Stella’s on Cambie

It was a friends birthday, and we all decided to plan a surprise party for the birthday girl. The host decided to hold the party at Stella’s on Cambie, which I was very excited about because I have heard good thing from Stella’s Tap and Tapa Bar. When we arrived the excitement soon dissipated. Firstly, they hostess either forgot or did not note the reservation that the host has made, which created some confusion when we were waiting to be seated. Mistakes do happen and nobody is perfect, plus keep in mind that, at this time, it was still in their second week since their grand opening and the staff might still be getting used to the new restaurant. As we got seated the waitress was very polite, although a little flustered as the restaurant was getting busier. The birthday girl soon arrived to our loud screams of “Surprise!!” and the attention soon turned to the menus and the thought of the appetizers.

Raychel and I were both present at the birthday party. Although we both fancied the Shrimp Cocktail, we decided to share two different appetizers for the sake of trying different things on the menu. So we ordered the Fennel Salad and the Shrimp Cocktail. On top of being visually disappointing (lacked a variation of colour), the Fennel salad was also a let down in regards to taste. The Salad lacked flavour and could only be described with the word “bland”. The dressing was neither sweet nor was it sour, furthermore the peas and goat cheese failed to add depth to the appetizer. The Shrimp Cocktail on the other hand was an improvement to the salad. The photo doesn’t showcase the impressive amount of shrimp under the cabbage, but there was more than enough shrimp than anyone could expect from an appetizer. The Shrimp Cocktail had a bit of sting to it as it was heavy on the dressing, which is made with Wasabi, located in the cabbage. Raychel was happy with this as she likes a little spice to her food, I, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed by the spiciness. So, depending on how spicy you like your food, this appetizer might or might not appeal to you. The Prawn and the shrimp were very fresh and did not have any trace of fishiness, which is expected from an establishment of this caliber. Overall, both Raychel and I thought the Shrimp Cocktail was good but not great, maybe we had too many expectation from the name of the restaurant…

The Entrée arrived as Raychel’s Pan Fried Halibut and my Roasted Game Hen were placed on the table. When I first cut into the Game Hen I was quite surprised to find that the white meat was pretty dry. Maybe the kitchen made the chicken beforehand and the white meat was waiting to be plated and served or the kitchen roasted the chicken breast and wings too long. But the kitchen cooked the flavours out of the hen and the texture of the meat was both rough and hard to eat. Similarly the potatoes and leeks that accompanied the Game hen also were also over cooked and lacked flavour. I was taught to finish my meals but this time I really couldn’t force it down. I haven’t been this disappointed about food in months. Raychel’s Pan Fried Halibut was better, the Halibut was well cooked as it was flaky but not dry. The Risotto, on the other hand, was again a little disappointing because it was too creamy and was not cooked enough making it very starchy to bite into. The Halibut was good but overall the entrées were disappointing and not what we expected from Stella’s on Cambie.

We wanted to try desserts but the party ended up going elsewhere so the situation never permitted us to try Stella’s desserts. Too bad maybe dessert could have redeemed this restaurant.

Stella’s on Cambie offers an extensive beer list and the drinks were reasonable. Many of our friends ordered from their beer and drink list and were quite happy from it, but the drinks were far from good enough to make up for the food and the food was overall a let down, especially the Game Hen. I hope I wasn’t too harsh on Stella’s on Cambie, after-all this was during their first two weeks of business, but I find no reason to let them go for the quality of their food as there is no excuse for the mistakes that they made with their cooking. In general I would give Stella’s on Cambie a 5/10. Although I am happy the owners didn’t just copy and paste the Stella’s Tap and Tapa bar concept, I do think Stella’s on Cambie needs quite a bit of work.

Sincerely,

Oli

Ps. This doesn’t change the fact that I’m still very excited to visit Stella’s Tap and Tapa Bar :).