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Wild Rice offers farm to table Chinese cuisine served in a chic setting blending the traditional and modern.
Firstly...having the outside menu situated right behind the door is silly....felt like I would be slammed into by a swinging door from a departing customer.
Met by a very gracious server…. who really was very nice….then the food - Yikes
The food....expensive, small portions and mediocre at best. Can't believe $11.00 for some very flavourless dry white rice and a few bits of chicken (really tiny amount of chicken) (made a substitution from pork). Bill came and tried to charge an extra $3.00 for the sub....WHAT. Had another noodle dish $19.00 which included the $5.00 surcharge for BBQ Meat"S". When asked what the meats where, we were told it was pork...I asked why the menu was plural suggesting that there was more than one kind of meat, and was told normally it would be duck as well, but they were out....when I asked if the duck breast dish on the menu was sold out, we were told no, and it was too expensive "darling" to but that kind of duck on the noodle dish as a sub....REALLY. Considering the amount of BBQ pork meat that was added for the $5.00 was tad amount to a few I mean a few (6 or 7) very small thin slices I can't imagine a bit of duck would bankrupt them...btw no hint of reducing the price for no duck...LOL.
After some confusion with the bill etc....could not wait to get out of there fast enough...It was a Friday night place was quiet...maybe owners should take that as a hint that something is no longer right at Wild Price.
Literal translation is "not a good deal!" So sad, this place has so much potential! I love the decor & ambiance; very stylish & chic but unfortunately a few things don't add up. I've been wanting to try Wild Rice for years now. Even finding them in the entertainment book wasn't incentive enough to go - the location is kind of out of the way and it's hard to find parking. Anyways, I came across a Groupon this year, so figured my hubby & I would go for dinner on our date night. Friday night was packed & I was thankful that I made a reservation on Open Table (100 points yay!) I do wonder if it weren't game night, would it still be busy? So we got seated upstairs which was really nice cuz it was cozier. Service was prompt and we pretty much ordered the food right away, since we don't normally like to pay an arm & leg for drinks. I imagine that this would be a good place for drinks and "small bites" before or after a movie or a game. It has that hip vibe of a good place to hang out. The Braised Pemberton Beef on noodles was delicious & cooked well, but the portion was tiny. I didn't think $17 for that dish was reasonable at all. The duck duo was done very nicely; good flavors and presentation, but wow, also very tiny for $18! After our tiny meal, the server came to take our plates & asked if we wanted more food. We politely declined & asked for the bill, and she looked surprised. I think if the portions had been bigger and priced reasonably, we may have considered ordering an appetizer, but all their "dishes" & "plates" are appetizer sizes if not smaller. So yea, we felt like it was pretty "wun bun." Food was good, but too pricey. If anyone does end up here on a movie or game night, make sure you have deep pockets. =)
Sure, if you like a good, filling meal, you'd be disappointed with this place. This place is for people who like to chew and taste their food. This is the place to try new things--several new things at once! It's a bit pricey but if you think about all the work involved and the cost of ingredients in their dishes, it makes perfect sense. They update their menu often which of course is both great and disappointing. I miss their tofu bacon with butternut squash! But their current tofu dimsum, the smoked tofu & shiitake mushroom turnip cake is also good!
Cocktails? I've only tried the snapdragon. Horseradish vodka and butter ripple schnapps? Brilliant.
I always liked how they'd check our coats so when they didn't the last time I went, I was a little disappointed especially since I had brought a new person with me and had mentioned this little perk.
Never mind the other reviews, I'm going to keep coming back here.
I'm not a big fan of asian fusion because it's never fails to disappoint. However, I did enjoy the food I had here during a private party in the upstairs loft. There was a good varierty of tapas type selections. Amongst them, the very delicious chinese ravioli. So I was pleasantly surprised at the food served here.
Prices are on the high side averaging about high-teens and smaller portions. Be prepared to shell out for a full meal.
The ambiance is not what you would expect from the scummy area. Tasteful decor all around - the 2 private areas do give off a more cozy feel compared to other seating in the restaurant.
I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it!
This place is nicely decked out, an oasis of interior bling in a neighbourhood where posh is an anomaly and panhandlers await your entry and exit from the restaurant. It's a place that we've always wanted to try.
We reserved a table and were greeted at the door by a cold unsmiling hostess who actually stared down her nose at us. It is a pet peeve of mine when people who work in restaurants clearly display that they have better things to do than be bothered actually serving people. It'd be like a dentist playing solitaire on his laptop while drilling your teeth in between cards. This hostess was actually on her laptop at the bar with her back turned to the room designing some kind of web project while she was working.
