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3
  • Food3
  • Service3
  • Value2.5
  • Ambiance3
  • Reviews26

RTL Regional Tasting Lounge

1130 Mainland
Vancouver, BC V6B2T9
Tel: (604) 638-1550 Reserve Online
Neighbourhood: Yaletown
  • Cuisine: International, Regional, Tapas
  • Price: $$$$ ($45 or more)
  • Reservations: Recommended
  • Meals: Dinner
  • Contemporary regional cuisine: menu highlights two regions from around the world which will be refreshed every three months, with British Columbia being a consistent regional highlight.

Reviews

Displaying 1 - 20 of 26 Reviews FoundSort: Useful | Helpful | Reviews | Date
Yaletown's Worst Restaurant
By krebs of North Vancouver Deep Cove (1 Review)
Submitted Monday, May 21, 2012 - 10:20am [Dine in]

In Vancouver, a tasting lounge conjures up visions of high end restaurants like Lumiere, so we looked forward to trying RTL. What a mistake. The food was bland. As an example, the spinach salad was a pile of leafs with a few nuts and a sprinkling of goats cheese, the dressing was minimal and flavorless. The chicken was fatty and on the bone. The salmon was fishy and the sauce, again, bland. The side dishes were no better. We weren't the only ones who thought so. The people on both sides of us were commenting. The place was practically empty. Clearly those who frequent Yaletown restaurants have abandoned this place, and for good reason.

The service was variable. The guy who greeted us was grumpy. The server was attentive and polite.

The food was a very poor value. The quality of the ingredients was very low (chicken thighs, frozen salmon...). The wine selections were low end. It was clear that the restaurant was more concerned with their own profit than with providing value to their customers.

The physical space is fine, although it was too cold to remove coats. There was no memorable atmosphere. It could have been a cafeteria except the lighting was lower and the chairs were not plastic. I'm not sure what kind of impression this place was trying to create, but it failed on all accounts.

We would not return to this restaurant or recommend it. We ended up concluding that the owners must be going after the tourists' dollars because no one in Vancouver is likely to return to such a place. If it survives much longer, it will be at the expense of tourists who were led to believe (by others or by good experiences in other Yaletown restaurants) that they were dining in an area full of good restaurants. This place is a notable exception. Avoid it!

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Ruined my birthday. WORST Service.
By Jennyka of vacnouver (1 Review)
Submitted Sunday, April 8, 2012 - 9:21am [Dine in]

The service was terrible. Our waitress was rude and disrespectful. Throughout the entire meal her explanations of the courses were unclear - seeming as if she didn't want to be there. My husband and I asked kindly to clarify how the billing worked. She immediately assumed we were not going to tip her even though we had full intention to do so. When I asked her for change she grabbed the bill and came back slamming it down on the table. She angrily said "bye" and left. All we wanted to know was how it all added up...

Upon leaving we ran into the manager. A bit shaken up, we tried telling him our story but he quickly said, "if you only tipped that amount I would have kicked you guys out." We were shocked. We would never leave a restaurant without tipping - no matter how poor the service.

The meal was decent. The clams in thai curry broth was great. The Salmon entree was a bit small but had nice flavour. The Seafood linguine was bland and tasteless. There was no sauce on the pasta besides salt and pepper. The sides were small and lacked flavour.

We have never experienced such mean behaviour. We dine-out frequently but we will never be going back to this restaurant. This service ruined my birthday dinner. Do NOT go here.

