Farm 2 Fork Private Dining

I cannot express how disappointed I am with the «service» I have received from Nicolas Hipperson and Farm 2 Fork. My partner and I are foodies and so it’s actually quite unusual that we have not yet dined with Farm 2 Fork. I guess we were waiting for a suitably significant occasion. And so it was that for my birthday she decided to organize a surprise dinner event with 8 of our closest friends.
Initially her emails were answered promptly — up to the point where she handed over a $ 400 deposit and then immediately all communication stopped. She sent several emails and tried calling any phone number she could find linked to F2 °F or Nicolas, but they were all either disconnected or re-​assigned. She received no response for weeks until on the day of the event she got an email apologizing for having forgotten to cancel our event due to an unspecified «family situation» and promising to refund the deposit.
It’s now more than two weeks later and there is still no refund (two months after the deposit was taken). After sending several increasingly frustrated emails with no response, we have now been told that the refund won’t come until some unspecified time after New Years.
This is unacceptable, unprofessional and illegal. We will be going to court to retrieve our money and I only hope that this review saves other people from the stress of dealing with similar unpleasantness.

I’ve been to the pop-​up restaurant earlier this year and the food was decent. Actually, if I was reviewing the food at that location, it would probably be a 4-​star review. Sadly, that location is gone and it’s only private dining now.
I’ve been to private/​underground dining in South America (Buenos Aires) as well as around here and consider myself pretty informed on the scene
Let’s start by saying, I never actually made it into the venue. I originally booked (weeks in advance) a birthday dinner for a friend. Communication with Nicolas is sketchy at best. He never answers his phone, voicemail is always full and if you dig around you can find another number for Farm2Fork, but it won’t do you any good either.
Let’s fast forward to 3 days before this dinner (Easter Friday). Nicolas EMAILS me and let’s me know there was a scheduling conflict and he won’t be able to accommodate our dinner. That’s it. Game over.
Thankfully, I was able to book in with Stephen at NFA (No fixed address) who took special time out to accommodate us, so all was not ruined.
If you do book with Farm2Fork, do not give them a deposit (in fact, it seems like other Unilocalers are having communication issues with them as well).
I’d love to visit them in the future when the communication improves as the food in the popup was quite good. Until reviews say otherwise or they respond publicly, I’m out.

Went on March 6, 2015 to the private dining with a party of 20. It was my second time there. Good food, great idea, but not very professional on the business end.
I was asked to pay a deposit a few days before with a credit card, which I did, to reserve the place, but after 3 weeks, and after fully paying for the bill in cash, I have yet to be refunded over 1,200 dollars back onto my credit card.
Communication is troubling as well during the whole planning process, and now, I have heard nothing back from the owner this last week regarding my refund or the 19% interested the principal amount has accrued.
It’s really unfortunate as my first experience was great, but now I may need to seek legal advice just to get my money back.
If I have an update I will post later.

We went to the pop-​up in January. The food was great & overall the dining experience was good. That is until the end of the meal. Our server disappeared completely. We found out after that he had to run a corkscrew down to the other location so he just left us hanging. We had to ask the other server for our bill and to ring us through. She had difficulty processing the visa payment on the iPad saying it did not work so she used the machine. Unfortunately it went through twice on our Visa and I have not been able to receive a credit for the second charge from Farm2Fork yet. Value would have been good if I was not double charged. 20 days to try to resolve since I brought it to their attention and I’ve gotten nowhere. Not impressed.

I ate at the pop-​up restaurant. Superb. Amuse bouche, tuna then cod. Flavours were amazing and novel. Riesling sorbet with basil is a winner. Staff friendly and knowledgable. Price high but good value for the quality of food and service. I’m waiting for an excuse to try the private dining.

I walked by their pop-​up location and decided to try their 3 course prix fixed menu for the evening:
— amuse bouche — excellent, salad with pine nuts and dressed, served in a spoon.
— sashimi salad api — pretty good.
— main is where it disappointed me — DH had the suvee duck egg with grilled fish, lentils were way too salty and the dressing very overwhelming.
— I had the braised beef, and while it falls off the bone, but the taste is bland and the meat is a bit dry on the inside.
— dessert — chocolate ganache is excellent.
service is attentive given they only have 6 – 8 tables in the popup shop.

Eventually the private dining trend arrived at Vancouver. It’s so popular in Hong Kong for last decade.
I planned to try something different for my husband’s birthday this year. I found Farm to Fork via open table and this is underground restaurant for private dining.
We arrived 10 mins early on 33 Water Street and found no access to the building. I called and notified they move to 55 Cordova Street without update the address on website and open table since August.
We walked over for few blocks and got young man opened the gate then walked us thru to his unit. When we went in, we saw a big table but only 2 settings… Hmm.
Yes! Really a private dining — My hubby, me and the chef! No kidding. Shanhi is sous chef and explaining to us, we’re the only customer for the night. We shocked but great coz we didn’t need to share the table with other customers and absolutely enjoying private dinner.
Come down to the food…
Beet salad with goat cheese — the beet was so mellow and sweet.
Basil ice on Tomatoes soup — We were quite impressed of this soup. The basil ice initial subtle peppery flavour and tasted then evolves into a slightly sweet flavour. Tomatoes soup was a bit too cold to me but very flavorful.
Soft-​boiled and deep fried quail egg with farm vegetables — Crispy outside the quail egg and soft on quail egg yolk.
64 degree boiled egg and monkfish with fennel — chef told us the egg was boiled over 50 mins in 64 degree water, therefore, the yolk completely cooked but white just slightly thickening and still translucent.
Pane seared halibut — The portion was very reasonable even bigger than some restaurants size. The halibut just perfectly cook and mussel so fresh and tasty.
Roasted beef tenderloin — Another full size dish! I only had a bite of juicy and tender beef tenderloin, it’s so delicious! I had to pack it to home and my hubby couldn’t finish it either.
Chocolate mousse with black berries sorbet — It’s the star! Smooth and rich chocolate mousse with fresh berries sorbet and almond slices. Really stunning dessert!
In conclusion, I would say quality over the price definitely. No way that you pay $ 85 can get 7 full size courses meal in Vancouver upscale restaurant.
Hope they will update the website for seasonal menu and open table address soon. Thank you our private chef Shanhi and we will come back soon.
PS. MYOB… You can bring your own wine for pairing.