Gray’s At the Park

My star review is based solely off food and service. The prices are outrageous and ridiculously high. It’s the Hilton in downtown Vancouver, WA. It’s not Miami or Las Vegas. I’m amazed they get as much business as they do with those prices.
I received an $ 80 gift card for Grey’s a while back and finally got the chance to use it as part of our 5 year anniversary weekend. The menu has lots of tasty options. I had the eggs benedict and he had a scramble. Both were very delicious. He also had 3 glasses of orange juice and I had a mimosa and coffee. We wanted to burn through that $ 80 so we ordered all kinds of crap. The bill came and was only $ 55 (only — lol). So we had some room to play. The server suggested carrot cake as it travels well and we were off to a picnic lunch later in the afternoon anyway. The carrot cake was $ 9/​piece. I was expecting some tiny square, but it was HUGE. Like 6 layers and 3″ wide slice huge. Took us a week to finish those but they were truly amazing.
Our server was fantastic. Very attentive, accommodating, and knowledgeable. I would return for brunch and be more mindful about what we’re ordering unless we get another gift certificate.

Since the Hilton is located perfectly between Portland and Vancouver I say here a few times a month. The problem is there isn’t much else to walk to as far as food. Grays is your typical Hilton restaurant. Overpriced and not much selection. I have had the rib eye at least four times and remember only once actually getting a rib eye. What is it with this place thinking we are so stupid not to know the difference. Never has the steak been delivered medium as requested. This meat is not aged for 21 days so stop advertising it as such. The wedge salad is bare of ingredients. The Cuban and burger are dry. The fish and chips are pretty good. All over priced. Breakfast is good and made to order, but again, 22.00? I did like the clam chowder, it was flavorable and had lots of clams. Over all, it’s what I expect from the many Hilton establishments. Ok food that is too expensive. However I will say they have the fastest room service I’ve ever seen.

My colleagues and I stayed at the Hilton for a conference. Generally, we will venture out for food, but we decided to opt for the hotel restaurant. We were very pleasantly surprised! The food is excellent, really above you’d expect for hotel food. Staff and service is really lovely, but can get a bit absent minded when it starts to get busy. Great ambiance as well. If I lived in the area, I would be here often.

Been coming here for quite sometime. The Hilton is close to the freeway and the food is always dependable. The evening bartender is one of the best in the business. He will remember your name even if you havent been in for 6 months.
They have a nice happy hour selection. I ordered the beef tips and a cold local beer. The beef tips were really tips this time, but it was thinly sliced new york steak in a nice pepercorn sauce. It was not to salty and deliciuous. It was served with fresh bread for soaking up the sauce. Cant beat it for 6 bucks.

Recently for Valentine’s Day my wife and I had a desire for steak. We were surprised waiting so long in the day to be able to even get a reservation I believe it was around 3:30pm the afternoon of Valentine’s Day. I went onto the open table app and was happy to see several choices for dinner times. We selected 8pm around 7:45pm I realized we may be a little late so I went on open table to adjust our time to 8:15pm it was accepted immediately. We picked out a fancy wine from our collection and proceeded to Grays at the Hilton Downtown Vancouver. We took our first ride in an Über Car and were delighted to get into Grays and sit in a quiet booth immediately. I will say the wait staff did a stellar job serving us an amazing dinner. The atmosphere was quiet the food was tasty no complaints. We have had lunch and drinks here but this was our first time for dinner we will be back.

Great food, spacious, wonderful service. For the two of us after tip it came to about $ 90. We had an appetizer, two main dishes and a drink. The volume was very nice too. This is a nice romantic place to take someone special. The valet service is really nice also.

Utterly overpriced.
Two Salmon dinners and one salad. With tip & tax $ 96.
The Salmon itself was very good but the tiny amount of rice and veg that it was served on (maybe a cup of rice and only a tiny handful of green beans) was barely room temperature.
And despite the price of this dinner you don’t even get any BREAD.
Not a single roll, not a bread-stick…nothing.
The servers were very nice and the restaurant itself is quite nice but for the price definitely left feeling like we had not gotten even close to our money’s worth.

