It was a special occasion and the boyfriend and I decided to celebrate by going out for a nice dinner. After doing some research, we both wanted to go somewhere quiet and intimate. It seems that we are both drawn towards nice restaurants in parks such as Seasons in the Park, and the Fish House which is sadly closed down now.
Hart House is located in a historic mansion that was slightly changed to meet the needs of a restaurant. On the evening that we went, it was a beautiful day and the ambiance was what we were looking for. Since it was a weekday evening, it wasn’t too busy (but the food still took forever).
Bread: Some complimentary bread to start. It was warm and toasted, and kept our starving stomachs somewhat full until our food came.
Mussels and clams, $21: Finally, our appetizer arrived! We got mussels and clams in a garlic, roasted pepper and tomato cream sauce. Everything about this dish was amazing. There was a decent amount of mussels and clams which tasted fresh. The sauce was so delicious and we used some for the leftover bread.
A bonus was the smoked ham hock which was tender and full of savoury flavour. I liked that the ham hock was the lean portion instead of fatty.
Soup, free: After we were done the appetizer, the waitress came by and gave us some complimentary soup. Although it was in a small cup, the flavours were not small at all! There was the same tender ham hock inside, just like the mussels and clams. We noticed outside that there was a wedding rehearsal, so we were thinking perhaps they had some leftovers.
Seafood pasta, $19: I just can’t stay away from seafood, can I? Haha! My pasta came in a garlicky sauce with crab, mussels, and clams. The flavour was a bit flat but after adding some pepper and salt into it, it tasted a lot better! Again, the seafood was very fresh, nothing to complain about here.
Hart house burger, $21: When looking up the menu online, the boyfriend knew that he was ordering this after seeing ‘truffle aioli’ as the sauce. He was not disappointed with his burger at all. Just look at how towering it is! It came with AAA beef AND pork belly. This dish doesn’t seem like something that a fancy restaurant would serve, but it was quite delicious.
My only complaint about the Hart House is that the service and food was soo0o0o0 sloooo00w. We were there for almost 3 hours because it took so long for the appetizer to come, and then the entrees to come. Other than that, the food itself was really delicious and we left satisfied.
Yay!
We had plans to go to another nice restaurant but that didn’t go through, so it was a pretty spontaneous decision to come here (we decided to come here half a hour before). I was Yelping and this placed seemed like the perfect atmosphere that we were looking for.
I didn’t really want to sit on the patio because it seemed cold outside, but we were ensured that the patio was heated. We were seated next to a roaring fireplace which kept us warm and cozy the entire evening! Not all the seats have the fireplace, and the views are slightly better without the fireplace blocking.
Bread, free: Standard complimentary bread. The bread was nice and chewy instead, and served slightly warm with a side of butter.
Calamari, $13.50: We normally don’t get appetizers to save money and our appetite, but it was a special occasion. We were glad we ordered this because it was really good. It came with a very generous portion of calamari, with crisp and fresh batter. The calamari was seasoned with a variety of herbs which made it really good.
Alderwood grilled BC salmon, $29.50: The salmon was DELICIOUS. It flaked off nicely, and had a slightly grilled taste to it. So good. I just wanted to eat the whole thing.
New York Striploin, $42: My entree was the striploin, cooked medium rare! It was very juicy, tender, and flavourful. If I recall correctly, it usually comes with some sort of sauce or butter, but I asked for only salt and pepper with it. I’m a big believer in eating steak with good ol’ salt and pepper because I find it tastes so much better when made simply! Am I the only one who prefers steak this way?
Close up of my medium rare steak! WordPress needs to have an emoji keyboard so I can insert the drooling and heart eye ones here!
Mac and cheese, $7.00: Wow, I didn’t realize how much food we ordered until writing this post. For $7, this was a really good value and good size. The mac and cheese was baked with four types of cheese. The boyfriend said it was really comforting, with very stringy and delicious looking cheese.
