Bearfoot Bistro

This place was almost as impressive as Vancouver’s Five Sails in the Pan Pacific. However one thing Bearfoot needs is quicker food service, funny that I am going to add this because there was more than enough wait staff, however, our table was being served 1 course every 50 minutes so our culinary experience lasted more than 3 hours.
The food was to die for, but be prepared to leave a pretty penny.
If you do dine here with a big group and order Champagne this is where Barefoot shines. You can Sabre your Champagne open. They will take your table down to the wine cellar and teach the lucky member of your group how to Sabre the wine. This was an impressive event on two notes, the Sabreing and — if your a wino, new or old — you will appreciate this immaculate win cellar they have created. Some of the more amazing wines live down here and I would love a private tour of this alone.
So strange decadent culinary experience awaits you here.

Food was decent overall, just a bit pricey for what it was.
We had dinner reservations for 6:30 PM, but we came a bit early to sit at the bar and enjoy drinks and small bites ahead of time. We ordered the poutine, croquettes, and oysters to start, all of which were fine, although the oysters were a bit on the smaller end (not entirely too surprising given the happy hour special), but the drinks were generally quite good and the bartenders were very friendly.
As for the dinner, the food was also generally good, just a bit pricier than I would have expected. There was a nice soup-​like starter that was well appreciated and quite tasty, while the lamb neck and short rib were fairly well prepared, I found the former a bit gamey and lacking in flavor. My dessert was a nice chocolate cake with various preparations of chocolate accompanying it, while I sampled a friend’s foie gras lollipop and thought it was interesting but a little off-​putting as a dessert. The meal was, on the whole, quite interesting, but just not as enjoyable nor as good value as I would have hoped given the price point.

Had cocktails at the bar and the bartender was super great and told us the best drinks that where just amazing. I ordered some shrimp that wasn’t even on the menu and it was nice and fresh and delicious. Can’t speak for the restaurant it’s self but the bar has everything you need.

Was here a couple weekends ago for dinner. Sat at the bar. Bar has a slightly different menu. Ordered the oysters, croquettes, clams, buttermilk fried chicken, and truffle fries.
I was disappointed with the oysters, they were very small. The croquettes were okay. I personally prefer croquettes from Japanese restaurants. The truffle fries were satisfactory, dip was pretty good. Anyway these three I would recommend to pass on.
The buttermilk fried chicken was probably my favourite dish of the night. The waffle is sweeter than normal and the chicken is crispy and delicious, reminiscent of Taiwanese fried chicken. I’m not usually a fan of clams, but the way they make it here was mouthwatering.
Overall, I found the entire experience average. It clearly seems they are catering to a higher clientele here. I didn’t think the food and experience was worth the money. The service was hit or miss. I don’t come to Whistler often, but will likely opt to eat elsewhere next time.

Had a reservation for 10. They didn’t have a table and put us at the bar. Then brought out the apps and mains at the same time. Then overcharged us on the final bill for a bunch of phantom drinks. A disgusting dining experience.

