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The Boathouse serves west coast fare in a relaxed atmosphere.
It was a date night for my lovely wife and i, dinner and a movie. We decided to check out the Port Moody Boathouse. We have been to the other Boathouses , English Bay, White Rock, New West and i can say that this particular location is the best of them all. Great location although parking can be a problem because they share the parking lot with the park and the rowing club next door. The ambiance is excellent, great view of the water and the service is very friendly.
We made a reservation through their website, which worked out nicely. We arrived about 20 minutes early so we sat at the bar and ordered some drinks and an appetizer. The drinks were good, Calamari was good, the dipping sauces were very good. You can tell it was made in house and not taken out of a bottle.
We were seated at the table and greeted by a very helpful server. However we were disappointed that they didn't have alot of the items listed on the menu like Ahi tuna, or the fish sampler.
I ordered the sirloin lobster combo and my lovely wife ordered the miso crusted halibut. The lobster was spectacular, my steak wasn't done the way i had ordered but they corrected that immediately. The green beans were very tastey, well seasoned. We found the halibut to be under seasoned and over cooked. It was kind of dry. The miso paste was pretty much non-existant. It was more like just a breaded halibut. The portion of fish was very good. Over all the fish was good, but it wasn't great. I always look for wow factor. The beans had some wow factor.
Usually when i go to the Boathouse i always leave hungry. I end up having to stop for fast food after dinner to satisfy the appetite. But on this occasion i was actually full. We weren't able to finish everything so we doggy bagged it.
Overall it was a good experience, i would definitly go back. Not very often because it is quite pricey. But i think i will have to check out Lobster Fest next week.
Cheers!
It was my father in law's birthday, and he wanted to try the Boathouse in Port Moody since he enjoyed the one in New West quite a lot. My wife and I had been to 2 other locations before and had positive experiences, so we went with reasonable expectations.
We made a reservation for 5:45pm on a Saturday, hoping it would be a little quieter earlier in the evening. When we arrived, we were surprised to find the parking lot full. This Boathouse location shares the public parking with the park next door! I dropped off everyone to get seated and had to wander, and stalk people for a good 20 minutes before finding a parking spot. There's little to no street parking anywhere nearby, and the next nearest place to park is a good 15 -20 minute walk away! Very unimpressed.
I finally made it into the restaurant, and was seated promptly by the waitress. I mentioned the parking situation and all she said was "yes the parking sucks" with no apology. Alrighty then.... onto the meal!
We ordered a Halibut and Chips, Surf and Turf, Seasonal special (seafood chowder and salmon steak with salad), and a Prime Rib Steak.
We sat around looking at the decor (which was quite nice), and waited for around 10 minutes. The soup arrived for my wife... without a spoon! It took 5 minutes to flag down our server to get one for us. While she was having her soup, the 3 of us without appetizers just sat and waited. The soup was a bit bland, but overall was ok. Eventually another server noticed we had no bread and our server quickly brought bread for us (which should have come before the soup.)
Onto the mains. The Surf and Turf was a Sirloin Steak and Prawns. The prawns were well prepared, and seasoned well. The steak, while cooked correctly, was super salty! The same for the Prime Rib steak. My Fish and Chips were over fried and brown... not golden brown, BROWN. To top it off, the Fish and Chips were super salty as well! It tasted like the chef spilled a bottle of salt over everything (or has a lack of taste buds). The food was barely edible and we had to wash everything down with lots of water. The only reasonably enjoyable entree was the Salmon Steak.
Finally the dessert. The dessert was some sort of custard with a strong flavour of orange. Very very sweet, but tasty. I was the only one who could stand the extreme sweetness, so I ended up eating most of it.
Price wise, it's the typical Boathouse fare. Around $40/person and we didn't order drinks. The only appetizer and dessert was part of the Seasonal special. For the level of food and service we received, a terrible value.
