Blue Hat Bistro at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts

Everything is good, but these’s no much choices.

A true hidden gem! A dining experience you will not regret. Meals are prepared by the students of the Pacific Institue of Culinary Arts. I have never been disappointed by the quality and the taste of the food presented.

We were expecting more seafood dishes as it was advertised as a seafood buffet. It would have been nice to have shrimp, oysters, scallops, crab, or even sushi. That would have given it more variety. Since it is a teaching school we thought that the students would be exposed to learning how to cook a perfectly seared scallops, shrimp noodle fettuccine, soufflés, fish/chips, fish pie, clam chowder soup, etc.....
The dessert table was beautiful done and very tasty. Well done!

Delicious and innovative menu at a reasonable price.

The food was really excellent and we loved our waiter.

This is my go-to place for a special luncheon. The food and service are almost always exceptional, occasional glitch but after all these are students and I think they do a great job. I will come again.

Good options for serious gluten free (celiac) diets. Very good value for a three course meal. Beautiful presentation.

Had a party of six for a birthday brunch. Wait staff needed more customer service training before working with general public. We did not recieve the correcrt orders and when asked waitstaff to correct wrong orders, waitstaff grabbed menu to prove that we did ordered what was served. We had to spend several minutes convincing the waitstaff that we in fact ordered something else. That is not what we wanted to spend time doing during a birthday brunch. I am sad to say that the waffles were crumbly, not light in the inside. When the correct dishes arrived, the waffles were still crumbly and were burnt. The wellsides never showed up after asking many times, had to ask multiple times for condiments that never showed.

A delightful restaurant with amazing city and water views. The food and service was great! I will return.

If you're looking for a location with a great view and delicious food then this is your place! Nice relaxed "no rush" table service with unique combinations of flavours and a great place for celebrations. Highly recommend this place.

We enjoyed the overall experience very much. The food ,service,location, presentation were all excellent.

What a huge disappointment. Ordered mushroom benny which arrived cold. Instead of replacing both meals the waiter returned 10 minutes later which meant we never actually ate together. Oh yes, the second benny was served nearly hard boiled. By now I,d given up. And both times I had to prompt the server to bring the pepper mill. I over heard her mention she was a graduate of the cooking school. Wonder where she graduated,hopefully not last in the class. Next time we'll try another restaurant.Hugs disappointment.

Food was excellent as always both visually enticing and delicious. Server needed a little more practice. Coffee spilt, slow with refill and slow clearing empty plates... minor stuff. Overall we enjoyed ourselves and were satisfied enough for a return visit.

It was an early Birthday present for my Mom and it did not disappoint!

My husband and I went to this restaurant because my friend recommended. We were little bit disappointed. Steamed clams was over cooked and salty. Salmon also over cooked so it was too dry. Duck dish was good. I have a question about a Pear dessert. My friend had the same dessert different day and had a whole pear but my order was a half pear. I didn’t realize that time that mine was only a half size until then my friend showed me a photo. Are there any reasons for this difference? I paid the same price as my friend did. I am not happy about this.

The food was great but a bit hard fo find parking

Dine out 2020, food just ok, warm but not hot. Just fair. Don’t be over expectation.

I very rarely write a negative comment but my food experience at Blue Hat Bistro was the worst. I paid $45 for four to five small roasted cauliflower I could have done at home. It was literally just cauliflower on my plate, presentation was terrible. I didn't want to make a big scene, because I believe our server were just student of the culinary arts, but we felt we got ripped off. I would never recommend this dine out to anyone. I hope you understand my frustration and have this rectified.

We had a pleasant dining experience, and thought that the menu, although limited, presented us with enough choice to keep everyone happy

Great service, good atmosphere and amazing food presentation!

Their food was delicious, found it could be hotter though. Very professional however service slow at times, but these are all things to consider when visiting a culinary school.

Returning to this restaurant is always great. We have regularly dined there but only 2 or 3 times each year mainly due to the cost . While the food is terrific - well prepaared, beautifully presented and delicious the menu is pricey when we go in the evening. This year the dine out Vancouver menu did not significantly discount prices so our overall savings appeared to be less than in previous years. Also, there was an inadequate amount of side vegetables on the main course plate. But love those cornmeal muffins! And yes we are looking forward to the dinner we have reserved at the next February Friday buffet which we think represents good value and has a wonderful selection of gourmet foods. Happy to support an educational instutution.

