Amuse Bistro On The Vineyard

9 Reviews on “Amuse Bistro On The Vineyard”

• Cowichan Critiquer

  Chef Bradford wins.

  May 15, 2015, 5:53 pm

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• Qualleyb

  Not Amuse-d. We were disappointed with our Amuse experience at their new location.On arrival, we were met by a very open seating space on the patio, and no hostess in sight. Wait staff showed up moments later and showed us to a table. Relaxed, yet not professional. Confusing. Fire pit is an accident waiting to happen. It was not lit. Someone is going to ‘fall into’ the space and twist an ankle.The table was dirty. Sesame seeds and (hopefully) pepper. One bread plate had greasy marks on it. I totally disapprove of glasses being upside down on the table. The table was not clean, and now the rim of the glass was in contact with it.Our waitress, a student from Winnipeg, was excellent. She took our order for the 3-course dinner with wine pairing right away.Loved the gougere and crisp cracker. The ale bread was boring.And then we waited. And waited. We sipped sparingly at our meagre portion of wine waiting for our salad and Vichyssoise.On arrival it was a beautiful presentation and flavours were lovely.Then we waited. And our Amuse Bouche was served. And waited. And our second meagre glass of wine arrived. And waited. And waited. The salmon was a lovely presentation. The beef was an appropriate and tasty serving. And the pork chop was HUGE. It overshadowed the other entrees. (A portion was taken home.) So inappropriate. The chef should portion so that all proteins are the same size. The pork was to have pattypan squash. It was missing on the plate. No explanation. The sides on all plates were just warm. Nothing was piping hot. No steak knives were offered.Another Amuse Bouche, and the next glass of wine. Again, waiting and waiting. We asked for a blanket. The 3 staff were hustling to serve the other 8 tables, and we asked again for a blanket. A pale blue one and others were brought, and from the condition of the blue one… all needed to be washed.It was now dark. A candle would have been nice.The cake was dry, but I suspect that was the appropriate texture. The cheese plate was underwhelming. The fig was bland and didn’t taste like a fig. The cheese was a puny portion.The chocolate truffle was lovely.The Cappucino foaming machine was broken, so we accepted a latte. Could have been hotter.The credit card machine ran out of paper. Candles were placed on tables as we left the restaurant.Our reservation was for 6:30, and we departed the restaurant at 9:30.For our $400 dining experience we gave the food a 6/10 and the dining experience an overall score of 5/10.We consider ourselves to be educated diners and decided that we would not return nor recommend Amuse to our friends.

  December 30, 2014, 10:32 pm

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