Thank goodness for the server, who redeemed the evening with a bit of grace. She was fully awake and knew what she was doing. We ordered Hot & Sour soup, Peking duck wraps, Kung Pao chicken & Short ribs.
If fusion means that non-Chinese cooks are making Chinese food that they know nothing about, then Wild Rice has got that down. The Hot & Sour soup was not hot, just a little sour but it did not have tapioca starch in it to give it body, nor any seafood. It had some shitake and julienne vegetables in it and it was not disgusting, that's the best I can say. The Kung Pao chicken is supposedly the most popular dish. If that's really true, that is sad. The noodles are gluey and clumped together in a soggy mess. You have to hunt for the chicken. It cannot be considered even slightly spicy unless chicken mcnuggets are what you're used to eating. With 2 of us we were resorted to a "no you have it, I already had 2 pieces" negotiation on the chicken in that dish. Share with more people? I think not. The short ribs were tender and tasty and accompanied by the star of the evening, taro frites. Although the soup arrived first, our other "dim sum" dish came last, the Peking duck wraps. The presentation was the defining factor for this dish. They looked poopy brown, soggy and unappetizing and they were not hot. Chinese duck is one of my favourite dishes in the world. Whoever made this dish and calls it fusion should know what they're trying to fuse. If it's blech with blah, they've nailed it. We did send this back and they were gracious enough to remove it from the bill. We noticed there weren't any Asians at this restaurant in an area heavily populated with Chinese, and now we understand why. Chinese people are too smart to pay these kind of prices for bad food just because it's served in a designer setting. Come here to look good and be seen, not for the food or value...
We noticed there are an unusual number of positive reviews on this restaurant and they all seem like they were written by the same person, one liners with no details... hmmm, interesting is all I can say.
With the area around the restaurant improving, visited on a weekend. Streets felt a bit more safe. Sat at the bar as all tables were reserved. Had the wonton soup - very good with a rich broth, squid - nice big pieces and tender, kung pao chicken - good portion with nice peanut type sauce. Great service at the bar, perhaps due to the owner being the bartender/server. Overall a nice place with good ambiance.
This place is really small and noisy. The food is edible, but there's a difference between trying something new and succeeding at it. Some things don't need to be tinkered with. Value? Not really, considering where it's situated. You can choose from some better Asian restaurants in the vicinity and feel you've had a better dining experience by far.
I finally decided to go to Wild Rice and see what all the hype was about because we were going to a movie at Tinseltown. (Sidenote: saw Sideways...great movie.) Overall, Wild Rice pretty much lived up to my expectations in that it was more of a place to go to be seen rather than to enjoy great food. I thought the food overall was good, with the potential to be great. The concept is fantastic but it just didn't deliver in overall flavour, ingredient quality, and preparation. However, the presentation was very good. The service was mediocre, there were long gaps between visits by our server. As we were leaving, we were surprised to see the hostess being snotty with a couple waiting to be seated.
Went for dinner with a friend last night. Thank goodness we had an entertainment coupon! The place was not busy even on Saturday, but we had made a reservation a week in advance (didn't qualify for open table points though?!?!). We were placed at an inside small table despite the window table being open. Order 3 different dim sum options and a chow mein to share. Dim sum was $6 each and the chow mein was $18. These were all meatless. The sticky buns were 3 on a plate and were more doughy than filled. The potstickers were good - all 4 of them. And finally the drunken beans were a disappointment being doused in what tasted exactly like sweet and sour sauce out of a bottle. The chow mien was good, but not for that price. It had one exotic mushroom and other than that nothing stood out. We paid and left to get dessert elsewhere. We won't be back.
I went there on a Saturday late night. Wanted to try it ever since I heard about it - wanted to find out what Chinese Fusion mean...
The restaurant (or should I call it a bar) looks so nice! Everywhere is nicely designed, with good looking decorations. I especially like the hallway leading to the washrooms, it is decorated with wine storage and you can have a peek into the kitchen, which is kind of a show off but I always welcome that. Who doesn't like to look at organized, clean kitchen!
Food-wise, the 2 of us ordered Hot and Sour Soup, 5-Spice Chicken Wings, Shanghai Noodles with Beef, Peking Duck Wraps and a Lemongrass Tea. The food came pretty quickly, and the service was good. They all taste pretty good, but they are very different from the traditional taste. I think they've put a lot of thought into designing their menu.
