Tony's Fish and Oyster Cafe

Found near the entrance of Granville Island, at 1511 Anderson Road.

Came here for lunch, my first non-vegetarian meal in over two years so it was weird for me.

The location is great, though it doesn't look over the water and stuff, it is located by the entrance of Granville Island making it easy to find.

The menu is definitely limited to burgers, salads, soups, and fish and chips. Which is fine with me. The place is pretty crowded and definitely awkward when sitting next to someone else you don't know, cause you can hear everything they're talking about. They seem to have a lot of regulars too.

My friend ordered their lunch special which was the fish and chips with cod, cole slaw, fries, and clam chowder. I had the fish and chips with salmon, fries, and cole slaw. The special was 10.99 and mine was 8.99 (because of salmon, it's a dollar more). The clam chowder was just okay, nothing special. The cod was.. kind of tasteless? I found my salmon decent, maybe a little fatty.. or maybe it was the oil. The fries were okay, steak cut. The tartar sauce could have been better. The salad was just cole slaw salad, nothing special. Friend could not finish her meal, said the clam chowder to be very filling. And I was stuffed, most likely cause this is my first meal in awhile with meat content and because everything on my plate was deep fried.

I wouldn't especially recommend this place for somewhere like Granville Island, there are many other restaurants nearby to eat at. But then, I haven't had fish and chips for awhile.. so don't take my opinion on this restaurant too seriously.

Ali Shan Restaurant

This restaurant is part of Crystal Mall but is not accessible through the inside of the mall. You need to walk outside in the middle pathway towards Station Square and take a right before the staircase to find it.

Came here during the weekend to grab a quick lunch with another fellow food blogger and my bf. First time, never knew about this place and it is a bit hard to find.

The look and some of the images can definitely be renewed, but it isn't drastically horrible. Unfortunately, they have this doorway frame with nothing covering it that leads into the kitchen. I sat directly in front of that thing, so it was pretty awkward.

The service was efficient but minimal, as expected. Our meals did come with their teas though, which are kind of similar to a tea for used for bubbletea (no pearls though).

My bf and his friend both ordered the bibimbap and I had the Hawaiian fried rice and we shared a side of their deep fried tofu. The tofu itself was not flavoured (not even salted) so you had to eat it with the kimchi that it came with or this garlic/onion/soy sauce mix that came with it, which isn't too bad. The bibimbap was huge and both the guys seemed to enjoy it though it was quite spicy. My Hawaiian fried rice was decent, it had flavour without meat and was large portioned. I think they could have added a few more veggies though. It was also quite a large portion.

Each dish was less than 7 dollars (before tips). I will definitely go back to try some other dishes, since they have a few vegetarian dishes.

Recommended for a quick bite.

DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED: Chada Thai

So dinehere.ca won't let me post this on their site because it's Canadian based, so this will be an exclusive blog to my personal food blogger. There's another Chada Thai restaurant that I posted before that's in Coquitlam, but I don't think the one I'm about to write about is connected to it in any way.

Chada Thai is located just across the borders in Blaine, Washington at 825 Peace Portal Drive. Both my bf and I agreed that just going to this restaurant is well worth the wait at the borders and the drive down. That's how good it is.

Sure, the place is in serious need of a renovation, new seats, deco, paint, tables, everything. It looks a little old. But it does have a great view of the water and boats. The owners are a little odd and we had a bit of a language barrier. Both owners spoke Thai and not much English. Not a problem, they understood the basics of what we wanted. The service was decent and we didn't wait long for our food.

Boyfriend ordered a yellow curry called Gaeng Ga Ree, which had potatoes, shrimp, peanuts, peppers, carrots, onions, etc. Because it was lunch, it also came with rice. They didn't charge for the additional rice we asked for. I had their Pad Kee Mao with tofu which is a spicy rice noodle dish with veggies (broccoli, peppers, onions, carrots, celery). Both dishes were nicely presented. The curry was in a ship shaped plate, with a bit of coleslaw salad for decoration. Mine was on a big round plate also with same decorations. They were nicely portioned too and really fresh ingredients. Cooked perfectly so you don't lose flavours, nutrients, or get soggy veggies.

