Wildebeest

Came here for dineout with a bunch of friends for a birthday on a Thursday. They had the $ 40 price and several options on the menu. I had chosen the beet salad at my starter (4/​5, great presentation, great taste, portion could of been bigger), my main was chicken with gnocci which I wasnt a fan of it tasted not seasoned enough and didnt have the wow factor, the gnocci was mediocre. Lastly I had the cheese cake mouse with sorbet on top (4/​5, great texture, light and not overly sweet) Paid about $ 65 with a drink (slush, bjorn borg) which was great. Overall good experience but chicken and gnocci main lacked a bit. Would do here again on a non dine out day to see how the service is :). I really like how the Dineout menu had a good selection of options to choose from from bison carpacio as a starter to steak as a main and rice crispy square as a dessert.

Dineout Vancouver 2016.
I came here with my wife and 4 other friends for dinner. We had heard many good things about wildebeest so we decided to try it out.
We decided to come here because the menu for dine out looked pretty good.
When we first walked and it was busy. nice décor. Wood themed with ambient lighting. not too bright and not too dark. It was well lit in the places it had to be.
We sat down at a bar style table downstairs. They don’t have chairs that have back support but it was more of a bar seating style downstairs vs the upstairs.
We started ordering right away since we were hungry. My wife ordered the bison carpaccio, chicketta, and potato chip rice crispy while I ordered the albacore crudo, Angus strip loin and the chocolate tasting.
The food in general was delicious. Everything my wife and I ordered was amazing. All delicious in its own way. The portions aren’t large so don’t expect to be super full. (We went to get a slice of pizza after) but the flavors were on point.
Service was good as they tended to our needs. filled out drinks when they were nearing empty. Overall a very good experience. It makes me desire to come back to try the other dishes.
I’d recommend getting the bison carpaccio and the Angus striploin. The potato chip rice square was really good too and I don’t eat sweets.
Food ⁹⁄₁₀ service ⁹⁄₁₀ ambiance ⁹⁄₁₀ value 8.5÷10
I’d definitely come back. Check my pictures if you wanna see what I ate.

I’ve always wanted to try Wildbeest and I finally did during Dineout, and was not disappointed! They definitely showed their best during Dineout, gave us lots of options to choose from. Their sauce combination and reduction were super good on their steak (I thought the meat was a bit too tough, but the sauce made up for that). Their portion size was great and I love their desserts. I’ll definitely go back for dinner or brunch after Dineout’s over. GOOD VALUE — CHECK!

This was the best dine out Vancouver experience we have had. We didn’t even mind the 15 minute wait even with reservations. It’s understandable to have to wait for something, whether it be your table or food, when participating in DOV. I’m just glad it wasn’t the former.
The food and service went beyond our expectations. Flavours were all there and highly recommend the wine pairings suggested for each course. I will definitely be coming back in the near future.

Last night’s meal at Wildebeest was incredible. It was the best dine out experience I’ve had this year and one of my more memorable meals. I actually didn’t even know about this restaurant until recently so I’m very glad I got to try it. Wildebeest is in the Gastown area on W Hastings.