We will definitely go back for a drink or hangout with some friends. But we probably won't go back for a "full meal" though. Because the portions are quite small - we paid $60 and did not feel full!
I came here a while back so maybe things have changed, but from what I remember (venison, a salad dish) there is absolutely no reason to return to this place.
Why no just eat chinese food for a reasonable price instead of dressed up chinese fusion which makes little sense and is expensive?
Three of us went to this restaurant for Dine Out Vancouver ($18 menu) and we all found the food and service to be excellent. I can't believe the previous reviewer said the Kung Pao Chicken was "bland" as I found it to be extremely tasty, nutty and spicy! However, I had the "vegan" version with tofu so I think the cook may have added extra chile peppers to mine. My two companions both had the regular version of the Kung Pao Chicken and also commented how delicious it was. They did not comment on the amount of chicken in it so I assume they had enough. Mine had lots of chunks of tofu, "twice cooked peanuts" (delicious) and broccoli. The rice noodles were excellent and short enough that they were easy to eat with chopsticks. I also found the dish to be HUGE and only finished half of it. All of us had to take a portion home.
Our waiter did tell us that the Kung Pao Chicken is a mildly spicy dish and that some people request it hotter, so if you like hot and spicy, just request extra chile peppers. The KP chicken is Wild Rice's most famous dish, and I found it excellent. My husband is a former chef and quite fussy and he was impressed by the food.
Our appetizers of crispy salmon wontons were very tasty, and the chocolate pudding we all had for dessert was more like a mousse (my husband was unenthusiastic about "pudding" for dessert but he enjoyed it.)
Certain aspects of this restaurant deserve special mention, including the fact that there are many vegetarian and vegan options, and they use wild fish and free-range meat when possible (according to their menu). For instance the chicken in the Kung Pao dish was listed as free-range from Maple Hill farm, a local organic farm that produces free-range and organic meat and eggs. If you've ever shopped for free-range organic meat, you know it isn't cheap, but it's generally better quality and tastier. So for a few of the earlier reviews complaining of small portions of meat, perhaps this is the issue. But I also think you have the obligation to tell the staff if you feel your dish isn't right, to give them the chance to fix it.
Our waiter was extremely helpful and attentive, and the atmosphere is great, with funky music but not so loud you can't talk. The one minus is that the chairs (we sat in the downstairs area across from the bar) were high and a bit uncomfortable after sitting for a while.
We've gone to restaurants for Dine Out Vancouver for years, and this was one of the best experiences we had. I intend to return, maybe after seeing a movie at Tinseltown which is across the street (and their menu says they offer a 10% discount with movie ticket stubs).
We went to Wild Rice on Saturday night. We didn't have a reservation, but were able to get a table, which surprised us. We tried the green papaya salad, which was fresh but pretty bland and uninteresting. Next was the Kung Pao chicken, which was supposed to be spicy, but was instead quite bland. It was also mostly noodles and very light on the chicken. We also tried the Salmon, which had a nice flavour, but was way overcooked. I have always liked the ambiance of the room, but given the quality of the food for the price I doubt I will be back anytime soon.
After reading so much about this place, decided to give it a try. I went with a friend for lunch and we ordered a noodle with BBQ pork, a beef dish, a side dish with endamame and a crab cake. Nothing to shout about.
Maybe I am not into fusion food, I do not see what's the big deal with this place. I had to order tea after lunch, because the food was way too oily.
Nice ambience and service, but food does not warrant my return.
I have been to this restaurant many times and have always enjoyed the experience. I can understand the wildly varying reviews previously submitted, as this restaurant offers very creative dishes with very creative flavours. In fact, after reading the menu, you often cannot predict what your dish will look or taste like. If you expect, say, typical Chinese flavour or typical western flavour, then you may be disappointed, but if you have an open mind, you will often be amply rewarded. To me, the presentation and flavours of their dishes are always excellent, and the service superb. I particularly like their ahi tuna, AAA Canadian beef, duck, seafood hot pot, and sablefish. Even though portions are not very big, the price is not very high either for what you get. Very good selection of tea and wine too. All in all, excellent value for a unique dining experience, even though their business has been so good since opening that the uphostery is looking a bit tired now. Remember that they don't take reservations, and in the evening, you often have to wait quite a while for a table.
