The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

I’m terribly sorry that my review did not get posted before the death of this lovely bistro, but in support of the wonderful Corner Suite, I say thank you for one of the BEST meals I have had in years.
The service was unbelievably attentive, the food sublime (with an excellent price-​point) and the cocktails… where do I begin? Epic and intuitive.
It is a sad day when the city loses a truly lovely establishment that barely had the time to get its feet off the ground.
Best of luck to everyone at Corner Suite, we hope to see you soon.
XO

The food is good. The service leaves a bit to be desired.
I enjoy their functional furniture (napkin slots in the table, purse hooks underneath) but not so much the bright turquoise blue barbie doll chairs.
We arrived 15 minutes early to an empty restaurant. They chose to seat us at a table closest to the door. When asked if we could be moved to another table of 6 away from the door, they responded with a «No, sorry we are booked to capacity tonight» … I don’t understand what that has to do with switching tables of an equal capacity.
I also completely forgot about their ²⁴⁄₇ menu which is a 2-​course tasting menu every day for $ 24.07 — nor did the waitress volunteer any information about it. Oh well.
We had to ask for bread, and when it arrived it was cold and stale.
Here’s what I did order:
Baby French Onion Soup $ 5 — it really is baby tea-​cup sized! I liked the tastes actually, and I don’t mind the portion size but I can imagine quite a few shocked looks about the it. It’s served with a sugar spoon!
Croque Mme — also an itty-​bitty slice, but the tastes were spot-​on and I liked having a tiny sunny side up quail egg on it.
Beef tenderloin with veal marrow crust & blue cheese butter — Well, they forgot the veal marrow crust and when it came back, it was cold, crumbly and not flavourful. The steak itself is OK, a small portion — about half the size of your palm. The blue cheese butter is great though.
They also have a mammoth-​sized novel of a drink menu. If you’re lacking for conversation, at least you’ve got tons of reading material in front of you. Unfortunately, the Meyer-​lemon cocktail that I ordered tasted exactly like lemon water. With maybe a hint of vodka.

Background: I’ve lived a block away from this place for months and, overshadowed by nearby Guu most of the time, this was the first time I actually made a beeline for the goods as I have some friends who highly recommend it. I’ve never been to France but I’m familiar with most of the key spots in Vancouver.
Food: Fresh baguettes. Hearty and delicate french onion soup. The entirely separate extensive cheese menu. Delicious, tender, subtle steak tartar. Crème brûlée by the book. This place is standard French fare done to the tee.
Ambiance: Quaint. That one word best describes the baby blue leather seating and napkin hook tables.
Service: Our waiter was French (but not snobbishly so) and was extremely knowledgeable about the menu, as if he designed it himself.
Pricepoint: Dinner for 2 with a bottle of malbec set us back about $ 120.
Overall: This is standard french bistro done awesomely well, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The Corner Suite Bistro is a very decent restaurant. The décor is classy and cozy. It reminded me of the classy bistros back in Quebec. The Corner Suite Bistro has it’s roots in French culture for sure. Cheese list obliged.
The food is excellent but the list is short and don’t expect to be full on a 50 $ bill (per person). The prices are the same as other fancy, perfectly cooked-​food restaurant, but the portions are cut in more than half which probably makes it the most expensive place on the west side by the ounce.
The drinks are on an endless list so talking to the waiter is mandatory. And drinks are good.
Service was a tad slow that day, but it looks like it’s the normal wait time, bistros are like that usually. You go there to enjoy company for more than an hour, so taking your time is mandatory as well.
I’ll go back when I’m GM or CEO of some big corporate.