Second year we’ve dined there with friends. Ordered the same dish, prime rib. The prime rib was served lukewarm, tough and overpriced at $ 37. I had the same result as last year: severe intestinal upset. There won’t be a third time. Setting is lovely but the noise level was high enough to upset my dining companion.

Totally underwhelmed by what was supposed to be a special dinner. Unsatisfying menu, nothing looked particularly interesting. A few steaks, one salmon entrée, a chicken dish, three different burger options (really, three burgers in a supposedly high end restaurant) fish and chips made with cod, not halibut, a vegan risotto, a mac and cheese, and a «72 hour short rib» which was as dry as you would expect after 72 hours. I ordered the seafood bisque to be followed by the salmon which the waiter proclaimec was fresh from Alaska. The bisque looked and tasted like leftover fish puréed with an immersion blender, a step above cat food. The salmon was dry and over cooked, it may have been fresh but it was so poorly prepared it had lost all semblance of what might have been a nice piece of fish. The roasted vegetables were the best thing on my plate. The coffee was good, but not good enough to save this meal.
The service was slow and lackluster, our waiter rarely checked back with us and seemed to not have a clue about the menu.
A disappointing dinner, a lovely space totally wasted. Vancouver obviously has people who are willing to drop some cash on a nice dinner, the restaurant was fairly crowded, why would the only hotel in town not make an attempt to serve a nice meal? It should have been great…

«Good Drinks and a Good Breakfast «
My wife and I had some good drinks in the Gray’s at the Park restaurant in the Hilton Vancouver Hotel two weeks ago. The drinks were good and the breakfast was spot on.

Absolutely love this restaurant and this bar.
For starters, Octavian is one of the best bartenders I have ever met. Hands down. Impeccable service, great conversation, and I could say that over the years, he’s become a friend.
Second, the food has always been top-​notch. I rarely eat breakfast here, but I do often get dinner. I usually get the seared ahi tuna, which is cooked perfectly. As are the steaks, pasta and other dishes.
Last, the ambiance is wonderful. I bring clients back here for a dinner and drinks, and the private tables and great service are always appreciated.

There are pros and cons to eating at a Hilton restaurant. I did find the level of inconsistency between the bar staff somewhat startling. The first evening, the bar tender was efficient, friendly and very accommodating. Today, I asked if they could play the hockey game. The attempt at accommodating this request was Luke warm at best. First the Pros: Very convenient if attending a convention. One evening we tried the bison, which was tender and very flavorful. It was accompanied by mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus which were very good. The Cons; pricey. But it us a Hilton restaurant. The level of service at the bar our last day left something to be dsired. Maybe it was an off day for her. Ov er all okay.

Recently started traveling for work and we stay at Hilton hotels. I would never have sought a place like this out however it’s at the hotel and portrays it’s self as an upscale joint so I pulled the trigger. Crap! Should’ve known.
Ordered a NY mid rare. Brought it out, mid well. Brought it out a second time. Well. Haha. I just quit and told the manager I would eat it. The waitress was a little «not present» in the beginning but other than that I didn’t get ignored.
They paid for the steak as they should have and apologized. I’ll be back here inevitably for work so I’ll prob try it once more… Haha maybe.
I’m too A.D.D. To chance it. I’m Unilocalin from now on.
Drive to Portland if your in Vancouver and don’t live in the North West! Best food, beer, and wine.

I ate three times at this restaurant during my trip last weekend.
On the first visit, I had the cheese burger. It was ok, but nothing interesting or unique. Quite plain in fact. The service was almost non existent.
On the second visit, we tried the bar again. This time we grabbed a seat and waited. And waited. After about 15 minutes of this, we noticed others were finished eating in the bar and all were waiting for their food and checks. We decided it was time to leave.
The third time was for breakfast. It was a much better experience with a very good server who looked a lot like Clark Kent (he said he gets that a lot). Very friendly and kept checking on us and how we were enjoying our food. We had the country skillet with spinach, meat and eggs.

