the acorn

wonderful. the food, service, presentation, and value are all excellent here.

a great restaurant for a special occasion, but so reasonably priced you can go for no reason at all and feel ok.

everything we ate was delicious, but the best thing was the beer battered saganaki.

the wait staff were incredibly friendly and helpful.

the first visit was magical, back in september. the second visit last weekend will make it difficult to go back. waiting for an hour for a table is okay if it's worth it in the end - but it wasn't. i also don't mind paying $20 for an entree if its great food. it wasn't. i had a mushroom broth soup with soggy veggies and boring noodles. i could have easily made this at home...ichiban is $0.22 and tastes very similar to what we were served. we had the battered haloumi. the chunks were too big and room temp in the middle. we did enjoy the beet tartar - it was reminiscent of what made us like the restaurant in the first place. unfortunately everything else makes me feel its gone downhill.

the acorn- all hype...under deliver. at the suggestion of a friend, we decided to try this new spot on main st. upon walking into to a semi full restaurant, i tried to make eye contact with some of the staff...usually when you walk into a restaurant, at least one of the staff "acknowledges" you. i could go to a hole-in-the-wall chinese restaurant in chinatown and not get ignored this hard!!!!....my companion had to walk right up to the bar and basically had to waive at the staff member behind the bar for them to acknowledge us.

we settled on sitting at the bar, and were presented with the menu. the space is fairly small, but cozy.....there were 2 servers/bartenders on. 2 staff to take care of the room.... manageable if the staff is efficient.........the key word being efficient.....when we asked questions about the menu items, we were answered with what we felt was a less than spectacular attitude.

we finally settled on a main and an appy....the presentation was nice, the food flavors was no more than average...and when we asked for extra pepercorn sauce....it was like we asked the server to walk across the world to get it. we weren't asking for him to move mountains...just an extra side of sauce.

i hate to say, but for $40 i would have rather eaten at cactus club, earl's or joey's.....they don't mind making mods to your food....and the serving staff asks how you're doing once in a while

i think the acorn is fitting name for the place...'cause that is the object that is stuck in the employees behinds!!...

visiti the acorn is you're looking for a typical entitled hipster attitude and less than spectacular overpriced food.....

however, the acorn breathes life into vegetarian food and while i did want more, i wasn’t disappointed and i treat it as a vegetarian restaurant i would go back to. for me value isn’t necessarily in the obvious protein, but in the quality, execution and flavour of a dish, and of course feeling full and content afterwards.

...an all vegetarian (vegan-friendly) menu.
artfully presented dishes.
no reservations and there can be a wait to get a table.
atmosphere: hip and casual.

not our cup of tea. i got a belated birthday gift for this place, so we went. we expected a lineup and long wait - but that didn't happen - we simply sat at the bar right away...easy as pie.

a nice & sweet ginger beer for me, a beer for my sweetie, good service...so far, so good. we shared the walnut and the parsnip appetizers: the walnut was quite strange, unappetizing colour, super silky smooth panna cotta-like texture on juniper-flavoured crisps. i enjoyed the pickled mushrooms and certainly liked it more than my sweetie - she was quite turned off. the covered smoke contributed nothing to the dish - an ephemeral party trick that failed to impress.

the parsnip was also enjoyed more so by me than my sweetie. i enjoyed the potato parsnip croquette and the lukewarm sauce with chunks of aged cheddar. my sweetie wanted it to be hotter to melt the cheese and she found the sauce too loose for her tastes.

i had the pear salad: it was yummy, but overdressed. after a while, the frisee - as the only green on the plate - got to be quite bitter, but the extra dressing prevented it from being unpleasant to eat.

my sweetie had the celery root salad, which was also overdressed and was missing any trace of apple. the celery root was roasted whole, which is a nice idea but it meant that my sweetie had to peel it herself - a fair bit of work.

dessert was dreadful: we shared the coconut - a savoury panna cotta with tasteless pineapple, overwhelming lemongrass, terrible texture and we shudder to think what they did to the toasted coconut on top to get that texture - the mind boggles. she took one bite, i took two...and that was it.

so, clearly not the place for us. an interesting experience and that's about all i can say about it.

amazing. love the acorn. vegetarian, vegan, or neither whatever your persuasion this is a great restaurant, up there with the best in the city.

seasonal changes to the menu whilst keeping staples the same mean that frequent visits do not become samey. good atmosphere, always busy and good experienced serving staff.

go there!

you will not be disappointed. i was here on friday. i will go back. first time i can remember a restaurant with vegan options that blow you away with flavour and don’t leave you feeling hungry. this ain’t no salad bar. hardy yet eloquent, well prepared, thought out and presented meals is what you have to look forward to. this little gem offers a loungy feel without the plastic yaletown... i’ll stop there. the chef has obviously worked in a number of environments and has brought those experiences to the table.

overall, i enjoyed the acorn, and i would definitely go back given the opportunity.

highly recommended!. we had a girls night out at acorn last night (6 of us). we loved it! we tried all appies and our favorites are the beet and the ricotta. the walnut is tasty as well but a bit small in portion. the kale salad is amazing! for mains, our favorites are the beer battred halloumi and the king oyster mushroom. the zucchini has nice presentation but it's a cold dish and no t too tasty. for desserts, we shared the coconut and the olive - both are great. overall, we love the food as everything is very fresh, tasty and fast (the food came in 15 min). the drink menu is good but would be better with more cocktail choices. we think the service could have been better/more welcoming. it came to ~$60 for each of us with `2-3 drinks, entree, and shared appies/salad/desserts, which we felt to be reasonable! overall, we will definitely come back as it is a good place to hang out. if you are planning to go there with a group of people, make sure to make reservation (6+) or go there when it opens at 5:30pm to not wait in line for hours.

loved it!. wonderful place. finally a high end vegetarian place, with vegan options. super menu, good, but small, wine list. good service. busy for a wednesday but sign of a popular restaurant. decent portions too. i don't think i'd tire of the menu any time soon but suspect it changes with the seasons.

just keeps getting better. i have an acorn addiction and as it gets worse the acorn just keeps getting better. warm, friendly service and the most delicious food that makes you feel sovgood about yourself afterwards. can't say that about many addictions...

post contains video clip.

this was a treat. "fine dining" in price, service and quality of food. but how many times does a vegetarian do fine dining and have to eat mushroom risotto, mediterranean pasta, tofu stir fry or a veggie burger? i love that the bar has now been set high!!

halloumi and zucchini pancake was the highlight of our meal. the eggplant roast was also full of flavour and textures. for dessert, we enjoyed the peanut terrine. the dessert was quite heavy and rich...to be shared!

last friday i dragged a bunch of omnivores down to the new-ish vegetarian/vegan place, the acorn restaurant. strangely, it's like a yaletown restaurant with diner ambiance, complete with beautiful food, downtown prices, and hot waitresses; but no skimpy outfits or uniform per se. table spacing is also pretty tight.