Embarrassingly bad customer service… Bad experience started with the French hostess with long brown hair at the front. She was very rude and very obviously bored and exhausted with her job. She was not friendly, she was dismissive, and she berated us multiple times for coming to try the vodka bar without coming to dine at the restaurant first.
We were asked to come back in 30 minutes, and were informed there was no place for us to wait (the lobby was crowded, there was a private party happening at the bar, and the restaurant didn’t want us to be seated — it was about 9pm)… we asked for recommendations on where to wait, and we got a generally cold, «somewhere else that’s not here». We came back exactly 30 minutes later, and they apologized again and said it would be another 15 minutes. We came in at the same time as a walk-​in group of two people, who were allowed to enter with the next group immediately (they appeared to know the staff there).
We were «dealt» with by a different staff member, seemed to be a manager of some sort, an older lady who was a bit more professional than the rude hostess. We saw them confer and the hostess basically saying she didn’t want to talk to us — to be fair it’s a more snobbish restaurant and we were wearing going out clothes, but the mountain plaid, so I think she generally thought we were too «below» her to bother with. She assured us it would just be 15 minutes and apologized. After 20 minutes (we watched the group go in with the two walk-​ins in front of us, waiting in the lobby which now had space for us to sit), we were told that they were sorry, but there was actually another group who needed to go ahead of us. At this point I kind of guessed that when they were «conferring» prior to telling us it would only be 15 minutes, that they had probably planned this to add insult to injury. I’m not 100% sure but it makes sense, as when we walked in the second time they spent quite a bit of time discussing us and glancing our way when we got in. She didn’t seem sorry or friendly when she let us know that there was a more important group ahead of us, so her change in attitude was a bit suspicious that they were stringing us along on purpose.
Anyway, evaluating the actual experience, it’s a bit disorganized. The staff was over-​serving guests, because upon going to the bathroom, there was someone puking into the toilet, who had to be supported by two friends on their way back into the restaurant, upon which the bartender poured another drink, no questions asked. So this restaurant is apparently more than okay with over-​serving.
Secondly, they don’t take payment for the vodka room until after, which is just chaotic. I haven’t seen something so disorganized in a while. People, after just ingesting 4 shots of vodka wander off to have smokes, leave, or to the bathroom and the staff runs around like chickens with their heads cut off to try and collect payments. It’s actually kind of funny but considering how many people they probably push through there in day, its embarrassingly disorganized.
The cost of the vodka tasting is pretty steep $ 55 for four shots of well or call alcohols… apparently the cold adds to the flavour. I’m sure you’re paying more for the experience but the guides are barely old enough to even drink and as with a lot of Whistler, ski bums from different countries who don’t really care about their jobs or quality of service because they are just there to make enough money to afford to live there. Don’t care about being rude, over-​serving, or general quality of service — and for the prices you might as well go somewhere else, even if you’re going to miss a gimmicky experience.
Overall, has potential… but the service is terrible, the prices are too high for what it’s worth, and just a general place to avoid — no need to support terrible businesses like this.

THIS PLACE WAS AWESEOME!!! We got here around 3:30pm — they were doing happy hour so all the food and drinks were discounted. The poutine was delish, so were the bloody mary’s.
Now let’s talk about why this place is awesome. 2 things:
1. Champagne Sabering!!! We bought a bottle of champagne and got to go down to the cellar and one of the girls in our group actually used a knife to cut off the top of the champagne bottle. It was so awesome! The wine cellar was so cool as well. There were tons of extremely nice bottles of champagne and it was so beautiful. The girl that was helping out our group was also so awesome — told us about the history of champagne sabering, took tons of photos of our group, and was just extremely friendly and nice.
2. The vodka ice room!!! They have an ice room! Literally a room with walls, floors, etc, of ice, where you drink vodka. First you all get a parka, and then they bring you into the room. You taste 4 vodkas. We even tasted one of them out of a shot ski. They took tons of pictures of us, so we’ve got great memories of the experience. It was seriously so freaking awesome — I loved it.
Highly highly recommend this place if you are ever in Whistler! We LOVED it!

Happy Hour for Apres is the bomb! We had a very nice time.
After a long day of snowboarding, we were exhausted and hungry, so we decided to go here for a quick drink and a bite to eat. The restaurant is very nice and had modern décor. We got a table right away and our waiter immediately came to take our drinks order. During happy hour they have the half off appetizers and oysters deals. We got a dozen of oysters for $ 20 instead of $ 40. They were nice tasty BC oysters. We also got the poutine and the bowl of clams and both were delicious. These are specialty Canadian food that must be had when skiing or snowboarding in Canada.
Also, inside the restaurant there’s the Vodka ice room full of chilled booze. They have a special tasting menu for vodka tasting that is a must try.
Definitely recommend!

Great food. Poor service. It’s shocking! Getting our drinks filled took us having to ask each time. Wasn’t offered wine for dinner. The female host seemed irritated that we were there. The staff is not happy and it shows. Considering the cost… I wish we would’ve gone somewhere else. The big bosses need to get their act together and get their staff inspired and wanting to work for them. By the way, still water is $ 6.

