Prima Bistro — Restaurant in Langley

It has been near a year since I last penned my thoughts on Prima Bistro. In that time, I have dined there more often than I have filled the tank of my car—a testament not merely to convenience, but to quality. Prima is no ordinary establishment. It is, without question, the finest this island has to offer—and then some.

In all my visits, through every rotation of the menu and every changing season, I have tasted every starter and small plate, and not once have I been compelled to push a dish aside. That, I assure you, is a rarity—for I do not easily impress, and most restaurants fail miserably in that regard.

At Prima, one is not simply fed. One is welcomed, as though returning to the hearth of a home both refined and intimate. The warm lighting, the wine bottles lined along the walls, the fragrant stirrings from the open kitchen—it all conjures an atmosphere both cozy and noble, and uniquely reflective of what Pacific Northwest fine dining should aspire to be.

From the outdoor seating (when in season) to the subtle clink of wine glasses within, the ambience is measured, never contrived. One does not feel misplaced here—whether arriving for casual conversation, business dealings, romantic escape, or celebration of something greater. Prima wears every occasion with ease.

Let the critics mutter about price and portion. They understand not the discipline of French culinary philosophy, where a meal is not designed to glut, but to perfectly balance hunger and satisfaction. The dishes are crafted—not slung—and every plate is an act of precision.

Rather than enumerate each dish I’ve had, allow me instead to impart the method by which a proper guest of Prima should dine, as practiced by myself and the many I’ve brought in my company:

Begin with three starters to share between two guests, paired with a thoughtful apéritif.

Always—without exception—order the escargot. To dine at Prima without them is to miss the soul of the place.

After fine conversation and your appetizers, select one to two small plates. Share them. Discuss them. Pair them with a wine—the staff are well prepared to guide even the most novice palate.

Order the 14oz Pichet—it’s the sweet spot for conversation, for laughter, and for that slow, lingering end to a perfect meal.

If not yet full, a salad or soup—perhaps the French onion, or the Island Caesar—shall carry you gently toward satisfaction.

And at last, dessert: whether the decadent crème brûlée, the beloved cheesecakes, or the house-made ice creams (should the chef offer them), know that no wrong choice exists.

For myself, I spend easily over $250 when in the company of others. Yet for a quiet evening for two—wine, entrées, and a shared plate—$60–70 is an honest price, and frankly, a remarkable bargain for the quality delivered.

In truth, I have no greater compliment to give than this:

“At Prima, I feel like royalty.”

Should this establishment ever falter, I will not remain silent. I would mourn its loss as one mourns a great monument fallen. For without Prima, this island would have no standard by which to measure itself—and I, no place to bring guests to...

We made the mistake of thinking we could just waltz into one of Langley's restaurants at 6:30 on a Saturday night in April and be seated fairly quickly. NOPE. Both Prima Bistro and Cafe Langley next door had an hour-long wait list. So if you have your heart set on eating here, make reservations! Or else you'll stand in the stairwell for an hour and end up sitting in the very back, next to the kitchen.

By the time we were finally seated, we were starving and immediately ordered the chicken liver mousse starter ($7.50). It comes in a short glass jar with five thin slices of grilled bread, which seemed a little skimpy -- and they don't serve complimentary bread and butter ($1.50). But the mousse was creamy, flavorful, and a good size for two to share (though I think I'd recommend getting some extra bread).

I asked the server about the difference in size between the seafood small plates and entrees, because many of them are the same, and I was glad I did, because I would have ordered WAY too many mussels. The small-plate size ($12.50) is about 3/4 lb, a good-sized entree, and is served in a cute little cast-iron Dutch oven. The mussels were good, but nothing was original or noteworthy in the preparation. It doesn't come with anything, but you can order a side of shoestring fries for $4 more. The fries came in a BIG basket and would have been plenty for two people. I thought they were very oversalted and borderline inedible, so it was kind of a waste -- I definitely should have gotten the bread to dip into the mussel broth!

My dining companion got the hangar steak frites ($26.50), on our server's advice, and it too came with a big pile of super-salty shoestring fries (but his came with a delicious gorgonzola-y bearnaise dip that made all the difference). The "medium rare" was seared outside and purpley-red inside with lots of blood. This was perfect for us, but if that makes you queasy, you might err on the side of a little more well-done than you'd normally order. The meat was very juicy and flavorful with or without the dipping sauce. The house red was a good-sized pour, but took so long that we thought our server had forgotten it -- my dining companion was halfway through his steak by the time the wine finally came.

Oddly, the lunch menu seems to be the dinner menu (same prices) plus some under-$20 sandwiches. So you won't necessarily save any money by coming here for lunch. The best way to try their menu may be by sharing a few small plates and then a bigger, shareable entree-sized dish.

A solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because I wasn't expecting much from Langley's restaurant options. "But that's a Langley 4, not a Seattle 4," as my dining companion said. It's a decent place with good food, somewhat high prices, and slightly disorganized service, but if you're looking for more date-night ambiance than the local pizzeria, this...

I really hate leaving negative reviews, but our experience at Prima was so poor and infuriating it's worth mentioning. I ordered the steak frite medium rare. When our food came out, my steak was medium-well, already cut in to pieces and dried out. Unfortunate, but not a big deal. Mistakes happen. I asked them to fire me a new one medium-rare, thinking it would just delay our meal 5-10 minutes max. About 20 minutes later, my partner had long finished his meal and my steak wasn't out. When I asked the waitress if my food had been fired yet, she said she wasn't sure. I told her to just cancel the order at that point if it hadn't been fired. She came out a few minutes later with the steak. The steak was great - but at this point my partner has been done with his meal for about 20 minutes while I'd been sitting there hungry. Our waitress kept on saying that the kitchen was slammed which was why I had to wait for my steak that I'd originally ordered about 45 minutes ago - a steak that probably takes all of 4 minutes to cook. She offered us a free dessert, but at that point we were already late for the ferry we were trying to catch and didn't want dessert. We asked for the steak to be comped since we didn't feel good about paying full price for the experience we'd just had. She fought us on that, again repeating that she couldn't help it because the kitchen was so slammed. Eventually she offered to take the steak off the bill - but only if we didn't eat the steak she'd just brought. We asked her to talk to the manager since this seemed pretty ridiculous. She eventually came back saying they could comp the steak. We thought that was that. So we pay the bill and when we go to sign the receipt we see that the steak was still on the receipt. So we go up to the bar to ask them to change it. We wait several minutes and get a new receipt. We look at it - this time they'd taken off the steak but put two of my partner's meals on it instead. So we ask them to do it AGAIN. This entire time the manager is standing by us, helping the waitress try to fix the receipt. He doesn't even look at us, let alone apologize or say anything. I really hope this was just a series of mistakes and unfortunate events, but it's hard not to wonder by the 3rd incorrect receipt if this place was hoping we'd miss the charges. Moral of the story - we left the place feeling extremely frustrated and...