Corner Suite Bistro, darling, I’ve got my eye on you.
This whole dining experience was downright peachy (with sugar on top). Our waitress was this wonderful dame who was so friendly helpful and down-​to-​earth. And the food… ahhhhh the food. It was absolutely «top drawer» (said with an uppity New York drawl). The Croque Madam was incredible — they even substituted tomatoes for me instead of ham. Those onion rings were not your regular onion rings… more like «You’ve got my number» kind of onion rings.
And then there was the cocktail list. Oh, the cocktail list. First of all, I learned more about drinks that night than I did in my arguably impressive history of drink sampling. My drink was like a warm cozy night by the fireplace up at the cabin. Only with a little kick.
And then the décor… I love it when décor actually deserves a mention (in a good way). Corner Suite, darling, you are dressed up like an eclectic and fashionable broad.
Ring-​a-​ding, Corner Suite Bistro, you’ve got my number and luckily I have got yours.

From outside, this place looks pretty happening. Once inside, whatever thoughts you had are confirmed!
Dark, funky vibe setting with pretty chandeliers and chairs dipped in blue rubber! You got a chic higher end restaurant look with a mellow carefree unpretentious lounge atmostphere.
My friend and I decided on some dinner last minute before heading to the Fashion Week Show. We were seated by the window, great view to people watch outside and restaurant watch people inside.
They had a mammoth of a book to house all the different drink orders (I teased myself with taking a peek. I lasted about the 3^rd or 4^th page before putting it down in defeat).
I was extremely pleased to see that they had menu options for the gluten sensitive! I ended with the starter duck rilette, crostini. served cold in a little jar– it was a duck pâté! i smeared the paste on my gluten free crackers for a yummy crunchy treat!
for dinner, i had the lingcod with mussels, potatoes, and onions in a saffron broth. beautiful plate… flavorful broth… nice light meal.
my friend and I shared the sorbet trio for dessert. we got to sample, white peach, rhubarb, and brandy apple. (all very good, the white peach was the best though!)
Super service, great lounge… perfect for light dinner and more drinks!

Whether you like classic cocktails, fine cheese, or French cuisine, this is the place to be on a Friday night.
While at first glance the furniture had me thinking quel fromage, my partner reassured me that the trademark chairs were a classy «Tiffany Blue» («Every girl knows that!») and not some sort of displaced dollhouse décor.
In fact, the only thing cheesy about Corner Suite is the cheese menu –Vancouver’s largest selection, don’t you know, and featuring all Canadian products. I didn’t take note of all the options, as I went straight for the aged cheddar (a particular weakness of mine), and the Britannia 5-​year from la belle province didn’t disappoint.
But first things first: let’s talk cocktails. Now, I’m no mixologist, but I know what I like, and I really liked my Chicago Fizz. Ditto for A.‘s «Holy Toledo» (the house specialty, apparently). Well made cocktails are never cheap, but at around $ 10-​$ 12 each, these were well worth the dough.
Not to be overlooked, the food was outstanding. For my grand plat, I had the pork belly (one of my favourites), while A. opted for the ling cod and a too-​cute miniature bowl of French Onion Soup (or, as the French call it, Onion Soup). Then, to put a perfect cap on the night, we finished with a pair amazing chocolate truffles.
Admittedly, our tab this time was subsidized by a sizeable Groupon, but I will gladly foot the bill in its entirety next time. Of all the gin joints in all of Vancouver, I will definitely be walking back into this one again.

This might just be my new favorite restaurant in Vancouver. Their wine and cheese selection is as impressive as the melt in your mouth entrees.
Tonight dinner consisted of chicken liver paté crostinis, terrine de campagne, honey & thyme dijon, fruit & nut bread, dungeness crab cake, bacon & quail egg salad, peach purée and beef tenderloin & frites, blue cheese butter, arugula. My taste buds were dancing with delight. My only complaint was they ran out of the veal bone marrow crust for my steak.
On a side not tweet and retweet if you decide to order their ²⁴⁄₇ special for free dessert.

