This was my second visit to American Grille. I went there with my brother last year and we were both quite happy about the food and the service we received (but for some reason, I just forgot to write a review).

Anyway, I went back with my mom for dinner last night. Our server was very attentive without being intrusive. She brought our bread to us (fresh from the oven) soon after we placed our order. She made sure our water glasses were filled throughout our dinner (very hard to find such service these days).

My mom ordered her usual rack of lamb and I had a blackened halibut with angel hair pasta. Didn't take very long for our entrees to arrive. It was a full rack of lamb for $27, and it was cooked to perfection and was very flavourful!! A true medium-rare rack of lamb! The potato gnocchi was very good and the green beans were cooked just right. My halibut was also cooked to perfection, and I have to say the angel hair pasta was the best I've had for a long time. The last 2 times I ordered it elsewhere, it both turned out to be overcooked and just laid in a big clump on my plate. The pasta last night was al dente, just the way it should be.

Our food was perfect, the prices were extremely reasonable for the quality and the quanity of food (the portions were surprisingly huge!), our night was great (and they reimbursed us for the parking), what more could I ask for?

Went there last Saturday for DOV (Dine out Vancouver) party of 4. The ambiance is nice, your typical hotel restaurant.

The service wasn't that great. The restaurant I believe was @ capacity, but there were maybe 2 servers on the floor. Our server just wasn't attentive enough, she never offered to refill our drinks, didn't come by & ask us how our meal was which was too bad as I had to send my meal back and because it took me so long to flag her down the others in my party were more than halfway through their meals & by the time I got a new meal they were done. She was on most-part non-exsistent, but then having to oversee so many tables I guess there just wasn't enough of her to go around.

The food was hit & miss. My girlfriend & I decided to order from the DOV menu, while our husbands decided to order off the regular menu. The Ahi Tuna starter was very good, good flavours, a little on the small size for serving portion, but a little ahi tuna does go a long way. The Roasted Garlic Squash soup enjoyed by my friend was as she put it "liquid pumpkin pie". My husband's "homemade" chicken noodle soup was "upscale" soup in a can, and my friend's husband's Caesar salad, "it's caesar salad what do you expect?". For the main I had the Veal Saltimbocca. I was excited as this was the first time I was having veal. I had to send it back. The veal was extremely tough & chewy & the rissotto was hard & bland. I opted to try the Smoke Sable Fish instead as my friend said she enjoyed hers. For me it was utterly disappointing. The fish was oversmoked that it actually tasted & smelled like tin Sardines. The sweetness & saltiness of the sauce was very overpowering, & the portion of the fish was ridiculously small. Not to mention the fingerling potatoes were undercooked. As it was getting late I ate what I could & left the rest. My husband had the Marriot Burger & his only comment was that he has had better, the fries however were very good. My friend's husband had the 8oz Alberta Striploin & he said he too has had better & for much less $$. As for the dessert, 2 of us had the Mille Fuille. The puff pastry was harder than hockey pucks. I could barely cut through it with my knife & fork. The flavours were okay, but not sure how one could manange to absolutely ruin puff pastry. The Pineapple Gelato served with it though was amazing. Absolutely delicious. I would have prefered just a small bowl of that. My girlfriend had the Lemon Tart which she said was okay. My husband had the decadent chocolate cake which was just that decadent. When the bill came, I was very dissappointed to see that there had been no discount off my bill for the terrible Veal dish. I know they corrected it by serving me something different, but I was not able to enjoy my main with my friends. They had finished their main & had to sit there & watch me eat mine. They could have done a little something to make it better.

Overall the value was just not worth it, & the meal like I said was hit & miss. As for the service they really could use @ least one extra person on the floor. With so many restaurants in the lower mainland to try, and so many restaurants I want to return to, this is not one of them and I don't think I'll ever be back. On the plus side, they do validate parking.

At the suggestion of a lady I buy my supplements from, my wife and I ventured to the American Grille for the first time. Upon entering, we were warmly greeted by the waiters and escorted to our tables. We were expecting something a little bit more romantic or cozy but neither existed. We both had mojitos which were average (i.e. no frosting on the rim), while our mains consisted of bacon wrapped chicken (ok but salty) and halibut with linguini (halibut ok, linguini salty and lacked flavour). For dessert we had chocolate decadence cake which was extremely rich. The service was the highlight of our night as both of the servers provided outstanding service. Unfortunately, the food could use a little more flavouring to entice the taste buds.

Well, I should put in a good review for this guys three years ago but then I don't like my favorite place pack with people and rise their price (which happen to lot of other good place recently). But now seeing so many good review too late to hide my gem...

Food taste is real downtown fine restaurant quality. Better then the one inside hotel Vancouver. In pier with the one inside Hyatt. Very very close to (not as good as Joe Forte) I don't have sensitive taste but they don't cheap on ingredients and they are generous with it.

