May 2026
Always interested in new restaurants on the Coast, especially with an inviting-looking French menu like this one, we dropped in yesterday for a late afternoon drink and potentially dinner. It’s a pretty dazzling venue (formerly Ocean Club Café) right on the Sechelt waterfront. We are also told that in the kitchen is the former Brassica chef (we don’t know whether this is Jack Chen or Hilary Prince, the team at the defunct Gibsons spot).
With the memory of a couple of recent expat French bistros in mind we were hoping for classy renditions of casual French dishes but, too bad, it’s a half-baked version they are serving here.
Server was a bit of an awkward young lady who cheered up through the dinner which we did stay for. We wish her luck improving cleaning stains on the table, removing used glasses, and faking knowledge of food and wine. We started with wine and spiritzes off the abbreviated drinks menu after we found they didn’t have Campari and a boulevardier wasn’t available. With the drinks came a burrata and tomato small plate with buttered white toast, quite tasty.
We ordered an obscure Chablis and then dinner, the wine was just over $100 and lacked fragrance or substance. Dinner was croque monsieur for Robin and cassoulet for me. The croque monsieur was a piece of toast with a cheesy spread put on top. My cassoulet was an interesting approach to the dish with beans at the base of a bowl, with cooked red pepper, zucchini, onion, duck confit, pork belly, and a not-bad sausage prepared separately set on top. Way short of the rich shared and varied flavours typical of the property-prepared dish. Most of the $200-plus bill was the wine.
Partly offsetting these disappointments was a soft ocean breeze, late-afternoon sunshine, and the calm ocean a stone’s throw away.
Might go back again if others find the chef managing real bistro cuisine. We doubt it.
Food 6.5, service 6.8, ambience 9.2, value 7.0, peace and quiet just fine.
