Boulevard

A visit to the Boulevard...

It's probably been a decade since I was last here. This place is situated on the ground level and front side of the Sutton Hotel on Burrard Street. There are pay street parking or pay parkades available in the surrounding area.

Inside radiants that simple yet elegant layout and atmosphere, however, the noise level could be a bit high (yes noise level of a pub from all the office workers).

After being seated and glancing through the menu, here were the food I ordered;

1. Strawberry spritz drink. A light refreshing little drink.
2. Blue fin tuna sashimi. The ponzu sauce was okay, it's the Akami part of the tuna but it was quite fresh. However the tiny little crunchy potato was a jawbreaker so be careful of that, don't break a tooth lol.
3. Seafood tower for 2. Everything was decently fresh and good except for the snow crab legs, they were dry, powdery and tasteless (precooked snow crab legs are hard to get the meat off and never good, restaurants should stop using them... perhaps Dungeness crabs are a better choice?!?)
4. BLVD baked oysters. They were okay but personally not a fan of bread crumbs (yes I understand it soaks up the taste and add to the flavour but not fond of the texture).
5. Brant Lake wagyu beef carpaccio. The ingredients were well in harmony with each other without sacrificing the fresh taste of the wagyu beef, plus the deep fried rice paper was so delicate yet able to hold the carpaccio together. Very nice! Probably one of the better beef carpaccio I had.
6. Prime striploin. It was done medium rare but a bit on the powdery side, missing that nice grilled texture and flavour (was my steak cooked Sous Vibe?).
7. Charred broccolini. Pretty straightforward side dish.
8. Bon Bon service dessert. It was okay and pretty basic. Was expecting it a bit more considering best pastry chef in the last 3 years?

Overall, a very nice and simple yet elegant dining atmosphere. I can imagine it's a suitable place for most occasions or for a date night.

The food quality was decent except for the steak which I wish didn't have that powdery texture taste on the outside. Price wise it's on par with similar surrounding restaurants.

As for the service, it was actually pretty good! I am somewhat amazed how the staffs conduct themselves especially our server (Scarlet) who was so smooth and fluent in her fine dining skills (thanks for changing cutleries and plates in between courses plus clearing off any crumbs off the table).

I would definitely be back to the Boulevard and recommend this place, if you haven't been here before, give this place a try (reservation is recommended).

We popped into Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar during a visit to Vancouver. We had never heard of this restaurant, but it was quite convenient since it was located in the Sutton Place Hotel, so it was a quick commute down the elevator from our room. We decided to go for happy hour cocktails and an early dinner. We're so happy we stopped in.

The restaurant has a modern vibe with tables available both inside and out. We were greeted by the hostess who promptly seated us. Shortly after our waiter, Marshall, came by and introduced himself. He was super friendly and hilarious. He had charisma for days.

With our cocktails, we ordered the Lemongrass Chicken Wings. It was served with Thai chili and caramel fish sauce. It sounded a bit strange, but it was absolutely divine. Slightly sticky and just a little sweet, this was the perfect compliment to our cocktails.

Next up: cornbread. And who doesn't love a little cornbread? Well, these were adorable but unfortunately a little dry. The butter helped, but a good cornbread should be moist enough to stand on its own without butter. This came with plain old salted butter. A soft honey butter would have been better. OK, swing and a miss for the cornbread.

Now on to the highlight of the meal - the Seafood Tower. This came with pastrami steelhead, albacore tuna tataki, mussel escabèche, Crab Louie, snow crab legs, prawns, and oysters. The oysters were out of this world - small, fresh, sweet and delicious. The crab legs and prawns were huge and perfectly cooked, and the steelhead, tuna, mussels, and Crab Louis were over-the-top fantastic.

Since our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, we ordered dessert. It was a rhubarb crumble with elderflower ice cream, cream mousse, meringue, white chocolate crisp, and shortbread crumbs. This was heaven on a plate. Delicious and beautiful.

Overall the restaurant was great. One star knocked off for the failure of the cornbread, but then one star added because our waiter, Marshall, was so much fun. I highly recommend this restaurant if you're in Vancouver.

My whole experience here was ok. When we came for our reservation, we still had to wait 5 min to get seated. Service was also mediocre. I got the hanger steak but wasn't really blown away by it. I got it medium rare but seemed more on the rare side and was a bit hard to chew. I did really like the fries lol. The lobster bisque was unique but I also felt like I don't need to get it again. I did enjoy the oysters though.

Parking: Valet only

My husband and I always love coming here. Service is good. Food is always great. It can get loud during peak hours. Otherwise always a great experience.

This was one of my favorite meals in the city. We stumbled a bit trying to find the front door but once we were in, we loved the ambiance. It's a perfect mix of classic and contemporary. Our server greeted us warmly and explained we were in town during spot prawn month! Naturally we ordered a spot prawn dish, drunken prawns. We also ordered the seafood tower, an Asian style carpaccio, and truffle fries. Everything was really delicious. They even asked if I had allergies which I appreciated since one of the seafood tower dishes had something I was allergic to in it. There was maybe some hesitation when we walked in with a 5 year old, but they had a coloring page and crayons and my daughter is used to nice restaurants and eating "grownup" food. I think they ended but being delighted with her good manners and enthusiasm for seafood. We had to ensure she saved some of the seafood tower for us! The meal was finished with a dessert sampler from our waiter. It had a delicious variety of delicate chocolate based treats in a tiny portion size perfect after a large meal. Overall, this is my favorite type of restaurant. Modern and global twists on classic food with good ingredients. If we visit Vancouver again, we'll definitely be back.