A group of us were at the Hilton for a convention over the weekend in March 2015. It was an all day thing so we stopped in the bar here to check it out and order some food. The atmosphere was nice and quiet and hip looking.
There was one server with 3 tables and she was quite slow. The food was a little on the high priced side with no lunch happy hour. I ordered the chicken avocado sandwich. The presentation was nice, the fries were good and came out in a cute little fry basket. The sandwich was «eh» I could have made better at home. For the price I was expecting a really delicious sandwich not an «eh» it was food kind of experience. None of us particularly liked our food.
Very disappointing. I don’t know how they get people in there to pay those outrageous prices.

For breakfast, Crabcake Benedict was very good, but the sausage gravy on the chicken fried steak was more flavorful. The herbs in the sauce make it worth it, and the service was excellent.

When we arrived our table was still unprepared and wet. I had to take our napkins and wipe it down myself, so my hands/​shirt wouldn’t get wet. Why did I need to make a reservation again? Our waitress seemed very uninterested and lacked personality. Just a «I’m only here for the paycheck» mentality it seemed.
The ribeye steak was good. Could have used some more seasoning, seemed kind of plain to me. If you need to use a sauce, there isn’t enough flavor. Needless to say, I needed to ask and wait a while for some dipping sauce.
My girlfriend got the butternut squash ravioli. I tried a piece of it, and there wasn’t anything wrong with it. It just wasn’t better than any other place I’ve had it at. There wasn’t a pop to make it stand out.
Our exit took longer than a normal exit would, had to wait a while for the check after we asked for it.
I think the best service we got was the man at the door who went out of his way and asked if we’d like a picture taken to remember the night.
Overall, a below average experience for the both of us. Wasn’t very impressed with the night at all. The food was not worth what we paid either. What saved you was the man being so kind to go out of his way to take our picture, which had nothing to do with the food.

First off the décor is absolutely stunning, very beautiful and romantic. Unfortunately it was a little loud.
The service was extremely slow, and one of the waitresses even spilled soup all over a sandwich, which ruined it. She was quick on getting another one to us.
Very small portions, didn’t take us more than 15 mins to finish our meals.
It was a very nice place but I wouldn’t recommend it.