I was happy with their dine out menu. It’s $ 40 per person but there’s a great selection of seafood, meat, and vegetarian dishes so there’s something for everyone.
The inside of the restaurant isn’t very big but it’s reasonably sized and it was quite cozy. We were seated at one of the long tables in the back. It’s a good thing our reservation was early at 5:45 so there weren’t any other people sitting there yet. They have an open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant so you can actually see the chefs hard at work which is cool.
Anyways, to start off our meal, NW and I both ordered the Albacore Tuna Crudo. It was presented very nicely. I was impressed upon my first bite. The tuna was soft and fresh without any fishiness and the ponzu dressing did not take away from the delicate flavour of the fish. I also liked the contrasting textures from the crispy fried shallots and the paper-​thin crisps paired on the side. The sous-​vide egg yolk was really good as well. It reminded me of the Japanese aji-​tama… A lovely start to our meal! :)
I ordered the Grilled Beef Striploin for my main. It came with potato mousseline, roasted mushrooms, and fingerling chips. Oh my gaawd this was SO GOOD. The beef was cooked to a perfect medium rare and it was juicy, flavourful, well-​seasoned, and tender. :D :D :D The sides totally made sense too. The assorted mushrooms were great and complemented the dish as well and the potato mousseline was very light and airy. This was clearly the winner of the night.
NW went for their Roasted Chicken with Parisian gnocchi, braised savoy cabbage, parsnip purée, and amaranth, which are the little seeds on top. His dish was very good as well. The chicken was much more delicate compared to the beef but it was moist and the skin was crispy. We thought the parsnip purée had hints of banana flavour. strange but it wasn’t bad. I didn’t love the gnocchi because I would’ve liked them more fluffy. However, the cabbage was yummy.
This guy is my Potato Chip Rice Crispy Square for dessert. On the sides were the cherry purée and toffee bits that tasted like shortbread cookie. This was a very enjoyable dessert. It had sweet, savoury, and sour flavours and again, contrasting textures. The vanilla meringue on top was really light and fluffy, and it doesn’t make you feel sick after. My favourite part, though, was the actual potato chip rice crispy. I loved the potato chip flavour! The combination actually worked and the there were actual chips within the «square», making it crispy indeed. It could probably be less sweet next time but it was definitely an interesting and unique take on one of my favourite childhood snacks :)
Lastly, NW got the Cheesecake Mousse. Like many of the restaurants this year, the cheesecake is served in a deconstructed form. Not really a huge fan of cheesecakes but this one was not bad. The flavour was light and the mousse was quite airy, making it a good way to end a meal without feeling too full. The shortbread crumble wasn’t drying either and the raspberry sorbet was refreshing! (I thought it looked like a piece of salmon nigiri sushi lol) :P
Unlike a lot of the restaurants participating in dine out, Wildebeest seemed to actually care about their first time diners and put out their best effort in showcasing their food. The portions were reasonably sized as well, unlike some other places. On top of that, our server was super friendly and attentive without being intrusive. I must say, I was impressed and I’ll be coming back in the future for their regular menu. :)
Food — 9.5÷10
Service — ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Ambience — ⁹⁄₁₀
Value — ⁸⁄₁₀

Ended up at Wildebeest during Dine Out Vancouver. I’m often skeptical of both the service and food quality that I will find during such an event (restaurants tend to be crowded, waitstaff is stretched thin, the kitchen is rushed, etc) but I was pleasantly surprised. I had a beet appetizer — though beets are usually not my thing — because I don’t do seafood and wasn’t into the other option (venison). To my surprise it was delicious. For dinner I had the strip steak. I meant to save a smidge for my husband but I ate it all… Whoops. For dessert I had the potato chip rice crispy treat. It was amazing — though I grudgingly shared a small bite with my husband. ;) My husband enjoyed his 3 dishes as well — I only tried his dessert as he got the venison and a seafood dish.
My cocktail wasn’t the best (it was bitter — not my fave flavor profile) and my husband’s was too smokey for my taste so I let him have both. He was happy. The wine pairings were excellent and well worth the add on.
Service was so-​so to start — but about what I had anticipated given the event (and resulting crowded restaurant). It improved as the night went on and, when requested, our waiter gave us some great additional info on our favorite wine of the evening.

Food was ok. However, everything else left a bad taste in my mouth. Came in for brunch Saturday from 12:30−2pm with 8 people. Service was kind of slow and we had to flag our server down for everything. Not a big deal. But then we only realized after we already paid and left a 18% tip that we was already an auto grat on the bill. The server did not inform us. But what is really disappointing is that they HIDE THE AUTO GRAT AFTER TAX at the bottom of the bill. THAT’S SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICE! All other restaurants (other than Tsui Hangs — which is also shady AF) clearly show you that there is an auto grat on the bill and shows up as a line item pre tax.
THEN, because we ordered «bottomless mimosas» but only had 2 each because we had to flag our server down for everything… we tried to order one last drink and the server said no. APPARENTLY BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS ARE NOT BOTTOMLESS.
When we walked in, we asked what time brunch was served until. She told us 3pm. Then at 2pm when we tried to order another drink, she said that she did last call at 1:45pm…but never actually came around and did last call. So, my bill came to $ 50…I’d rather go to Hawksworth… hell, at this point i’d rather go to ihop than deal with anyone from Wildebeest ever again.

Get the lamb tartar! The bison main course was delicious as well. This is a quintessential new Canadian establishment… Felt more like a bar atmosphere with cool swivel chairs.

