Chameleon

A belated birthday dinner last night at Chameleon in Maple Ridge was worth the wait. The inviting ambience of the restaurant set the stage for a relaxed dinner. We were shown to a quiet table tucked away where we could see everything. The cocktails were very nicely done. After that we shared the ginger beef appetizer which we both enjoyed. For main courses we had the bison and the salmon. Both were beautifully presented and delicious. Dessert and a B52 completed the meal. Lovely. The lighting is very nice and the furnishings are as well. The service eas friendly although not overly personal. We’ll be back.
On the downside I am sorry that the restaurant feels they must have a TV with sports on. It detracts from the upmarket feel of the place. I would also like more attention paid to the music which did not lend itself to an upmarket place. Finally we found the bread lightweight and lacking in flavour. It is a personal taste thing but we like more dense bread that has more flavour. Overall these small things won’t deter us from regular visits in the future.

Chameleon is a beautiful restaurant in maple ridge, the staff are friendly and helpful, the food is very good gourmet quality, well presented, the décor is very tasteful and well done, nice place to bring a date or significant other to enjoy a relaxing and tasty meal, came here with friends and we had a great time, drinks are also tasty and well presented as well, mice place to go to if you want an experience and not just a meal.

We met another couple for dinner at Chameleon Café. The restaurant itself was quite lovely with the exception of the television overhead playing sports — which did not quite fit in with the feel of the restaurant. The constant flashing of the television was super distracting.
I had ordered a virgin drink because I was pregnant. When our friends arrived, my girlfriend asked for a mojito and pointed towards mine. The waiter pointed out it was a virgin drink — not a huge deal as these were close friends… but awkward. We ended up at the restaurant for about 3 hours not because we necessarily wanted to be, but because that was how long appetizers, food and service took. We felt somewhat neglected by our waiter. Our water glasses were empty at least 3 times — which maybe wouldn’t have been a big deal had I been drinking — but I was only drinking my virgin drink and water. The table next to us were clearly friends of the server and got all his attention. They managed to have their food delivered promptly, table cleared, glasses topped up and received their bill without issue. The food was pretty good — no complaints about the food.

The décor is fantastic and so is the ambiance and the service. Maple Ridge needs this badly, and I am very glad it exists, I wish them all the best.
I will return, but I’d like to see an improvement in the items we ordered. The Ribeye was not good. Poorly salted and no char at all. No point coming to a restaurant for steak, if you aren’t going to get it cooked with significant chart (the crust was soft), and a lack of salt is unacceptable. It was paired with mashed potatoes, but no sauce or gravy for the mashed potatoes; they were incredibly bland. This dish was bad.
My wife ordered the blackened Chicken. This was much better.
Everything but the Ribeye gets a 5, but the Ribeye was awful.

Expensive and overrated. OK service. I wouldn’t recommend it. Good coffee though. The food is mediocre. Really poor effort on the cocktails.

Food was fantastic with a great atmosphere.
Servers were great to deal with and the manager was very professional when the meal was delayed (he was battling to catch up against an earlier power outage)

I just signed up so I could review these guys. Whatever happened to customer service? So lacking these days! I had to ask for my waitress to come take my order, then literally get up and track her down after sitting there waiting for my bill. Food was awesome, kudos to the kitchen. Hostess was friendly. Waitress and service thereafter… horrendous.

They can’t be bothered, so I won’t.
I have written about Chameleon a few times since it opened. Again I must say that décor is hip and Maple Ridge needs more of this. Very nice. However it added a oyster bar recently and on my visit there there were no oysters available? Now I see the oyster bar has been shut down by health dept in order for them to conform. Other food I tried was their quinoa salad and like all their salads it tastes messy. Too many variety of ingredients. Lacked defined taste. As a footnote Magda Bitoui the owner puts her own 5 star comments up on google several times to unfairly boost ratings. A bit underhanded conflict of interest. Why not fix the food instead. I give up on this place and moved on. Not worth the repeat reviews.

Wow what a absolutely wonderful place! The food is incredible and tastes with great texture and taste, the staff are wonderful and delightful always with a smile on their faces the menu is well presented with many seasonal options available that will make your experience here a charitable and veritable delight of the senses come and experience the camel ion if will shape shift you’d pleasure receptors good food good times come and eat good food

Came here for lunch, the service was terrible, the portions small and expensive. Will never come back

I’m visiting my brother in Maple Ridge for the weekend and he had to unexpectedly go into work on Saturday morning so I took a stroll and spotted Chameleon. It was 10:30 and the sign at the door said that they open at 11 on weekends. I killed some time at gift shops in the area and came back at 11. The door was still locked and there was no sign of anyone inside. I thought I might have been a little too eager so I called a friend and hung around in the area. I checked again at 11:20 and still nothing. At this point I was disappointed and too hungry to wait and ended up going elsewhere.
Based on some good reviews I decided to try again the next day. My brother and I showed up at 11:45. The door was open. Success.
Not.
–Service was slow. There were only two other tables and 4 staff members prepping tables. It took a good 10 minutes before we were asked what we’d like to drink and another 10 minutes before we got our coffee.
— We weren’t told what the specials were. The brunch menu had a couple «ask your server» features. When we asked our waitress had to go ask the kitchen. As it turns out the Eggs Benny was smoked salmon. I ordered it.
–Where do I even begin? The potatoes were bland. The hollandaise sauce lacked body and flavour. The English muffin was unheated/​untoasted and stale. There were scraps of smoked salmon underneath each egg. I picked the eggs and salmon off the stale bread and with the aid of lots of salt, pepper and ketchup was able to get some flavour. The best part of the plate was the fresh fruit on the side. Oh and my Americano tasted like dirt.
They get 2 stars for ambiance and the corn and Montréal meat hash that my brother ordered was half decent.

