Ancora Waterfront Dining – False Creek

Ancora Waterfront Dining – My girlfriends and I wanted to do something a little more fancy where we can dress up a little bit in order a celebrate a birthday! After looking at a few places, we settled on Ancora since we wanted something with a great outdoor patio to enjoy the view, and to soak in some sunshine! This is my first time, and I was liking the vibe and the view it faces. It’s located right on False Creek, and where we sat, we go a great view of the water, and Grandville Island. Foodwise, I think it depends on what dish you select. There was some dishes we selected were wonderful and fresh, whereas some were a little underwhelming for what I was expecting for a higher end restaurant. One of the dishes that did impress me was the bone in ribeye – it was beautifully grilled with the perfect colour! It was juicy and tender! However, I feel like it was a little over seasoned, so it was a little too salty for me. I am aware the seasoning for many steaks are generous, yet to me I feel like it mask the true flavours of the steak. We had also had the beef tartar – that dish was a little underwhelming since the flavours – the beef, sourodough and the cured eggyolk didn’t blend together well. The texture and the flavour just didn’t work and I felt like I was having separated ingredients in my mouth at the same time. The scallop and lime shooter was a very unique and gorgeously plated. The scallops were very fresh the combination of the red jalapeno with a hint of sugar with it made the flavors heighten with freshness. It was fun as well to have the grilled Lime on the bottom to squeeze into your mouth when you slurp up the scallops as the roasted lime adds a nice char taste that lingers in the mouth. We also ordered the ceviche mixto – that was very nice and refreshing but funny enough – it wasn’t very memorable for me. There was also two underwhelmed dishes that I wouldn’t order again if I were to go back. First it was would be the brussels sprouts, it wasn’t nicely charred with some hint of sweetness, it was salty and there was a lingering bitter after taste. We also had the crab croquette – that wasn’t very impressive to me as well. I couldn’t taste much of the crab, more batter than anything else. Overall, I did enjoy the experience and I would go back to try out other dishes so that for next time I would know what to order and what to avoid.