Ave

Bearfoot Bistro is perhaps the most expensive restaurant in Whistler.  Approach your visit as you would an evening at a casino.  If you’re not prepared to be fleeced, you won’t enjoy your meal.  Patrons can choose between 3 or 5 course meals fixed at $100 and $150 respectively.  Most of the menu’s dishes will incur supplemental fees.  After wine and supplemental fees, expect to pay at least $150 per person. 

That being said, the wine selection at Bearfoot Bistro is second to none, and the chef is a genius.  While the portions were at times disappointingly minuscule (e.g. king crab), no dish was anything less than delicious.  The desserts and oysters were especially magnificent.  Champagne sabering is a fun experience, but more so a great way to sneak a peek at their impressive wine cellar.  The pianist was also extraordinary and added a sterling finish to the refined atmosphere. 

There were a few chinks in the svelte veneer.  Your trip to the washroom entails a tacky trek through a freezing hotel lobby.  The butter tasted as if it had gone bad.  The servers, while exceptionally attentive, appear to have been reading from a script.  For example, the oysters were explained incorrectly as revealed when oyster selections were transcribed to paper.   Also, the pretentious cheese server called unnecessary attention to his insulting ignorance of North American cheeses.

In summary, Bearfoot Bistro offers extraordinary cuisine and unprecedented wine selection, but at a ridiculous price.

We new something was awry when 4 teenage models greeted us at the door the take our coats. 

Our french-speaking waitress was just that, french-speaking and only french-speaking.  NOBODY understood the specials.  The sommelier corrected us when we referred to has "wine steward," insisting on the esteemed title of "Wine Director."

The oysters were the best we ever enjoyed.  The wines were also fabulous.

That being said, we had to make a special request for a green dish; salads were not on the menu and your dish will not come with a vegetable.  The Dungeness crab risotto was devoid of crab, and uncooked rice grains speckled the sad excuse for a dish.  A little sauce on the bolognese might helped to choke it down easier.  Rice-a-roni would have been a welcomed substitute.

Regarding those 4 hostesses, they had stashed our coats outside on the patio and could only smile sheepishly as they helped us into icey coats.

In summary, Araxi is a terrific place for wine and oysters, but forgoe dinner unless you're hankering for a heft dose of dry, crabless elitism.