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What just happened?
By alpinion of Richmond, Vancouver (5 Reviews)
Submitted Sunday, March 11, 2012 - 8:44pm [Dine in]

So we reserved our dinner at r.tl around a month ago, and we finally got to try it tonight. We ordered the following:

Braised Lamb Shank (2.5/5)
This was very average. The outsides of the shank were very hard and there was tons of fat throughout the huge chunk of meat. This wasn’t done too well but it was mediocre at very best. For some reason, parts of the shank were quite cold/room temperature? It tasted…. Microwaved.
Cajun crab & prawn cake (3/5)
This was average but because the cake was grilled quite well, it had a nice crunchy texture. However, you get a single crab cake that’s approximately two to two and a half inches diameter for $13.
Thai green curry Mussels (1/5)
We couldn’t even finish these. The broth was extremely liquid like and it felt like they just mixed water with MSG. Even though it was “thai green curry”, we could barely taste the curry. The broth was literally just white. Many of the mussels weren’t cooked properly and we couldn’t open a couple. These are probably the worse mussels ever (I’ve had better at Old Spaghetti Factory!)
Green beans (side) (2.5/5)
These were decent. They tasted microwaved as well? Very very raw.
Crème Brulee (2.75/5)
This was good until we realized that it was vanilla pudding. The crème brulee tasted literally like instant vanilla pudding, with sugar torched on the top! Just to confirm, we went to try real crème brulee at a local bakery and we could tell the difference right away.
And drinks.
The drinks weren’t too great either. Don’t order the non-alcoholic ones.

Lastly, the service:
There was one manager (I’m assuming), and one waiter. The manager was fairly friendly but was dressed casually (casual shirt + jeans). The waiter…. Was dressed in a sweatshirt/sweater and jeans? I literally could not tell that he was working there until he brought us our food. He mumbled every time he brought over our dish and never said anything else. To be honest, we were quite shocked to receive this type of service. This is my first time writing such a long and pessimistic review, but I’m leaving Vancouver soon and it’s disappointing that one of my last meals turned out so wrong.

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I think the good reviews has been written by their friends
By secret_solitude of Vancouver (2 Reviews)
Submitted Friday, March 9, 2012 - 3:07pm [Dine in]

We dined there at the end of the January2012. We really wanted to go there as always they said do you have reservation and when we didn’t they said we are booked so we thought it should be a great restaurant.
My husband and I always try different restaurant and I actually had a Twitter account that many people followed me for new and good places to eat. The food at RTL was not good my husband never complain or return anything, the steak was not eatable. You really would think you are in a comedy show. The waitress took it and came back said sorry it was really off and it is because they had cut it wrong. They brought another one worse than the first. They took $5 off our $150 bill.
Service horrible, slow and not great. And the customer service is obvious from how they dealt with the problem that they expected it.
I really think the good reviews for that place is from their friends and family.

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Avoid like the plague.
By hoboman313 of Vancouver (1 Review)
Submitted Saturday, February 18, 2012 - 10:50pm [Dine in]

I dont usually write reviews for restaurants, but this place decided to charge $50 to my visa for a reservation that I had actually came to ( on time ) on Valentines day. When I showed up the place was completely empty ( we were the only table ). Be ready to fork over $100 for a meal if you decide to come to this god forsaken place on Valentines.

Overall this place had nothing going for it except for its location. There are restaurants in Yaletown and downtown Vancouver that are much cheaper, better decorated and have a nicer atmosphere than this place.

Avoid like the plague.

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So much potential
By VJB of abbotsford (127 Reviews)
Submitted Monday, January 31, 2011 - 12:46pm [Dine in]

We decided to try RTL for dineout as the menu looked pretty good.

We arrived early yesterday evening and were seated promptly. We were the only ones in the restaurant for about an hour. The hostess gave us a prime seat right by the window. They have a fire glowing over crystals in a planter box and it gave off a really nice warm as well as being very pleasant to look at. The ambiance of the restaurant is nice and soothing. They have music playing but it is at a comfortable level and you do not need to shout in order to have a conversation.