First of all, without knowing what The Corner Suite is, it already made it on my list of restaurants to try… just based on it’s chic décor. Where else can you find an eloquent space, accented with AQUA colored chairs?! Absolutely eye @#$%ing fabulous.
Before I rave about the delicious halibut and mussels in broth (their ²⁴⁄₇ special of the day for $ 24.07) and the extremely tender, «melt-in-your-mouth-instantly-oh-where’d-it-go?» beef tenderloin with pesto sauce cooked to perfection (which by the way is the BEST steak I’ve had in a looong time. Yes, I haven’t been steaked for a while)…
I will drool.
(Mainly because I forgot what I was going to say.)
Corner Suite also has a HUGE selection of cocktails… so if you like to drink, drink on! I can’t remember what I had… I can’t even remember what alcohol it had in it. Heck, there were so many choices I didn’t even choose for myself. I just remember it was pink and fruity.
They have a lot of cheese too. Tons. Some might make you smell funny after though. You know what I mean.

Any place that has two full pages of cheese on their menu is good in my books.
The drinks menu, or bible as they call it, is HUGE. It would have taken me all night to read through it all. It’s a bit overwhelming, but you can browse by type of alcohol, then choose the drink you want, then the brand of alcohol. I had a pisco sour, and it was pretty darn good. Not the best ever, and the drink was a bit heavy on the ice, but it was a good size portion and only $ 10, as opposed to $ 12 at Pourhouse. The wine we had with dinner was delightful, a syrah-​viognier, but they kept running out of the more moderately priced wines, (were out of the malbec to start which was $ 8/​glass, then ran out of the syrah-​viognier which was $ 10/​glass, so by the end of the meal, our options were the $ 12/​glass of red wine or the more expensive options).
The food. Oh, the food. The bread and herbed butter that was comp was lovely. And then my meal came. I ordered the duck, and it was fall-​off-​the-​bone tender and the large grain cous cous was flavourful and perfect. My meal didn’t look huge, but I was pretty full after eating it. But there had to be room saved for the cheese menu, so it was a perfect amount of food for me. I had a bite of my friend’s cheese tart and wow, it was rich, filling, and so good.
The cheese menu. I am a cheese addict. I love cheese. I love the stinky, strong cheeses. I love the delicate and mild cheeses. I love it all. So we tried 3 different cheeses, and got the fig jam to accompany. We tried a roquefort blue sheep cheese, which was supposed to be the mild one, and was soft and lovely, but too strong for my friend. It was spreadable and I ate it all. We also had a mild, earthy, rind washed cheese from France, and a cloth-​wrapped aged cheddar. Both were good, though I liked the cheddar better, which was rather hard and surprising. The fig jam had a very strong licorice taste to it, which was odd. It went very well with the blue cheese, as the flavours balanced well, but it was too overpowering for the milder cheeses, especially the rind washed cheese. That cheese would have been nice with some honey.
Service was decent, and while the waitress helped us pick some cheeses, a recommendation on the jams and sides would have been useful. We also had to ask for fresh bread with our cheese, which should have been a no-​brainer.
The décor is cute, and I like the blue chairs (one of which they are raffling off), but as my friend mentioned, there seemed to be something missing a little from the atmosphere. Maybe because it got so dark in the evening, I’m not sure. It’s a neat place to people watch, though. The bathroom also left something to be desired. It was tiny, cramped, and could have used a little cleaning. And there were no bag hooks. I really wish more places would put bag hooks in the stalls.
Overall:
Excellent food, which despite looking small, was pretty filling.
Cheese!
Great drinks.
Okay atmosphere and service.
Disappointing that they ran out of the moderately priced wines on a Friday.
Thumbs part-​way down for the bathroom.

Simply put, I love this place. And I don’t make these claims wildly!
I brought my parents here for brunch, and immmediately fell in love. The service was impeccable and accomodating, even with my parents’ demands (…and my father’s questionable humour!) The brunch itself was delicious, perfectly cooked french toast with a rhubarb compote, savoury sausages with just a hint of sage, completed by several rounds of mimosa.
Since then, I have been back. Many, many times! Whether it’s sat in the gorgeous aqua-​blue chairs, or holding court at the bar, I have always had amazing service from the wait staff, with the managers (and owners) always making a point to ensure every customer is well taken care of. Steve De la Cruz has put together an incredible cocktail list, and staffed his bar with an impressive crew of cocktologists — personable, knowledgeable and passionate about their craft.
And on those nights where you just need a little bite to eat to accompany that French 75, they also serve the best croque-​monsieur outside of Paris.

