Tapenade Bistro

We went for an early New Years dinner (730 pm) very limited menu. Lamb shank was very good I will say but I don’t think I will return as the menu really did not entice me and our entrée took way to long .Our appetizers came quickly but our entrée took forever. You know you have waited too long when you start to shift in your chair and want to leave. Wooden chairs are uncomfortable when you wait to long ! Lamb was done perfectly but limited menu and it took forever.

I’m giving this restaurant five stars because their staff really went above and beyond.
Menu here is very grownup oriented and my kids didn’t find anything they would like. So kids asked for French fries, chicken nuggets and fettuccine Alfredo and they got it!
I liked my dish. I forgot the name but it was a duck leg, sausage and beans and its a perfect one for a cold day.
Desserts here are on a smaller side but really delicious. I had crème brûlée, kids — apple tart and chocolate mousse.
Location is very nice too — very close to a picturesque pier.

Really nice restaurant good food. Although our waiter when told about a fairly large spider on the wall, simply said I don’t want to make a scene. I’m gonna tell you right now, if I was still eating when that thing showed up and that’s what he said to me. I would have left and never come back. Also I wasn’t asking him to smash it but he could have simply caught it and let it free outside.

Food was very good but the service started off almost non-​existent. Luckily by end of the evening the servers had redeemed themselves. It was the pitcher of sangria that topped off the night. Amazingly tasty, one of the best ever made in a restaurant, a ⁵⁄₅ for that alone! The best value on the menu by far. If nothing else, go for the pitcher of sangria, alongside an appetizer or two, (as long as you are not driving, potent contents!) it will be one of the most enjoyable & satisfying evenings ever!

We had a lovely lunch on a rainy day here. The staff was friendly and conscientious. The menu was not extensive but the items were well chosen to tempt a variety of palates. The food was well presented and the ingredients were fresh. We will definitely come again.

Decent dining experience
After reading mixed reviews about this restaurant we made an attempt ourselves. Overall it was an average dining experience but the servers gave their best effort to ensure a pleasurable visit.
Pros
–Location is brilliant, close to the fisherman’s walk.
–good portions
–excellent dessert. We had crème brûlée and chocolate mousse
–allowed us to sample wines when we were trying to decide on which bottle to order
Cons
–took them a while to take our order. Probably 7−10min wait and the restaurant was not busy
–waitress messed up our order. They brought the wrong dish to our table and had to scramble to bring the correct dish. However they did try to make up for it by providing complimentary dessert wine
–food was salty but that might be our personal preference

During happy hour (16 – 18) I ordered $ 5 beers. I was told they are 20oz but seems smaller maybe 16oz. The service was prompt and friendly throughout. The happy hour appies are tapas size, so expect small. Avoid the duck, it looks like dry tuna.

My daughter took me here on Mother’s Day for drinks before our high tea at Anabelle’s in Steveston. We loved the drinks but they were a little pricey. Can’t complain about the quality of the drinks. We had several «Sophia» martinis.
We arrived there on a Sunday about 2pm and were told the kitchen is closed until 5pm but that was ok because we only wanted drinks.
We sat on the patio and it was a beautiful day.

This is a mixed review because the first few times we went there the service and food was fabulous. Then we came on Valentine’s Day and BIG mistake. It was super crowded, took over 20 minutes to get a table even with a reservation. Our table was dirty and we had to ask for the server to clean the crumbs off the table and get us new cutlery. The server was very nice and apologetic but they were definitely understaffed that day. The food was sub-​par that day as well. But perhaps Valentine’s Day is just not the best day to go to any restaurant? So take this review with a grain of salt!

It’s hard to find slightly fancy quality European dining in Richmond and this used to be our favourite place. We had dinner there last night with another couple. The service is usually beyond reproach, but the two waiters /​waitresses that we know were not on duty. I hope they were just on vacation and are actually coming back.
Nothing major happened, but the waitress was a bit clumsy withe wine and the beef bourguignon had almost no sauce, was served quite cold on a plate that was not warmed. The hunk of meat was of considerable size but almost no veggies on the side. Made me wonder if I should have part of the meat to go for lunch next day.
The crème brûlée was too cold, while the top was too thick and too solid.
No major disaster, I enjoyed myself but it was mostly due to the company of my friends.
I guess I’ll just have to travel to Vancouver next time for this kind of dining.
Won’t go back.

We took a big group to Tapenade Bistro. We asked if they could handle a large group of 12, and they said it was ‘all good’. We had asked to have the tables arranged so we could be facing each other, and not one long row but when we are arrived we had to help set this up.
We also let Tapenade group know we had vegans in our group. They shared they could accommodate us and our vegans friends seemed ok with things.
I had the boilie base and it was ok. A bit bland to be honest. Not a place I would go back to as the menu seemed pretty limited.
Staff were very friendly, but not the most organized, but then again we were throwing a lot of curve balls at them: big group with vegans…

Tapenade wouldn’t exactly be considered fine-​dining in my opinion, but it is definitely one of the better choices in the Steveston landing area.
The food quality here is great but we weren’t exactly pleased to find out that they had ran out of mussels at 6:00pm on a Sunday night. The restaurant itself isn’t very fancy, but it is situated in the heart of Steveston village, right by the harbour. Tapenade is definitely one of a kind in Richmond, since there aren’t many other higher-​quality French/​Mediterranean restaurants and the other choices in the area serve mostly fish and chips or seafood.
We enjoyed the tender duck quite a bit but there were a few questionable things on our plate. All in all, the dining experience was good and I would come back again.