I've been to this restaurant a couple of times. It's located right at the edge of chinatown by tinseltown. I really like the different teas and appetizers; Particularily the halibut congee. It's different from any other congee I've had before... but in a good way! We order it everytime.
The main courses I've never found that outstanding. The best by far is the kung po chicken with rice noodles.
I ordered the Key Lime Brulee which came with “yinyang” cookies. When my dessert arrived, I looked for cookies but found none. I asked the server if my dessert didn’t come with cookies and she replied “yes it does.” She disappeared into the kitchen and on her return said “usually it does, but today it doesn’t.” After blank stares from my partner and me, my partner said “that doesn’t seem right.” At this point, she finally asked me whether I would like “something else.” My body language said it all but I said it was ok because I just didn’t have the energy to negotiate for my dessert. What really got us was that the dessert had been served incomplete, hoping that I wouldn’t notice or say anything. And when we did the answer was “no, not today” which left us dumbfounded. Rather than advising me before I ordered or offering an apology with a suitable replacement for the missing cookies I was left to figure out a solution. I left the restaurant feeling that I had to fight to get what was on the menu and it just wasn’t worth it. I was charged the full price for my incomplete dessert.
This is obviously one of those restaurants that overprices its food to account for Entertainment Coupons. Don't bother going here folks if you simply want to use a coupon. You will get much better value pretty much anywhere else. $18 for a "share" plate which is smaller than most entrees at other restuarants is totally ridiculous. To add insult to injury, although the coupon says 'buy one dinner plate get one free', because there was only 3 of us, the unfriendly server advised we could use only one coupon. We were here celebrating a birthday, and so asked the server to surprise the birthday girl with a dessert, which she did bring with a candle. Not only was the dessert not complimentary (a common practice at the majority of restaurants), but we were charged $8 for a piece of cheesecake the size of half an ice-cream scoop!!! We had bought 4 entrees and many drinks - the least they could do is comp the dessert. We had three servers over the course of the evening, only one of which was cheerful - the other two couldn't manage to break a smile to save their lives. My one positive note is that the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken is totally delicious - I loved the kettle-roasted peanuts! Again, however, the portion size was ridiculously small. I think it was $15 or $18 and there were maybe 5 chunks of chicken. As tasty as that dish was, it is not worth returning for. I'm certainly not "wild" about Wild Rice. I'll never return.
I went here recently w/the BF on a Thursday night after a two year hiatus from the restaurant.
We ordered the kung pao noodle dish, which is my bf's absolute favorite dish. I tried ordering a few different items but it seemed like everything I chose was not available, so I settled with some sort of fish ravioli.
The kung pao noodle dish was great (as usual) and my ravioli concoction was tasty..but where's the "chinese fusion"? I was really disappointed to see the changes made to the menu, as I REALLY enjoyed the menu items they had on there before.
The service is always pleasant and attentive here.
The value is not that great seeing as they've increased the prices gradually with no increase of food quality/portion/variety/etc. Furthermore, with chinatown only a mere steps away, you can likely get a lot more "value" out of a meal there. And as previous posters have mentioned, the drinks are expensive.
The ambiance is nice. Very chic.
Would I go back? Probably, for the kung pao chicken. Should you go? Yes, you should...try the kung pao chicken.
I came here with a date last summer during the time they had the seasonal 4 course tasting menu for 25.00 per person. This was the first time I've been to this restaurant, and I enjoyed the clubby and trendy look and design of the interior - while trying my best to ignore the fact that there were likely crackheads and panhandler's loitering on the same block of the restaurant. Nonetheless, I felt it was incredibly cool and sentimental that the restaurant is opened right next to the old hotel where the owner's father used to work.
The 4 course meal we had, had its highs and lows. To me, it felt more like an hors d'oeuvres experience because each of the plates were just a little tiny for my tastes. I liked the salmon dish as well as the asparagus dish; but the last and 4th dish, the Wild Boar sausage with chutney, tasted like cold deli meat from Safeway with Fruit jam from Save on Foods. Although the food experience was fine, I couldn't help but notice that the theme was more Japanese than Chinese in their presentation styles and use of different textures. Then again, Wild Rice isn't your typical "Chinese" Restaurant either.
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| 3. | Honey Lounge (47 m) | |
| 4. | McDonald's (52 m) | |
| 5. | Thai Village (69 m) |  |
| 6. | Wild Ginger (69 m) |  |
| 7. | Koya Japan (69 m) | |
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