Our server was really terrific. She came by to check after each course to see how everything was. When my husband asked if the lamb had dijon mustard she said that she would check before placing his order. We went with the 3 course dine out menu. I would say that the dine out menu is decent value for what we had but if we were paying regular prices I would feel it was very poor value. It's a good thing we had been visiting friends prior to coming for dinner and were not super hungry otherwise we would have gone away from a 3 course meal still feeling hungry and neither one of us has a huge appetite. For the appetizers my husband had the pork terrine and I had the crab and prawn cake. The crab and prawn cake came with a small salad. It was decent but certainly not worth what the regular price would have been. For the entrees my husband had the rack of lamb (3 small chops) with cous cous. Usually with rack of lamb you get a good 5 or 6 chops. I had the surf and turf. This had a 6 oz New York steak. It was a 6 oz New york and a small lobster tail. This was as expected since their menu did state that the steak was 6 oz. However I had ordered the steak rare and it came pretty close to being well done. It also had a sauce on it that was very astringent and it was a tough steak. It really needed to be worked with the steak knife. I would have sent it back but we had waited 1/2 an hour for it and the restaurant was busy by this time so I did not want to wait another 1/2 hour or more. I also had to request butter for the lobster tail as it was lacking sauce or seasoning of any sort. For dessert I had the chocolate terrine and my husband had gelato. The terrine was very good - dark, smooth and luscious. My husband had creme caramel ice cream as they were out of the saffron ice cream that is supposed to be on the dine out menu. Dinner for the 2 of us with 1 $28.00 dine out menu, 1 $38.00 dine out menu, 1 drink and 1 glass of wine was $94.00 before tip.

I might give this restaurant another try. I would go on a night when I'm not too hungry. They do change their menu frequently so you have to check their website to see what they have when you want to go.

This place has so much potential but rather than classifying their dishes as entrees they should really be called tapas and the prices adjusted accordingly. The quality of the food and portion size for the regular menu is definitely not is line with the prices.

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Worst EVER. A long and painful meal.
By IzakayaGirl of Burnaby (5 Reviews)
Submitted Saturday, July 9, 2011 - 10:32am [Dine in]

Last night was my first time going to R.T.L, even tho the reviews were somewhat on the mixed side, I decided to give it a chance.

I have to say, this by far, was the worst meal I have ever had in Vancouver. Especially given the location within the heart of Yaletown, you would think there would be a decent standard, but boy am I ever wrong!

There were so much wrongs about this restaurant I don't even know where to begin!
It was a Friday night, place not even half full.
First of all, the waitress was somewhat friendly, not very attentive and had a confused and puzzled look on her face like she wasn't sure what she is doing there. The manager only greeted us, then never came to ask about the food and didn't even notice we left.

The food. Horrific. We ordered the following (there were about 30 min intervals for each dish, not sure what they were trying to achieve with all the tables looking like they were starving to death)

1) House salad, which seems to be just mixed greens you can get at Costco tossed with vinegar and some slimy soft leek, sprinkled with almonds. I make better salad than that!

2) Pork Belly, this was okay, but seems like something you can buy at Chinese BBQ joints. Nothing special there.

3) Chipotle Mussels, this was the WORST dish of the night. I love mussels and I order it at almost every restaurant I go. But I have never ever had mussels this bad, EVER. It was oily, extremely salty and the meat had shrunk to the size of a dime. Definitely not fresh, I wouldn't even eat this if someone paid me to. DO NOT ORDER THIS DISH!!!!

4) Crab and Prawn Fritters, this came about 40 min after the mussels, during that time we had nothing on our table. Having waited that long, I thought they were making it fresh for sure. But it was COLD! and burnt on the side down, which they probably thought no one would notice if they just place it facing down.

5) Potatoes with Duck fat, this is a side dish, and probably the best dish of the night given it was actually on the warm side.

We didn't even bother with dessert, the bill came to $90 plus tax for two people.
The only positive thing I have to say about this place is their decor, but so what? If the food aint good no one aint coming back.
I strongly advise going to this restaurant, it was a total disappointment and didn't help that the entire experience was dragged on and on with the meaningless waiting.

