Ondus on the Waterfront — Restaurant in Vancouver

Ondus is in the AC Hotel on the waterfront. Their menu has 6 starters and 13 different appetizers which makes for a target rich environment. You could just order a few in lieu of entrees. We had to try the French Onion soup. My wife says it's the best she's had. The Ricotta & Spicy Meatballs are very good, but not spicy. My wife like the Brussel Sprouts & Spicy Honey although the spice level was just a little more than she likes.

We ordered the Steak Tip Skewer with truffle parmesan fries to learn what Ondus' steak is like. They were tender and nicely seasoned. This could pass for a meal if you weren't very hungry. Next time I'll try the Steak Frites.

The Waterfront Burger is top notch. The pepper bacon is legit. The focaccia bun has a different look and texture than a garden variety bin, but pairs amazingly with the burger and toppings. I don't know if it's the Facerock cheddar, the black garlic aioli, or what. But this is an amazing combination. For several years the cheeseburger at The Multnomah Whiskey Library has been my high watermark for a gourmet burger. The Waterfront Burger has surpassed it.

The Marry Me Chicken was tender and perfectly seasoned. The polenta with the cheese sauce was delicious. The broccolini was steamed just right which resulted in an excellent texture and flavor addition to the dish.

The Sausage Stuffed Shells pasta are stuffed with whipped burrata, sweet Italian sausage, herbs and parmesan that are baked in a marinara sauce. It's a nice dish but too polite for me (I like bold flavor), though for some folks this will be just right.

The French dip is the best I've encountered. It's for a fab lunch.

The carrot cake is a show stopper. It's massive. It looks like they took an entire round cake and cut off the curves. I put a fork in the photo to indicate the scale. SIDE NOTE: The carrot cake tastes delicious.

Cocktails were good. The AC Hotel bar has decent, but not amazing stock, though Jeff the Bar Manager aims to please. He went above and beyond to work with the recipes I gave him. The result were very enjoyable drinks that paired well with our meal. The bar has savvy crystal clear king cubes with "AC" engraved on top.

Price is a common Achilles heel for corporate restaurants. I was surprised to discover Ondus' prices to be fairly reasonable. Starters are $14 each which is a little high, but appetizers start at $12. The highest price is $15 for the Steak Tip Skewer. Sandwiches are $18-$20 including the Waterfront Burger. Multnomah Whiskey Library charges $26 for their burger. They offer 11 entrees ranging from $16 (Pasta Pomodoro) to $55 (Baked Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes). Ondus serves a variety of pizza ($15-$18). I'm a pizza evangelist that has many wonderful pizzerias to chose from, so I chose to try theirs on another visit. In my opinion, the price for the food they serve in an elegant setting and being serenaded with live music is an excellent value.

On top of it all, the staff have so much heart and a strong desire for their customers to enjoy the experience of dining at Ondus. Every staff person we saw was on mission to make everyone feel special. Perhaps the greatest compliment is my wife asking for us to come back often. INSIDER TIP: They validate parking in their parking structure. That takes the pain out of going to...

(READ BOTTOM HALF OF REVIEW FOR UPDATE)

My wife and I decided to try this place out recently for our wedding/anniversary celebration dinner. I had booked the reservation in advance, and when you book the reservation, it asks you if you're celebrating anything special. So, I selected the anniversary option and elaborated in the comments. When we got there, they told us they did not have any patio seating, which is how I knew they could see the reservation notes because I had not yet said anything about the patio in person. Luckily, they had window seating, so we still had a view of the waterfront, and they ended up opening up the windows, so the table ended up not being too bad. The view of the waterfront is a bit obstructed by a fence, especially if you are sat back more. The service was good; the waitress was very nice and attentive. We ordered their pineapple margarita, and it was just okay, nothing to write home about. We ordered the steak frites for our entree, and the fries and broccolini it came with were pretty good (9/10 stars). The steak, on the other hand, was very mid in my opinion. I wouldn't say that it was BAD; it just wasn't as good as I expected it to be at that price point. However, I think the price is mostly high just due to it being on the waterfront. I will say I was a bit disappointed that I had noted on the reservation that it was our 7-year anniversary and we had gotten married the previous day, yet no one said a peep about it. A lot of places will give you a little dessert with a congratulations on it, but apparently not this place. Not sure why they ask you if you're celebrating anything then. In my honest opinion, there are better places on the waterfront to eat.

UPDATE:

After I had made my review, Ondus reached out and invited us to come back for a fully comped meal. They were very nice and inviting and scheduled a reservation for us. When we arrived, we were able to sit on the patio this time and actually had the same waitress as last time! They gave us a "Happy Anniversary" card with little messages and signatures from the staff, which was very pleasantly unexpected. (It's now on our fridge). This time around we ordered different drinks and entrees and even got an appetizer we somehow missed the first time around. The fried pickles were SO GOOD!!!! I've never had fried pickles in spear form before, but they were exceedingly spectacular. Our drinks were also SO GOOD!!!! We got the Terminal One and the berry drop. I could drink way too many of the Terminal Ones. For our entree I got the French dip, which exceeded my expectations! AND the chef actually brought our food to us. My wife got the pineapple and pepperoni, which was also very good! We particularly liked that the pineapple was grilled and the bread was super fluffy. For dessert we got the Dark Temptation to go, which was also very good and light.

My review of Ondus has completely changed. Them inviting us back says a lot about the type of restaurant they are. Most places would've taken the review for what it is and not thought twice. THIS is how every restaurant should strive to be. We appreciate the hospitality and invitation more than we can express. I can't recommend this...

Management makes this place an unfortunate night out. We will go elsewhere next time. First, we were a large party of 10 (5 couples). We were not informed when we made the reservation that they do not accept separate checks. It is helpful to know that ahead of time when trying to pay a bill. The computer systems at most restaurants in town make 5 checks simple and it’s been ages that a server has batted an eye when dividing a check because of the ease that most restaurant systems provide. I get it, it’s not ideal but a restaurant like this should provide a computer system that makes this fairly simple. Maybe years ago, it was not standard to allow separate checks because of old systems that would require a ton of work but now, it seems to be the norm. In fact, most restaurants in the area offer it before ordering when with a group. Our server, Kayla, was amazing and did the best she could within “restaurant policy”.

There was literally two parties in the entire restaurant when we sat down. Us and a party of two right next to us. They could have sat us anywhere in the restaurant but we were backed right next to them. When we arrived, we were greeting each other for a short time. The normal hello, a hug, and figure out where to sit situation. However, apparently we were too close to the party next to us and the manager had the server come tell us that we needed to sit down. First of all, if she wanted us to sit down, she could have come explained the situation to us, not make the server do it. We were not trying to make the other party uncomfortable and it was legitimately a very short time. We weren’t standing there chatting, which I would get. It felt unreasonable and weird to be honest.

Again, Kayla, our server did a great job. She was lovely and attentive. The female manager stood at the host stand trying to look important but did nothing else. Communication and lighthearted direction could have made the situation a different story. Bossy hotel vibe is not where I want to spend an evening out.

The food is pretty good but not good enough to not take our business to the many up and coming restaurants that are accommodating and reasonable with a great atmosphere in Vancouver. It just didn’t feel like a restaurant at all.

It seems there is a reason the restaurant was empty on what should be a busy...