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Located in the Hotel Vancouver, Griffins has buffet-style offerings and a la carte menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Add-on appetizer or dessert buffet is available with dinner. Sunday brunch also available.
The only reason why I come to Griffin's is because of their dessert buffet. (to be honest the desserts aren't that great but the presentation is amazing) The food is just mediocre but I would still give it a solid rating. You can find Griffins coupons in the entertainment book.
I ordered pomodoro pizza and my mother ordered the appetizer buffet. Honestly, the buffet was quite disappointing considering the fact that it costed 32 dollars but the pizza was REALLY good and I loved their dessert buffet. yum yum. The hostess was very friendly, she really made us feel welcome and the waiter was nice too. The ambiance is pretty nice and fancy. I think I would come back to this place for another dinner.
I will go to Fairmont Hotel Vancouver a couple of times of year, to have their breakfast buffet. I love the choices from scramble egg's, fresh fruit, waffle to pancakes. The food is delicious, the location is bright and the service is friendly. The breakfast is $25.00 per person, and this is why I will usually go when its near/after my birthday and during christmas season.
Enjoy and bring your appetite.
We went to Griffins in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver after noticing the half-price dinner special. We were greeted and given a table promptly. The restaurant seems more like a cafeteria and not what I would expect in a "luxury" hotel. Not having a reservation was no problem. Joe, our server, was wonderful. I am in a wheelchair and need someone to take off my jacket, a difficult job which he did without blinking.
I started with a glass of chardonnay which I thought was outrageously expensive at $12, but it was absolutely delicious. Foccacio bread came promtly with a very nice oil and vinegar dip. Two of us had the halibut, regularly $35, which we both found dry, although I really enjoyed the accompanying risotto. My other friend had a cobb salad, reg. $22, which she pronounced okay. The dessert buffet was included, but not much variety. It seemed mostly to consist of mousses. In addition to a very rich chocolate mousse, I had a piece of fruit flan which was quite nice. I will return while prices are half, simply to try the portobello mushroom risotto, but at the regular prices I would not consider it.
Griffin's left me a bit disappointed. I always thought that it was an uber fancy place, esp with the big hype of DOV, it's logo, and being at the Hotel Vancouver. I walked in and thought, "is this the right place?"
The hostess was very friendly but the waiter was very weird; we would constantly have to seek him out for water. And when he talked to us, he talked to us like we didn't understand English or something. It was quite annoying.
The decor minds me of a nicer East Side Mario's. Sort of mismatched and not sure of itself. The only thing that really stands out is the dessert buffet. Very yummy. The entrees are Meh. Good but lacking wowsa factor. They menu offered Mixed Grill Trio, Seafood Trio and Seafood Linguine. It reminded me of a Milestone's menu.
The appetizer buffet bar, while has a lot of seafood, shouldn't be advertised at the price they did. I almost ordered it because on the menu it looked good, but when I went to look at the bar it didn't seem appealing anymore.
Griffin's is good, but i was looking for more greatness. =(
As another restaurant I visited during Dine-Out-Vancouver (I went to many this year), I felt a little cheated by Griffins. I guess I misunderstood what kind of restaurant they were. Especially with a crest as a logo, I thought it would be a fancy affair. My friends and I dressed to the nines for this dinner. When we arrived, all we could see were black and white checkered backsplash and food being served in baskets. HUH?! Turns out, this eatery is more of a high-class full-service cafeteria. Still really nice. Don't get me wrong, I love this restaurant. We opted to shell out an additional $10 for the appetizer buffet. Definitely worth the $$. The buffet consisted of soup, salads, cold platters of gravalax and vinaigrette marinated mushroom caps, shrimp and crab legs!!!! Apparently this appie buffet only costs $15 on regular nights. Our main courses were beyond expectations. Eveything was done perfectly, I would expect this quality from a 5 star restaurant. And for dessert, the Griffin's famous dessert bar. Needless to say, I had to unbutton my belt during the meal.
Food: Small and boring dishes that are ridiculously priced for what you get. Nothing memorable at all and would've expected better from a restaurant attached to the Hotel Vancouver. And what's with serving ice tea out of the Lipton's ice tea plastic bottle?? The server literally brought out a bottle that one could buy from a vending machine, opened it up, poured it into a cup and left the bottle on the table for me to refill my own cup afterwards and then had the audacity to charge $3.00 for it. I was so unimpressed.
