where jess ate

I didn’t think Araxi was open for lunch but when Mike and I were walking through Whistler Village, we noticed that it was open and decided to check it out. Since it was the summer, they had their patio open. However, we opted to sit inside since it was still a little chilly.

The restaurant is actually quite large and has a dim, romantic setting. It was pretty empty throughout our entire visit as we were the only people inside the restaurant and there were maybe only two tables taken on the patio. Not surprising since it was pretty quiet in the village.

Immediately, I could tell the service was going to be great here. Our server was very pleasant and informative. She explained the specials to us, provided us with recommendations and came by at just the right times to check up on us. But then again, it could’ve been because it was a pretty quiet day.

Araxi has an extensive wine selection and from the dining room we could see a good chunk of their collection. Since I had to drive back to Vancouver after lunch, I decided to go with something non-alcoholic. Something that caught my eye was the Rhubarb Lemonade – Pemberton rhubarb, lemon juice & soda ($5.50). The server was curious about what I thought about it since it was something that was just added onto the menu. I really loved this. A little sweet and tart like regular lemonade and deliciously refreshing!

While going through the menu, we were brought some homemade bread and a little dish of tapenade (finely chopped olives in olive oil). The bread was warm and fresh and tasted incredible with the tapenade. I’m generally not a huge fan of olives on their own, but the tapenade was delicious.

I decided on the Grilled homemade fennel sausage – crisp parmesan polenta with tomato and basil sauce, rustic arugula with parmigiano-reggiano ($19.50). The dish came with two regular-sized sausages and two square pieces of crisp polenta. The sausages were juicy and not too salty. Thankfully the fennel was quite subtle as I don’t love its liquorice flavour. The polenta provided the necessary bit of carbs to the dish. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of soft, mushy polenta, so I was glad this polenta had a nice, crisp exterior which held up quite well. Overall, I thought this dish was a hit.

Mike went with the Prawn Sandwich – open face with avocado and lemon mayonnaise, sweet pickles and Root Down baby greens ($17.50). The menu described this as a “Matane Shrimp Sandwich”, however the server came by before we ordered to inform us that that this was actually a prawn sandwich instead.

We found this sandwich to be a little difficult to eat, which I find to be the case with most open faced sandwiches. The prawns were fresh and the inclusion of the avocado was a classic combination. It was a pretty simply sandwich and while it was pretty good, it wasn’t very good value at $17.50. It came with a side salad, which really wasn’t anything to write home about.

Since we weren’t sure if we’d have enough food, we added an order of Spicy fries – tossed with chilli spice and lemon herb mayonnaise ($7.50). The fries came served in a small bowl and similar to the prawn sandwich, I thought the price was quite steep for what we actually got. The fries were decent and were nicely seasoned with the chilli spice. However, I didn’t think they were crispy enough, but that’s just a personal preference. As for the dips, we both weren’t too fond of the lemon mayo but they also gave us a side of red pepper and cumin ketchup, which was delicious.

Overall, we had a nice experience here. The food was pretty solid and the service was top-notch. However, if you’re looking for good value, you definitely won’t find it here.

At a glance:

Located right in the middle of Whistler Village

Came for lunch – food was good but expensive

Extensive wine selection

Top-notch service

Ratings (out of 5):

Food: 4 stars

Service: 5 stars

Atmosphere: 4 stars