My dish was nicely spiced, the broccoli was delicious, everything was just yummy. I couldn't stop eating. I would have liked more noodles, but no complaints. There were a LOT of veggies on there. The rice noodles were separated into pieces and not globbed up like other Thai restaurants in Vancouver area. The curry was the best Thai curry I've ever had. The potatoes were soft, carrots and others were not overcooked, and when you tasted the curry, oh man. When you're smelling it and eating it, there's a very fragrant taste. Very aromatic. I've never had that same smell or taste with any other Thai restaurants, it was so special.

Needless to say, I stuffed my face. The dishes weren't expensive either, especially for the portions, quality, and taste of it. Plus they give you options of what veggie/meat/tofu you want in your dish, making it accessible to vegetarians too.

They take Canadian too, just in case you happen to forget your USD. Definitely recommended, a must go if you're going across borders. I will be back for sure.

Tim Horton's

Timmy Ho's as I call it. I've worked here too. Their logan, "Always Fresh", is usually not a lie. Brewed coffee lasts 20 mins before it gets dumped out. The "freshly baked oven goods" are really just shipped in boxes and then baked at the location. So no, they do not make the dough and sprinkle cinnamon on it or something. It is pre-packaged and made and just needs to be baked.

Tim Horton's usually features a different food product every month. Once over, they take the special item off the menu. I haven't had a lot of their food since I quit my job there, but I do like Tim Horton's food over Starbucks. And not to mention it's better portioned as well as a CANADIAN franchise.

Drinks here are usually made from powdered form, so that includes the flavoured cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and so on. Their famous Ice Caps are made from heavy cream and an iced java mix. The heavy cream is quite fatty, but can be substituted with skim milk. I prefer it this way cause I find the heavy cream makes the drink too thick. Tim Horton's steeped tea is recommended and I also like a lot of their teas over the Starbucks ones. The lattes taste okay, but unsure of how they actually make them. I'm guessing it comes out from one of their new machines, not actually frothed and stuff by a steamer.

Food wise, they have doughnuts. Everyone knows. My favourite would be the maple doughnut, Boston cream, Canadian maple, honey cruller, and that's it. Sandwiches are good too, turkey bacon and chicken club. Not recommended are: chicken salad (dipped in mayo), egg salad (made of mayo), ham and swiss (ham smells funny), and yeah. The soups are powdered mixes with water, so no, it's not made at the store. Many people love the chili and other soups, I think they're okay, not the best. Bagel wise, I find the 7 grain has way too much texture. Whole wheat is healthy, but doesn't taste as good. The everything bagel is delicious when paired with the herb and garlic cream cheese.

Other than Ice Caps, steeped teas, and tea bags, I wouldn't really recommend the drinks here. The coffee is okay too.

Hope this helps you to figure out what your "usual" at Tim Horton's is.

Starbucks

Found ALL OVER THE GLOBE.

Anyways, I thought I would do a blog on Starbucks, considering that I work there now. The quality of the drinks are just okay, I'm positively sure there are many other places with higher quality materials that make a better drink.

A lot of the times, the taste of your drinks will definitely vary between baristas. New partners will always be there and they might make your drink wrong. Honestly, almost all drinks are just flavoured with syrups. And each pump of syrup has a disgusting amount of sugar, calories, and carbohydrates.

I've had a lot of the drinks now, the fraps are fatty and often start separating (ice and actual drink) within 20 mins or so. Depending on when you go in and how busy it is and who the barista is, ordering hot drinks might not be the best idea. Why? Espresso shots at Starbucks only last for 10 seconds, but many people just throw it into the hot beverages anyways and this SERIOUSLY affects the drink. I've had coworkers do this to my drinks and it tastes horrible. Quality wise, it's not there. The apple juice has no nutritional value, no vitamin C, no vitamin A, just empty calories, sugars, and carbs. The new "full leaf teas" don't taste as good as the old ones.