All I remember is walking in on the hottest summer day and immediately feeling the burst of AC in my face. ‘Twas heaven. Pretty steep in terms of price but I’m still a sucker for this place. I come here for the «small“s and «medium“s to get a greater variety of their dishes; also $ 1.5 oysters during happy hour (their shallot vinegrette is the best. Also $ 1.5 can i get a hell yes).
Interior felt very warehousey.
…Onto the food.
I paid $ 3 for hazelnuts and I’m not proud but it but it was so good.
Lamb tartare was on point. Like, very, on, point. Please order this if you go.
Spiced pork rinds were too spicy in my opinon; overwhelmed the texture of the rinds.
Friend some fish dish cooked asian style. Tasted fine but was overpriced.
Cereal milk ice cream was so good I got 2.
Tl;dr: Unique, delicious overpriced dishes. Also shallot vinegrette.

Definitely a great place for ambiance and such a great place for having a couple drinks. All the servers were extremely pleasant, and genuinely happy to be serving you! I came here for a nice GNO Christmas dinner and they certainly delivered.
My girls and I decided to opt out of the sharing plates and we all got our own food. I, myself, had the scallops with pork belly.
Warning — do not eat this dish if you’re completely famished. Don’t come here right after a workout, and definitely do not come here after a long day at work, where you were so busy you couldn’t even step out for lunch. The dish was flavorful and the scallops were cooked perfectly, but a flat 3 minutes later and I was completely finished my meal, feeling far from satisfied. I’m pretty sure I could’ve eaten 3 more of that dish with ample room for dessert. To be fair, it was labelled as a smaller entrée, so I had been warned. I promptly went home and ate half a dozen homemade cookies. Still, a good choice for food if you’re focused on quality over quantity. Probably not the best choice if you’re looking to feel full after.

Fun, trendy, exposed brick-​and-​pipe décor.
Elk carpaccio was perfectly balanced in taste, interesting and refreshing.
Short rib gnocchi was delicious. Upsides: flavor, contrasty heavy beef and raw greens, feather-​light lemony gnocchi. Downsides: overly salted and slightly homogenous texture with the soft beef and gnocchi combined.
Overall: definitely coming back

This is a really solid restaurant with a great energetic vibe.
I was initially a little turned due to my least favorite words in the dining world… The Hostess seated us and said, «we have a 1.5 hour seating time but you are a little early so you will have a little more to enjoy your food». I ABHOR arbitrary time constraints at restaurants. I typically eat a LOT and spend significantly higher than the average diner on my experience, so I do not want to be rushed. I figured that we will do our best and play it by ear.
First off service, professional enough but just not particularly friendly or relatable. Everyone is doing there job but it just seemed a little disconnected. I dine for the full experience. I want to have a relationship with the staff, not just have them throw food and drink at me.
We went with the «omakase» style as I always like to see what a Chef can do. They take your likes/​dislikes/​allergies into consideration and prepare 3 to 5 courses based around that.
The food was really great. High quality, fresh, and well executed. The cocktails were solid and well crafted and there is a strong wine list.
We had:
Fried cubes of Chicken Terrine — Basically really good chicken nuggets.
Bison Carpaccio — This was a highlight. Really great job adding popcorn as an accoutrement! It went together brilliantly. Really great!
Beet salad with Beet sorbet — Quite nice but should definitely be brought out solo so you don’t have to rush to get the sorbet before it melts.
Roasted sweetbreads with charred onion petals — REALLY good REALLY rich!
Roasted bone marrow — nicely done
Angus striploin — good, not wow, but good.
My biggest issue was that there was no palate cleanser in between rounds. It is just way too much richness to go from roasted sweetbreads to bone marrow. I think if the Chef wants to get on top of the game, they will consider level of richness in between courses and perhaps offer a spoonful of sorbet, or better arrange the courses.
Back to the «time limit». We took considerably longer than the 1.5 hours. We spent closer to 2.5 hours, but we also spent a pretty significant sum of money between cocktails, multi coursed meal, and wine. My suggestion to the restaurant is, manage your patrons as they come. If you have a group that is sitting taking up space without ordering, make them move along, but don;t burden the rest of us diners with an arbitrary time limit!
Overall a really good experience, just would like a little more reliability with the staff! Worth a trip!

A+! Clean flavours. Not too many mixed up things just to be hipster different. Dinner was delicious. Meat coma.
the only critique, the whole duck was a bit underdone for the carcass section. Chinatown roast duck is still better tho’. Agreed amongst the Asians around the table.

