We went to Parkside for DOV this year and given all the raving reviews, expected it to be amazing. Well, this cozy restaurant was good, but fell below our high expectations.

I had the gulf prawns appetizer and it was quite delicious, a mixture of unexpected flavours. However, all of our entrees were very average. I tasted my friend's rabbit dish and it was a little bland and dry. My beef short ribs were good, but relied a lot on the thick gravy sauce it came with. The side dishes tasted a little funny and quite a few people at our table didn't like them. Everyone ordered the lemon tart for dessert and it was nice and tangy, just the way I like them!

Our server was very friendly, polite, and attentive. Overall it was a good experience to try new things, but the food isn't amazing enough (especially given their regular menu price) for us to return. I hear they're closing and re-opening as a new restaurant, so maybe we will go back to give the new version a try.

Went there for the DOV 09 and once before too. Still keep pretty good standard even tho for dine out Vancouver. Was pretty pricey if didn't go for the dine out. Good food but ambiance is just okay and the location is kind of bad. Worth to try if never try before, might or might not be going again.

For our last DOV of 2009 we tried Parkside because their menu looked really good.
It wasn't an easy place to find - hidden in the residential area on Haro Street. Very quaint and romantic were my first thoughts upon entering this establishment. We were seated at a table in the corner, which I liked instead of being sandwiched between other patrons. The waitress was friendly enough, but seemed impatient when we hadn't really decided what to order since I went into the restaurant first, while my husband went to find parking. (In the 5 minutes after he sat down, she came 3 times to take our order) Our DOV choices included the Boudin blanc w/ salad of apples, celery, walnuts, endive, green grapes, Gulf prawns w/orange, fennel, pork cheek bacon, black olive, Saddle of rabbit w/mushroom duxelles, petit pois, Parmesan sauce, the Medallions of red deer w/celeriac purée, glazed chestnuts and salsify, farro, spiced wine poached pear. Our desserts included the sorbet and the lemon tart brule. Everything was really delicious. The combination of textures & tastes was done really well and presented nicely. My only complaints were the side dishes to the saddle of rabbit were a bit salty and the deer at first bite was a bit too tender. However, overall the portions were great and the hot out of the oven fresh bread? WOW! I think it's the first time I got bread that was still steaming from the oven! I loved the sorbet and it's different flavors. A great way to end our DOV experience this year. And the rabbit went really well with a glass of their Blue Mountain Gamay Noir-yummy! Parkside was almost perfect, but I can't figure out what was missing...perhaps some more lighting would have been nice. We do like to see what we eat & not squint at each other in the dark. =)

I have been to the Parkside twice, loved it both times!

As for charging a cake cutting fee and charging for hot water and charging for filtered water...... too bad people are too stupid to realize that it costs money to operate a restaurant.

Do you think that making hot water is free? Did they get the cup free? Is it free to wash it? NO duh.

If you don't want to pay a cake cutting fee .... then don't bring your own desserts... restaurants rely on profit to survive so why should they let you treat it like your living room. Maybe they should just give everything away free.....

I went here for my birthday and the waiter did have a snobby attitude but didn't let it ruin our night.

The food was excellent and the atmosphere and interior of the restaurant was very

The service, all in all, good BUT! when my friends had him bring my cake out, we did the whole bday song and then he asked if we wanted a knife or he could get the kitchen to cut it for us. My friends asked if the kitchen staff would be kind enough to cut it for us. Well. when we got our bill we had a nice little surprise waiting for us. A $25 charge for cake cutting that they refused to mention before they offered!!

I was so shocked but my friends just told me not to think anything of it. so I just cut his tip by 35% AND took out an extra $25 on top of that.

If we knew it there was a charge that high for cutting a $10 cake, we would've done it ourselves.

Tucked away in a residential neighbourhood, Parkside can be easily missed even tho it's situated in downtown core. Food was the best I've ever had for Dine Out. Exquist quality. Even the starter free bread was excellent - freshly baked, tender, slightly elasticky. Great prelude to the fine food that was to come. Everything on the menu (all my friends tried different dishes) was delicious! Highly recommend this place. The not so cheap price is well worth the treat!

Tried 6 restaurants for DOV this year, and I love the food from Parkside the most.

We arrived late due to the traffic. So my boyfriend dropped me off at the door and he would go park the car. When I arrvied, they told me each seating for DOV is 2 hrs, fair. About 5 mins later, my bf arrived, and the server already wanted us to order when my bf JUST sat down. I am not kidding, he only got 10 sec to look at the menu before the server came to take the order. So he only ordered what the server recommnanded cux he didn't really know what's on the menu.

Everything tasted fantastic. The seafood soup was just right. I ordered the duck and my boyfriend ordered the veal. Each dish got a few different preparations. So like the previous reviewer said, they were like mini tasting dishes. That is a brilliant idea since most people go for DOV are there to TRY the food of a restautant they haven't been to. The duck was grilled nicely and crispy. The duck breast was very juicy. I had the pineapple up side down cake, and my boyfriend had the ice cream trio. The pineapple cake was kind of sweet but I couldn't stop eat it. My boyfriend said the ice-cream was very rich and smooth, and the dark chocolate one is as rich as a piece of chocolate truffle. One thing I like about the food is all food were served in the right temperature. The hot dishes were all HOT (including the cake). It's could sound like a standard, but believe me, that is very impressive for DOV. It's like all dishes were prepared for me, but not mass production. I had cold dishes which supposed to be hot in a few other places during DOV.

Ambiance is ok. Food was excellent. Service was too pushy at the begining, but overall still ascceptable because it was DOV. Would go back and see what they have in regular time.

With the level of service they provided, and the absolutely fantastic dinner, I just didn't feel okay NOT writing Parkside a review! I really can't say enough great things about this place - it NEVER disapoints. The service was PHENOMENAL. It actually outshone the food, which is pretty darn hard to do. You know, it's all the little things that count, like remembering what your coat looks like so you don't have to be asked at the end of the night. (Seriously, at Rare, they said, "oh I'm sorry, we don't remember what your coats looked like...". How unclassy.)

They fois gras was exquisite, well worth the $5 upgrade, and the server brought extra bread to enjoy it with. The duck entree was so good and creative - it was basically a mini tasting menu of duck served in a duck consumme! The pineapple upside down cake was also exquisite. I have to say I'm impartial to ice creams/mousses/cremes, so it wasn't the best dessert I've ever had - but for a cake, it was excellent. SO MOIST, beyond belief. The trio of chocolate ice creams was so rich and delicious as well. Thank you Parkside for a wonderful wonderful meal.

Having heard such a great reviews about this place, i was really excited to try this place! The appetizer, especially the cheddar pie was just oustanding. The entree was okay but didn't meet my expectation(maybe i set mine too high) dessert was just really sweet but still good :) upside down cake was really nice~

The service was bit slow. I never got my cup filled with water until i asked just before i paid my bill. I know dine out is busy time but they could at least walk around filling people's water cup. I saw some waiters walking around looking at people. I was hoping he noticed my empty cup. Anyway overall it was good. The hype didn't really meet my expectation but it was nice dinner.

I wouldn't really go back for their "pricey" meal unless their service improves.

So for 2008 we have decided to try dinehere.ca's top restaurants. We started with Parkside. When you go out for dinner you want it to be memorable and it was not. All though it was good it was not great. Our food was just put down infront of us with no description. The restaurant was freezing which made us want to leave sooner than usual. Once we visit the rest of the top restaurants we will give it a second chance. We met the owner (I think) and his heart is definately in the right place. Stay tuned.