Rail River Bistro - Langley

Super cute little place that offers pizza and martinis! Our server was awesome and very accommodating. We came for martinis to celebrate my friends birthday. The server created martinis for our occasion. One with raspberry vodka and one that was grapefruit! They were classic and very delicious. The pizza smelled amazing but that will have to be something to try next time!

Our coffees and teas took longer to arrive than expected. When we ordered our breakfast, my dad, who is a chef, asked the waiter if the hollandaise sauce was made in-house or store-bought, and if the hash browns were pan-fried or deep-fried. The waiter assured us that the hollandaise was house-made and the hash browns were pan-fried. However, when the food arrived, it was clear that both were not as described. The waiter seemed inexperienced, which my dad understood could have led to the misinformation. However, he suggested that it would be best for the staff to be properly educated on the menu items, especially in case of allergy concerns. I asked for hot sauce with my meal, but it never came. The service was slow considering the small number of guests, and the food was average. The restaurant was filled with mosquitoes and was messy inside.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The tenderloin and tiger prawns looked delicious, but unfortunately, my soup wontons tasted extremely old. I should have listened to my instincts, as I ended up with diarrhea a few hours later.

As the restrictions had just been eased, we were directed to a table and asked to pick up our own utensils and paper menus. By 7:00 on Sunday, they had already run out of a few appetizers. Our server was excellent and she wore a face mask. Bread is no longer automatically provided; we had to request it and were given sourdough slices, which were good but not as great as the bread they used to serve. We started our meal with lettuce cups filled with a delicious mixture of ground pork, scallion, carrot, crispy wonton skins, roasted cashews, chili sauce, and hoisin sauce. For our main courses, I had the 10 oz. rib steak, while my husband had the black cod marinated in miso, sake, and mirin. Both dishes were well-prepared and tasty. Unfortunately, the passion fruit pavlova we shared for dessert was disappointing. On a previous visit to Rail and River, it had a flavorful passion fruit mousse on the meringue, but this time, there was an abundance of strawberries and very little passion fruit. It was good, but not what we expected when we ordered a passion fruit pavlova. Overall, Rail and River is still a good restaurant and we enjoyed our meal, but being seated at the worst table despite having reservations and receiving a dessert that was not as anticipated did dampen our experience somewhat.

I stopped by again during lunch and the menu changed. Only two entree items were under $20. The rest of the menu felt like dinner pricing. Usually for lunch, I expect to spend under $20 for entrees. I ordered the Off the Rails Burger with a sunny side up egg and side salad. The service this time was just as slow as last time. There was only one person making all the food orders. Our server was attentive and stopped by to refill water cups once in awhile. Once my burger arrived, it was presented well and tasted like a great gourmet burger should be. I enjoyed the runny egg, bacon, cheese and mushroom over a beef patty. The lettuce, tomato was bonus. Salad was lightly covered in a vinaigrette dressing. The ambiance is lovely during a sunny afternoon. Especially if you get to sit by the window and people watch. On a weekday, I noticed we were the youngest table of customers. The rest looked like the retired crowd. Maybe the menu is catering to a certain group of customers who would like tomahawk rib chops and steaks for lunch?