Dine Out Vancouver
 

If you're visiting Vancouver soon... definitely enjoy some cheap meals while you are there.

http://www.tourismvancouver.com/visi...ng/dineout.php

January 19 - February 4, 2007

Vancouver's most anticipated food and wine event is back!
Offering an extended 17 delicious days and156 leading Vancouver restaurants, Dine Out Vancouver 2007 is bigger and better than ever!

From January 19 to February 4, enjoy delectable three-course prix fixe menus at one of Vancouver's hottest restaurants for $15, $25 or $351 per person, complemented by quality BC VQA wine pairing suggestions.

Book now! I'm missing out on this since I'm in Toronto right now :(

Definitely hit Chambar, Nu or C!!!

>Vancouver's most anticipated food and wine event is back!

Let me offer a contrarian opinion - I've done 'dine out' a few times now, and each time I'm a little disappointed. It reminds me somewhat of eating at a conference or a wedding -

"I'll pick appetizer C, entree B and dessert A"

The sittings are rushed, the food is rushed, and the servers know they're working hard for low tips, so the service is sometimes weak.

I'm much rather go to one good restaurant for one good meal than three rushed 'dine out' events.

YMMV :)

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Actually, I found Nu a bit disappointing. After talking to a few of my colleagues and friends, we shared similar thoughts.

We've had mixed experiences with Dine Out the past few years. It's obviously tough on some of the restaurants because they aren't used to the volume. We have never felt rushed but have occasionally experienced somewhat inconsistent food quality and service.

I don't mind eating a prix fixe type meal. You have to choose your restaurants carefully though. We checked out what some places were offerring for $25 & $35 and just shook our heads at some while other places had some really decent deals.

We've got a reservation for Chambar this year.

Can you tell me what is included in a $351 meal. I am sure it is amazing and I would love to see what is offered.

>Can you tell me what is included in a $351 meal

The OP just cut-and-pasted from the Tourism Vancouver site, and neglected to edit out the the superscript "1" that came after the $35 :)

"¹ Exclusive of alcohol, taxes and gratuities."

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Here's an article from today's Vancouver Courier: http://www.vancourier.com/issues07/012207/dining.html

The gist of it is that while some restaurants' prix fixe menus offer a bargain, others are not, so choose carefully. They also list a few suggestions in each price range.

Did the Dine Out Vancouver last year and tried "C Resturant". Wasn't happy with the Dine Out menu but we loved the resturant ambience so we went again after Dine Out and enjoyed our Anniversary there.

I think that is the purpose of Dine Out is for people to try out different resturants to see if they would want to come back. It is a pity the resturant does not necessarily provide the gourmand experience to encourage people back but for us, the ambience was worth a return visit.

NOT YOUR TIP!! :eek:

Here is an interesting article in the Vancouver Sun that gives some insight on Dine Out. Kind of reinforces what's been discussed in this thread but gives a few points of view from the restaurant side of things.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...42bff4&k=42514

Just wanted to report on our only Dine Out experience (so far?) this year: Chambar.
First time there. $25 menu. Our tab ended up being $75 including tax, tip, and two drinks. I'll spare everyone the menu options since you can find them online. Food was excellent with decent menu options. Service was very good and not snooty as I've read in some reviews. But holy crap was it tight seating and loud at times. I read in other reviews that you sometimes can't hear what the person across from you is saying and man, is it true. We think it's because the noise reflects off the wall and because the room is pretty small.

Highly recommended for a Dine Out option. We have to go back now.

Chambar "sold" out in a day, I believe. It's always been very highly rated and is often mentioned in the En Route magazines.

We must have lucked out. We were able to book later in the week and said we'd take any slot they had. Ended up there on a Monday at 6:30. It was packed though. Empty tables were not empty for long as I'm sure they set the bookings like clockwork. We had to be out in an hour and a half because of another reservation at 8. This was ok for us since we usually aren't inclined to linger at the end of our meal.

While not part of this program, I enjoyed a fabulous evening at Chambar last month. I sat at the bar and lingered for a couple hours, navigating through four courses paired with beer. Josh at the bar provided fantastic, personal service.

Did 4 places this year (in order of descending quality): Gastropod, LK (Lily Kate), Aurora Bistro and Delilah's. The 1st 3 were pretty close but Delilahs was a distant 4th.