On my first dine out adventure I checked out C Restaurant on beautiful False Creek. Seeing it was my first ever Dine Out dinner I felt it appropriate to invite @MaryInVancity with me, she has been here before for brunch and really loved her experience, you can read about it here.

I used the Open Table reservation service to book us a table, I’m new to that type of service and I loved how easy it was to book and also see what times are available for your visit plus you earn points that can be used for restaurant gift certificates for future dining, I arrived and was greeted by name at the door and the hostess quickly offered to check my coat seeing it was raining out, the service is really great and what you would expect for a fine dining restaurant.

The room is a split level space with a more intimate dining area upstairs, the room downstairs is all about the False Creek view with floor to ceiling windows, the space was not so busy when we got there so it was pretty quiet with soft music playing in the background but as the night went on it got packed and the volume definitely went up.

C is all about the Ocean Wise fish and seafood program and head Chef Robert Clark is the man in the kitchen coming up with innovative dishes that really you can’t get anywhere else. The restaurant is part of the Kambollis group of restaurants that include The Rain City Grill and Nu Greek.

Like I said we were here for Dine Out 2012 and they were offering a unique 4 course menu for $38~all the other restaurants in town that are offering the $38 menu are only offering 3 courses, you also have the option of adding additional courses for a nominal charge and also wine pairings are available if you choose.

We were served some complementary house made bread and butter, the bread here is delicious, one of the types were served is their famous seaweed bread, both Mary and I loved this, it’s such a nice treat when a restaurant makes delicious in-house bread.

Our amuse bouche was a Smoked Salmon Cannelloni with Preserved Lemon and Creme Friache. The salmon was melt in your mouth tender and the creamy yet slightly tart creme friache added another nice note of richness. I’m not a big smoked salmon fan and I really liked this I must say, the salmon smoke wasn’t too strong so it would appeal to a wide range of dinners.

For our first course I chose the sautéed BC Spot Prawns with kale,chilli, lime and romesco sauce for a $9 extra charge. They were succulent and really good!, the romesco sauce added a great smoked note to the plate, the kale was a great touch but the chilli and lime didn’t really come through.

Mary went with the Northern Arm Farms Beet Panzanella salad with harissa dressing and shaved ricotta, this is the standard first course on the Dine Out menu. We ended up sharing so we split all the dishes in half to get an accurate taste of the menu and did this for the whole dinner. The harissa wasn’t too strong or spicy, the beets were pickled and are a favorite of mine and Mary’s. We both loved this dish and would order it again.

For my second course I went with the Poached Lobster with a lemon herb risotto and a cognac creme, it was a $12 extra charge for this dish and I think it was worth it, there was a nice big lobster claw on top and the dish was smothered in cognac cream, the lobster for mine and Mary’s taste was over cooked and quite firm, besides that one negative it was a great bowl of risotto, the rice was perfectly cooked and it all went down quite nicely!

The other second course was a seared Albacore Tuna with a Winter minestrone, Parmesan pistou and crisp basil. Melt in your mouth tender tuna and a hearty Winter minestrone with orzo pasta was a great accompaniment to the tuna, there was also a basil pesto on the plate that rounded out the plate and reminded me of an Italian tuna dish.

The main course or third course in this menu they are offering a lake Babine Salmon with a squash puree and almond tapenade. The salmon was nice and pink inside, the flavor was nice and rich and was the star of the plate that is for sure. Both of us enjoyed this a lot.

Mary wanted to try the beef option on the menu, for $12 extra they had a Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a walnut polenta, tarragon butter and confit of Portobello mushroom, there was also candied dates on the plate. It was a great beef dish and I ended up cleaning the plate clean, the walnut polenta accented the beef nicely but the Portobello mushroom was a bit to mushroomy for my taste.

We both opted for the Lemon and Olive Oil Sorbet palette cleanser for $4, they served this with little shortbread cookies, it really worked to get our palette ready for dinner.

The standard dessert on the menu is a Spiced Chocolate Pudding with caramelized rice cereal and a Chantilly cream.

It was also available with an orange sorbet for a small extra charge, Mary for this on her plate and I took a taste~it was great but I like my chocolate without orange and would love this on its own (I know the sorbet looks like the olive oil lemon kind we also had but it was definitely orange!). The pudding was spiced with cardamom and the flavors were GREAT!, the caramelized rice cereal wasn’t too sweet and added a nice texture to the pudding, the Chantilly cream rounded out everything nicely.

We had a great time at C and I wold come back and check it out for a lunch seeing they have a killer patio in the summer, our bill after our add-on’s, taxes and a beer I had came out to $142~definitely a bit more than we were thinking but when splitting the bill down the middle it came to $80/person including tip which wasn’t so bad for a 2 hour dinner and as a bonus Mijune Pak was dining in the restaurant so it was finally nice to meet and dish about food with the lovely @FollowMeFoodie but the menu could have been clearer with what courses were extra!

C Restaurant is also Zagat rated and can be checked out here.