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Server was confused and just okay food, bad dine out experience.
By JooJoo of East Vancouver (82 Reviews)
Submitted Monday, October 25, 2010 - 10:32pm [Dine in]

We came for the taste of Yaletown dine out menu, we ordered off the $35 for 3 courses menu, there is another menu for $25. First of all the service was below standards. We waited in the restaurant, no one came to greet us (with only 2 tables there) soon someone finally came up. We ordered our food, but the server never asked how the steak was liked done. We had to tell her! Bread was additional $6 a basket, but it never came until after our appetizers, and we had to remind her!! My water never got filled. The server seemed kinda confused at what she was suppose to be doing. Never smiled or made any effort to make the dining experience interesting. There was no music, just silence in the restaurant. To start we had 3 appetizers, the risotto was ok, the piri piri prawns was cooked right, the portugese sauce was kind of light for my liking, the smoked duck breast was flavorful, very strong smoke taste but the meat was overcooked. One of the appetizers came out wrong, and the server just stared at us blankly when we told her. Both of the steaks came out well done when asked for medium rare, the asparagus and the potato gratin that came with it is was done well. The coq au vin was kinda bland, although the vegetables (broccolli, cauliflower and carrots) were good. The artic char was okay, overall the best thing was the ice cream sandwich for dessert. The other dessert was an apple tart, the crust was too thin on the bottom and it was soooOOO sour I immediately stopped eating after one bite. I don't mind paying for a good meal at whatever cost but not for this kinda of service and food. There are plenty of good restaurants out there, its sad how Yaletown has any restaurant like this, and they are only successful due to the high traffic on weekends.

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Definately a tasting experience
By CaptainNemo of Vancouver (94 Reviews)
Submitted Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 10:58am [Dine in]

I was here for the Taste of Yaletown and it was just that.

For $25, I had an appetizer, an entre and a dessert.

The food was reeeally good, and the sizes of the plates were big, but the food on the plates were small. There was three of us and we all had difference food, so we got to try a little bit of everything.

Overall, good, but I thought the portions were very small. I'm not too sure if it is because it was the Taste of Yaletown, that was why the portions were smaller.

Would go back to try their regular menu.

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so so food......but better than the service!
By genki39 of burnaby (82 Reviews)
Submitted Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 9:35pm [Dine in]

I came here with my friend on a wednesday nite, it was dead. There was only one other table there. My friend didn't know what she wanted to drink so she asked the server to reccomend her something, cool. So we ordered the antipasto platter which was nothing special, and the halibut cheeks which again were so so. Okay, so when we get the bill, the drink that the server "reccomended" for my friend was almost as expensive as the halibut! What the f*&k is that all about????? So you think we'll be coming back??? What a JOKE!

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Great hangout place
By jennko of Vancouver (86 Reviews)
Submitted Friday, May 22, 2009 - 12:19pm [Dine in]

Our party of 4 came here last night for some late night dinner. The place was very quiet when we arrived, there was only 1 other table beside us. I guess it's because of the road blocks due to the Canada line skytrain stations which created such a difficulty to find parking nearby. The decor was nice, contemporary with some welcoming and comfortable feelings without having too dark of lighting. Anyways, since the food was tapas style, we ordered 8 dishes to b shared among us 4.
1. foie gras: not bad but a little too buttery and the foie gras taste almost wasn't delivered across. Plain crostini that came with it was perfect.
2. la petite salad nicoise with tuna: was not bad, tuna was tataki style which was even better than I expected. The touch of quail's eggs and baby olives made it interesting.
3. shrimp and crab cake: came in 4 pieces however each was very filling. Taste wise is not bad especially for $15
4. prawns piri piri: it's not bad but not spicy enough and could add some fresh taste into it like lemon, lime, or orange juice in.
5. bolhinos de bacalhau: came a bit over cooked (very dark as it was deep fried) but the filling was great. The filling wasn't the regular cod meat, I think it was a processed cod meat with some starch or mayo in it so it's got a very smooth consistency. I couldn't taste the saffron in the saffron aoli.
6. pork alentejana: AWESOME!!! I loved the strong and full flavour of this dish. The clams were cooked to perfection, not rubbery at all and they're of good quality cuz it was very meaty too. The pork was also very flavourful. This was definitely the highlight of the night. If u like clams, u'll love this dish.
7. papas portuguese: it's not bad but definitely not my favourite. It's just deep fried fingerling potatoes. The aioli's flavour was too smoky for me, but my friends liked it, so it was just a matter of preference.
8. entrecote gaufrittes: the strip loin was cooked to perfection, medium rare, unfortunately it was a touch too salty for us. I'll try it again next time.
The service here was great, our server was friendly and attentive (could b because of the quiet night). She even showed us that there's a hidden room that we could book for small parties. We also ordered the reisling, 8th generation of sth and it was very light and not bad. My bf then ordered a very interesting drink, a beef stock, taste like caesar cuz of the tabasco n worceshire sauce but uses beef stock instead of clamato. It was good but it lacked a little of fresh (from tomato or any fruit) and lacked a little sweet, so it was very savoury.
It's unfortunate that they are quiet due to the road blocks but I hope the customer base can pick up soon cuz I know that rental in Yaletown is extremely expensive. I'd definitely come back again to try other stuff, esp, they rotate the menu every 3 months.

