aside 6 Sep

Il Nido Cafe — Places that suck in Vancouver

Name: Il Nido Cafe (Robson and Thurlow)
Location: 780 Thurlow Street, Vancouver, BC
Phone: (604) 685-6436

Alright, so Il Nido has recently launched a new menu. Hope they re-launched their front end staff as well since they totally suck.

I didn’t make it down for their “Sights and Tastes of Summer” fall menu launch party last Thursday and given the opportunity, I’d probably decline.

As for my experience?

First and foremost, I suppose I should have known what was coming to me when, during the date with an ‘in the know’ girl last year, I was told that the restaurant has, on previous occasions been shut down for lack of hot water. Go figure, I guess you need hot water to CLEAN THE DISHES?! How someone could run a restaurant without such a necessary resource baffles me. Sure, put the lives of your clientele on the line, would you like some Hepatitis C with your order, sir?
Anyhow, that’s not my bitch, here’s the deal:

  • Il Nido’s staff couldn’t pour a drink if their life depended on it

I feel like drinking a 25 year old scotch, ask ‘em what they’ve got, the waitress returns to the table with some 12 year old shit. What gives?

Okay, in all fairness to the waitress, she could hardly speak English which brings me to the next point…

  • At Il Nido, ESL seems to be a prerequisite

So, this is supposed to be ‘inventive Italian dining’, right? So it’s acceptable if the staff there are going to speak a bit of Italian – that’s authentic but when the waitress asks if I’d like some p… pp.. *stutter* ‘poivre’ with my food? What’s worse is our ‘gracious host’ (yeah right) didn’t even bother to understand the finer points of the language (like more water please) and looked at me like I was some numbskull until I started making requests in French.

I have a bunch of other gripes but these two stuck out and for the sake of keeping things simple, I’ll leave it at that for now.

So what about alternates?

Decent food in the area is really easy to come by. There’s the obvious, Joe Fortes or The Keg. There’s the izakaya and Brazilian place downstairs a block away… there’s event Saltlik which at least has decent eye candy (food’s just okay, you’re paying for over-priced Earl’s but that’s a whole seperate rant).

  • http://www.netchick.ca NetChick

    I hear ya, Raj. You are right on the money with this review. I was *so* dissapointed to live down the street from what looked to be a decent restaurant, only to find it was anything but. The service was terrible, the food tasted like crap, and my martini was obviously short-poured.

    For those prices, I expect a top-end restaurant. And, for the same price, I’ll definitely be visiting Joe Fortes across the road much more regularily.

  • Tim S

    Harsh “review” dude. I’ve been there two or three times and it’s always been pretty good. Plates are on the smaller side for me, but it’s still good stuff with some good wine to match.

  • http://www.raj.jp raj

    You must have been there on some sort of special occasion or when stars were crossed. The murmurs on in the city’s foodie circles after I did the review were “they definitely had it coming”.

  • robbie

    raj,
    take your head out of your ass, you would not know a good place if you fell on it.

  • http://www.raj.jp raj

    robbie,
    I know plenty of good places – places that treat their customers right, serve good food and actually care about what they’re doing. Working in the restaurant industry may be a pastime for some, for others it’s a passion. Preference slanted to the later, thank you.