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Fiction is a tapas restaurant on West Broadway. Fiction recently doubled its restaurant size by taking over the neighbouring space. It is an intimate, dimly lit setting with music that gets louder as the night progresses. Open til 2am most nights with food service.
We went on a weeknight, there was literally no one else in the restaurant yet service was only so-so. The pizza was TERRIBLE, unedible, and I had some beef that was done OK in the middle but had a strong bitter char on the outside that ruined it for me. I would not go back.
Celebrated a birthday here with a few friends. The food was incredible! A little pricey, but boy was it worth it. The only problem was that one of my friends ordered the chicken entree. When it arrived he took a bite & realized the chicken was not thoroughly cooked. The waiter apologized profusely & immediately sent it back. The chef was appalled by this & took care of his meal & our drinks for the rest of the evening (all 6 of us) and we were drinking a lot! Needless to say, I'll be back
Loved every dish that was ordered to our table. Will definitely need to go back for more. Nice atmosphere. Good place to hang and catch up with some friends. Romantic as well.
This used to be one of my favorite restaurants. The food had always been very good. I was so surprised to have sat down & been utterly disgusted with the food. The prawn appetizer was not memorable at all. Infact it came with a smokey ketchup which tasted sweet & burnt. I was utterly digusted. I thought, perhaps the chef was trying something new, so I reserved judgement until the main. Shephard's pie. I was so disheartened when I saw it. Too frou frou. I mean I'm totally down for great presentation if the food is done well. No need to make it pretty if it's not edible. It was served in a puff pastry cup and covered w/ burnt inedible potato rosti. The puff pastry tasted old. The filling was decent, but not enough to save the meal. I hope that the next time I pop by, the menu will have been resucitated.
The maincourses weren't too outstanding, the tapas were pretty good. Had no corona :(
The have the most unhealthy salad in the world.. don't remember what it's called, but it's basically lettuce rolled in grease and butter...
The food was pretty good at Fiction and the ambiance is nice. However, I had a few items (including more than half an entree) to pack up and bring home. Our server threw out the leftovers and I didn't notice the missing item until I arrived home. I called to speak to the manager as it was a lot of food that was thrown out. He seemed uninterested and unapologetic about the situation and did nothing to make me inclined to return there to dine. Horrible customer service.
I agree with the crappy reviews of Fiction.
However, I have to disagree with the comments about the service. Nobody should be allowed to complain unless they’ve experienced working in that type of environment. However, if the service is truly shitty, there is nothing stopping you, the patron, to say screw you, and get up and leave. I wouldn’t even bother paying for the meal since I’m not planning on coming back. Don’t wait until the END of your meal to have your evening ruined, but do something about it after it takes 30 minutes for them to get you a beer.
Anyway, back to Fiction. I remember their food being ok. Nothing too spectacular, but seriously over priced. Either reduce the price by half, or increase the portion size by half. I don’t consider 1/3 of a scallop to be an appetizer unless I’m a squirrel. The drinks were good though. I’m not sure why it was so packed and busy, maybe Kits has a lack of good place to go. Oh wait, nevermind.
I would NOT recommend going there for food.
Wanted dinner in Kits, and Fiction had garnered good reviews on dinehere.ca. We were looking for a pleasant Saturday dinner - were surprised to find the place almost deserted at 7PM. Never did figure out why - its an overall solid performance although no true individual standouts. Started with the spinach / chevre / strawberry salad - nicely presented and tasty, but the vinaigrette could be made to stand out more. Pancetta in the salad doesn't really work. Went on to the BBQ chicken pizza - again. solid, but not a stand-out. Best of the night was the double-chocolate cake dessert (the oatmeal raisin cookies accompanying the bill were also nice). Good, attentive service. Worth a try - that's no fiction.
I just had an awesome night here, totally didn't expect it to be as fun as it was. As a bartender, I'm pretty picky about what I like, but this blew me away. Awesome selection of whatever you want, and they knew their stuff. We ate some ribs, a really nice thin crust pizza with roasted chicken on it and the special, which was a beef dish done with truffle and porcini mushrooms. Wow.
The best part of it was, that after we finished dinner, it got pretty busy and eventually some girls started dancing on the bar! I couldn't get my gf to get up there, but she thought about it. The dj rocked the house all night. I'm surprised I hadn't heard about this place before. I guess they don't advertise much.
Just moved to van, can't wait to find more places like this. Great website.