Overall, we had a pretty bad exerience with this Boathouse. Compared to other locations we've been to, this is hands down the WORST one we've tried. Service is flaky because either they're stretched too thin, or they're just disorganized. Food was sub-par to down right bad. Parking is absolutely a nightmare.
Definitely NOT recommended. Go to another location, you'll be much happier.
Recommended. Checked out this place a few days ago as part of a work Christmas function. Nice restaurant, great ambiance, excellent seafood, fantastic view, all nestled away on the Port Moody coastline.
Food - Sampled the Calamari Fries and Sweet Chili Chicken for the appys. The Calamari fries were great! For my main, the Coconut Tiger Shrimp was superb, but a bit on the greasy side. Best part of the meal was the desserts. Sampled almost all the desserts - best ones were the Mocha Ice Cream Pie and Molten Chocolate Brownie!
Service - Although the restaurant was not very busy, we only had one server looking after our table of 13. He was very friendly, and attentive, but not very fast. Orders took quite a while to be taken and fulfilled, and drink refills were slower than expected.
Value & Ambiance - Our lunch was complimentary, but the prices seemed very reasonable. This is definitely a nice place, so a bit more expensive than the average restaurant. Really superb views of the Port Moody coastline, and such beautiful decor on the inside. Love the huge fireplace!
Went for a group lunch on a Sunday. Somewhat sparse considering they have a brunch offering.
Food - their food wasn't amazing but just okay for such a nice restaurant. Ahi tuna appy was super yummy but everything else wasn't memorable at all. Miso-crusted halibut had potato wedges so overcooked they were actually pointy in my mouth. Fish itself was also overcooked.
Service - great from our servers, but had long wait times for our food.
Value - seems pretty expensive.
Ambiance - pretty nice place, location, decor.
Went there for a company function and had a choice of 3 dishes that were pre-ordered in advance. The restaurant was not that busy when we arrived at noon. Considering we ordered in advance and were limited to 1 of 3 main courses - the 2 hours it took to feed us was ridiculous. Even more disappointing was the quality of the food. Horrible, bland, burnt and disgusting. I actually felt bad that my company paid good money for that horrible food. Do yourself a favor and skip this place. I'm sure there are better choices in the area.
Have tried this restaurant twice-- once for Dinner and once for Lunch. Both times the service was just terrible especially at Lunch where we only saw our server to take the order & drop off the cheque. At Lunch they charge $ 19.95 for Fish & Chips which consisted of two small pieces of overcooked Fish and a hadfull of French Fries plus a limp excuse for a salad. I think if I went back I would only have drinks in the bar as the Restaurant has a great view and the Bar looks comfortable but would hope the service there is better than the restaurant
I've always been a fan of Boathouse in Richmond so I assumed the service, food, etc is just like anywhere else.
The place, I must admit, was gorgeous. It kinda gave me this warm homey feel. The place was packed on a Sunday night so the 2 lovely hostesses kindly ask us to hang by the bar but we have to wait about 30mins. My partner was starving so we suggested to sit by the lounge which had this beautiful fireplace by the window.
Once we sat down, it took us awhile before we got our menu. Once we ordered, we waited for our food. Keep in mind, we were very hungry. After 15mins which felt like 45mins, we still didn't get our bread. And our server was nowhere in sight. She was always hanging around this other table full of girls which I found out were her friends. Her back was always facing towards us so we never got a chance to wave her down. When the food arrived, we forgot to ask her where our bread was. During our meals, we keep on wondering when she's gonna come by to ask us how we were doing. We were running out of water and we still wanted some bread to complete our meal. The funny thing is, when she finally came by, she just strolled by our table and asked us how was the food. Before I could even finish saying ONE word (I said, "goo" which supposed to be "good", she floated away like a ghost. In the end, I found out another table was complaining that they didn't get their complimentary bread and one of the "lounge staff" was like yeah...it's our policy that we don't give our bread in the lounge. This table had 6 ppl and I bet their tips just went down the drain. Omfg What kind of policy is this? I'm sure the customers were just as upset as us especially they had to pay for the basket of bread they asked for! Boathouse spent a fortune building this marvelous structure but they can't even afford a basket of bread? Because of this dumb situation, I'm never going back. I'll stick with Richmond's Boathouse.