With that said, my recommendations for drinks here: caramel macchiato (if you like semi-sweet), white mocha (ask for one pump less than usual for syrups, sweet), iced tea lemonades (easy ice), java chip frappacino (sweet), strawberry banana vivanno, breve latte, and so on.

Do not get the espresso shots from Starbucks, heard recommendations for Nespresso (at the Bay by Granville Skytrain station). Don't get the green tea latte (especially not with foam, it's disgusting). Vanilla rooibos teas are gross too. I would recommend the tea lattes and definitely hot chocolates from Blenz. Hot chocolates from Starbucks is not recommended; it may look nice, but it's just pre-mixed mocha syrup with milk and doesn't have the same richness from Blenz (cause they use actual Belgian chocolate chips). Americanos are better found at JJ Bean.

Food wise, lemon poppyseed loaf is good. Banana loaf is popular, but I'm not really a fan. The chicken bruschetta sandwiches have had great responses and the paninis too. I definitely do not like the low fat fruit bars, egg salad sandwich, and the protein plates.

Anyways, enough with that. Hope this helps a little bit.

BAD: Anducci's

They have several locations, but I went to the one in Burnaby in Lougheed area, on 9604 Cameron Street.

Was here last night for my boyfriend's birthday dinner. He gave warnings that since they've changed management the past year, the food has definitely gone downhill.

Warning was right. As soon as we entered, I found the place in need of a bit of renovations. The drip looking paint looks kind of odd, the pictures don't have a theme to it, the music doesn't suit the mood, and it's too dimly lit.

The waitress was not happy to work there, took an hour for her to come and take out orders. And then another while for our food. The wait for our food made sense since we had 18 people with us, but an hour just to get our orders? No smiles and a bit of snooty attitude too. They served one calamari dish at our table and one person was eating that for half an hour or something. And the drinks were long done before the food came.

Since the place was known for pasta dishes, that's what most people got. I didn't hear any compliments really. Other than the fact that it's pretty generously portioned. The presentation is definitely lacking. All dishes were served in what looked like a big bowl. I heard complaints about the pizza, think it was the one with Italian sausage. The people who ordered it are also fellow food bloggers, and said that the pizza tasted a lot like a big piece of pita bread (looked like it too) with absolute minimal sauce and sprinkling of meat on top. I ordered the spinach and cheese cannelloni, which looked okay, but was very very bland. No amount of pepper or extra cheese would have saved it. Even though the whole thing was swimming in sauce it still tasted bland.

For 16 dollars or so per pasta dish, it wasn't worth it. The only thing Anducci's got right was the portion size. On top of that, they already did an automatic charge for service fee. This was necessary for a group as big as ours, but astounding that it was over 20% in tips or something. Most places charge about 15% which I am happy to give (or even more depending on food and service) but 20% for food like that and minimal service for a 21st birthday party.. I will definitely not be recommending this restaurant nor will I be returning. It may have scarred me from trying the other Anducci's locations too.

Sandbar Seafood Restaurant

On Granville Island looking over the water, 1535 Johnston.

For some odd reason.. about half the people ordered a pasta dish, 3 of them were the same. I heard no complaints or compliments. I heard the halibut is absolutely to die for and paired with a glass of white wine. The dragon boat dish (for two) had good squid and ribs, dumplings and spring rolls were mediocre. Two friends ordered the lettuce wrap.. did not look good. I ordered a tuscan flat bread, super delicious, and the margherita pizza. The pizza was super thin crust and loaded with really good cheese, but you could only taste the cheese mainly. Not bad at all though, was yummy anyways. Except both my pizza and flat bread was a little burnt on the edges.

