Italian Kitchen

Rate: 4/5stars

Dining Style: Casual Elegant

Cuisines: Italian, Contemporary European, Wine Bar

Italian Kitchen, receiving lots of positive reviews on the internet, was where we planned to go for our Dineout event. We made our reservation at 19:00 on Jan 21^st, 2020 right after finishing our class. The restaurant is located right in the center of downtown Vancouver, BC so we decided to meet up at Burrard station and walked about 10 minutes there. It does have a really ideal location which is surrounded by top retail stores like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany&Co.,… and famous hotels like Sutton Place, Fairmont Hotel,… 

About Italian Kitchen

Italian Kitchen belongs to Glowbal Restaurant Group which develops Pacific cuisine Northwest . The Glowbal Group consists of Black+Blue, Trattoria and Coast. 

Emad Yacoub, all of which were founded by an accountant who moved to Canada from Egypt and worked as a kitchen helper at Toronto’s Harbour Castle Hilton.Within nine years, he became the Youngest Executive Chefs in Toronto. He opened his first restaurant in Yaletown and named it The Glowbal Grill in the year of 2002.

• The Wine Club: The Italian Kitchen invites people to their wine dinners as a promotional activity. There is always a waiter promoting the signature wines with the impeccable food of the Italian Kitchen. The dinner usually serves three to four courses with different wine alongside. The Clientele membership can be easily claimed by sharing your email address.
• Executive chef: Ryan Gauthier is the executive chef of the Glowbal collection. He is passionate about his career. His famous slogan is “Being able to have a job in which you make people feel good is very rewarding and I hope guests enjoy their meals as much as I enjoy creating them.”
• Noticeable features that Italian Kitchen has: Separate areas for private parties and family events; Limited seats at the bar; Different menu options for Brunch, Happy hours and of course, Valentine’s Day.

---

Advertising and Marketing

They keep their guests updated about various offers and promotions through social media especially Instagram and Twitter. You can also find out their ratings and more reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp. They also have several blogs on website: https://www.glowbalgroup.com/blog/ to introduce their new cuisines or events.

---

Atmosphere & Décor

 Like many other restaurants, Italian Kitchen also plans to accommodate as many guests as possible without compromising their service quality. The place even had a covered al fresco for sitting outside with heaters working throughout the cold season.

From the entrance, the huge elegant bar was located on the right while the reception system was on the left side. There were about 15 square tables all covered in white linen with placed cutleries, each has 2 to 4 covers. Many magnificent chandeliers, whose light levels can be adjusted, were hanging on the ceiling, creating a cozy atmosphere.

In the back, the private dining room is on the left side and the kitchen on the opposite. 

Its remarkable interior design allowed the insiders to enjoy the appealing view from the 2 glass walls looking out to both sides of the street.

They also had some green plants decor on the brick wall which represented eco-environment to help the customers relax while eating. Jazz music played an important part in creating a romantic and charming space.

---

Sanitation

Its simplistic decoration made the dining area seemingly more spacious.  

In addition, it had state-of-the-art facilities owing to years of development as a result. The dining space was airy without the fragrance of food smells lingering. Besides, the heating system was working round the clock, keeping the temperature mild. 

The restaurant targets customers of all classes, most of which are families and corporate businessmen.  

---

 Services

As we noticed, the staff’s uniform had different colours corresponding to different positions: There were three formal hosts who wore suits and stood at the entrance. Their jobs were to confirm reservations and help guest’s check-in.

Lots of servers and bussers (food runner) in different uniforms were going back and forth, busy with their work. 

If guests are concerned about the ingredients of the food, they are willing to explain in detail about the drink and menu carefully to help guests know about the food. They also double check and ask guests suffer with any allergies of food that would keep safe for guests.

The staffs were very considerate, and they took our orders quickly .

They were always looking out for the guests whether everything is alright or not and went around to check if the guests need a refill of drink or something else.

 Because of the rush hours, we had to wait for couple of minutes until the food came so one host came and apologized for having served late.

---

Menu

• They have 2 types of menu: A La Carte and Semi A La Carte. The Semi A La Carte offered for the Dineout event which costed $45 + Taxes.
• The menu is quite simple but well-design. The a la carte menu has a lot of options to offer, from the low price of$15 to $70 per dish.
• The beverage menu is extremely diverse since it included not only the basic wine but also several flavourful cocktails. 
• You can choose to have wine served in glass or bottle and ordered them for only $25 in extra.
• After considering, we decided upon the Dineout Menu.

