Sad bread at Notch8

I really, really hate it when I have a great dish, talk it up with friends... but when I drag them there the restaurant lets me down with substandard production.

Notch8 Signature Bread ($7) stout, comte cheese, mustard seed

Somehow this didn't feel as fresh out of the oven as last time (was this sitting around for a while and heat lamped?) but still pretty tasty. Would definitely have been better hotter.
Can my bread at least stand up straight? Losing marks for presentation here.
Pull-apart chunks came free much better this time. Chunks are much more uniform.

2016-Apr-14 Notch8 - pull-apart slice of Notch8 bread

Snacks (free)

Mid-way through our bread appy two generous free bowls of snacks were brought to our table.

They didn't bother to start us with water until we ordered drinks and an appy. I hope this is not a sad new trend among restaurants.
Neither my friend nor myself are drinkers so we went with mocktails.

Sparkling Blackberry Limeade ($8) fresh lime, blackberry syrup, soda

Tasted like limeade.
I would have liked to stir in the syrup, except all that ice (half my glass?!) made it hard. Duh.
$3.50 mocktail at Trattoria is still the champ.

Lacklustre service, poor presentation on the bread and too much ice in an $8 mocktail... Sadly I have to reduce my rating for Notch8. If I'm gonna be charged about $24 (after tax, before tip) for two drinks and an appy, it's got to be better than this.

2016-Apr-14 Notch8 - sparkling blackberry limeade mocktail

This was my friend's Pineapple Cucumber Fizz ($8) mocktail - fresh cucumber, pineapple, lemon soda. I did not ask to try it.

2016-Apr-14 Notch8 - pineapple cucumber fizz mocktail

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Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

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