I went with my favourite dining partner for a little DOV action on the NS. We go to Lonsdale Quay a lot, but for some reason never went to Tantra before. The room is really more sports bar than restaurant, with TV's all over the place. There is a sheltered area outside for the smokers. The w/c was clean. The view was nice, and we could see the Seabus coming and going. There was a less welcome view for some of those present as our server looked like she was about to spill out of her top at any moment. She managed to keep them in though, and she seemed to know her work, so we tried to maintain eye contact :).

We both had the DOV menu, which for us was chowder, tenderloin tips, and then cheesecake. The chowder was a little salty but had nice bits of fish. The tenderloin looked like a taster plate, with almost no food. The potato sample I had tasted vaguely of burnt plastic. Not sure what the secret ingredient was. The meat portion could be covered by a toonie, and I do not exaggerate. It was tender and my one bite tasted good. There were exactly four green beans. The cheesecake was at least a normal size, so nobody fainted from hunger. It was good. Still, they really cheaped out on the food. Not a good first impression! Maybe a bun would have added some nutrients, but none were offered. There was a beer special though, so we managed to get some ‘liquid bread’ in our bellies.

But it’s a sports bar. Not a restaurant. I might go again to watch the game.

Checked out Tantra with some friends for Dine Out... it's hard to rate the food because while it was nicely prepared, there was just too little of it! I guess for $15 prix fix for 3 courses, what can you expect? =) But still... portions were very small, although at the end I was full enough to be satisfied (50% of my companions were not however...)

Ok, the food report:

APPIES: my mixed greens salad was just that - and without enough dressing so it was just greens (although beaufifully presented) / seafood chowder was reported as standard fare by my friends but the goat cheese was really good (and generously portioned)

MAINS: these were tapas sized but very tasty. I had the artic char on a bed of black rice... good flavors, inventive and the fish was cooked perfectly. The beef tenderloin my partner had was also cooked to perfection but the mashed potatos were so-so.

DESSERT: they didn't have the caramel chocolate bombe, but my lava cake was very rich and decandent. Nothing fancy but good enough. The cheesecake... tasted store bought.

Did I feel like I got value from this since it was dine out? Not really as the portions were very small and both the appie and dessert were negligable (I could put it together myself!) The only dish that stood out was the main courses so maybe I will visit again on a regular night if I was in the area.

What a shame it is that this fantastic location doesn't have better service. Let me give you a preview of what it's like to eat here.

You will enter and be asked to seat yourself. You'll find a table & marvel at the view. You will wait for your server, and wait & possibly wave someone over before giving your drink & appies order. You will not receive them...for a very loooooong time. You will hear excuses & I'm sorrys and then give your dinner order. You will discuss if perhaps now is the time to cut your losses and go somewhere else & then give them the benefit of the doubt & stay. You will wait some more until the clueless waitress comes by to confirm your order & gets it completely wrong. Again you wait until the food shows up & it's still wrong (but in a different way). You'll wait until your correct order arrives & it will be tasty (but not worth the wait/hassle) You'll wait again for the bill, & finally, wave the sulking server over again only to receive the bill which is incorrect. The server will recalculate the bill with some ridiculous discount (25% off the appetizer for ex.) as if that even comes close to making amends. You will shake your head, go home & write a review just like this one.

We started off a day visiting the old neighborhood with a visit at Tantra. Its a great location at the tip of Lonsdale Quay, with a great water view of Vancouver. Regrettably that is about the only thing they have going for them.
The food looks and tastes like premade re-heat and serve garbage. The burgers were horribly dry and flavourless. Couldnt even taste the cheese on the burger. The fries I tthink were cooked earlier and sat for ages. They were hard and chewy.
Service was indifferent, even though there was only 1 other table of 2 at the time-it was slow and hard to get their attention. No quality check. And we had to get up to settle the bill at the end.