Great location, okay service and decent brunch. It was nothing to write home about, but the portions were large and filling. Most of the seating faces the water so on a nice sunny day the view is spectacular. I haven't heard a lot of great things about dinner, but would like to give it a try in the near future. A good place that has a lot of potential...they just have to keep the food-value-service consistent.
We have been to the Boathouse in other locations in past years and a couple of times in Port Moody since they opened. It can be difficult to find parking and so we were impressed that they did offer a Valet Service even though we did not use this service. The Restaurant was a different story as each time we have gone to Port Moody we have found the service lacking and the food very plain tasting. On our current visit our evening started out with a 7:30 reservation that had us waiting for an hour.....we were very disappointed that we did not get to our table until 8:30!! - making us wonder about why we bothered with a reservation in the first place. Our evening was now going to be a much later one than planned. We found the prices to be very high for the quantity and quality of the food and the service was just not as one would have expected. With the Seafood Chowder order we had to chase a server for a spoon, the Seafood Grill was very flat tasting and not fully cooked, we requested the roasted potatoes and got mashed with one order, another order came with a horriable Wild Rice side (sides were not listed on the Menu) so mashed potatoes were requested and the server brought roasted, the Prime Rib was full of grizzle, the Steak was very small and was on a huge plate making it look even smaller - etc. etc. The ambiance was okay - but it was very noisy. I think we would have had a lot more fun and better food if we had ordered a Seafood dish from the Fish & Chip Vendor at Rocky Point Park. Amazingly enough the Restaurant seems to be full every weekend - one can only assume this is due to most people either not being aware of the Service/Food Issues or do not really care. We have had better food & service at a much better price from other less known restaurants in the Tri-City area. We have no desire to go back.
Went for dinner at the boathouse. I am not a big fan of the boathouse but some of friends wanted to go there for dinner. We had made reservations and our table was ready. They took our drinks order quickly and got our drinks. They had a special menu for NYE and it was excellent. We had a late sitting reservation so they had run out of a couple of items. The portions were hugh. Had a great time and rang in the new year at the restaurant. I would go back again and the service was good and food was excellent.
Happy New year to all
Honestly the worst and most miniscule bouillabaisse I've ever come across. When our server asked how things were I watched my wife cringe. “Really, I replied this is pathetic.” She indicted that was typical. I had seriously thought this was a huge mistake by somebody new in the kitchen. A while later the manager stopped by…and not because it had been suggested by the server. By now my wife wants to get under the table. I told him I thought it was beyond belief. He said they get lots of complaints about it and he offered his apologies. He offered to take it off the bill but I declined because I had no intention of ever returning.
Too bad because I used to really like The Cannery and had been looking for a replacement hoping this would be it.
I have to disagree with the the negative reviewers on here. I celebrated my birthday at this location. We had an amazing table near the window overlooking the water. The service was attentive and efficient. The restaurant was packed (it was a Friday night). A few of us in our party had the lobster ravioli which was delicious, and one guest had the seafood grill which she really enjoyed. I was presented with ice cream and a sparkler to celebrate my birthday. All in all a fantastic experience. I would definitely eat there again.
I was hesitant to go to the Boathouse Port Moody after reading all the negative reviews but we were craving Crab one night and the place has such a beautiful location right on the water at Rocky Point. Glad we took a chance.
I had the Alaskan King Crab Feast which was 1.5 lbs of crab with butter and roasted veggies. My girlfriend had the Mixed Crab platter with Alaskan King Crab and Dungeness Crab. Ordered a great bottle of wine and just sat on the covered and heated patio with was romantic but still lively and busy.
The crab was prepared very nicely and I was glad I ordered the full King Crab platter. I avoided the steaks based on the other reviews...