Unfortunately, being a brand new adult, the birthday girl had to take the blowjob drink in between someone's legs.. and the waiter was a pretty good sport about it. He was very nice, very accommodating, and knew his wines. We ordered a couple of drinks, lay it on, tequila shots, blowjob, gin and tonic, light red wine, white wine, etc.

It is a bit more pricey than your regular dinner, but it's expected in these environments. Oddly they didn't give us a window seat looking over the water since we reserved the table a week beforehand.

Recommended. Just don't order the weird Chinese foods on the menu.. go to a Chinese restaurant for those.

Second visit: Had wonderful service from a server named Sean (super tall guy) and had great food. We ordered a lot of seafood, including the dragon boat (yet again), manila clams, two of their mussel manias- thai and tomato provenicia sauces, sorbet, and creme brulee. Dragon boat is still the same, same issues for me. The ribs weren't too bad.. but seemed a little out of place on the plate really. Manila clams are definitely yummy if you're into shell fish. Mussels were good, the red thai curry one is better though and it's a great deal. Ten dollars for mussels, a beer (Granville Island honey lager, pale ale, etc), and fries. Waiter recommended me a beer.. it was better than the honey lager but forgot what it was called. And sorbet was super fruity, but I still think the creme brulee is better though it could be improved, especially the custard part.

Thai House

This location is at the corner of Kingsway and McKay in the Station Square plaza area. They also have locations in downtown (Robson and Thurlow ish? by Tropika) and I think another one in Richmond.

Came here last week with a friend, got a pad thai and vegetarian lettuce wrap. It was pretty slow cause it was mid afternoon.. around 4 ish? So there weren't many people. Service was brief, but came when I gave them a bit of eye contact.

Each dish was 11.95 and generously portioned. We shared the dishes but still had like almost half to take home. The pad thai came with pretty large sized shrimp. The lettuce wrap tastes more authentic than the one at Green Basil, and tastes better too cause the tofu that is used at Green Basil is entirely deep fried.

The service here was fine, like I said, very few customers. It was weird though, they constantly topped off our waters but didn't say a single word to us. And the restaurant is run by Chinese people.

The place isn't over decorated, it's okay, nothing special.

I'll come back maybe, maybe not. Wouldn't recommend or bash the restaurant.

La Bretagne

On Jervis and Robson.

Came by three days ago for a quick crepe with the bf. I've been meaning to try it out as I go past out sometimes and by recommendation from a coworker.

The place is kind of.. classy? fancy? unsure.. for a crepe place. It's around the corner from a Starbucks and off Robson, so it's a bit more quiet. They play some soft music in the background, nicely lit place. I think it would look better if the server had a more formal attire instead of the store t-shirt, it would complete the look of the place better. It's fairly clean, but do check your utensils before using cause they just have them set out already all day until someone uses them.

Reason why I gave a two for service was because the server had a very snooty attitude, like she's too good to serve me? But she was polite I guess. No smiles eiither. Just did not like her attitude. And I had to wait to order.. she kept going back to all the other tables to check, again and again, but not ours. Don't know what her problem is.

The menu is a bit pricier than Cafe Crepe, but I think it's worth it. The crepes range from 5-15 dollars, and I think the savoury crepes seem to be larger in size. They also have a few specialty ones, which I'll try the next time I go. They also offer wines and beers here.

We ordered sweet crepes, one is the Belgian chocolate with strawberries and another apple and cinnamon (no alcohol, no time). The crepe itself tastes much better than the one at Cafe Crepe, the chocolate was absolutely delicious, and fresh strawberries. The cinnamon and apple was okay, but I think the moistness from the apples tampered with the overall taste. Both dishes were presented nicely as well. You can definitely taste the difference that quality makes.

Anyways, I'll be back to try some of their other items. If you have an hour to spare and want a high quality crepe, La Bretagne is definitely recommended.

Green Basil

4623 Kingsway Street, Burnaby across from Metrotown.

Came here after on a Saturday night during the Olympics. The food was okay, liked the look of the place, normally priced food (around 10-17 dollars per entree), decent portion size, and bad service.