I just wanted to thank the staff at fiction for showing us a great time tonight. We were visiting friend in kits, we live downtown
and they recommended fiction for a bite. We arrived on a busy Friday evening so we settled into the bar. The bartender immediately made us feel welcome and had us trying new cocktails. Thank you Sue. The Basil, blueberry drink you made is a new favorite. We were seated at our table and there was no confusion over what we had already ordered, our food arrived in no time and was explained in detail with the best accent, spanish?. Our new server was very friendly. She made many recommendations and chose the wine to accompany our entrees. The food is solid casual fare. We shared a few dishes, the water taster that had the a great balance of flavours, we really loved the tartar with sambal. Next the flaming cheese, wow, I still have cravings for the fig compote and it served with crisps that give a great balance to the soft cheese and fig texture. Much better than just bread. The beef shortribs were the star of the meal. This dish is very large and can easily feed 2 people. Tender meat with a rich red wine based sauce. Excellent. We had the cheese platter to finish which the server described in detail so we could make the right choice to suit our taste buds. There are 6 to choose from. I am highly inpressed with the level of knowlegde and service we received from this group considering it is a casual restaurant. I would gladly return here for a meal, knowing I will be fed well, treated well and not pay a high price for it. Feenies be damned.
Now I have to say this the final reason I would return is that our server thanked us, as we were putting on our coats another server said thank you and good night and the bartender waved and thanked us again as we reached the door. I wish I lived in the neighbourhood so it could be 'my place'.
I've been coming here since it started, and at first I wasn't sure about the expansion, fearing it would lose that charm it always had.
I had little to worry about, as much of my night last night was spent on the couch by the fire, cruising throught the scotch list with some buds. The staff are genuine, and professional, quite frankly, it feels like my 'cheers'.
The food we had wasn't dinner, but mostly just all sharing. We had the cheese plate (wicked for such an addict as me) we had a cool fig and gorgonzola flat bread which was way different than what I expected, but brilliant. We also had a couple thin crust pizzas, their signature yam fries, and the flaming cheese.
Good fun had by all, and best of all, I'm blocks away.
I used to like Fiction. I would take some friends there, and for a while, it was a nice place with okay staff who seemed to know something about the food and drinks served.
My last two visits to this restaurant are the last two I'll ever make there. I just found the service horrible with long waits for everything. Our table was too dark and it was difficult to read the menu. And I couldn't believe the rudeness of the servers.
The only saving grace is that the food quality is still fairly good. Overpriced for what it is, but decent quality. It just seems to me that there's a growing culture in there that unless youre one of the cool crowd (and I'm not too far out of that!!), a person needs to get ready for a heaping of attitude and an owner who really doesn't seem to give a crap about how downhill the place is going.
My last visit to the place was horrible for my date and I. When I got home I googled fiction vancouver restaurant and it was scary how familiar my experience was to some other reviews that turned up. Reading over these reviews on dinehere.ca I see that there's a trend in the direction of careless customer service. Those fiction people need to get their act together. a former gem in Kitsilano, now I just make sure my friends know to steer clear.
We were surprised and pleased about the decent style and atmosphere of Fiction, that felt like a slow food low-throughput restaurant/bar. The staff was satisfyingly reactive, a bit of training on their products would help, though (e.g. what is red - white wine, basic beer knowledge, "sorry we have no local beer on tap"). Not a problem if you know what you want. There came the first obstacle, we might have hit just a bad day, but my favourite beer and two wines of their list were done after one bottle or simply unavailable, when ordered. We are not talking about on-tap (which is unreasonably average for Vancouver with Russell), but highlights of their broad international bottles selection. A better glass selection might help here, and for the impressive international beer list as well. You simply should not serve La fin du monde in an IKEA style beer glass. The cocktail list is long and those sampled were very acceptable.
The food was fancy, well done and had soul. One tip, small portions, spread and decorated are cold at delivery if you do dot use pre-heated plates. Selection was limited, but with a mix of ten dramatically different customers everyone still found a favourite. I liked everything we shared, though portions were sometimes too small for that. We are social eaters and did not appreciate the tasters section for that reason. The experience we had was above average, but had noticable flaws preventing Fiction from becoming a top recommendable spot. Coming back? Likely.
My wife and I decided to go to Fiction on a Friday night around 6:30. We walk by and 2 guys were outside having a couple of beers, a sandwich board was on the street and the door was wide open. We walked in to a completely empty restaurant. We stood at the front and waited to be seated. Several people including someone who looked like they were a hostess pop there head out from the back. This continued for about 5 minutes. People looking at us but no one helping. We waited for another 2-3 minutes looking at each other confused? Was the place closed? Clearly not. So why was it dead at dinner time on a Friday night and no one to help you find a table?
A little disappointed we left for the Greek place across the street. During our dinner there we watched a few other couples to the exact same thing we did. No one stayed.
So what's the deal with Fiction? I had been twice a couple of years ago and quite liked it. Decent food, decent service and overall quite good. Has this place changed hands? Whoever is running the place needs to figure out the whole service thing. I really dont understand how they can be in business with an empty restaurant on a Friday night.