Service: Some of the worst service I've ever had. Waiter kept forgetting about us. Always had to look for someone to help us out.
Ambiance: It's like a cafeteria. I would never recommend taking a date here. It's not even a cool cafeteria, more like a cleaner school cafeteria.
Overall: I would never go back, even if someone offered to pay for my dinner.
A bunch of my friends and myself tried this place out for Dine Out Vancouver. I had the caramalized egg tart (sort of a quiche??) the salmon and then a piece of cake from the dessert buffet. Considering that we were a group of nine people I must say that the service was pretty good. All of our food came at the same time (for every course) so no one was left plateless while we ate through the three course menu. The food was not amazing but it was good. I really enjoyed the Salmon (I always enjoy salmon) I probably would not eat here outside of Dine Out as you could not have an appy and entree for 28.00 outside of the Dine Out menu (and that comes with dessert). If I did come here again, it would be to see if they'd let me skip the entree and just eat at the dessert buffet. I was, unfortunately, too full to really take advantage of the buffet but everything there looked fresh and the piece that I had was good.
Three of us went for the early bird half price deal. Unfortunately, even for half price, it was a disappointment. My prime rib tasted as if it were steamed, another diner's halibut was overcooked, even after requesting it to be cooked medium. The vegetables and the service were perfunctory. The dessert buffet was better than before. In the Fairmont Vancouver, you expect better. There's so many other better places, why waste your time?
Usually restaurants that are part of hotels are not the greatest.
Hence, I was pleasantly surprised by this place. The decor is top notch with high ceilings but what do you expect, it is part of a 5 star hotel.
The menu is fairly classic and since we went with a fair size party we were able to try pretty much most of the entrees. Tried their different steaks, prime rib and seafood. Unfortunately the salmon was too dry but everything else was above average. Servings were larger than you would expect at an upscale restaurant.
The biggest surprise was the value of this place. They allowed us to use 3 Entertainment coupons. And each entree came with the unlimited desert buffett which is a nice bonus.
I came here for the 50% off all dinner menu special which got extended. It was a very good deal since everything was 50% off from 4:30-6pm daily and most dishes include dessert buffet. Highlights: VALUE (bill came to $15/person including tax/tips!), Service (hostess offered magazine while I waited for late guests and very gracious attitude, server was kind and attentive), Food (risotto was fantastic and well seasoned, desserts had a nice selection but a few was too sweet for me). Although I wouldn't choose here for a romantic date as the interior looks a bit old-fashioned and there weren't nice views. Also the tables were quite small so it could be difficult to fit all the wine, big dishes and desserts on the table. I agree with another diner's comment: "I would return for their specials simply for the risotto but I wouldn't consider it for the regular price"
Griffins is celebrating their 18th anniverary.
Dine Sunday to Thursday from 4:30 pm to 8 pm, receive 50% off an entree ( most include the dessert buffet )
My DH & I dined here last Wednesday.
We both wanted to save room for dessert so I ordered the Thai Chicken Wrap and DH had the Prime Rib Burger.
The Thai Chicken Wrap was huge. Made with fresh chicken. I could only eat half of it. The only complaint I had was that it was a pesto wrap and I found a wooden skewer with a pale green tip holding the wrap together. Thank goodness, I didn't break a tooth on it.
DH's Prime Rib burger came with onion rings AND fries ( overkill, I say )
We were both stuffed and had to wait 20 mins before we could even approach the dessert buffet.
They had: creme caramel, cheesecake, fruit flan, white chocolate & chocolate mousse cups, a chocolate mousse cake, cream puffs, melon slices, in total I think there were 12 desserts. Too bad, we didn't have room for it all.
In addition, there was a salad bar with crab legs and prawns. I looked really good.
I asked the waitress to pack my half wrap. She said "I'm not supposed to wrap up a special menu item, but I"ll do it for you. "
It may seem expensive but the ingredients are fresh and makes it well worth the money, I'd say.