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little engine
By barbara of Van area (11 Reviews)
Submitted Friday, July 23, 2010 - 8:22am [Dine in]

This little place in Yaletown is nice, it's on the edge of yaletown by the subway stop. The place is very romantic and quiet. They have the best wines by the glass in yaletown escpecially compared to glowbals rip off prices and sneaky ways they try and rip you off on other items. RTLs menu is very small but good ive got a reservation again this weekend and cant wait

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The Venison Burgers are Incredible!
By nelliebobellie of Downtown (69 Reviews)
Submitted Tuesday, April 27, 2010 - 1:33pm [Dine in]

I chose r.tl for dinner last Friday night and I have to say, it was a great choice. I had been there for the Taste of Yaletown in the fall and was equally impressed then. On this occasion, we decided to share a bunch of small plates so we could try as many things as possible. The menu has so many tantalizing options that it was hard to choose just a few. We started with the wild mushroom risotto and the dungeness crab cakes. The portions were a decent size and very, very good. A standout was actually the salad served with the crab cakes - dressed very lightly but full of flavour.

We then moved on to the smoked duck, which was sliced very thinly (carpaccio-style) and had a melt-in-the-mouth texture. Shortly after that, our venison 'burgers' arrived. A trio of tiny, but absolutely amazing little burgers with 3 different 'toppings', served on toasted sourdough (or similar) slices of bread. The first was mushroom & cheddar - the venison was cooked perfectly, a little pink in the middle, juicy and tender. The second was topped with foie gras - very buttery and rich. The third, and my favourite by far, was the blue cheese and smoked bacon. Wow. I've had dreams about that little taste of heaven ever since my first bite. The downside to sharing food, is when you find something so good that you want to keep it to yourself. But I resisted the urge to grab the other half out of my friend's hand and instead savoured the small piece I had left. Had I known they would be that good, I would have insisted on two plates of the sliders. Oh well, there's always next time.

For dessert, we shared the cheese plate and the sweet & tart apple duo. The cheese plate was nice, although one of the three selections was so tiny that I barely had enough to know it was good. The apple tart was okay - but I needed a magnifying glass to see it on the plate. It would have been incredibly disappointing as a dessert on its own, because at $7 it was a bit of a rip-off. The tart was beyond small - it was literally two bites. The cider that was served alongside was really not needed. It added nothing to the dish other than looking pretty, with the cinnamon-topped egg-white foam. If it hadn't been for that tart, I would have rated r.tl 5 stars in the food category - a rating I very rarely even consider giving.

All in all, the evening was a hit - fantastic food, great wine and great company. I will definitely return to r.tl for the venison burgers and perhaps I'll try the chipotle mussels and the crispy skin pork belly. Can't wait!