This restaurant is AMAZING! I love their style of French Cuisine. The bar is not a French Style, but they make great drinks! Little bit pricey, but very unique and delicious hard liquor.
We started off with cheeses and we tried at least 7 different types. It was an amazing experince because the Epoisse was extremely stinky. My favourite cheese will be the Brie de Meaux. A very nice creamy taste with the bread.
I had a GREAT Beef Tartar and it was really savory to the touch. It filled my palette with amazing flavors. That was only just the starter of my meal! Their cold dishes were amazingly put and well made.
I had the scallops later, and the amazingly presented food was spectacular! The aroma of the vegetables really fused out, and the peas that was placed beside really complimented the scallops very well.
I enjoy the service the waitress gave us, she was very willing to always refill the bread basket and she was very nice and intutative with our group.
We will for sure go back again!

I had already eaten and was stopping in to visit a birthday party so I ordered the $ 5 French Onion Soup. Also because I’m poor, haha. Let me tell you, that was dang good soup. TINY though– the bowl it is served in is HALF the size of a small mug with and came with the smallest spoon I have ever seen. The whole size situation forced me to savour every minuscule bite. Loved it. Take me here for the big meal, please!
The service was good, and one of the managers did a FAB job of making us feel at home. Looove it.
The décor is what I’m in love with though– the tiffany blue furniture with white and black surroundings– that is money, my friends. Take your woman here and I promise she’ll show you a little wrist!

A dinner date with an old friend calls for some Corner Suite. Called in to make reservations with no problem.
We were seated right by the window, overlooking Thurlow & Robson street. I like the décor. Sleek black leather banquettes, bright aquamarine (aka Tiffany blue) chairs, in a Victorian fashion. A large bar overlooks the restaurant, and the windows surrounding allow lots of natural light to come in. …
The cocktail/​drinks menu is very impressive. A very thick book of 30 pages, of martinis, classic cocktails, contemporary cocktails… all listed in alphabetical order. It was very intriguing, and I wanted to read the descriptions of their drinks.
The menu is divided into ‘petits plats’ and ‘grands plats’ .and three pages of cheeses. The server did ask us if we had anywhere that we needed to go to next, which was a good gesture.
Our food then took a very long time to arrive. We waited, and waited, for about 40 minutes. My friend and I got to catch up with each other, but we were both getting hungry. Finally, the food arrived.
We started off with a petit plats; the house-​made gnocchi, English peas, mint, bacon, poached egg. This was wonderfully delicious. Almost like a carbonara, but even richer. Bits of bacon added saltiness to the dish. The house-​made gnocchi was also great.
For the main, I got the bouillabaisse in saffron tomato broth. This is one of the better bouillabaisse that I’ve had. large spot prawns, dungeness crab, large juicy mussels and clams, fish, and a bite of octopus. Fresh seafood, simply cooked in the saffron broth.
Attentive service, and a good atmosphere. A great place for drinks, and I’ve also heard great things about the croque madame…

Need a sexy place to set the mood for a sexy date? Come here!
The neighbourhood itself is quite cute (I’m not from ’round these parts) and when I walked into this new spot I was pleasantly surprised. It actually reminded me of parts of France! (Maybe because it was dark outside? Who knows!)
Before I get to the food though, I must mention the décor and the bathrooms. Who couldn’t love a place that’s got aqua coloured high-​back chairs?! The décor is wildly modern with a very classic touch. Clean lines, classic furniture, modern colours. I think the black wood and chandeliers look stunning with the aqua coloured chairs. The bathrooms are very clean as well and everyone at our table remarked that the soap smelled like pixie sticks. Yay for clean, yummy-​scented hands!
The small dishes here were exquisite. I’ve always been a fan of leeks, potatoes, and brussel sprouts. You’ll find many great dishes here that feature awesome, locally grown veggies. For meat lovers, fear not! They have duck, steak, pork belly, you name it — they killed it! Ok… maybe they bought it dead, but still, it’s yummy and fresh!
The overall theme I think of when I recall my dining experience here is variety. They had a great cocktail list, a great wine list, a great entrée menu and even a great dessert menu. I couldn’t think of a cuter spot to take someone special.
PS — I’m from the US but Unilocal gave me the Canadian version of spell check. Please note my usage of the letter ‘u’ in color and flavor!