Called in on Saturday morning 45 min prior for brunch and was able to get a table for 6. We were greeted by friendly staff and seated right away upon arrival. The place is super cute with high ceilings and an open kitchen which I love!
Their drink menu looked really interesting but we were tired of drinking from the night before so we passed. I just went with a fresh squeezed grapefruit juice which was exactly what I needed at that moment.
I had already scoped out the brunch menu before coming in so I knew right away that I wanted to order the scrambled eggs with bone marrow. Once my plate arrived, I was happy to see that it was huge! The bone marrow however, was not; there was barely anything in the bone. Despite the disappointment in the marrow, everything else on my plate was done to perfection. So I really cannot complain too much. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy their meal as well.
All in all, we had a great time here. The food arrived quickly and our waiter was so nice and fun to talk to. It’s places like this that makes me really wish I lived in Vancouver! I will be back :)

Top Drop Rating: 4.5÷5
Food: 3.5÷5
Wine: ⁵⁄₅
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅
We came here last week for the Top Drop Vancouver event (September 10, 2015) which showcased worldwide winemakers and their vinos paired with the special food menu by Wildebeest. Tickets were $ 100 each.
The evening started off with canapes and sparkling wine (Alta Alella Privat ‘Laieta’ Brut Nature Gran Reserva 2011 — Spain) which was fantastic by the way! Refreshing, light and the bubbles are naturally occurring rather than machine produced. The canapes included a deep fried chicken tartar, mushroom risotto ball, and smoked salmon with a quail egg. The canapes were hard to come by and when they did, man, did they ever go fast! The mushroom risotto ball was the winner here.
Atlantic oysters (with horseradish foam and citrus cavier) — wish these were served more cold. They came out room temperature and were very tiny. Paired with Benjamin Bridge Methode classique Brut 2008 — Nova Scotia. This white wine was one of my favourites of the night — who knew Nova Scotia made such great wine?
Smoked sablefish (with corn grits and market vegetables). There was a nice smoke to the sablefish but the entire dish lacked flavour. Paired with Tabali ‘Talinay” Chardonnay 2013 — Chile.
Duck Breast (with tortellini, wild chanterelles, and fruit). This was my favourite dish of the night. The duck was cooked perfectly (oven-​roasted) and full of flavour. There was one tortellini stuffed with duck meat, I just wish there was more than one! The plate wasn’t served hot which took away from it. Paired with Scribe Pinot Noir 2013 — California which went perfectly with the duck. The duck definitely brought out its sweetness.
Bison (with gnocchi, Cipollini onions and pancetta). The bison was tender and flavourful. The gnocchi were shaped deceivingly like scallops. They had an interesting flavour to it that we couldn’t put our finger on — something tea-​like. We asked the server but it was just your standard cream and seasoning. Nice dish, came second to the duck. But again, came out not hot. Paired with a Kanagrilla Road ‘Alluvial Fans” Shiraz 2012 — Australia.
Brown butter financier (with poached apricot and blue cheese ice cream). The financier was perfect — it was sweet, light and the apricot was great as well. I was not a fan of the blue cheese ice cream since I’m not a fan of blue cheese at all. It was definitely overpowering if you didn’t pair it with the other elements on the plate. Paired with Alta Allela Doc Mataro 2012 — Spain.
Overall, the Top Drop experience was fantastic. All the wines were spectacular and it was great that all the winemakers were there that night to talk about their featured wine. The pours were flowing! It was nice chatting with the others at our communal table.
The slight disappointment came from the food prepared by Wildebeest as I had really high expectations since this was my first time trying their food. Some hit and misses as noted above, but some of the hot dishes came out cold/​luke warm. There were about 50 people in attendance including the winemakers themselves, which I can understand will be difficult to serve 50 dishes at once, but should not really be an excuse for cold food. I also wish the portions were bigger.

You gotta just let them cook for you!
My friend and I stared at their menu for a long time, and finally decided to go with the «let us cook for you» choice. For $ 40 per person, this is really good value. We had 5 courses: lamb tartare, beet salad, farm eggs, bone marrow, and a pasta dish. Each dish is unique and packed with flavor. Really delicious. I would go back and try the $ 50 per person next time!
Only downside: the glassware used for drinks were very… Interesting

Update: friend and I got sick after having dinner here. Wrote to them. They took days to reply. Bad. Proceeded to tell me of their safety precautions never really empathizing despite making us ill. That left a bad taste. I love their olives and will return for it. Maybe not their uncooked stuff. Disappointing. Sad it’s like that.
Fab looking spot in gastown.
What’s delish?
— smoked olives (super super yummy but pricy at 5 bucks per small serving as you’ll keep ordering more and more)
— bison carpaccio. This is really tasty too
— barley with a soft boiled egg on top. The cheese brought this small plate altogether taste wise
What could be better?
— bone marrow. I saw lots of rave reviews here but to me this lacked flavor. More salt would have brought out the flavor of the marrow. Or perhaps more seasoning? It was pretty disappointing.
— smelt. It was just fried. Lacked any interesting flavor.
And drinks here pack a punch for its relatively low price. I’ll be back for sure.