Service: Incredible. I think every fine restaurant owner/manager should send someone here to learn. Once we walk in and we order soup + entree, which add up ~$35. The manager told us actually they are running a promo that any appz + entree is $30 (something like that), and as the soup is the cheapest item on the menu we can try the crab cake + steak for lower price (which normally cost 40+). Nice $_$

Value: Very good. I'm a bargain hunter. This is not a cheap place we go every weekend but it's my favorite place if I'm in good mood to go for some good food or in bad mood for try some solid place to cheer me up.

Ambiance: It's good. Consider it's next to a bar and lot of hotel guess come down with t-shirt and jeans, it may not be a place you ask someone to marry you. But it's still good for a dating nite out.

Summary, richmond price, downtown quality, family restaurant portion. This is the only hotel restaurant I ever see that actually have better value then those around them (most hotel restaurant are there for screwing people too lazy to walk).

I've been here once for dinner and I was blown away, I currently work in the near by area and had 50 minutes left within my lunch break. I took a chance and headed over to the restaurant. My friend ordered the Marriott Burger, I ordered the Halibut Burger, within 7 minutes I received my food. I was shocked to see how fast the two dishes arrived.

The two burger portions were extremely generous and we could not finish the food. This place was packed for lunch and I can understand why so many people come here for lunch, they do a sensational job here! When I was ready to pay for my bill I still had 15 minutes left within my break! : )

I also heard they have this 3 course for $25.00 which I should take advantage of!

Nice ambiance but food was average. Ordered the blackened halibut with the pasta for the main entree and it wasn't done very well. Halibut was either overcooked or the quality of the fish itself was poor. It was a little dry and definitely too salty. The pasta that it came with was horrible. Talk about bland. I think the cook forgot the salt. I've tasted better at these prices.

An update to my past quote, much needed to!
This place has dropped hard and fast. This is from Early October.
Food:
Way smaller portions, poorly seasoned. The Fried Chicken was two small thighs - tastiest part of the meal... hard to ruin deepfry; Halibut was over cooked. The sides were awful, undercooked unseasoned beans, with some smoked (chemically tasting) pork, and the biscuit was a ritz cracker sized bisquick half bun; veg and startch that looked from a bag.
The appies, well we shared 3 amongst 3 of us and only ate the minature cauliflower gratine - had to spilt the only piece of cauliflower in half.
Basically - zero consistency.
Service:
The older gentleman is probably one of Richmond's more polished, though this says very little. Still had to pour our own bottled water and wine more than once. The wait times were horrendous, but there were two other tables of two, so the 4 cooks might have been swamped, the lounge had only 3 tables, I went to check.
The appies took over twenty minutes, the entrees came about half an hour after we had our appies cleared.
Price:
Shot up slightly on most alot on some.
The fried chicken was $22!!!! and the biscuit was a ritz cracker sized bisquick half bun
Alltold bill was $200 for two adults and a kid- whose was under $10, with a $35 wine.
I went back with a friend for a bite about a week ago, still just awful. When we complained we were told, this is how the chef prepares our food and he is a seasoned professional. That can't tell when food is cooked or remember which dishes were already seasoned.
I went back the next day to speak with a former colleague, they told me most of the old Food and Beverage leadership team has moved on, you can tell. I was told that alot of the regulars were disapointed and were rather annoyed with the rude treatment they recieved when letting the staff know how they felt, too bad this place was good, now... there are alot better eateries within a two minute walk.

I have been coming to the American Grille for years, but recently their previous took a bomb dive for the worst. I decided to give these guys another try, because a friend of mine had informed me they revised their menu again. The menu is awesome, I had the Rack of Lamb and it was to die for, my girl friend had the Halibut and it was cooked to perfection. The portions are a fair size for a hotel restaurant.

I've also heard a rumor from my server they have a new Manager and a new wine list and another menu will be launched.

Can't wait!!!

This is currently my favourite for Richmond in this category for a number of reasons:-

1. Meatloaf - the best I've had.
2. Macaroni and Cheese - my little girl's own favourite and I always can't resist stealing a few spoonfuls.
3. The place is sunny and airy during the day, though it's on a street busy with cars going into No. 3 Rd along Westminster Highway. At night, the street is a lot quieter and the candlelight adds to the ambience.
4. I love how you can watch the several chefs cook in the open kitchen.
5. Service not too bad -- the few servers probably too busy sometimes but they still try to pay you the due attention when they come to your table. The big glass of cool water is always refreshing.
6. You can park for free. Just prepay the fee for 2 hours, I think, then have it reduced from the bill at the restaurant.

Thinking that it was probably a pretty good restaurant, as I saw many customers. I am not sure whether it was the wrong choice of food, or whether the food quality was just overall below expectation. I ordered a steak, which was so hard that I had trouble eating every part of.

After the meal, I looked around... and found that the majority of customers are in the higher age groups. So I'm thinking, the seafood might be better here, since higher age groups tend to order seafood.

Service was as good as expected in a hotel restaurant. I have never went back to eat here again. I'm going back to Milestones/Cactus/Boathouse/Keg for steaks.