I had made reservations on Open Table for an early dinner, at 6 pm. When we arrived, the parking lot was completely full! We ended up parking on the hotel side, which was still a really quick walk. The outside of the restaurant looked pretty modern and posh.
We were quickly seated, and the restaurant was pretty empty, save for a few other tables. Other parties ended up coming in as well, but it was nowhere as busy as The Keg would be. I guess this place isn’t really located in a residential neighbourhood or an entertainment district either, which explains the quieter venue!
It was an special occasion, so of course drinks were ordered!
Tuna tataki, $14.95: As an appetizer, we decided to order the tuna tataki because the boyfriend looooves tuna tataki. Unfortunately, this dish was really disappointing. The tuna was pretty hard on the outside and tasted as though it had been prepared awhile ago and left in the fridge.
Bread, complimentary: The bread was served nice and warm, with no complaints!
Filet mignon, $39.95: On to the main course! I had my heart set on the prime rib, but changed my mind last minute and ordered the filet mignon, cooked medium rare. The filet mignon came with a red wine reduction, and I chose fries as my side.
Rib eye, $37.95: Unlike how I was set with the prime rib before changing my mind last minute, the boyfriend stuck to his original decision and ordered the rib eye. When we were looking up the menu a few nights prior, he knew immediately that he wanted the rib eye!
Mini birthday dessert bite, complementary: I had called in requesting a birthday dessert for the boyfriend. After confirming with our server, they brought over the mini birthday surprise! She was nice enough to give us the option of a complementary full dessert due to her dairy mistake above, but the boyfriend was already too full at this point and I am unable to help him eat this =(
Complimentary bread: To start, we were given a nice loaf of warm bread to munch on. The bread was fluffy, soft and came out lightly toasted. No complaints here!
Wagyu beef french dip, $23: Originally, my mom and I were going to share this because it sounded amazing! However, after telling my server about my dairy restriction, she told me the wagyu beef is smothered in butter before getting cooked. Sigh.
Prime steak salad, $25: I wanted to try the steak, but I didn’t want to pay $50 for steak at lunch so I went with the prime steak salad. That way, I was still able to try their famous steak! The salad normally comes with blue and Parmesan cheese, and dressing. Obviously I wanted to have the dairy component, but due to my stupid and frustrating restriction, and risk of getting super sick I had to order without it.
I used to frequent this neighbourhood a lot, but I actually never noticed Zest and was so surprised at where it was. It is tucked behind/beside the Starbucks on 16th & McDonald. There was a really small parking lot but we found free street parking really close by.
The restaurant was pretty empty, but we had an early reservation. The restaurant slowly filled up near the end of our meal during regular dinner hours. The restaurant was very clean and the seating was very comfortable.
Wild Sockeye Salmon Sashimi, $15: Every time we go to a new Japanese restaurant, we order their sashimi and use it as a basis for comparison. The sashimi tasted fresh and had a good salmon-y taste to it. It wasn’t anything that special and we weren’t too blown away with it, so probably wouldn’t order it again.
Assorted sashimi salad, $15: Ever since trying Uomo’s delicious sashimi salad, I’ve been more open to sashimi salads and wanted to see if Zest can make a stellar sashimi salad as well. It came with one thick piece of seaweed tempura, sashimi, fresh greens, seaweed, and grapefruit.
This is what it looked like on my plate, with the dressing on the side. The greens were very fresh and crisp, as was the seaweed. Everything about this dish was so refreshing and delicious. We would definitely order this again!
Miso Cured Grilled BC Wild Salmon, $16: This dish originally came with quinoa, but I substituted for rice as I was really wanting plain, warm white rice that day.
Roasted Duck Breast Carpaccio, $14: This was the boyfriend’s entree, I don’t think we both expected it to be that small.
Zest Roll, $13: We were glad that we ordered this since the duck carpaccio was quite small, albeit delicious. The zest roll came with albacore tuna, grilled salmon skin, cucumber, and tobiko.