Good location in the heart of Steveston. Pretty tasty, very nice French food, a bit on the expensive side but I guess that goes with the French restaurant title here in Canada… The (French) waiter was very nice.

Mmmm it’s a mix feeling…
Ok so the main courses are delicious, service was amazing at first with wine picking session, she gave us amazing tips; however, the waitress never came back to refill our glasses from the bottle… We had to pour for ourselves until the bottom of the bottle.
My biggest disappointment would be the dessert. I got the cheesecake, and it tasted nothing like cheesecake… It tasted like a piece of I don’t know what I was eating… :(

My gf and I went around 7pm on a sunny summer evening. It was about half full, and at our request they seated us outside. You get a beautiful view of the harbor and the street traffic isn’t heavy at that time of the day.
We shared the duck croquettes as an appetizer. The duck was breaded, but baked so it wasn’t greasy.
For mains we had the gnocchi and the special of the day, grilled sockeye salmon. Both were excellent. The gnocchi had some wonderful spices and the quinoa crisp that came with the salmon was great.
Service was prompt and friendly. I don’t understand the complaints about the service. I often think I am visiting different restaurants from the ones reviewed on Unilocal.I rarely have a problem with service and yet so many other people claim to have terrible service.
Prices are reasonable and serving sizes are generous. Overall a very enjoyable experience and we plan to return.

My friend used a groupon to eat here. We were both very satisfied with the value (due to the groupon) and quality of the food we received. Although we had a reservation, we had to wait a bit for our table. It was quite busy on a Sunday and everyone but us was drinking wine. Waiter seemed a little pushy with the wine list. No thank you. We were disappointed that they were out of mussels for the evening (it was only 7 pm) so we got the duck confit to start instead. This was so good — very tasty, great portion size. Only the skin wasn’t crispy and I thought that’s how they should be? Still good, fall off the bone and flavourful. I had the lamb duo and my friend had the pappardelle with veal. I was super happy with my choice although the carb block it came with was a bit weird. Lamb was cooked well and it was a generous portion. The pappardelle was al dente but there was not much veal. Tasted good though. Service was so so, it was quite busy and they seemed understaffed. We really had to wait to request things from them. Four stars for food but minus one star for the service. I would definitely go again for a special occasion (it’s not the cheapest) or if there was another groupon!

I’ve walked by this place many times but have never had a reason to try it. Today we wanted to try something new in Steveston so we came here. It’s a pretty big space with lots seating.
We had the quiche special and shrimp sandwich.
Amazing quiche– a little runny, cheesy with a great crumb
Shrimp sandwich was okay. There was a decent amount of shrimp but the bread was a little too much.
The table next to us had a birthday. I have no idea what was on the dessert plate they gave her but it looked soo delicious, I might just have to come back on my birthday.

In another brunch adventure, we headed back to Steveston’s Tapenade Bistro for some brunch before another lazy winter’s day. A few weeks prior, we went to Cimona Café, and since we were too lazy to leave Richmond, Tapenade was a fitting choice. Maybe I should write about Steveston for a year. That would be an interesting blog.
Despite having been here several times, I have heard good things about their weekend brunch — just never made it out there.
Everyone ordered egg bennies, except myself (diversification, for the sake of this blog, ugh). The traditional eggs benedict ($ 11) with its cured ham was pleasant, and I enjoyed the hollandaise sauce. There was also an option to swap the hashbrowns for truffle fries, which Mel did with her smoked salmon benedict ($ 12). Everyone has to do this, seriously. The whole area smelled of the delicious truffle goodness, and it’s so much better than the hashbrowns, which were a bit plain. The beef short rib benedict ($ 15, not pictured) was pretty good as well. It was reminiscent of the fricassé from Café Medina, but not as hearty.
I had the bacon and gruyère frittata ($ 12) with double smoked bacon, caramelized onion, and gruyère, which I thought was decent. I felt this one here leaned more towards the «omelette-​side» rather than the «quiche-​side». It was pretty decent, but I like the one from Twisted Fork more. Regardless, Tapenade is a good choice for brunch within Richmond, and heck, Steveston is great for walking around at post-​brunch.

I came here with my friends for the first time out of the persistent suggestion from my sister that they had an amazing smoked salmon eggs benedict. Apparently brunch is only served during the weekends from 11am-​3pm, but I’m not 100% sure of that — forgot to ask my server.
Since it was the weekend, Steveston gets pretty busy so parking can get hard to find; however, Tapenade did have several spots in the park that were reserved for the restaurant. I made reservations but it wasn’t too busy and we were seated right away. At our table, we were brought water and soft, french bread with butter.
Of course I had to order the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict ($ 13). The portion wasn’t big but I found it decent and perfect for my stomach. The baguette was soft and had a good crispy crust. The actual eggs benedict was made very well with the yolk being more creamy than runny and the egg whites soft and smooth. There was just enough smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce to tie this dish all together very nicely. The sides of green salad was crispy and fresh with a pretty small drizzle of dressing (wish there were more) and the potato hash was seasoned well and cooked just right.
The service was average and the atmosphere was cozy and nice, besides from the big family table with several kids beside us. Overall, the food satisfied my morning stomach top notch. I’ll be back again to try the other choices on the menu soon hopefully.

It should be 3.5 stars not 3 stars
Tapenade Bistro is a Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of Steveston. My girl friend and me ate dinner there and were very impressed, good food and service.
Beef Striploin Carpaccio was delicious and presented nicely.
The halibut was juicy, tender and savoury
The steak was ok but just a bit dry at the edge.