Food: the onion veloute hit us by surprise as it turned out to be rich, warm and comforting white ahi tuna would have fallen short if not for the cucumber garnish. My chicken dish was bland while the lamb dish was much more enjoyable but also a bit dry. The sides that were on the plates for both our mains was just ok. Lemon tart was a wonderful finish to the meal. Overall, the food was only ok which was disappointing as I thought a fine-dining establishment such as this would provide a higher calibre food experience.

Service: Service was hot and cold. I didn't like the drink I initially ordered as it left a terrible aftertaste and the server did not hesitate to replace it free of charge which I was pleasantly surprised to find at the end of the night. However, pretention was in full gear throughout the night but I guess that's what's expected of this type of establishment. The server quite rudely told me to move my plate at one point in the night to set my main plate down - if you can't carry so many plates, why don't you get someone to help you out rather than having me do your job? At the end of the night, we received an additional dessert to our surpise.

Value: Overpriced for what we received in comparison to other fine dining establishments I've been to. If the food had been great, I wouldn't have minded paying the premium but unfortunately, this was not the case.

Ambiance: Beautiful in every aspect and it was still comfortable even when the Whistler Film Festival had an event there.

Overall, I probably won't return since the food was such a let-down. This is a great place for a romantic or special night but I can't in good conscience recommend it just for the ambiance, especially when you break the bank to take someone here! Ciao!

My boyfriend and I went to the Araxi on our first night in Whistler (Friday night). We didn't have to wait in any line up since we had made reservations a few hours ahead so no headaches there! :) We started off our dinner with 2 appetizers - the beef carpaccio and the sablefish risotto. Both were amazing! The beef carpaccio in all fairness was not the best we've ever had but it was still very good.However the sablefish risotto was incredible! The different layers of taste were really delicious! I wish I could have risotto every night!

For our main courses, my boyfriend had the rib eye steak and I had the prosciutto wrapped chicken. My boyfriend said his steak was nothing outstanding and my chicken was nothing outstanding either to be honest. There was too much pea sauce that it literally drenched my chicken to mush.

Lastly, we had two desserts. My boyfriend had the Okanagan cherry cheesecake and I had the raspberry napoleon. His cheesecake was very good and my napoleon - although over prices - was to die for. My boyfriend was crazed on my dessert but I thought it tasted amazing.

As far as service, it was ok. The guy didn't seem to really care about us and was getting irritated that he couldn't hear what my boyfriend was saying over the loud rowdy people beside us. I wish the server was more pleasant because the bill was over $200 and we do tip generously based on our service.

Recommendations: Sablefish Risotto (mmmmmm The best Risotto!!), Raspberry Napoleon. Book reservations

Sorry, to go against the reviews, but I was vastly dissappointed & not impressed with the food here AND once you factor in the prices, I would NOT go back again.

Having just ate at the sister restaurant, Blue Water last week which gives me clearer standard to compare them with.

First of all, service/ambience was good, restaurant was full, wait staff was curteous, knowlegable & prompt and nothing bad to say about them. However, that's where the praises stop.

I ordered the bolognese pasta for $27 and left restaurant vastly dissappointed. Taste & portion size simply didn't pass. Sauce was bland, had plain ingredients & little cold (obviously, someone just "nuked it" warm) and I had about 6 mouth fulls of pasta and dish was gone...WTF?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about giant sized portions, in fact I laugh at the 5 star giving Anton's crowd., but for $27, I can go to pretty much any restaurant and get top ingredients with stomach filling portions. To make a long story short, I CAN make a better pasta than the restaurant and that shouldn't be the case.

Ex. #2 my friend ordered the bone in rib eye, again, dissappointing, portions, presentation was good, but the actual quality, taste & searing of the steak cannot even match $10 cheaper KEG steak.

Perhaps, we ordered the wrong items, there were many tables with the seafood ice platters and people seem to be enjoying them.

I would have been happier eating at Earls...at least they don't try to sell themselves as highend.

I have been wanting to go to Araxi for quite some time, and so my husband and I tried it out on our last visit to Whistler. To begin, he had the oyster appy and while he enjoyed it, it did not go above and beyond expectations. I asked for still water and only after the bill came realized the waiter had charged us close to $9 for a bottle of evian which was nowhere to be seen. I ordered the sable fish for dinner and my husband had the pork 3 ways. The sable fish was very uninspiring and was resting on a bed of soggy noodles. It was miso based and I can have a very similar dish at a local Japanese restaurant for 1/3 the price. My husband's dinner portion was very small and forgetable. The only part he enjoyed was the pork belly. We ordered a side of mushrooms which my husband enjoyed, but again, quite expensive for the quanity. We also ordered a side of potato terrine which was severly lacking in flavour. The side of carrots were sent back. We don't know how carrots can taste so horrible, but they did. They refunded us the $11.50 (!). We also ordered the blueberry non alcoholic drink which was overly sweet. The waiter gave me a lemondade when I ordered the grapefruit drink. The lemonade was very sour. I love desserts but nixed this as I could not wait to leave. The food was slow to arrive and the waiter apologized for this numerous times despite the restaurant being half full. The restaurant was very cold and there were fruit flies buzzing about the table. No attempt was made to make amends for the wait or the disspointment in the food. We wanted to love araxi, but it turned out to be the lowlight of our vacation. Please do yourself a favor and avoid this place.