Everyone who works here are Chinese and constantly speak Cantonese. Plus everytime someone comes in that looks of Asian descent they seem to try and speak Cantonese to them too. They left the TV on and we stayed a bit longer (10:30 ish) chatting, all the while the waitress was giving my boyfriend dirty looks (no, not the sexual kind).

The restaurant looks clean, liked the decor, the colours. No chipped plates or cups in sight. Did not like the fact that we were so close to another table though.. we were sitting next to some extremely Chinese people.

We were eating with another couple, they ordered a fresh fruit fried rice or something, and what looked like peppered beef or chicken. They said it was decent, nothing to brag about. The boyfriend had a yellow curry with a side of rice, said it was just okay. I had the phak vegetable tom yum soup.. which was okay. It just had lots of random vegetable pieces floating around in it (a snowpea, a tomato, cabbage, etc). I also had the phak vegetable lettuce wrap. I'm used to the Chinese version of this.. so it's different for me. First time I ordered a "Thai" lettuce wrap, I liked it. Tasted good, ingredients looked fresh. I would order it again since the lettuce wrap normally doesn't have a vegetarian option to it, nice change.

Lunch special is gross, the curry is not worth it at all.

Cupcakes

Thurlow location in downtown.

I love to bake and was super excited to try my cupcake from here. Honestly, it's just mediocre for me. The only plus for the actual cupcakes here is the fluffiness of the cake part. There is way too much icing on the cupcake and way too much sugar. Each time I have a whole cupcake here I have a really bad sugar rush and get incredibly hyper.

The store is really.. awfully pink, but it's cute? For 3 something per cupcake, I would rather go down to Granville Island's market place and get a more special dessert.

Acacia Fillo Bar Cafe

1103 Denman Street right by English Bay.

Showed up at this place a couple of weeks ago with a friend. As soon as I went in, I thought maybe I was in the wrong place? The inside is properly lighted, and by night they put on the candles. They have a self serve water station and the walls have painted trees and fences, really loved it.

I had the spinach and mushroom fillo and my friend had the philly steak one. She liked hers, as did I, but I had a problem with the actual fillo part. It was EXTREMELY salty for some odd reason, and I had to drink like 2 cups of water. I dunno if it was just that day or maybe they're suppose to taste like that? The philly steak one also tasted incredibly salty, the flaky part. That's why I gave it only a 3. But the ingredients were definitely fresh. The salad was a nice touch, and the best part of my plate were the roasted potatoes and yams. They were PERFECT, like they were meant to be at the highest class restaurant. YUMM. I was too full to have any dessert, but they looked really good.

Each of our dishes were about 10 something, totally worth it. I wouldn't so much as come back for the fillo, seeing how salty it is, but those roasted veggies are oh so good. And might go back to try the desserts.

RECOMMENDED: Phnom Penh

On East Georgia and Main area, Chinatown.

Came here after seeing all the reviews. Only got take out, which was a veggie fried rice and a small order of their famous chicken wings. It was a week night, but at least half their tables were filled which is odd, especially with their location. They greeted right when we came in.. and gave us menus.

The service was okay, the lady pointed out things that she could turn into a vegetarian dish for me. My boyfriend tried to convince me to go un-vegetarian for their chicken wings cause they're so good. It smelled amazing though. I got the fried rice and though it's a veggie one, it was still really really good (not just a bland taste like many other restaurants).

The place is really oddly decorated, like they have no idea what they're doing. Though it's a Cambodian and Vietnamese restaurant, everyone seemed to be speaking in Cantonese. Not much of a surprise I guess.

Our order came to about 20 dollars with a tip. I will definitely be back.

RECOMMENDED: Chill

5507 Kingsway Street and Denbigh.

Finally, a great place to sit in for bubbletea and food! This place will now be the new hangout spot for that. I am incredibly glad I came here to try this place.