So I had a 2.5 hour european lunch today. Ahi tuna salad, chardonnay, lovely conversation, spectacular dining room, and 1.5 hours waiting on and off for our bill.
Lets start with the food. My group had a turkey sandwich and caesar salad, the ahi tuna salad, and the salmon burger with fries.
The turkey sandwich is hard to mess up. it was okay, but you kind of expect a wow factor for a restaurant that is charging a high price for it. The caesar was bland. It’s kind of crazy to say that because usually you get a garlic punch, or nice parmesan and anchovy flavor. It was watery and weird.
The salmon burger and fries were actually the highlight of our meal. Again, nothing mind blowing, but it was well executed and flavorful.
My ahi tuna was cooked absolutely perfectly. The rest of the salad looked like the swedish chef made it. Roughly chopped romaine, fennel, and celery really detracted from the otherwise beautiful taste of tuna. Who puts celery in salads anymore? I mean it’s the height of summer, you are directly across from the vancouver farmers market, and the best thing you could think of was romaine and inch thick cubes of celery? also, there were whole cashews. I like cashews as much as the next person, but they were too big and not even toasted. toast the nuts. always. more flavor. cooking 101.
Oh yeah, and that salad was $ 18. It’s a hotel, I understand the mark up, but for $ 18 I expected something a little more gourmet.
So for all of the above, I would give 3 stars. Room for improvement, overpriced, but a good spot for classy atmosphere and business lunches.
For service, I would give one star. the only redeeming quality were the glowing personalities of the entire staff. they kept on smiling, they tried to make things right, and hey, we got dessert.
So I paid with a gift certificate that i received for another less than stellar experience at the hilton (oh the irony). We waited 20 minutes after finishing our meal for our server to give us the check. I put the gift certificate in the holder and wait another 10 minutes for them to pick it up. Then we wait. 30 minutes later I hadn’t seen our server anywhere so I flagged down another server and kindly* asked them if we could get the receipt (it was an $ 80 GC and the bill was $ 52) and the balance on the GC.
*please note, even in the most frustrating service moments, I tend to ere on the nice side no matter what. people have shitty days, I don’t know what is going on BOH, things happen, so it’s always better to keep cool, smile, and acknowledge the other person as a human being deserving of respect and graciousness*
Server #2 comes back and says our server went on lunch and forgot to check back with us. lovely. maybe he was having the swedish chef ahi. Server one comes back and asked if we wanted our receipt *yes please and the balance* he then states that there is no balance as there is a use it or lose it policy on their GC. We ask if that is written on the GC and he says no. we say, perhaps it should be as you owe us $ 28 in unspent credit.
Now, I brought cash to tip on whatever our total was because that’s what you do. I wasn’t going to walk away with 3 martinis worth of GC left to spend. It just felt fundamentally wrong to not only not tell us that unwritten policy, but to completely walk away from our table and leave us hanging.
So, server one goes to check with the manager about making a copy and giving me the original with the remainder signed and dated, since he needs the GC for his till and to cash out at the end of his service. Totally understandable. I’ll wait. 15 minutes later another staff member comes down and lets us know they are printing up another GC with the remaining balance. I feel like a tool making them do all this for $ 28, but it was the principle of it!
Server two comes back with complimentary chocolate cake for our troubles and profuse apologies for the wait. He was cool.
Server One comes back with the original GC, amount scratched out, new amount written, receipt on the back. 1.5 hours for that. Amazing. I told him to have a lovely rest of the day and I hope he is able to get out and enjoy the sunshine. I really meant that. He seemed to be having a tough day and sun makes everything better.
In conclusion, the chocolate cake was delicious on it’s own and didn’t need the super sweet berry coulis, just whipped cream and maybe a few berries, or perhaps a vanilla bean crème anglaise. Also, up your food game to the high class atmosphere you rock. It doesn’t take high end ingredients to make a high end meal. keep it simple, well made, and fresh. Fin.

As someone who spends more nights on the road than at home, this is one of the best hotel restaurants I’ve ever been to. Kudos to the front desk of the Hilton for giving out free drink/​dessert cards at check in, because otherwise I probably would not have been encouraged to have dinner there based on previous hotel restaurant experiences.
The service was great. Our waiter was incredibly attentive, helped my coworker and I pick out what to order (he had great suggestions), and when my coworker ordered something that takes longer to cook he warned us in advance to make sure we didn’t mind waiting. I really appreciate little things like that! Other people have mentioned that it’s pricey– which is true– but it’s also a more upscale steak house– and in my opinion, was definitely worth the price.
Please don’t judge us for the extensiveness of food/​drinks we ordered… we were out for a celebration! For drinks we had: mango martini, pomengranate smash, blueberry lemon drop, and cucumber limeade. They were all absolutely fantastic! We both started with the special soup of the day which was chicken tortilla and again was fantastic. I had the tenderloin filet with green beans, white cheddar mashed potatoes, and cabernet mushrooms. Loved everything! The mushrooms were not was I was expecting but were phenomenal. She had the half roasted chicken with hazelnut crusted garlic potatoes and green beans and loved it all too. For dessert, we used our free dessert coupons for strawberry shortcake which was fabulous. I know I sound redundant, but seriously, everything here was just great.
My only complaint is that I was in a food coma for hours afterwards!