My wife and I have eaten at Araxi 2 times now, once for dinner and once for lunch. Both times the food was fantastic and the service was especially awesome.

Here are the dishes we've had (rated out of ten):

Dinner (mains only):
Pan Seared Halibut - 9
Beef Tenderloin - 9

Lunch (mains only):
Chicken Confit - 8
Pulled Pork Sandwich - 9

The food portions are well sized, any meat dish I have ordered has been well seasoned and their oysters are always fresh and tasty with their house mignonette.

On a drink note:
Wine selection is great.
I had their mojito last time for lunch and it was to die for, if you like the Cuban concoction give theirs a shot.

I've recommended Araxi to a number of my foodie friends and family and everyone that's gone has been equally satisfied as me.

Araxi is one of the best restaurants in Whistler/Blackcomb.

The menu/food is representative of the Pacific Northwest/British Columbia and very good in diversity, preparation, portion size, and quality. The wine selection is exceptional.

The service is very good - friendly, professional, and efficient.

Overall, a consistently satisfying dining experience for a reasonable price.

We visited this restaurant to celebrate an important occasion and we were delighted with our experience overall. The Araxi tower of seafood was fabulous, although a bit pricey.
All mains were beautifully presented and satisfied all those at the dinner (a large group). The bread was delicious, however the risotto was a little on the high cholesterol side and needed a bit more character. Desserts were superb as were the house nougat which came with the considerable bill.
We ate in the Wine Room, which added significantly to the feeling of a " special evening". The overall decor was delightful and appropriate for a fine dining restaurant.
The wine list contained some excellent choices and a wide range of varieties at a wide range of prices, and staff knowledge of wines and food was greatly appreciated.

I visited Araxi during my trip to Whistler this weekend. The service was more than I could have imagined. When my main course arrived, I was less than thrilled because I am not a fan on peas, and the menu made it seem like there was only a little bit of peas incorporated into the dish. I was just going to suck it up and eat it, because it really was my fault that I had not took the time to read the menu properly. My server noticed that I was not enjoying my food, so she took it upon herself to change my halibut to not have any peas in it. When my dish came back out, the chief had made me a whole new dish especially for me! I was so appreciative that they would do something like that, afterall, it was my fault. Everything about my experience was so wonderful, and I definitely think it is worth the money. We enjoyed ourselves so much, and I would recommend sitting outside because you get to experience the atmosphere of the restaurant along with the overall whistler atmosphere because the restaurant is situated in the main courtyard.

There must be two restaurants named Araxi in Whister because I can't agree with any of the other reviews. We frequently eat out at nice restaurants, often at the sister restaurant of Araxi in Vancouver, so we know what to expect in a restaurant of this caliber in terms of both food quality and cost, and unfortunately Araxi didn't measure up in my opinion.

Our appetizers were both delicious, I had the Aged Cheddar Souffle, and my husband had the Spicy Tuna Rolls. Both tasted great, and were moderately priced. The problem was with dinner.

I had the Weathervane Scallops with Chorizo which tasted good, but the Scallops were very very small. My husband ordered the Lobster Risotto which was presented beautifully, really quite stunning. He had a few bites and asked me to try it and let him know what I thought. I had one bite and said to him that it was overcooked, bordering on mushy in fact.

We were in a bit of a time crunch so he decided not to send it back which was fine until we received the bill and saw that they charged us FIFTY dollars for the dish. I have never paid such a grossly overinflated price for risotto, even lobster risotto, anywhere. Especially since it contained only the claw meat, not even a whole lobster. If you're going to charge that kind of money, you'd better make sure it's perfect!

This on top of the fact that the service was only so-so made for a really poor experience. Our waiter was very nice and he tried very hard but he just didn't have a clue. I guess they have trouble finding staff to work in Whistler, but please Araxi, don't compromise!

I have no trouble paying a lot of money to eat at "fine dining" restaurants, in fact when done well I believe it's one of the greatest pleasures in life, but this just didn't measure up, and it's hard to believe that the sister restaurant of Araxi is even associated with them. The experience was like night and day.

Bottom line, I think there are better restaurants in Whister.

The food here is absolutely to DIE FOR! Everything from our appys, entre to dessert was AMAZING. The atmosphere is very trendy & the service is both prompt & professional. Most definitely an establishment worth checking out in Whistler.