To start off, the place seemed to be pretty busy already when we came in at about 9pm on a Friday night, especially since it's new. The server was super nice, came to greet me and asked how many were in my party and even asked me which area I would prefer to sit in and gave me an estimate wait time. She came back as soon as she cleared the table and set me up with menus, and let me know I'll be getting another server for the rest of the night to help me out. Our server gave us enough time to order and were very patient even though we took awhile. Very attentive and actually smiles!

I ordered the usual taro milk tea (no pearls) and a tofu hot pot. Friends ordered a shrimp and pineapple appy, calamari (no dipping sauce though), green apple calpis slush, and matcha ice cream with pearls. My order came without rice, but the server asked me if I wanted it afterwards, very nice (didn't charge me extra for it either). I really liked my bubbletea, so did my friends. They said their food was good, but the pineapples didn't really go well with the shrimp, and they found their appy small portioned. But I thought all our drinks were great.

The server came back a couple of times to check on us, not in an interruptive way though. The tofu pot was a deal, only 7 bucks and I found it pretty good and nicely presented too. The bubbleteas are at the same price of Estea (4-5 dollars) but were well worth it.

The entire place looks great. It's dimly lighted, lots of red, modern, clean, sleek, very comfy seats. They have bigger tables for bigger parties. They didn't rush us at all and the rest of the staff were very friendly as well. I will DEFINITELY be back. They have evaluations that you can do when they give you your bill. The only thing I would ask to be changed is that they expand a bit more on the bubbletea menu, add a couple of specials instead of the usual drinks (they do have alcoholic bubbletea though!).

Thanks Chill, you put Estea and their incredibly terrible service to shame! Recommended for sure!

Sushi Go

570 Bute Street.

I came back to give them another couple of tries to make a better review, plus the owner here is very nice and one of the girls at the counter is very friendly.

From my previous review, I complained about the maki style avocado rolls (which is not what most other sushi joints do), really badly made yam tempura (which is STILL a problem- sticks of yam to batter ratio is like 1:1) and their poorly seasoned rice, which I think is still a problem. Since then, I've changed back to eating meat. So I gave the chopped scallop roll a try. The actual scallop is good, but VERY minimal. It's like, 3/4 rice and 1/4- but my coworker advised me this varies hugely between sushi chefs. Chicken dynamite roll is probably their best I think, it's pretty good- not traditional sushi though, more westernized cause it's flavoured with sauce on top really. The Alaska roll is okay, nothing wrong with ingredients here but I found it too mushy (salmon and avocado). Dynamite roll is just mediocre, same goes for California roll. The yam tempura is still an issue for me though.

The place looks clean with modern furniture, so I'll give them that. If I order anything, it'll be the chicken dynamite roll. The prawn one is okay too. The pricing is expected, considering that it's in the downtown area- around 2.50-3.50 for most rolls.

HORRIBLE: Domo Sushi

1160 Melville Street.

I work in the area and was looking for a regular lunch spot. As I've tried the Sushi Go at Bute already I thought I would give Domo's a try. Boy was that a bad decision.

I came into the place, and was greeted by a Chinese lady.. trying to speak in Japanese. She asked me if I wanted take out or sit in, and I said for take out. She passed me a menu and proceeded to talk to the chef in Cantonese really loudly and was trying to train this new employee. I speak Cantonese as well.. and the lady was extremely irritable and wasn't treating the new employee very nicely to start off with. I just felt bad for the new woman about to start working at Domo's.

The food came out pretty quickly, I'll give them that. Cause no one else was in the store anyways. They seem to do mostly take out. The rolls are about 2.50 and up, but even at that price, the value is only mediocre cause the sushi tasted so bad.

