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Water Street Cafe is located on the corner of Water Street (duh!) and Cambie in Gastown. You can’t miss it! Water St. Cafe has an old school charm to it without being too stuffy and old. This is not really a cafe, but more of a finer dining experience – a perfect place to bring a first date!
After we were seated, our server told us about the Dine Out menu and other specials of the day and when she left, bread appeared. On one side, the french bread was fluffy but bland. But on the other side, the focaccia was dense and full of flavour.
My sister and I wanted to share some wine so we asked our server to recommend us something and she recommended their Pinot Noir (which one specifically, I don’t remember off the top of my head). It was a lighter red wine that was sweeter than most reds.
Our appetizers came first, I ordered the Caesar salad and my sister ordered the Portobello Mushroom. My caesar salad was average, it was like any other caesar you can get anywhere else. The croutons were very crunchy and tasty- chock full of garlic .
My sister’s Portobello Mushroom according to menu was “topped with grilled vegetables, cream cheese and parmesan gratin”, but I guess for DOV, it seems no one really follows the menu (Pier 73!). Her mushroom sat upon pureed tomato and a leafy green. She felt like it left much to be desired.
Our entrees came, I ordered the Crab Cakes and she ordered the Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Ravioli. My Crab Cakes were very delicious, the batter was full of shredded crab and vegetables with the garlic aioli sauce on top. It was a good balance of sauce and cake.
I was surprised how much ravioli they served my sister and how big they were as well. Although they had the perfect amount of sauce, it was still a tad bit bland.
Finally for dessert we ordered Tiramisu and the Flourless Double Chocolate Espresso Cake. My tiramisu was great! It tasted exactly how my aunt makes it (she’s got her own ‘secret’ old Italian recipe) .
My sister’s cake was heavy, not too sweet and had a strong taste of espresso that we both enjoyed. We especially enjoyed the black cherry compote that was below the cake.
Overall, I enjoyed the prompt service, the atmosphere and the food was good. This is a tad bit pricey but worth the Dine Out menu value.
I generally feel that Dine Out never shines the restaurant in the best light, so I’ll have to go back and do one of the real menu.
Food: 
My main course was tasty, but I wasn’t particularly wowed by it. The portions were bigger than I thought they would be but it lacked a better taste to it. Like I said, I don’t think that Dine Out does any restaurant justice most of the times, so I’d like to go back and do one of the full menu.
Service : 
Our server was prompt and suggested a great wine to us. The manager also greeted us and there was a server running around every couple minutes making sure our water glasses were full.
Value :
I believe that the Dine Out menu is worth the price ($28), the portions are fairly bigger than most DOV restaurants.
Ambiance:
I don’t think you can get any more romantic than this corner location. Gastown’s cobbled streets, lamp lights, sparkling lights on the trees, huge windows, white linen tables. What a great atmosphere!
Check out their website here.
