Absinthe Bistro

Without a doubt the best restaurant on Commercial Drive. The food compares very favourably with a certain Michelin starred eastside restaurant. Highly recommended.

Definitely our favourite Vancouver restaurant. The small menu is such a great idea, especially as it changes frequently. The food is always wonderful and the drinks are reasonably priced. Always a friendly greeting. Hard to pick out the best dishes from our November visit, but what a good French onion soup and the scallops were as delicious as ever.

Loved this place. Phenomenal experience. Staff are very attentive, friendly and professional. Awesome atmosphere. Amazing food and very reasonably priced! The whole experience from start to finish is great. Highly recommend Absinthe Bistro.

This place is cute, it’s a very casual and relaxed venue. Our server was nice, she answered all or questions in detail and checked on us plenty. We just wanted a snack so we each had the salmon tartare appetizer, it’s was great. This place is certainly not fancy as far as French dining goes, but the food is good and the wine selection is decent. I would recommend it for a casual weeknight dinner out!

Awesome Service and food! I happen to be a vegetarian, and despite not seeing a veg item, the Waitress and Chef went out of their way to present an amazing meal for me! Bravo to the Team - fabulous food and atmosphere! Thanks to All at the Restaurant!

Great food and service. We had the set menu which included 3 courses. The dining room and food made for an awesome date night

My Fiancé and I dined here in celebration of our 1 year anniversary and my birthday. We met in France while studying, and dining here allowed us to re-live the French dining experience in such a sweet way!
The staff were professional, but friendly. The food was incredibly tasteful and you can tell they made sure to present it as such. We especially enjoyed one of the side dishes which was grapefruit with cracked pepper—shockingly delicious!
At the end of the night our server took a Polaroid picture of us to keep! We used it to document the experience in our date journal

Very nice, cozy dinner out. The food was very good, as was the service. We tried the French onion soup, salmon tartar, duck, and seared scallops. All were excellent! It was quiet at the earlier Friday seating, but filled out a bit as the evening went on. Therefore, it seems not a problem to get a table without a reservation!

I loved the vibe of the restaurant and the tastiness of the food. The fois gras, the duck confit and crème brûlée were among the bests I have had anywhere.

I didn’t know what to expect when I chose to come here, but I knew that if they had a rotating, limited menu, the chef would have to know what they are doing. And did they ever!

For $65 per person, this place is so fairly priced. We ordered one of each thing on the menu that night and everything was PERFECT. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver now, and for anyone that loves French food, you gotta come here. I can’t wait to come back!

The online indicators make absinthe look super affordable and highly rated French food. We left feeling misled. When the butter showed up on the table in a plastic container we got suspicious. Absinth appears like a place where food is shipped to, the dough is baked in house but not made in house. It's a fine clean restaurant, I think you will enjoy the food, and the presentation. The price is high for what is served and I don't see great food, innovation, or something new and different coming from Absinthe Bistro.

Cute, fun and tasty. The menu was well constructed, and the extra details of the pageantry of the absinthe was entertaining.

I particularly liked the creme brûlée and duck.

Middle of the road French restaurant. Service, music, atmosphere, and food all mid. The absinthe is definitely exciting and worth the trip if you are into that. I would not go back, simply because my $ will go farther at places that will offer a more elevated experience overall.

I had my birthday dinner at Absinthe tonight and it was a lovely experience. You might not have so many options of food but it is guaranteed that everything they serve tastes amazing. Very nice and friendly staff. They took a picture of us with an instant camera and gave it to us!

We have been to Absinthe Bistro a few times and always enjoyed our visit. This restaurant contrasts with all the other restaurants on Commercial Drive for the quality and type of food they offer. The atmosphere allows guests to have conversation without overwhelming music or ambiant noise. Great service!

I simply can't recommend this resto enough! Our party of 3 enjoyed their 3-course menu which was WELL worth the fixed price!

We each enjoyed a different appetizer - butternut squash, foie gras pate and mussels. All 3 were superb, although I do admit that the foie gras requires an acquired taste.

Two of us had the lamb shank and the other had duck confit. The lamb shank was divine, but the duck was just out of this world amazing! As soon as I put the duck in my mouth, I knew that it was fantastic.

The dessert - chocolate lava cake and creme brulee- was also wonderful, although by that time we were all so full that we kinda had to force ourselves to eat it. Nevertheless they were both excellent ends to our meals.

Overall I thought the whole experience was superb and we will definitely come back!

We come here for birthdays/anniversaries in the past years and have always loved the experience here. Last year I even left a 5-star review for the great food. Unfortunately last night's birthday dinner was very disappointing. I totally understand the raised price as everything's much more expensive now, but the avocado appetizer was literally just some mashed avocado and a slab of goat cheese. Rice pudding with caramel sauce was mediocre, like something you would get from Save-on-Foods. The thoughts they used to put into every dish are no longer there.

There was only one main server serving the entire restaurant during dinner time and when she came by our table to take orders, there was no warmth, not even a "hi" or "how are you doing", she just appeared and stared at us in an awkward 5-second silence, then "uh are you ready to order? " Not saying that she didn't serve us throughout the night, but just not the most pleasant feeling dining there. For example, she just slammed down another basket of complimentary bread (which we didn't ask for and do appreciate) while she walked past our table without a word. I just don't expect this type of service at a French restaurant with a $75 bill each person. I got better service than this at a dim sum restaurant last week.

Delicious food, everything was well prepared and balanced, wines were pleasant as well. Not a "hip" place, but great for relaxed date night for foodies.