Went here for a dinner– truffle fries, bread, ribeye and venison was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! Wait staff was great– but I have NEVER paid so much $$$$ for ice cream! It is a special Liquid nitrogen made ice cream and they make it right in front of you. They make their own sides and it’s also served with fresh berries. But for $ 76??? Not sure it was worth ½ our total bill– but delish none the less!

Can not believe how rude the bar tender was to us. It’s Super bowl Sunday, coverage just started, we’re here for a private party after spending $ 900 per person for heli-​skiing, and she yells at me because I want to turn the sound up so I can hear Lady Gaga sing the national anthem. Probably never been more offended by a bar tender in my life. I guess the motto of the customer is always right hasn’t made it this far north. Really expected better customer service in such a pricey resort town.

I went for a dinner yesterday with couple of friends. During the peak season here in Whistler the restaurant charges for their 3 course menu $ 99/​per person with most of the majority of the items to choose from coming at an added cost.
With this price tag I had high expectations.
We received a bread basket with semi fresh cold bread with barely spreadable butter. It is not a big deal and quite common, but as I said expectations are set high.
I ordered scallop sashimi as the starter, rib eye as the main and the «lollipop» as the desert.
The starter portion was tiny, the elements and the flavour were on the plate, but the distribution of the flavour was awkward and isolated. The presentation was good. Overall l will give the dish 6 out of 10.
The main was recommended to be prepared medium rare and I agreed. The Canadian prime rib eye came at barely 1 cm (½″) thickness and was medium at its best and was quite tough. They remade the dish and the second attempt worked out very well. I estimate the steak to be 120g or 4 ounces. The rest of the items were kind of boring and predictable. The meat was amazing.
I am not into sweets but the desert was very good.
The portions were tasting menu size and too small to satisfy a grown up man. Two of my friends went to McDonalds after the $ 500 dinner for 3…
I have been to this place before and I noticed that they change their pricing according to the season ranging from roughly $ 40 to $ 100 for the basic three course and I find their pricing strategy extremely confusing.
If you happen to be in Whistler during the peak winter season try Araxi instead. In summer I would give it a try but who knows what the pricing is going to be that time around…
I do not want to make this about their prices, but as I said the expectations are set with the price tag and the dishes certainly did not live up to the expectations or to satisfaction of our hunger :)

10−9−8. I was lucky enough to secure a NYE spot at this restaurant. The dinner starts at 8:30PM and we didn’t leave until 2PM. The food was excellent in particular the crab caviar had so much flavor (each person pays around $ 300). While you are eating dinner there is a string quartet that plays music for your enjoyment. We started the evening with sabering champagne bottles. The staff takes you downstairs to their wine cellar. They provide you with the history of champagne and sabering. Then, you saber the champagne bottle! You get to saber any bottle of champagne you purchase (the cheapest is around $ 225). We also did their Coldest Ice Room in the world at –37 degrees Celsius (each person pays $ 48). This was the best part because you get to try 4 vodkas in a freezing room with Canadian Goose jackets made for the arctic. You don’t get cold or drunk surprisingly — the jackets are warm and alcohol content is not a lot. This was by far the highlight. At midnight there are hats and party favors that get distributed. The DJ comes out and there is a dance party that happens immediately after the count down. Great experience overall by the restaurant!

On a recent trip to Whistler with girlfriends, we were looking for a nicer place to have dinner. We had all been to Whistler a number of times but for some reason none of us had been to Bearfoot Bistro despite hearing about it.
My friend was celebrating passing a big exam and proposed champagne to start. The restaurant offered us the sabring experience where they took us downstairs for her to saber the champagne bottle top off! It was super fun!
We had a wonderful dinner. On Friday and Saturday you pick a 3 or 5 course meal. I had the scallops as an appetizer, the steak for my entrée, and a delicious ice cream sundae made table side. All of us loved our dinner!
I would definitely go back.