I know this place has high remarks from most but I have eaten in restaurants around the world including the French Laundry. I find the flavours very heavily accented and off the mark, for example the menu has cream corn but the dish consists of corn kernels on top of what I think is sweet cornbread, it's simply not cream corn, the sable fish which is a very delicate fish has what I can only describe as some sort of ranch dressing, the blue fin had very ofd spice. It does have great service but the food is not for me. Thats my two cents on this place

Boulevard is where you want to hit the brakes and stop. It's a hip happening happening of hip cuisine that's easily accessible and playful with a straight face.

Slide by the exotics in the parking lot and dining in the patio and enter the gorgeous foyer of this beautiful space.

The decor is muted opulence (can opulence be muted?) of grays, forest green, plush carpeting, and elegant table settings.

The Staff is humming and they all look like a young Omar Shariff and Selma Hayek.

The whole vibe is conducive to dressing up and stepping up and out. Classy and sassy, it's a perfect spot for a make-up or a break-up and it's exactly what a upscale destination dining could and should be. So, never mind the expense account overload. Every bite is worth every buck.

Who goes there? Vancouver's finest, mingling with the World's finest. The finest augmented breasts stuffed in the finest haute couture, along with a sprinkle of we mere mortals, passing through these portals.

The Bar: Beautiful and set high. Classic and signature Cocktails plus a heroic wine list.

A Bottle of Culmina Gruner Veltner and then A Bartier Brothers Semillon and that was just for me.

The Staff: Marcela, a saucy minx a fella could fall for. Winsome, smart, charming, and delightfully funny she was not only a perfect pro server, but a welcome guest at the table. She is a gifted hostess who orchestrated a magnificent meal.

The Food: The kitchen was dead serious and exuded the confidence of experts. Simply put, they simply don't know how to make a weak dish out of fish or anything else for that matter.

A house made Sour Dough Loaf was required to keep the Fanny Bay, Sunseeker, Atlantic Gem, and Sand Dune Oysters, all 48 of them, company.

The Summer Harvest Salad featured farm fresh Cherry Tomatoes, plenty of Okanagan Peaches, a sprinkle of Puffed Rice drizzled with basic Italian Vinaigrette and all as composed as a starlet's photo shoot. C'mon, baby, show me some emotion.

The Scallops were flown n form Hokkaido, Japan and were as plumb as a privileged entitled butt.

One side was seared and nestled in a Thai Red Curry Sauce, along with lean fat batons of Chaing Mai Sausage, Eggplant, Lemongrass Pilaf, dots of Thai Pesto, a few inch long bites of Green Beasn tangled up like Pick-Up-Stix and topped with crispy Rice Noodles. Complex, yes, but oh so delicious. Every fork full was a happy first date.

The Sablefish had a light Soy Glaze, Bull Kelp, razor thin Radish half moons, roasted King Oyster Mushrooms and all settled in a tablespoon or two of Bone Broth Emulsion. This too sounds complicated but if the Sablefish was the star the supporting cast was up to the task showcasing the lead.

Do order the special Halibut if it's on offer just for the halibut and sneak in some Cavatelli pasta which tiny hats in Yellow Tomato, Saffron Sauce and then topped with perfect Prawns.

And jut because you're on a roll, (or a loaf), ask for the Spinach Gratin, Teh Creamed Corn with crumbeld Spanish Chorizo, and of course, some Pomme Dauphine. Crunchy little ping pong balls they were.

Okay, you can't move. What's that have to do with it? It's dessert. Blueberry/Elderberry Cake with tart Lemon Ice Cream and quivering Elderberry Jelly all balanced on a Shortbread Crumble. I am quivering at the thought of it.

The streets are closed but Boulevard is open and beckons for a quick return.

Great service & even better food. I started with the Teng Pao No 2. It was light & refreshing. I would definitely order again.
Originally, I was planning to order Hamachi Crudo, but when our server described the Lobster Ricotta Raviolii, I was persuaded to switch. He said both options were great, but I'm glad I went with it. It was amazing. The sauce was rich & flavorful & the little cheese crisps were a perfect addition. I also had some of the seafood linguini & a Hokkaido Scallop. Everything was delicious. Not pictured, but I also had Lobster Bisque, and it was good. The prawn toast is served at the bottom of the bowl they pour the bisque over the top. Out table ordered the corn bread and seemed to enjoy it. Highly recommend everything. I want to go back for that Ravioli!

Octopus and Foie Gras was good, service was okay, felt impatience from our server, the chef was very stubborn about making my pasta with nothing, no sauce, no cheese, absolutely nothing but with light butter. First time it came out, it was cheesy and creamy, second time came back with same thing with shrimp on it. I guess chef can't stand it when customers change their recipe. And they gave us somebody else's bill triple the amount. Never coming back again. The main issue is they didn't target what me and my daughter asked for. They did the opposite twice.

I have to break this down, because this was a strange combination of yays and mehs.

The server was astounding.

The sourdough bread was crusty and so soft and warm, though less sour than I personally would like.

We had the tomato carpaccio special, it was meh, lovely tomatoes, crab had little flavor and really detracted from the dish.

I had the homemade cavatelli with prawns. The sauces were delicious and creamy, the pasta had been overworked, and the prawns had very little flavor at all.

And dessert, ok so I had a pineapple thing with mousse, and seriously executive pastry chef deserves a shout out, it was positively amazing, so creamy and full of pineapple flavor. Come for dessert everyone!

Now the ambiance, it's pretty, great chairs, lovely people, they had a regular bar, and a second area that looked like a bar but was where the executive pastry chef created his artistry. Super cool. But it was loud, 80-85 decibels loud the whole time we were there on a Friday night. If you have sensitive ears, take caution.