My hubby wanted to take me out for my birthday on Wednesday. It was my choice of places so I decided on the Corner Suite Bistro. We had walked by the restaurant many times both before their opening and after. If nothing else the electric blue chairs were intriguing and a factor in my choice.
On our arrival at around 7ish, we were seated immediately as there was only a couple other tables occupied.
We started with beverages. I went for wine. The list was limited in selection but did have some nice choices. I will say, what the list lacked in content was not lost in price point! WOW, they don’t give away their wine!
For food we started with appies. We shared the Bacon & Onion Alsatian Tart and the Dungeness Crab Cake. Both were very tasty. The tart was a nice size for sharing but I must say the Crab Cake was a huge disappointment. It came nicely presented but without a doubt the smallest crab cake I have ever seen. It should be re-​named a Crab Bite. And for $ 14 they should be ashamed.
For the main course be both had the Line-​Caught Halibut. It was pan seared then finished in the oven. The fish was delicious and cooked to perfection. As the menu clearly stated, the halibut was served with «kabosha squash ravioli». Note the single tense in ravioli. YOU GET ONE! The dish overall was very nice but once again… very small portions for the price point.
As you have probably already guessed, I was still hungry so opted to go for desert. I had the White Chocolate Crème Brulée. There really isn’t much for choices on the desert menu. My partner had casually mentioned that it was my birthday so the server presented my Crème Brulée with a b-​day candle inserted. Woohooo! It was actually a nice sized serving and quite yummy.
Overall we enjoyed our dining experience. Loved the room and the food was great. Our only real complaint was the portion sizes, especially the crab cake. Even by Vancouver standards, Corner Suite has reached a new low on quantity vs. quality.
I think we will try CSB again, probably for brunch, but before we go we’ll probably have a light snack first.

Great brunch find in the West End!
Had Sunday brunch with Crystal and Reena — nice atmosphere, quieter area and NO line-​ups — yay! Love the purse hooks under the table and in the bathroooms.
The décor is unique… and those who know me as a Tiffany gal, how can I NOT be a fan with those Tiffany-​blue chairs???
The brunch menu is a bit small but what we had was very good. I had the dungeness crab benny that came with a side of fingerling potatoes and green salad. Mmmm. My only complaint is that they could put a bit more crab in it, but otherwise great taste and textures. We also shared their belgian waffles — pretty good! The batter is a little heavier than I like but the taste and exterior with a touch of crunch and sweetness is fabulous.
Average service — friendly but ran low on my water a couple of times.
This is a solid place for brunch but doesn’t get the elusive 5^th star.
Portions run smaller here and brunch items are around $ 12 – 15 each… I don’t know if I was starving, but I definitely needed 1 ½ dishes that morning!