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R.TL = Rauncy, Terrible, and Lousy
By bennayq of Vancouver (1 Review)
Submitted Sunday, March 6, 2011 - 3:41pm [Dine in]

We went to R.TL last night with a big group and had made reservations. We were given a $35 three course meal (if you can call it that).
I will not go into the starters and deserts because it is not worth the time (they were terrible - when they give you ice cream and call it gelato you know there is something wrong). For our entree we had a choice of Jerk Chicken, Steak, or Salmon. As our group was large (20-30 people), I was able to try each one (also because very FEW people actually ate their whole entree - it was that bad). The Jerk Chicken was like a dry cooked chicken with some sort of spicy sauce on top of it. It was not seasoned properly - I have had Jerk Chicken before and this was not it. The sauce was terrible and the chicken on the inside was dry. The person beside me was actually peeling off the skin and trying to eat the inside of the chicken where there was no sauce. In the end, he gave up. His mango salad was barely touched. It was sour and almost tasted bad - similar to our starter salads. I ordered the Salmon that was suppose to come with rice pilaf and veggies. The Salmon was very dry and came with plain white rice (like something you would get at a Chinese restaurant however they would provide you an entree with flavour with it, not like my dry Salmon). The sauce on top of the Salmon was not very good and there was so little (which almost made it better because it was so bad). The Steak meal which my brother had was a thin piece of bad meat. He asked for medium-rare and it was given to him well done. My brother can eat anything and he ended up eating only half and did not touch what came with (I could not tell what it did come with - some sort of mashed veggies).
The drinks were expensive - a round of 8 shots to celebrate my cousin's engagement was over $90. Out of the group, the 4 family members I was with, we had a couple of drinks with our meal (I really think you can't call it that - we went to McDonalds afterward which would be 5-star compared to this place at the rate we paid). Speaking of our bill, for the 5 of us it came to over $400 - excluding the 8 shots. Gratuity tip was already included which is expected with groups but the drinks were outrageous and the food was terrible (they never even asked if we were okay because I believe they suspected it was lousy food). My brother asked if he could order off their regular menu but he was told no and that we had a special group rate and menu. Based on their special group menu I can only imagine their regular dishes to be twice as expensive and twice as bad.
I do not recommend this place to anyone. Although our group was fairly big, I believe throughout the night there was maybe only one or two other very small groups that came to eat at the restaurant (there was seats open). I suspect this place will close down (at least I hope it does).
This is a warning to you all that are considering this place because you might think how could a place in Yale Town be bad... well, this place is beyond bad!
Avoid at all costs...

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Not worth the value!
By jennylu of Vancouver (1 Review)
Submitted Monday, January 24, 2011 - 10:38pm [Dine in]

Today is the first day of our dine out experince with my boyfriend 2011.
The food we recieve today was not woth the value at all!!
if you look at the menu~ and compare it with the $28 and $38, they are almost the same.
"wedge" salad? and gelato???
its plain letteus with cheese, and 2 scoops of plain gelato.
How can this be a 3 course meal that's $28?
I ordered the lamb for entree................not so gd either.
over all, I will not go back again for cheap food in a restaurant "seems" fancy.
*waiters* dress in jeans? and was not very friendly...

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most amazing dine out experience
By davis of Vancity, Baby (1 Review)
Submitted Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 1:19am [Dine in]

We stumbled upon r.tl on the tourism vancouver brochure for dineout, and decided to give it a try. Called up the restaurant and was lucky to find a table at 6:30pm for a night early week in the week. I was told they were quite full, so we settled for earlier, as we wanted to come in at 8, no luck, 7:30 or 7:00, no luck, so 6:30 it was. When we got there, they were not kidding, they were quite full and buzzing. We were quite happy though as we got a cozy table against the wall.

The menu was the dine out menu, short and concise but still quite diverse. For the first course we had the option of two saladas, a smoked duck, or truffle mushroom risotto. I picked the smoked duck. It was sliced thin and served at room temperature with a salad. It had the most interesting smokey flavour, it was smoked in house using an actual oak wine barrel. My friend had the risotto, I never liked truffle but it was not overpowering, and it came with a leek sauce that was quite a nice addition to the creamy risotto and oyster mushrooms.