We came to check out the $28 for 3 courses DOV menu, I started with the Caesars Salad, not bad for portion and taste, I am not a fan of olives and garlic in my salad, so I didn't bother touching them. The other appy to start was the cream of asparagus soup, which was very bland and watery. At the menu in front of the restaurant it clearly says the soup of the night was lobster clam chowder. For entree, paying $10 more, you may get the prime rib dinner. The medium rare prime rib I ordered tasted more like a medium, but was very tender. The au jus was very thick, almost like a beef gravy instead, the taste was not that good. The side vegetables were nicely steamed placed on a bed of mashed potatoes. The yorkshire pudding was good, it was the only item on the dish that I quite enjoyed. For dessert we had the dessert buffet, which was decent, everything seemed fresh and light. Service was not good or bad, it was okay. I will not come back to try the regular menu, the service was not great, food was average, and the ambiance was very dim and feels old and boring. Theres plenty of great restaurants out there, this restaurant at the Fairmont Hotel was a disappointment.
I'd like to qualify the review by saying that I've only been here for breakfast, and unfortunately missed the breakfast buffet (which looked pretty good) by a showing up with only 10 min. left.... and so, this review is based on their a la carte breakie menu.
I ordered the shrimp omlette with hashbrowns. Portion was quite decent -- I was stuffed as it also came with toast. Quality jams and spreads, as expected. Their teas are really good. The breakfast was good, but not great... not sure what would have made it better but it was just....breakfast. Perhaps lacking some innovation?
Value: Well, $23 for breakie isn't cheap, especially since it's the same food as what the buffet offers (uh, but smaller in size) so... don't sleep in like I did! Go for the buffet! =)
The food was average. The dessert too rich or too sweet--nothing manages to really just "hit" the spot for me. The service was pleasant. Will return for another casual dining experience since it gives the feeling of being a slightly more upscale White Spot--in speed of service, of course, it already beats White Spot, in food, it's by far much better.... The ambiance/decor pretty much feels like I've walked into a sister restaurant though. Definitely a very relaxed and casual dining experience here to be had.
We (family of 4) decided to try out Griffins Restaurant after we saw the 50% off Dinner menu promotion. Been to Griffins many years back and the food and service has always been excellent.
Our dinner experience tonight was nothing spectacular! Must have been the fact, that we were dining at 50% off. I ordered the Queen Charlotte Halibut, and found the halibut quite dry and tough. My husband ordered the Seafood Trio, and he wasn't impressed either. Felt he should have ordered the Prime Rib Burger, just like our son did. It came with fries and onion rings.
Our waiter (a tall blond guy with an accent) served us, and he gave us really poor service. Took him at least 5 minutes before he came to our table to greet us. At then when I requested the kids' menu, he couldn't locate one in the whole restaurant!! Anyways, he did manage to suggest the cheese pizza for my daughter. After he took our orders, he didn't bother to serve us the foccacia bread until 20 minutes later. Also, when my daughter's pizza arrived, the female server who brought the pizza to our table told us that if she couldn't finish the pizza, we could take the leftovers home in a take-out box. However, at the end of the meal, that wasn't the case. Our male waiter came by our table, took my daughter's left over pizza (3 slices) away without saying a word. My husband thought he was going to put it in a takeout box but that didn't happen. When I asked him if he had put the pizza in a box, he simply told us that "he had thrown it away in the garbage". As a waiter, he should have ask us if my daughter was finished with her meal but he never did. He, basically, told me that the restaurant had changed their policy about putting foods in take-out containers, and since this was a deal, we can't take our food home. I think the restaurant should make it clear to their employees about what their policies are. It sort of put the customer on the spot for trying to take advantage of their promotion. First of all, I didn't know that the items from the kids' menu was also part of the 50% promotion. If I knew, I wouldn't have inquired about the left over pizza!
When I asked for coffee to go with our desserts, the waiter had a difficult time with this as well. It took him over 10 minutes to get us some coffee. I think Griffins Restaurant must be severely understaffed since our waiter never seemed to have the time to serve us in a timely manner, or even have the time to come by to see if we needed anything. It was always us who had to ask him for things. Funny, usually, waiters in high end restaurants bend over backwards to serve you but this was not the case at Griffins.
It's too bad the service didn't meet our standards, and we will not return to this restaurant again, even if it's for 50% off. Sometimes, a savings is not really saving if the service is not there. Even the so-called free dessert buffet can not entice us to return.