Came here last night. Tried the three course meal at around $ 70/​person. Ordered the black cod as appetizer, wagyu beef as main, and of course the nitro ice cream (never had anything like that before so I had to try it).
The food was fair. It tasted good, however there was nothing ‘wow’ about the dishes. The nitro ice cream is prepared table side and was quite entertaining. (Nothing too special about the ice cream itself though)
Should note that they charge $ 6 just for water and even bread will cost you $ 4 (!!) LOL.

We stopped in here to have a dirty vodka Martini after visiting the Ketel One Ice Room for their vodka tasting.
We had been told by others that one could get a dirty vodka martini here — complete with Blue Cheese stuffed Olives. Turns out this is no longer true. The bartender advised us they had discontinued that option a couple of years ago. How disappointing!
We both ordered dirty vodka martinis — I was dismayed to find my three Olives contained pits. One had to carefully gnaw the Olive flesh off the pit. I’ve enjoyed martini’s at many different bars — I’ve never encountered a place that used Olives containing pits in their Martinis… I asked the bartender about this — he shrugged and replied that’s how they do it.
No reason to return here…

Upmarket. Bookings required. Whilst the sign outside the restaurant said no parking at anytime, there were 3 cars parked there. 2 Aston Martins and a Bentley.
The restaurant was busy and noisy. The options were either a 3 course dinner for $ 54/​-​or a 5 course dinner for more. You can order a la carte. $ 18/​for firsts, and $ 40/​-​for mains.
The food was generally good and if you need to be seen then this is the place to be. The ice cream was freshly made at the table. It was v good, particularly the condiments, but the portion small and the price big.

Overpriced. Cheesy. Tacky. Con Artists. Liars. Thieves.
They should call this place BearTrap Bistro. I would rather chew my leg off than return here.
If you want an incredibly overpriced meal in a cheap, tacky setting with loud music, average food, below par wine served by obnoxious weasels who will never stop trying to sell you something — go here.
I would sooner break my leg and be airlifted out of Whistler than pay these people $ 250+ per person for an experience I found mostly an irritating rip off.
A table for 4 is $ 150 per person without wine and is thus easily $ 1000 for four or over $ 250 per person if you all want merely a single glass of wine and tip.
The simple fact that this tacky, cheesy place connected to a third tier, budget hotel chain like Best Western — somehow commands these prices and is also supposed to be of the very best in Whistler, speaks volumes about the ‘trapped consumer ethic’ that Whistler and everyone else enjoy once you are up there. I took a client here to celebrate a large deal, but will never return with a gun to my head for the simple fact that spending $ 1700 for a meal for 4 was not enough, they still needed to steal another $ 200+ from me.
And from reading other reviews afterward, it appears more than a couple of the waiters are thieves, and pad the bills more than just occasionally.
First, its tacky. And I mean really, really tacky. Its comical. Empty champagne bottles at the entrance. No doorman. Loud, bad music with a crowded bar that then turns to a Cougar filled dance floor towards the end of your meal. Cheap, overly lacquered, tourist level art (all for sale) everywhere, on every wall. In L. A, at this price? The place is boarded up within a year.
Secondly, the wine is much like the food — exceptionally overpriced. Their Italian reds, my favorite — all of them, even the Chiantis and Barolos start at $ 200+ per bottle yet are mostly, very average. I was on an expense account, with a client, so it wasn’t too much of an issue for me, but not everyone wants to order $ 200 a bottle as the starting point, or suffer the Okanagans.
Again, opportunism.
Thirdly, the food prep and presentation look like something from the 90s, but not that notable. A three course meal starts at $ 125 or so but over half the items on the menu have large surcharges of $ 25+ per course. Now its more like a $ 150 – 200 minimum seating, without any drinks, water or wine. Once you taste the quality of the food and prep, you ask if this chef read some flattering local press and his head then left for a planet we don’t live on — but my meal was a rather thin, non-​prime, overcooked RibEye with 90’s style wafered potatoes barely warm, a small piece of Smoked Salmon and a forgettable dessert. Again, for four plus the ‘upgrade’ here and surcharge there and this is a grand for four, with one bottle of wine.
For that, you expect something very good, if not exceptional. This was wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good.
Now normally, even the Michelin star establishments would be happy with a $ 300 per person cover. We were hitting $ 400+ when Bearfoot Bistro also found a need to steal from me by padding my bill with shit I didnt order, drinks I didnt order and stuff that didnt arrive at our table and stuff that I didnt even know existed.
Their padding added up to over $ 200 in additional food and drink charges I didn’t order, or get.
I also didn’t have any Vodka in their ridiculously touristy, rather B-​grade frozen Vodka room where you apparently get three ‘sips’ of Vodka, all at $ 20 per, but again — somehow paid them $ 60 per head for Texan Vodka that I didn’t even order or taste, yet fully paid for.
On top of this, the snotty, rather irritatingly pedantic waiter with a nails on chalkboard accent was absent during the entire meal, only showing up when interrupting, and to sell us some ‘options’ or mention that damn Vodka room.
Great. you have a fridge in the restaurant that you can stand in. And drink Vodka. Its not a new or novel concept. Can we move on? Better yet, could we continue our conversation?
The only time he really spent more than 10 seconds not selling was when the weasel presented me with a bill. At that point he hovered as if we were on his time, not ours, probably wondering if I might notice the few flavored lemonades, drinks, an entrée I didn’t order and an extra Vodka sitting — all of which he placed on my bill. Sadly, with a client in front of me, him hovering and a few drinks later — he was right. I only noticed the next day when the guy already had $ 200+ extra of mine in his pocket, in addition to a 20% tip on $ 1500.
So while I am pissed, I also entertain and spend a lot of money with my clientele in Whistler, and go two to three times per year. I can choose where to do so. Bearfoot sold me average food at Michelin star prices and also stole $ 200+ from me.
So go fuck yourself, Bearfoot.

