through the eyes of the a70

Most of the people in Vancouver probably knows that Dine Out Vancouver has already started this year with 3-course meals set at $18, $28, and $38 – I’m having a bit of a late start.

Aqua Riva – 200 Granville Street, Vancouver – May 1, 6:00pm
Price per person: $28

A couple of my university friends came back to Vancouver, and we decided to have a dine out dinner – good thing we reserved early, or else it’d be hard to get a table for 10. I’ve been here for dine out many years back, and I remember the experience to be ok.

Below is my selection:
Appetizer: Fire Grilled Prawns & Scallop – grilled endive risotto and basil vinaigrette
Entrée: Wood Grilled Ribeye Steak – herb roasted Yukon gold potatoes, hazelnut & caramelized onion compote and stilton jus
Dessert: Apple and Cranberry Crisp – vanilla ice cream

I’ve always been a fan of good pre-dinner bread, and this was one of them! There were two types bread, both were soft, and had a nice faint herb taste.
The appetizer portion was good – I’ve been places where you literally had “a bite” to eat. The risotto helped to get over that early hunger :-) I asked for a medium-rare (always!) ribeye for my entree – it was just slightly overcooked in my opinion, but I could definitely taste the wood-grilled char – quite special. Dessert was nice – not overly sweet with the vanilla ice cream, always a safe choice! All of the portions were quite large, I felt that it was a great value!

One thing I noticed though was that their service wasn’t that great. It seemed that they were a bit understaffed and quite busy with the other tables, and maybe it was just our waitress, but I felt that when the plates were brought to us they were “quickly put down” (to put it nicely), and the same when they were taking it away. Hmm…

Aside from that though, I enjoyed the chance to catch up with old friends :-)

I give 7.0/10! (if service was better, 7.5)