Our server was young but still very professional and knowledgeable. They even moved us to a spot right beside the amazing fireplace over looking the water from where we were initially seated.
When I read the other reviews I think perhaps we lucked out that night but the food, service and location definitely deserve another visit... I'll keep you posted if anything changes next time.
Since moving into the area I have been meaning to try out the new Boathouse in PM.
Upon entry to the restaurant, I was impressed by the decor and overall atmosphere of the dining room. Clean lines, beautiful view, well laid out.
As the dining room was full we chose to eat in the lounge. Service was very young, and fairly inexperienced.
White Sangria was very tasty and a great deal at 18$ a jug.
Firecracker prawn appy, although fairly tasty, was overcooked and greasy.
Mains included a Lobster and shrimp topped halibut with pesto gnocchi, and "the ultimate seafood platter. Both were over priced and and poorly cooked. The Seafood platter at 35$ was the biggest disappointment. For 35$ a plate I can eat virtually anywhere, including most of downtown's high end spots.
Although the bartender/servers were extremely week, the "deck crew" waitress was great and knew the menu well. We were also greeted by the floor manger and GM who were both very much on their game.
I promised the manager I would try them again, but will wait until warmer weather and hit the patio.
MM
I have dined at this establishment on two occasions and have been impressed. Multiple appetizers were all good, particularly their steamed clams. And their New York steak and prime rib were considerably above average. Portion size is good. The service was most attentive and efficient. The building is brand new and the architectural style is appropriate for the food theme. The location is stunning, right on the Port Moody waterfront. Prices are reasonable for the quality of the food. All in all, this is an excellent restaurant worthy or your patronage.
I've been there twice and tried different dishes both times. (though I would have been happy to have the Salmon again and again...) The servers were friendly and talkative without being too chatty. Though they are a newer restaurant with a great view and nice ambiance, they didn't seem to be content to rest upon that and still worked hard to make us feel appreciated. The food was hot and fresh, and just amazing! I think I'd like to work there just so I could eat the food more often. We don't go to restaurants in this price range too often so it's nice to get good value and service for our money.
unless the food is equally poor. We tried a dine out here and had just about the worst service I have ever had. The waitress was completely indifferent and did not even know how to open a bottle of wine, claiming it was "not my forte"!! HUH??!! Every one her her mistakes was corrected by an awesome bus boy who should have been the manager. When I spoke with the manager at the end of the meal he seemed to care about as much as the waitress, not asking me for any names or details.
The sambal chili prawns were simply 6 sauted prawns with bottled thai chili sauce on them. I could do that at home for less than 50 cents. I was also supposed to get bread as part of the appy but they "ran out" and just didn't bring it until I was done the prawns. The seafood pasta supposed to be in a garlic cream sauce yet there was no detectable garlic in there. It was mostly rubbery clams with a few pieces of raw salmon in it. YUK
The slow service saw us getting our bottle of wine(after we had to ask twice and them contacted the bus boy) as we were finishing our meals. Our after dinner coffee came the moment I put my dessert fork down.
The location is nice and the building is nice(but noisy) but I can assure you there are far better restaurants around and I won't waste any more money there.
I had dinner on the patio at the Boathouse Restaurant the other evening. The inexperienced hostess was polite but unable to answer standard questions, including enquiries about reservations. The service was also mediocre, with friendly, but inexperienced wait staff. The food was ok, the drinks ok too. However, with that being said, I must say the overall atmosphere and decorating is great, and the patio fantastic. My recommendation—make use of the patio on a hot summer day with drinks and an appy, but if you expect great food and service save your money.
...but I've DEFINITELY had better. The Boathouse is probably well known to Vancouverites as they have many great locations throughout the Lower Mainland.
The Port Moody location would seem to be another perfect locale for this type of restaurant. Right on the inlet in Rocky Point Park, the restaurant offers up great water views if you happen to have a table along the windows. Inside, the decor is cheerful and warm with lots of exposed wood beams and high ceilings. The kitchen is also a galley-type where the action is always visible. That's the good....