We enjoyed our dinner, but were surprised that even though there were many tables available,m someone was seated right next to us, and the table was very close.
The servers were friendly, particularly the young man who said it was his first day.
When we arrived it would have been better to have been offered a drink first, rather than drink and food order be taken at the same time.
Our server, although pleasant, was a bit "all about business" rather than being professional in a more relaxed way. Hope that makes sense!

Enjoyed brunch very much and will come back for sure

Fantastic place it’s so beautiful and the food is fantastic. The service was great, but it was really fast.

The food showed up so quickly, we hadn’t even finished our amuse Bouche when the starter was served. And soon after we finish the starter, the main appeared. We had so many plates on our table at one point! And it felt very rushed as a result of such quick service.

Thoroughly enjoyed it otherwise

Because there is a larger group so it is kind of noisy that day. The beef striploin portion is different than I have at the beginning of the week, so I think it is not consistent.

Went there years ago and it was great. Full staff, good attention to detail, and great food. This time they had three people running the whole place and one of them was dedicated to 1 table. The food had no flavor or originality. Did not seem like any of the people wanted to be there. That’s bad for a school training the future of the restaurant business. Really disappointed. Won’t be back.

Everything was good- Nice table, decent view, pleasant wait person. The presentation of the food was artistic & what you'd want for a culinary institute- Though I didn't order it, the pork belly was uniquely artistic- with red splats( probably beet juice/puree) all over the plate, resembling a splatter of blood- sounds weird, but appropriate for pork belly somehow. The deserts were fabulous & also good presentation.

I very much appreciate the student efforts and can forgive a less than 5-star experience. I have dined here one other time for dinner and it was magical. This visit happened to fall during the monthly buffet. We were there for a later lunch reservation. Unfortunately, all the food was cold. Maybe because it was near the end of the shift, but the food should still be served hot. Nothing was hot. The ahi was also pretty darn fishy and the desserts were unforgettable. We really enjoyed our server, but he was nowhere to be found at the end and I had to flag down another server to get our check. We will return but will pass on the buffet and plan for regular dining.

Blue Hat Bistro is outstanding and is a Culinary Delight. Yes, minor error do occur, but remember these are students striving to make your dining experience a 5 Star Experience. I highly recommend the Blue Hat Bistro.

Good food. Reasonable prices.
Server needed some training.

I was going to give a poor rating so that no one would go here, I want to keep it all to myself it was so good. Now everybody will go there.

The food was fantastic, the value even better and the staff were excellent. We will come back again and again. Outstanding

We were new and old friend gathering. We each ended up ordering the three course dinners and ordered different dishes. All were beautifully prepared and photo worthy. I highly recommend the Blue Hat Bistro. Both fine and affordable dining in a lovely setting by the boats.

Great meal and great service. With the exception of the once-a-month buffet we once tried, every meal has been excellent

Birthday dinner with 3 girl friends- prompt service, tasty food and excellent presentation

The food and service was great. Our only disappointment was with the dessert. I wanted to try their cheese cake but they ran out. Everything that we try on the dessert table was way too sweet. My 9yrs old loves sugar and she couldn't even eat it.

We enjoyed our evening, but were very surprised to find that our only choice was a buffet. Nowhere (Open Table or Blue Hat Bistro website) did we see that the only food available that Friday night was a buffet. The food selection was good and the dishes ranged from average to excellent. The service was very attentive and the location was nice. However, we would have selected a different restaurant had we known it was a buffet only.

Delicious! Lovely view and ambiance for celebrating. Best short rib ever. Can’t beat the value for $$$.

We booked for an anniversary dinner and heard nothing all day until 15 minutes before we were to arrive telling us they could not accommodate us as they “ran out of food”!! Working in the customer service industry this is not acceptable. Clearly you knew there was a problem earlier you would have contacted people earlier in the day or try to accommodate them in a partner restaurant. Leaving people to scramble last minute on a weekend to try to make alternate plans was very unprofessional. The mgr only offered

There were two in our party. Unfortunately the server was the only person on the floor. He had to turn reservations away. He was spread far too thin to give good service. He kept a positive attitude but overall a disappointing evening. Had the fish & chips...fish good but the chips and cabbage salad was not enjoyable. I have been on several occasions during week nights and had excellent experiences. Will not return on a weekend again.