This is a brunch review only!
We feasted on multiple dishes at Wildebeest since we decided to share everything, and almost every dish was a solid ⁴⁄₅ except for the schnitzel which was perhaps 3.5÷5 and the mini donuts, which were 4.5÷5!
We enjoyed the mini donuts so much that we ended up ordering a second batch! I personally found the schnitzel a bit too tough and dry. Our favourite dish was probably the Dutch Baby, since the ricotta and maple syrup complemented the dessert-​esque dish so well. We also enjoyed the Angus beef bavette very much, which came with the large Wild’brunch’. Everybody loved the thrice-​cooked potatoes and their special bacon as well!
The least favourite dish might have been the Croque Madame, since the bread was extremely crispy and dry, and ended up cutting our mouths. Their bierwursts were very tasty as well, so we ended up ordering extra helpings as well! All in all, we spent around $ 21 per person (after tax/​tips) excluding drinks.

I LOVE THE BONE MARROW HERE!
Ok i feel a bit guilty about what I thought about the place before visiting. It is located very close to East Hasting and was worried because of its location, the restaurant must be horrible. But I have to say I am totally wrong about this.
It is located right across from the Woodward building /​London Drugs. The area is clean. Even though, you can see the difference one block East.
The food was fantastic. I really like the Bone Marrow. Wish I had a bigger piece of bone. =P The Steak was tender and juicy. Everything is cooked perfectly.
The raw oyster were very fresh.
I did find the beef Carpaccio a bit chewy.
Décor was great. It has an open kitchen concept which I like a lot. In terms of fit for party, it really depends. It has a really long table but somhow it seems like there is this frosted glass wall that separate the restaurant into two. Guess it depends how big your group is.
Definitely will be coming back!

My coworkers and I usually try to do a dine out dinner once a year and this year we decided to try out Wildebeest as no one had ever tried before and the menu sounded tasty.
We booked ourselves in for a 5:15 reservation to come straight from work and we were a bit early and came right when they opened at 5pm. We were seated near the back by the washrooms. I found it a little off putting because it smelled like they had JUST cleaned up the place up with bleach. It either quickly went away once we were situated or I got used to it.
We ordered drinks while we were waiting for a couple others. I had a reisling — it was nice and crisp. A friend ordered the pineapple express cocktail. It was a bit too sour for her but I tasted it and was nice as I prefer a little sour.
To start I had the sous-​vide steelhead trout with beets and mini-​dice sized compressed pieces of apple. I was surprised with the portion for the appy. The fish was bigger than the size of my palm. It was super nice with a medium cooked interior. It was soft and nicely seasoned. A friend ordered the bison carpaccio. She shared a piece with me and there was still an icy layer on top of the carpaccio which was really unappealing. They must have prepared all the capaccio’s, put them in the freezer, and hadn’t given enough time before they took em out to serve to the first seating. The arugula with vinaigrette was nice though.
For the main I chose the sweet onion and barley risotto. I lean towards vegetarian dishes usually and I really enjoyed this one. In the first bite it was oniony, with a bit of a soft crunch from the barley, and nice with the mushrooms. I loved all the ingredients in the dish and when I eventually found out there was an egg and broke it, it got even better! Got super creamy and was a delight. Two other people in our party ordered the risotto and they had no opinion. They couldn’t decide if they liked it or not.
To end, I ordered the ‘cheesecake’. Which isn’t really a cheesecake. It was a light mousse with a taste of cream cheese in it, topped with a mini football of strawberry sorbet with a white crumble on top of it all. I thought this was a perfect finish to the meal. It was light, refreshing, and a palette cleanser. The other option for dessert is the bread pudding. I had a bite and wasn’t for me.
Our server was super nice to us the whole night. She checked up on us a couple minutes after each first bite of the course and was friendly but not fake.
Giving ⁴⁄₅ stars. All of my food choices were good for me, but not for everyone. Plus the smell of bleach was yucky. Don’t make a reso just after opening.