I have been in the restaurant/hotel business in Edmonton and on the West Coast for decades and understand the niche that the Wildflower Grill is attempting to fill. This is a big city bistro with a strong culinary focus. What misses the mark, though, are the service and the ambience. The dining area is set up so you are seated closer to the individual at the neighbouring table than to your lunch partner, and conversation is next to impossible. There is carpet on the floor, but there needs to be more sound-deadening effects. I didn’t need to hear the salesman next to be pitching his product. The open kitchen adds to the volume level. Our waiter could have used some advice on speaking to guests: he was a fast talker and a word swallower. At $12 for a glass of wine, I need a server with a little more elegance. All staff seemed to be moving around with a look of panic on their faces. Slow it down a bit, and smile at the guests! A young supervisor swooped down on our table to ask if we had been attended to – not a good sign. My advice: ask the service staff, not the guest. Decorum, decorum. Kitchen-focused eateries often use the services of an expeditor to race the food out to the guests as soon as the chef plates it. Even with the use of table and seat numbers, this system is imperfect. Our expeditor walked past our table with our meals and had to do a u-turn. Tacky. Then he redescribed the items as he placed them; thanks, but we both read the menu when we made our decisions. His meaty paw on the table to steady himself for a reach didn’t help. Both the wine list and the dessert menu were priced disproportionately to the lunch menu; I assumed that the management have yet to develop these menus for the daytime and were relying on the dinner lists. You can be assured of avoiding luncheon dessert sales with a) a $12 price tag on all your desserts and b) a server who approaches with “Were you ladies thinking of having any dessert today?” Don’t worry, son, you’re not in any danger of me ordering dessert today. The feeling was one of a restaurant trying its damndest to be pretentious, but missing the mark.