For the second course I went for the flank steak, and my friend chose the bacon wrapped chicken. Other choices were a mushroom tacu tacu (veggie) and a grainy mustard salmon. The steak was 8 ounces, which impressed me, for being part of the $28 three course. It came with tasty shallot rings on top and pan potatoes and asparagus. I did not see any sauce on the plate and I thought to myself: this is gonna be a boring. But first bite, and it was a surprise, the shallots added quite a nice flavour to the meat, and the meat was very flavourful itself, it did not need any sauce.

I tried a bite of the chicken, and it was equally nice, the bacon wrap was smoked with alderwood and the chicken was juicy and tender.

For dessert, we both went for saffron gelato, there were other options including a fresh berries and sabayon cream, but we could not pass on saffron, the gelato was great, and a big portion of two large scoops, we could have both shared one gelato order. It came with a crunchy powder on top that tasted like pistaschios, but it was more complex. Unfortunately I don't know what the powder was but it was a great addition to the gelato.

The service was good, and attenrive considering how busy it was, they had 3 servers that night. One last amazing thing was the washrooms, it smelled like the nicest fragrance, I did not want to leave!

Overall, a great experience, and very good food, service and room.

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Delicious Seafood Tapas
By smallspoon of Downtown Vancouver (4 Reviews)
Submitted Monday, August 31, 2009 - 11:21pm [Dine in]

The menu is a fun way to have tapas-style seafood and encourages sharing and trying a large assortment of things. The seasonal/regional menu helps the smallish menu be unique - it combines three different regions into a cohesive collection.
Right now they are featuring Greek, Italian and coastal British Columbian food. We had the daily steamed mussel feature with a tomato-fennel broth that was so good that we considered slurping up the remaining broth as a soup.
We also had the dungeness crab and shrimp cakes with stone fruit salsa. They were perfectly crispy on the outside, with high-quality crab on the inside. It wasn't oily, but satisfyingly rich. The salsa had a nice balance of underplayed cilantro and delicate spice.
To top off the delicious round of tapas, we had the double bacon wrapped rainbow trout stuffed with julienned vegetables and a sweet soy citrus glaze. It was heavenly, and not just because of the bacon. The flavor of the trout married very well with the bacon and the (not overly-sweet) glaze.
The service was pleasant and attentive. The decor felt high-end and well-considered.
We eagerly anticipate the next menu in October featuring Moroccan cuisine, but will likely be back before then.

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Truely RTL!
By pompey of Vancouver (39 Reviews)
Submitted Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 12:40am [Dine in]

The name of the restaurant didn't disappoint us. We were quite pleased with the tapas-style food. Our favourite was the dungeoness crab & shrimp cakes and the gnocci. The ingredients were very fresh and very healthy. Actually a lot of the dishes tasted similar with the vegetables, vinaigrette, herbs and olive oil. Overall the service was pretty good and we enjoyed the ambience. Also the DJ played some great music!

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Great Dining Yaletown
By whatnext of Vancouver (4 Reviews)
Submitted Sunday, March 21, 2010 - 11:46am [Dine in]

I'd been to r.tl once before and was impressed, I'm surprised its not busier for dinner. The atmosphere is crisp and modern and its close to the Yaletown skytrain station if you want to avoid Yaletown parking. There were three of us this time and we shared the beet salad, crispy pork belly, beef tacu-tacu and smoked duck. All were very good, with the smoked duck and crispy pork belly being stand-outs. The smoked duck was very thinly sliced and bursting with flavour. The pork belly came as three individual servings, with a garnish of hibiscus cabbage that perfectly complemented the saltiness of the pork belly. A solid wine and drink list is also on hand.
Dessert was vanilla custard with a tangy passionfuit coulis,saffron gelato and a type of chocolate lava cake.

  • Food
  • Service
  • Value
  • Ambiance
A sure place
By canuck67 of Vancouver (1 Review)
Submitted Thursday, July 9, 2009 - 9:02pm [Dine in]

My wife and I wanted to try a new place and found RTL online. Did not see any reviews on dinehere for it but just found out I had somehow missed them before we visited. A phone call to the restaurant made us even more motivated and we got on our way.