...the bad involves almost everything else. While the seafood itself is fresh, they add icky, syrupy sauces that taste like they came out of a jar. Case in point was my wife's Sea Scallops in Pepper Sauce. We were expecting a peppercorn sauce similar to what you would get on a steak. Instead we got what amounted to teriyaki sauce...complete with sesame seeds. My biggest pet peeve in a restaurant is an inaccurate, or worse, misleading menu. Who knows how many other inaccuracies there are on the menu. The good news is the service staff was very good about switching the dish to have the sauce on the side. My dish was the Seafood Pot Pie. It was tasty, but the pastry was kind of cold and tasted like it was thawed from frozen. Fortunately, my dish wasn't all that expensive.
Service is also lacking. Servers are all young and seemingly inexperienced. Our waitress spilled water all over our table as she was clearly distracted. Cleaning up amounted to wiping the water and ice onto the floor. Not cool. She also had to be reminded to refill the glass she spilled!
Overall, a decent place, but there are better places to spend your money if you want the full dining experience.
My girlfriend and I, who both work in the service industry in downtown Vancouver were in the Port Moody area and decided to try out the Boathouse for a nice late sunday dinner by the water. Our first impressions were great. Valet service for $3 (might as well be free at that rate, but not complaining, I gave the guy $5) The building is brand new and has great charm and grandeur. We requested to sit on the patio and of course on a nice sunny day by the water it was a hot commodity so we sat at the bar and had some drinks while we waited. SO far SO good.
Then it was time to move to the patio. We were greeted by a nice gentleman that was wearing his "Kanye West" sunglasses, not so cool... I don't care how sunny it is, in the service industry eye contact is everything! don't hide behind your oversized glasses. Sunglasses aside he seemed quite nice, knowledgable and attentive.
While we waited for our food for quite some time we noticed that the music was loud and quite obnoxious. The trance beats from serius satelite radio wasn't quite fitting for the mood or the atmosphere. We found it quite annoying actually, I can't imagine what the older couples in the other tables were thinking. Might want to adjust the volume or just change the music.. it's not the Roxy!
When our food finally came out after 2 baskets of bread and our appetizers, everything looked great.. but then we cut into our food. Fish was undercooked, Halibut almost raw. My steak was ordered medium rare and came out medium well, on the ends very well done! Aside from being overcooked it was a tasty steak.
It really didn't matter how good or bad our food was though because our waiter didn't come by to do his quality check until we were almost done and when he did it didn't seem like he cared too much.
To say the least we didn't stay for after dinner drinks or desert, ended up going to starbucks and enjoying the better atmosphere there.. that says something about the atmosphere at the Boathouse.
All in all, I would give this place a second chance but the young staff needs some growing up and possibly even the management too. Our bill was $106 and I tipped the kid $14. I think it's the worst tip i have ever left and felt bad doing so, but you get paid what you deserve and really it didn't even warrant that.
If nothing else, go have some drinks and appys on the patio.. hopefully they will have different music on when you go.
| 1. | Quayside (12.8 km) |  |
| 2. | English Bay (20.6 km) | |
| 3. | Kitsilano Beach (21.5 km) | |
| 4. | Richmond (23.8 km) |  |
| 5. | Horseshoe Bay (30.9 km) | |
| 6. | White Rock (32.2 km) | |
| 1. | Pajo's Fish & Chips (226 m) | |
| 2. | Rocky Point Cafe (357 m) |  |
| 3. | Christine Catering Company (438 m) | |
| 4. | Darvish Hookah Lounge (457 m) | |
| 5. | Flame Stone Grill (461 m) |  |
| 6. | Subway (464 m) | |
| 7. | Dairy Queen Grill & Chill (464 m) | |
| 8. | Renzo's Restaurante Italiano (466 m) | |
| 9. | Donair Town (473 m) | |
| 10. | Nicolelina's Cafe (476 m) | |