This is one of my fav spots in Maple Ridge! Typically food in the ridge is pre-​made rubbish from food distributors but this place makes everything and they make it Delicious.
First off the ambiance in the room is stunning. The owners have done a remarkable job at the décor which really amps up the vibe in the room. If you haven’t stepped foot in here before do yourself a favor and poke your head in. It feels like Yaletown has arrived on 224^th street.
Wednesday nights are buck-​a-​shuck oysters and you really cannot go wrong! I like to start my evening off with a caesar and then check out the ridiculously great wine list. I do wish they had more to offer in ways of craft beer. Imagine some 33 acres up in here? #heaven
I often pop in for lunch and am always surprised that it isn’t rammed full of local business people on lunch meetings. If you are planning on going at night it might be worth calling ahead otherwise you might be at the bar.
A must visit for sure. I’ve done the brunch, lunch and dinner menu here and am always impressed that we have something so lovely in Maple Ridge.

Went again after some time. They really need to get their bar together, don’t have a drink on the menu if u don’t have the ingredients, and don’t have a waitress make it if she doesn’t know what she’s doing…,

The chameleon changes it’s colors to hide from the inevitable ebony that will consume it for nourishment should it be ably to distinguish the chameleon from its natural environment, so to is this a chameleon type environment that shape shifts it’s gastronomical essence to suit the tastes of its patrons, the food is a culinary delight and the staff are models of efficiency and happiness, your food will be brought to you with military type efficiency and cheerfulness, the atmosphere is magical and awe inspiring, to know this culinary establishment is to love it! Come bring your family and friends you will leave a better person than when you arrived :) :)

Much better the second time around! I’m glad I decided to give it a second chance! The new menu is fantastic! I had the quinoa BBQ chicken salad and it was great, lots of flavor and very satisfying. My friend had the farmers omelet and she loved it! I’ll definitely be returning again.

Very nice décor, but that’s where the «good» ends.
The menu is absolutely bipolar. I don’t know who dreamed up the items on it, but there wasn’t a single thing that didn’t have a major turn-​off on it. No theme to the food, just a bunch of random dishes with even more random ingredients.
Got the «hot» wings appetizer. They clearly get their wings from the «meatless wing» store. They were mostly bones and skin, and while spicy, there had obviously been a big delay between when they were ready and when we got them (which was after the entrees), much like everything else we ordered. Hard to understand, given there were only two other patrons in the restaurant at the time.
Entrée for me was the margherita flatbread. Tasted okay, but again, not hot. It was served with french fries. Their fries are the lowest-​quality fast-​food «barnacle fry» type, the coated fries that places like Burger King, Dairy Queen, and KFC used a few years ago but have since abandoned. Our two year old enjoyed them. I certainly didn’t.
My wife got the eggs benedict. It took a bit of persuasion to get it. While it says on the door that brunch is served until 3 on Saturdays, the waitress initially said they were changing their menu and brunch wasn’t available. We had her check with the cook, and, given there was really nobody else in the joint, the cook was okay with it. The eggs benny was overcooked, hash browns undercooked.
The big kick in the teeth here was the price. They’re more expensive than Browns, and nowhere near as good in terms of service or food quality. Prices are about the same as Earls, again, no comparison on any level except the décor.
Won’t be going back.

I’ve been a patron on three occasions. Our first was for drinks after a movie and we sat at the bar. Couldn’t help but feel in the way of the servers and my special coffee came in a mug. They told me they were out of glassware and it ended up being too strong and coffee was old.
The food we ordered on the other occasions was OK. Nothing super amazing in the offerings, that would make me want to take guests to dine there. A friend had the lamb dinner special and liked her meal alot.

I’d been wanting to try the Chameleon Café for a few months, after friends mentioned they had an awesome meal there. Finally was able to drag the boyfriend there on a Saturday afternoon! I started with a mocha because I needed a caffeine fix. It came out tasty but nowhere near hot. Hotter than lukewarm, but not by much. It was tasty though… until I got to the last few sips and realized the bottom of the mug had a good ½ tsp of coffee/​espresso grounds. Ugh. Not good. Stuck to water after that, which was delicious!
Boyfriend got calamari and a cup of beef & vegetable soup. Commentary from him: «This is the first time I’ve ever been to a restaurant and NOT wanted to order one single thing on the menu.» Hmmmmm I would have to agree with him a bit there. For the meals offered that were within standard lunch pricing for a smaller restaurant in the suburbs, the choices were minimal. Standard burgers and salads and appies. Nothing that screamed «EAT ME!!» There were also more expensive entrees available at $ 16+, but it was lunchtime. No heavy meals wanted. Bah well. He enjoyed his soup a lot and said the calamari was pretty good as well (though really, who can mess up calamari?).
I ordered the ahi tuna salad (I think. Or maybe albacore tuna. It was definitely tuna!), which was pretty good. The tuna was rubbed down in a cajuny spice and was very tasty. Not sure about the salad though; mixed greens with peanuts, avocado and a very sour citrus dressing. I would never order it again, unless I could get the tuna only!
Service was pretty good, and the restaurant itself is beautiful! Very cool mezzanine seating area that would be great for a smaller dinner party, etc. I’ve heard that their dinner meals are fantastic so I’m thinking we’ll give the place another try in the evening sometime. We’ll see!

Food is good and the presentation is cool.
The wait service is a little on the slow side though… not sure if its because its a newer place and they are still ironing out the kinks or not.