We dined here with a group of friends for Christmas celebration on the 22 of Dec. I'd say that I'm really impressed with the decor and I trully like the ambiance, this is much better than White Spot.
What I'm so dissapointed about is the food. I ordered Medium Prime Rib...and it's soooo dry...well from the way they prepare it I can understand why. They put the primerib on a rack under the heating lamp all night. So prime rib is not recommended! There's another menu salmon and rice is also dissapointing... The buffet is actually not bad but it's not worth the price considering the selections. We paid $40 for a table d' hote, 1 entree and appetizer and dessert buffet. I guess this is probably their holiday special.
If you go for the buffet a la carte..without any entree it would be $16.99. For the price I'd go elsewhere but expect to pay more at Griffins...since it nestled inside the FAIRMONT Hotel. If you crave for steak just go to the KEG and you'll be happier but if you want to impress your date..then take her to Griffins...wait a minute...the parking will cost you a whopping $15 unless you find a parking on the street ($2 for 30 minutes).
Came here for first night of Dine Out Vancouver with my wife and four friends.
Problems were:
1. Temperature was extremely cold - everyone was wearing coats during dinner and the staff did not seem to notice anything was wrong (air conditioning on even thought it was raining and cold outside).
2. Ordered food at 7pm but it did not arrive until 8:20. We ended up having to go to the dessert bar BEFORE dinner. The dessert bar was half emptied already and we were left with some sad looking items.
3. Those who ordered the strip loin off the Dine Out menu were stuck with very dried overcooked pieces of meat.
Summary: Don't go there no matter what specials or events they have. Obviously the only thing they have to entice you is price (and even that isn't so great).
We decided to try out Griffins since it was in the entertainment book. This place is a pretty good find when you're hungry downtown.
The restaurant is located in the Fairmont hotel. The decor was something different and kind of nice. Kind of a retro / classic feel. The menu looked a teensy bit on the expensive side (around $30 for an entree). Luckily that comes with the dessert buffet so it was still a decent deal, especially if you have a coupon!
We ordered a mixed grill platter and the steak. The mix grill came with chicken, lamb chops, and steak. My steak entree was huge and delicious! I also love their fries and mashed potatoes, but alas, only so much room...
By the time we started on the dessert buffet I was already unbelievably full. Also I'm not huge on desserts (like 'em but not obsessed with them). That being said the buffet had a very impressive selection. There was plum pudding, cheesecake, chocolate mousse, pie, cake, creme caramel, cream puffs... After sampling four or five of these items, my stomach was about ready to explode. The conclusion was that the desserts were good, but nothing to write home about except the variety available.
I would recommend at least giving this place a try.
Had dinner here last night and it was soooo good!
Both my friend and I decided to have the West Coast Buffet. Previous times that we've been at this restaurant, the buffet didn't look too appetizing but it did last night.
The Seafood Chowder was full of seafood and was absolutely delicious! The Tomatoes with Bocconcin Cheese was sooo flavourful and delicious as were the other salads. Smoked Salmon and Gravalax melted in your mouth. Prawns was ok but my friend LOVED them! I didn't try the crab legs. Clams were good too.
The dessert buffet, that was included with the meal, was good. Not as good as it usually is though. Fruit platter sucked the big one!! My friend, who loves Rice Pudding, LOVED her pudding. The Chocolate Mousse, was room temperature. I like my mousse cold, so it was only ok. They had the mousse in a tiny glass goblet which was GREAT, as it wasn't too much or too little!!! The little cream puffs were absolutely delicious!!! I wanted to try to the Creme Caramel, but it was too large. Pieces of cakes that were available were cut too big - about 6 different types!
The hostess was very unfriendly. The restaurant was not full, and there were numerous tables set for four, but she originally sat us at a table for two, and I asked to be moved to a table for four. After rolling her eyes, she had to go to the front to make sure none of the tables were reserved for someone!!! Give me a break!!!! Thus the low rating of the service.
Our server was OK, not too friendly but not nasty at all. Could have picked it up a notch!
The room was very clean, and with the new chairs since we were there last, made the place look very, very nice!!
Overall, it was a good meal and with the Entertainment coupon, it was a super deal!!! Definitely will go back!!!
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