I keep going back, but much less often. Sitting out on the patio on a warm evening looking across Burrard Inlet is (or should be) a really pleasant experience.
There's a very fundamental problem with the Tantra, and that is who is serving at the particular time you go there. The food is variable, especially in the late evening - it might be freshly cooked or not - do you feel lucky?
And the service! Sometimes good, but often absolutely awful, particularly in the latter part of the evening. There's a real feeling that you're just a plain nuisance and the place is being run for the benefit of the people that work there and not not the customer. I paid a fairly hefty bill on my debit card and left a good tip, and the waitress handed me my card and receipt almost behind her back without even looking at me, never mind any "thank-you for your custom" - she was too busy leaning on the bar and having a chat with one of her co-workers. Rude or what?
On another occasion, it was a lovely warm evening and my wife and I arrived about 9.20 pm. It was busy outside - overflowing but there was a couple of spare tables. We went to sit down but the waitress informed us that they were closing this particular part of the patio and that we would have to take a seat inside. There were two chances that we would be shoved inside for their convenience - Fat and Slim - and Slim just left town. We went elsewhere - eighty bucks to another restaurant turned down by the Tantra.
I hate to say it, but I'll still go back........

This place definitely has the scenery only if you get the spot outside. The place pretty much looks old fashioned I guess there wasn't much renovation occuring in the recent years. As for a restaurant, I would be expecting a cloth handkerchief, which they failed to have. For the food, Yam fries were yummy. I must give them credit for that... they're really crispy with a very tender smooth inside. I'd give them 5/5 rating for their Yam fries for appetizer. The BBQ Wings were quite standard but too much sauce. Also, the sauce was a little bit too sweet. I guess it's not the type of wings I would want when it's too saucy and sweet. I'll give a 2/5 for the BBQ Wings. The Salsa and Chips are pretty good.. Salsa are homemade so you won't feel ripped off if they pulled salsa out from a bottle. Salsa's not bad, but it's missing some taste... perhaps they can adjust it a bit more by adding more onions..? I'd give it a 3/5. Now, for the main course, the New York Steak. I asked for medium rare, and the steak came as a medium well. It's not tender, very hard chewy and it takes 3 minutes to chew down each piece I cut. Meanwhile I'm chewing the steak, I can feel how crunchy the burnt areas are.. very burnt all over. I'm sure this steak is definitely cooked... to the part where you can feel the rough texture grinding with my gums and tongue. Very sorry to say but I can make way better steak than this place. I was very disappointed on a $24 New York steak. Perhaps this place it like how I described the title, "not a place for food"? I give this NY Steak a 1/5. As for service, the waitresses weren't smiling, which really disturbs me. As a customer, I would expect them to be smiling regardless of how their day went or if their job was hell. It's all about pleasing your customers. Just every part counts when dining. As a result, I would not recommend this place for anyone if they plan to go there for a decent meal.

I have to say I am surprise to see there has not been more posted on here after last nights experience. This is the first time I have posted but I feel the need to share as this place is the worst !! When we arrived we had to flag someone down to make them aware we were at the door . Our appetizer never did show up and our food was horrible. Cold Pasta and Turkey sandwich on dry bread.The special for Valentines was sold out and no substitutes. Because of the screw up on our meal we were promised 2 chocolate cakes. I guess they ran out of that too. It took 20 min and the cake was raw in the middle. I have to say we did see all these reviews but we decided to try anyway as the views are incredible we also heard Tantra was under new management and a new chef ... hmm looks like nothings changed.
Not a place we will revisit.

I came in for dinner and drinks with my gf on friday night. Sat on the patio to watch the sunset. The cocktail list was quite intesting. We tried a drink called the pink panther, which was divine, muddled raspberries are always yummy. There were a couple other really great martini's that i haven't seen around (we tried them all):). Dinner was delicious, i had the tortelli with chicken while my date had a wonderful applewood chicken club with yam fries. The atmopshere was casual and fun, great music, and had a great time.

went to dine out with some frds. Someone lead us to our table, but our waitress did not show up. Takes forever to order. Takes forever for the food to come. Order was made by another waitress. The table next to us went in after us, and their food were up first. Still nothing on our table, not even the chicken wings!! Takes forever again to have our dessert. The service - really bad!

We were required to put down a $100 deposit for a reservation of 13. Reservations were at 6pm and we arrived at 6:25 and they said that they will keep the deposit and we could not use it towards our food bill. We tried reasoning politely to no avail. I will DEFINITELY NEVER return.