The decor is elegant yet simple and you get a feeling of stepping into a NY room. The colors are woody and made it a cozy room, and We liked being there.

The food did not disappoint at all. The trout with bacon was amazingly flavourful and a great combination, as well as the spicy Italian gnocchi which was made in house: I liked the tomato based sauce of the gnocchi with the right amount of sweet and spicy mixed in. The daily pizza creation, also from their Italy menu was great, it was a vegetarian one that day and I never had a simple yet beautifully made pizza in any restaurant before, that gave me a home made feel, as if I was actually in a rustic village in Italy!

The cheese duo from Greek selection is definitely amazing, this was our only venture into the greek items this time but a lot of others looked great over on the next table.

Obvious care also gone into the wine list. Offerings from many areas but focus on the Italian and Greek which were the featured regions at the time of our visit. At least 20-30 wines by the glass available.

Dish prices range from 9 to 15 so they are reasonable.

Overall, delicious food and attentive service.

  • Food
  • Service
  • Value
  • Ambiance

Tips

Displaying 24 Foursquare Tips
  • Kraig P. : Ask Tarquin to set you up with a bespoke cocktail. Impressive stuff, always creative, always tasty. "It'll blow your mind." He's right.
    1 week 2 days ago
  • UrbanMonsieur (TM) U. : Do not ask for a Caesar! The bartender will give you MAJOR attitude!
    2 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Cheese Plate (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Sauteed Mushrooms - Sautéed Mixed Mushrooms $6 - garlic & white wine (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Braised Pork (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Dirty Chopin Martini (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Thai Green Curry Mussels - Thai Green Curry mussels $16 - lemongrass, kaffir lime, frites allumettes (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Foie Gras - Foie Gras au torchon $18 - Sourcherry préserve, toasted brioche (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Jim A. : Try the Kashmir Cocktail - Kashmir- chai infused gin, spiced syrup, fresh lemon juice egg white, grated cinnamon & cardamom $10 (via @Foodspotting)
    4 weeks 2 days ago
  • Lili D. : I really don't get why people are complaning about this place. The food is really good, all the servers are really nicr and the soundtrack is amazing.
    9 weeks 6 hours ago
  • Justin M. : I agree with the slow service. Seems they run on a skeleton crew, not good with prices as they are. Food was nice though despite some other reviews.
    10 weeks 1 day ago
  • Tarquin M. : Sit at the bar and get a custom cocktail
    10 weeks 6 days ago
  • Gillian L. : Excellent meal of tapas and great service
    12 weeks 3 days ago
  • Viviana P. : Extremely slow service food is so so, they now serve tapas style only. Not really worth the time or price
    22 weeks 1 day ago
  • Maggie L. : Don't get the seafood linguine. You get a total of half a scallop. Overpriced and greasy "fine " dining
    30 weeks 2 days ago
  • Avril G. : very bad risotto, was just rice....and it was watery. BUT the jerked chicken breast was VERY interesting and exciting. would go back for that chicken. careful with the wine, lots of $15 crap for 50$.
    36 weeks 5 days ago
  • Mika P. : Crap service so far and I just got here.....
    43 weeks 4 days ago
  • Lillian W. : The risotto taste very diluted! Not cool
    46 weeks 9 hours ago
  • Richard Q. : Really crappy lobster and risotto. Never coming back. Run.
    1 year 10 hours ago
  • Henry H. : Get here well before you get hungry. The service here is glacial.
    1 year 4 weeks ago
  • Deborah : Service was horrible, food was only so so. I would pass on this restaurant.
    1 year 14 weeks ago
  • Meghan R. : Drink: mainland mule = delicious
    1 year 31 weeks ago
  • danica j. : Swing by and try their ever-changing menu (they rotate on-purpose, and by region *including wines by glass!) Keeps it fresh.
    2 years 37 weeks ago
  • Ami S. : Go to R.TL. The food is great (and ever changing) but you should really try their Gin Gin Mule.
    2 years 37 weeks ago

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