A fine dining restaurant at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. We were greeted by a expressionless host, and he gave the menus over to our server who was excellent. Very friendly, calm and professional.

For some reason, we had reserved, but couldn’t sit by the window since they were only for those that reserved. We told him that we had reserved a table. His explanation wasn’t clear on what the issue was…maybe we had to specifically reserve a table by the window. However, later on, we heard the waiter ask another customer if they wanted to sit by the window or interior. But we didn’t give it too much thought to it. It wasn’t a huge deal…

By the window, there was a table with a dad and young son. Both wearing caps. I thought it was strange to see people wearing hats in such a formal restaurant. Not only that, but the dad was wearing a baseball jacket and was talking loudly on his cell phone.

From time to time, he would look this way and that, slouching, sniffing loud. He looked worn out. My friend really got frustrated when he started playing video footage on his phone – loud. Had he no consideration for others trying to enjoy a quiet dinner?

It was Wayne Gretzky and his son!

At first, when we saw the manager-looking gentleman, we thought he came to kick him out. However, they seemed to be chatting away.  Finally, the man got up, and posed with the manager, as the boy took photos of them. HUH?! What’s going on? He turned around and I finally saw his entire face – wait a minute!! That’s Wayne Gretzky!

I could hear the old lady at another table say ‘Is that really him?’ Sure enough, she got up and took photos with him too. If I had encountered him another way, I would be thrilled to have a photo with him to showoff to everyone. However, his behavior had disappointed me. Just because he is rich and famous doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants and disturb others dining there.

Now, onto the food.

The server gave us sparkling water ‘on the house’ and bread to start off with. We ordered Antipasto for two $25. It had a good variety from veggies, hams, salami, seafood; scallops, marinated clams and mussles, grilled prawns, house smoked BC wild salmon and lucanica sausages. The sausages were too dry and hard. The rest were delicious. The balsamic dressing was nice, but I thought they poured too much of it. It would have been nice if we could pour it ourselves to our liking. The presentation was not there for a fancy restaurant. It seems just placed onto the plate into a mountain without much thought of visual appeal.

Antipasto $25

Mushroom soup $13

The mushroom soup $13 had BC wild mushroom velouté, Parmigiano-Reggiano, smoked bacon mushroom and Gruyère vol-au-vent. It was hot and tasted good. I didn’t want the butter chunk they threw on top of the soup though. The Gruyère vol-au-vent was already quite oily and buttery.

Pork

Finally, the Duck: pan roasted Fraser Valley Peking breast, juniper spiced sausage, sweet corn grilled fennel, elderberry jus  came $35. My friend asked why a sausage came with a duck dish. The veggie selection was super small, but the duck was very soft and despite the weird combination of having the sausage, it was also very tasty.

Special complimentary dessert for me!

We declined for dessert, but since we had said we were celebrating my birthday, they brought some nice treats!! Wow! That’s great!!

I found the service to be excellent. The food perhaps could be bumped up a little more in terms with flavouring, use of spices, amount of butter or balsamic dressing and presentation…(the dessert was beautiful though). Not sure if I’d return for the price…

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