DineOut Menu

---

The Quality & Taste of F&B

Appertizer

Duck Confit Salad (grilled radicchio, roasted fennel & beets, watercress spelt, orange balsamic vinaigrett)

The salad was quite bitter for me (tomato and beetroot was good), it did not go well with duck. Anyway, duck was tasty, tender, and full of flavour at first, but after eating a while, it became a little bit salty and oily. In general, this dish did not impress me.

Risotto Milanese (asparagus, shrimp & crispy artichokes)

It could be made vegetarians. It was quite creamy and well-cooked, the asparagus was cooked up to the perfection. The portion size was also very suited to us, it was neither too big nor too small. Originally it was supposed to come with Shrimps but one of us was allergic to Shellfish and they were polite enough to change it to Asparagus risotto. 

Entrée

Filetto di Branzino (sautéed Mediterranean bass fillet blistered, cherry tomatoes, calabrese olives, peppers, basil)

The combination of the fry fish with olive and tomato sauce was extremely wonderful. For me, this was the done to a turn dish on the DineOut menu.

Galleto al Mattone (salt brick pressed half maple hills farm chicken marinated with herbs, garlic & lemon smashed potatoes)

Even though the entrée tasted much better than the appetizer, I didn’t particularly like it. The highlight of the dish was the sauce while the chicken was overcooked.

Dessert

Butterscotch Budino (Chantilly cream & pistachio crumble)

It was good, the whipping cream with almond on the top made the dessert more harmonious. However, the portion for 1 person was too much and overly sweet for even a sugar tooth like me.

Beverage

• A Glass of Chianti (its red wine from Tuscany) Grape: Sangiovese. It was dry, Light bodied and high on aromas of Red fruit character with low acidity.
• Aperol Spritzer cocktail: The drink was pretty fine for a lightweight person like me, but it had a little BITE due to the Aperol (Aperol is a classic Italian bitter aperitif)
• FYI Aperitif is a pre-dinner drink.

---

Final Thought

• Being a fine dining establishment with impeccable service, its clienteles are mostly family and businessman. It’s bit out of our budget to eat at a luxury place like this so we would consider our return.  
• Memorable experience: yes, it certainly was unforgettable because of the high-quality food and obviously the service.
• What should be worked on: brighter atmosphere so the guests will not be bored; smoother taste (so that it won’t overwhelm the customers) … 
• Service: all the staff are well trained and have lots of experiences. In spite of the fact that they have to work in a fast paced environment, they handle the situation extremely professionally.  Though not seen directly, the workload in the kitchen, I believe, must have been very stressful and pressurized but they still managed to provide us with up to the mark dishes.
• The restaurant facilities: we felt that the place had all the basic equipment to keep it up and running.  It is undeniable that the location and the design are convenient and superb respectively.  
• Sustainability concerns: in the long run, I believe that this place will develop further and open more locations.
• To sum up, Italian Kitchen is a good place to come and try Italian cuisine with top notch food and service. It has received rates from many food reviewers, and I recommend this restaurant for all Italian food lovers within the Vancouver area.

For more information:

---

References:

Chef Ryan Gauthier – The Glowbal Collection. (2012, May 30). Retrieved from https://www.hellovancity.com/news/chef-ryan-gauthier-the-glowbal-collection/

Italian Kitchen. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.glowbalgroup.com/italiankitchen

Italian Kitchen – Vancouver. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.opentable.ca/italian-kitchen-vancouver?ref=16288&SP=ppc_g_ca_restaurants&LS=gglppc&MID=ca_restaurants&aid=79430556238&tid=kwd-301755701031&locp=9001499&loci=1001970&mt=e&nw=g&d=c&cid=383568924421&pos=1t1&gclid=CjwKCAiAhJTyBRAvEiwAln2qBx2Jcnp1o9ApBD1mWGGMFfn9JblmRDMpWKpJN34daEMB8_sKWcWq8xoCz7IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Italian Kitchen – Downtown – Vancouver, BC. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.yelp.ca/biz/italian-kitchen-vancouver

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g154943-d799375-Reviews-Italian_Kitchen-Vancouver_British_Columbia.html