My experience at Bearfoot Bistro was excellent but unfortunately, my main dish was the only let-​down of my 5-​course meal and at that point, I felt so full that I did not even want to mention it to our waitress.
First of all, I have to say that the service here is sublime and every single staff member here is so friendly and accommodating that you’ll feel comfortable right away! A few members of our party are extremely curious people, so they shot a few personal questions regarding accents/​ethnicity to a couple of the staff and they replied happily with detailed explanations. Our food and drinks were served quickly, plates and cutlery replaced frequently and each dish was explained in detail.
I normally don’t eat foie gras, but the foie gras parfait with brioche was excellent and was unlike anything I ever had before! I’m also not a fan of risotto but everybody else in my table loved their white truffle risotto while I found it good but not amazing. My lamb was unfortunately overcooked but I was already stuffed when it came as my fourth course so I left the majority of it to waste. I felt a bit guilty wasting such expensive lamb, but it was just too chewy for me to eat.
For our dessert course, we had the nitro ice cream, which was an amazing experience itself! The nitro ice cream was prepared tableside by two extremely charismatic waiters who competed and gave us a show! We were served two scoops of ice cream, and a myriad of toppings to choose from. My favourite combination was probably the caramel, fudge, raspberries and dark chocolate pearls! The parfait was possibly one of the smoothest ice creams that I have ever eaten. Also, the Belvedere Ice room is extremely impressive and even if you’re not planning on doing their vodka tasting flight, you can still see the entire thing from the dining area!

Three words: VODKA ICE BAR
My best friend & I were walking around Whistler Village during the day when I spotted a large banner advertising the vodka tasting room inside of Bearfoot Bistro. We came back after dinner when it was actually open. We inform the bartender our interest in the vodka tasting, so he asked us to wait as another person will be joining us. While we wait my friend ordered an old fashion. We watched the bartender make the sophisticated drink. My friend said it was the best old fashion he has ever had. That says a lot as he likes to drink.
When it was time to go into the vodka ice bar, we were given $ 1500 down jackets to keep warm in the –25 degree F room. For $ 48CAD per person we were given 4 shots of vodka. The first three were Belvedere, and the last one was Ciroq. I liked the first three, but did not like the last one.
It’s very pricey for just 4 normal sized, but the experience was one of the best part. How often do I get to do this? Not very.