I went in here for their Dine-out menu on friday and I was blown away. There's nothing like this place anywhere in the city. It's cool and fun, but super comfortable and no pretension. We had a great meal, fantastic value and the server was so fun. She had an outstanding knowledge of the wine list, (200 bottle selection) and knew her way around the massive scotch list as well. (didn't count it, too many)
It wasn't so much that I felt it competed with other restaurants on the polish, so much, but on the caring, and real comfortable genuine approach of what they do.
We stayed later, and a couple people ended up dancing on the bar! It got pretty crazy later on. Good times had by all.
We went back again last night and it was the same great time. I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time at this place. Someone call the doctor, I'm gonna need a new liver!
I frequent this restaurant on a regular basis and just want to say
I have always been very pleased with the great friendly attitude of the staff. The food is always a hit with any guests I introduce to this gem, the beer and scotch selection tops any in town. The everchanging winelist is unique and great value. The room is beautiful for such a casual kitsilano room, I am lucky to have this gem in my neighbourhood.
I recently reserved a table for a special date at Fiction. We arrived for our reserved time and the people at our table were taking their time no matter the hostess immmediately made us feel at home and whisked us to the bar for drinks on the house.
We enjoyed conversation and martinis with the bartender. (She is stunning). Time continued to pass and still no table so we ordered apps and while we waited both the bartender and manager assured us that our table would be ready, they were very concerned for our enjoyment. Soon we found ourselves at our table and our food arrived shortly after we sat. WE were lucky enough to get the best table in the house in my opnion, the round booth. They have recently changed their menu and each item we shared was great. The ginger prawns, tapenade, butter salad and fish and chips. The fish is made with halibut cheeks and melt like butter, so tender, worth going back just for these.
Our server did a mini wine pairing with us and bought us a chocolate taster plate once she found out it was a special date. Everything appeared like magic and we were able to enjoy eachother's company without a worry. This was an amazing experience, the staff here are so on the ball and this menu is great, I will be back to try everything I wished I that night.
I have to say, this place is genuine, with care, attention and very high standards. I was in the night this other group of negative reviewers were in (all the same group fyi) and they were tearing the place up, it was devastating to see in such a normally classy place. The owner is a sweetheart, she always goes way above and beyond for us, I think she's there 7days a week!
I can't imagine why these people are trying to sabotage this beautiful gem of a place, I hope they never go back, because this is our regular haunt, 2-3 times a week! The food has great value if you love excellent food, and the people are truly, honestly genuine.
I just stumbled on this site and can't wait to contribute more reviews!
I phoned 2 weeks ago to make a reservation for a birthday party for 16 guests. 1-1/2 days prior I was phoned by a staff member advising that there would be a 40th birthday party as well and that they may be a bit noisy. I was also advised that they other party would be in the room next to us so there shouldn't be too many problems. I had no problem with this and told the staff member that as long as no one was rude or unruly everyone will have a good time. In addition, how would I be able to make a new alternate arrangements for a group of 16 people on short notice in Vancouver? Upon arrival, I noticed that the entire restaurant had been taken over by this group. All the windows had signs posted "Private Function" with the name of the person whose birthday it was, the birthday person's face was plastered all over the restaurant and staff advised that it was a karaoke theme. Already we were feeling unwelcome. All of our guests arrived along with the other party. There were so many other guests that they completely took over our side of the restaurant. Then the speeches began which were totally tasteless and filled with sexual overtones. I am not a conservative person by any stretch but it was completely awkward having to listen to a sexually explict diatribe. Also, the volume was extremely loud and we were bombarded with constant squelching of the microphone. Then the staff came by with shooters for all of us stating that the other party had bought them for us. A nice gesture but we were already feeling very unwelcome. We ordered apetizers, drinks and meals. The food was very average. We were becoming increasingly frustrated and our server was obviously embarrassed. She was very apologetic but enough was enough. We finally complained. The manager was vaguely apologetic but unwilling to rectify the situation and only offered a $60 gift certificate and advised that there was nothing else that could be done.
Our company also had our christmas party at fiction. We took over the entire restaurant and had a great time. I had not been back for awhile and was not surprised to find it as warm, friendly and relaxed as last time I was in. We had a canape and buffet style menu with a ton of food. Great little flavour bites. I am not a big buffet fan but this was not wedding hotel fare, it was very good. The staff interacted with so comfortably it was like we had entered their home for a dinner party. In charge, organized yet completely relaxed and chatty. I am going to spend more time there, thank you I had a ball.
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| 4. | Ramen Sanpachi (23 m) | |
| 5. | Cafe D'Lite (25 m) | |
| 6. | Crab Shack Grill & Oyster House (27 m) | |
| 7. | Al Basha (31 m) | |
| 8. | Coppertank Grill (33 m) | |
| 9. | Fringe Cafe, The (40 m) | |
| 10. | Nuba (43 m) |