I know I’m going to sound like a total Bay Area snob, but in context to San Francisco style eateries, I don’t think Corner Suite would be a 5-​star restaurant. BUT in Vancouver, this is about as 5-​star of an experience as I had while zooming around the Winter Olympics host city. I know, I know… I hate me too.
To my knowledge, it’s a new outpost that’s received plenty of fanfare since opening its doors downtown just a few weeks ago. It’s a swanky joint that serves up some quality mixed cocktails (insert an obligatory «but not as good as San Francisco» reference here) and they’ve got a fine wine list. Personally, I stuck to gin pretty much the entire week, and they had a pretty solid selection of distilled juniper berry drinks on hand.
Food-​wise, we had a group of 6 at the table, so there was a lot of mixing and matching going on (which is my favourite way to dine!). The FOS (French onion soup) was on point, but I couldn’t help but wonder how they refer to the dish in France. Do they just call it «onion soup?» What about French bread? Is it just «bread?» Life’s little mysteries. I digress… We also sampled the tuna niçoise with fingerlings, egg, tomato, haricots verts, olives, lemon & olive oil. It made for a pretty pleasant way to start off an evening of fine Canadian nosh. While others around the table opted for plates laced with fatty meats, I chose the lighter route with a dish of mussels & fries with white wine, lemon, and butter. The mussels were as big as Apollo Ohno’s hamstrings, and they tasted as though they’d just been plucked from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Good stuff!
As for desert, I made sure to dive into the sticky toffee pudding. That might have been the highlight of the entire night. Nothing like ingesting hundreds of additional calories after a big meal, but this baby was so good, it left little room for guilt and remorse.
For Vancouverites, I have to imagine this will end up being a total scene. A go-​to spot for fine food and fun people watching, as it’s essentially a higher-​end restaurant that pumps some pretty dope beats (Phoenix, MGMT, Franz Ferdinand, being a few artists I remember hearing throughout the night) all staffed by hipsters with funny haircuts.
In second thought, maybe this place would go over pretty well in San Francisco!

A full five glowing stars for the Corner Suite.
Maybe it’s two times lucky, but they’ve delivered perfectly so far.
Lazy Sunday Brunch — Eggs Benny and waffles were a delight.
Latte — Smooth as silk.
Casual Dinner — Veal Cheeks — Wow. Definitely a first for my culinary adventures. I tend to avoid all things with Veal in the title, but this is now a valid exception. Full of flavour, and just the right size portion for this rich entre.
Drinks — Done right. Take a look at the ingredients behind the bar. Some obscure names there for sure. Extra points for the spiral egg holders.
So… maybe it’s three times a charm? I shall return soon for my next course.

Step inside this enchanted neighbourhood bistro with aqua (leather?) chairs in a Queen Anne (maybe?) style set a whimsical tone. You might be thinking this review will be all about the dinner and drinks, but no, that’s next time; this was all about brunch, and how divine it was!
With an impressive looking espresso machine that screams to be percolated, I ordered my standard americano and delighted in the cane sugar cubes and steamed cream that accompanied the strong and smooth shot. Could I be sitting in a Peruvian café? Je pense que oui!
A well appointed brunch menu featured a flavour for every palate: granola and yogurt, a smoothie, eggs and bacon, waffles and eggs Benedict. Lucky for me, I got to share the waffles and eggs benny. Magnificent! The eggs were just slightly undercooked when they arrived at the table, and by the time we dug in, were perfect. The hollandaise-​light, a touch of tang and set upon a piece of brioche with fingerling (love these!) potatoes on the side winning the meal top spot in my brekkie loving heart!
The waffles were the perfect consistency — crunchy and sweet outside and soft and crumbly on the inside. Topped with warm maple syrup, vanilla sour cream and preserved pears, they definitely are giving Medina’s some competition.
I knew that I was truly starting to fall in love with other touches throughout the space. They’ve really thought things through: tables with hooks in the centre for purses, bathroom stalls have two hooks with «purse» and «jacket» photo frames, our water constantly filled and the billfold was crested with the Corner Suite logo, instead of the standard Visa jackets you see so often.
Mais attendez il ya plus (means something like «but wait, there’s more,» thanks google translator) Corner Suite has not only raised the bar high for foodies, but behind the bar is a range of spirits set to impress. Steve Da Cruz saw us looking up at the bar and came over to ask if we had any questions about the spirits — another great touch. I can already feel those plump bar stools tempting me back for a caesar (with a bacon wrapped quail’s egg). Perhaps I’ll sample the cocktail list while testing out their 24/​7, kitchen special, which looks like it costs $ 24 and 7cents.