward the end of our meal, my wife had to leave for washroom and long behold a random guy just walked up and sat at my wife's seat, right next to my elementary school son. I had to be the one to ask the person to leave. The guy was obviously annoyed and responded "oh, I don't know, then is the seat next to you taken???" Keep in mind, the bar seats were reserved during our seating and that hostess had to take us to our seat. So I responded that I don't know and that he really should check with the hostess, to which he told me the hostess told him he can just walk up. I am not sure why I had to deal with it as a patron of this supposedly up-scale establishment... I just dropped over $600 on a dinner for 2 adult and 1 kid and I was having an exchange with a somewhat aggressive guy much like at a local pub. Mind you, my server bar tender should really be the one aware and dealing with this but wasn't there until the guy sat down now next to me.

Overall, it seems like between the hostess check in process, to the server attentiveness, the restaurant was not up to the standard that is expected at a supposedly top establishment.

Food is definitely amazing. But dinning experience at these sort of establishment is much more than food and unfortunately the service level was very disappointing on both try, and that after a full calendar year, improvement was not achieved.

This is definitely my last time...

I’ve had dinner at Wild Blue around 7-8 times now since its initial opening. Every other time I’ve been, it was a good time and fairly consistent with decent to great service. However our dinner the other night was one of the worst I’ve had eating out in Whistler - which to clarify at the price point and level of quality of fine dining restaurants in Whistler - and I’ve been in Whistler every winter/summer season for over a decade now.

To summarize our issues with our experience: a rude hostess brought us to our table placing a group of 6 (7 if baby included though she was just really held the whole time) in the smallest table of 6 I’ve ever experienced. I was thrown off as every other time I’ve been to Wild Blue it was in a group of 4 or 6 and we always got a long table with a bench or decent spacing. The table we were at SHOULD NOT be a table of 6. Expressing our discomfort, the hostess gave only attitude and no sympathy. She was plain rude and left a bitter taste and feeling throughout our entire dinner. I would clarify, even without the children, just 5 grown adults at that table was uncomfortable. We shared starters and our knees and elbows/shoulders were hitting each other throughout the night. Ultimately fine if that was the circumstance but the hostess’ tone and attitude was abysmal and the main issue. I would also like to clarify on OpenTable I made note of the children and if they could accommodate - I checked back after the meal when the hostess mentioned no notes were made. the entrees were not the best. The duck was overcooked/dry and the sablefish felt just okay (accompaniments were lacklustre) which for the price and quality of the establishment, just didn’t feel right the pacing was off. Water glasses often empty and we couldn’t access the bottle ourselves. The timing between starters and mid was quick but mid to entrees was a fairly long wait. Approx 45 mins.

For what went well as per expectations: server was friendly The starters and cavatelli were good as always entree striped bass was good

Conclusion? Wild Blue great for business and small group of adults - don’t go as a family, not a family friendly restaurant - and don’t go as a large group of adults either. If you like fine dining and have a family, other suggestions: Sidecut, Bearfoot Bistro, Araxi to name a few we’ve had consistent great times over the years

We spent over $1000, as we did at other listed restaurants this winter season, but didn’t feel the value or worth this time...