I ordered the usual yam tempura roll and avocado roll. Okay. Here it goes. Worst sushi ever. The rice was too moist and mushy, and too little of it coating the outside of the sushi. It was also inconsistently seasoned, so that after I ate one piece the next piece would taste like it had a lot of vinegar in it. The avocados they used are too ripe.. like they've been there for a couple of days. Oh god, the yam tempura roll was awful. The yam itself was overcooked, and there was no batter before they deepfried it. It was just like, sliced and dumped in oil so it's this soaked oily thin layer of stuff. It was just bad. And the portions were very small. I don't know if it's an off day, but that was horrible. I ended up visiting my other work place and going to Momo Sushi on Bidwell to get a new sushi order.

The store itself looked kind of clean. Kind of sketchy. The washroom is like.. also their storage room or something.

Not recommended at all and will not return.

RECOMMENDED: Chili Pepper House

3003 Kingsway Street.

I've been here numerous times with my boyfriend and friends. He's more like a carnivore and I'm a vegetarian. The menu has a lot of choices for vegetarians as well as dishes with meat, so definitely nice for me.

There's not usually a line up at the place so there's no need to make reservations. The staff here are very friendly, and they always remember to come refill waters and ask about the food. The food is decent, but like some of the other reviews, I found it a bit salty. My boyfriend got this deep fried shrimp dish that he really enjoyed. Usually the fried rice (any is good) is really good, at times they may be a bit heavy with the garlic. The tofu is really delicious, it had a nice mixture of spices and it was deep fried, but not to the point that it was dripping with oil. I've tried their veggie soup.. which was a little bland for me. But their sweet and sour soup is yummy and they have a vegetarian alternative! Their portions are pretty big, so don't order big soups unless you're sharing with a few people, same with the rest of the dishes (includes appetizers). Sweet and sour tofu is good too, not as good as the other one with garlic though. The masala vegetarian egg noodles are yummy, but a bit oily. But it's still really good.

The place itself is clean, very simple. Nothing fancy with the ambiance, but that's okay. I like their food. Would definitely go back. Good value too. Must come back for a lunch, they have a great deal for 6 bucks that includes food and drink!

Momo's Sushi

833 Bidwell Street and Robson.

I've been a regular here for several months. The food has definitely gone down since they're opening. The food hasn't shrunk too much, it's just the quality of the food has gone down.

I've ordered their lunch boxes, the sashimi was still partially frozen one time. Salmon slice was not even cut to the size of the nigri sushi, it just kept trailing on. My once favourite yam rolls here are now not crunchy, almost always cold, and has 75% batter and 25% yam. Any of their rolls containing crab meat tastes a little off to me. The dynamite roll can sometimes have microscopic sized prawn tempura (oh, and all tempuras used for rolls are premade). They do have a decent chopped scallop roll, but I've been told by my friend that she doesn't like it at all. The rolls aren't well put together (problem since opening), cause it ALWAYS falls apart. The rice isn't very well seasoned with vinegar and can sometimes be a mess on your roll, like weird chunks hanging off a piece of sushi.

With that said, your order DEFINITELY varies from chef to chef. One guy makes the lunchboxes beautifully and tastes great, while the other slops on the food. So really depends on how lucky you are. They still have fairly cheap sushi and great deals, so I guess you're really getting what you paid for now.

The chefs aren't very friendly, but the people working at cash (especially the guy with glasses) is super friendly, which kinda makes up for it. I don't know if I'll continue eating lunch here, may have to find new place.

Afghan Horsemen

1833 Anderson Street outside of Granville Island. Second floor.

Came here last night for my 19th birthday with reservations for 24 people.. and here's how it went down.

Okay, each dish was from about 14-20 dollars, with shared platters for about 35 bucks between two people (there was a LOT of food for those platters). Almost everyone really liked their food and was super filling (huge portions). It was understandable that the food took a little while with the amount of people we had and how busy the restaurant was, but it was just bad that it took an hour for MY food to arrive (I ordered in the first batch or orders.. and people were already halfway through their food before I got mine).

I had a few iffy's with the vegetarian dishes, and the reason why I only gave the food a 3 was because I just disliked my dish a lot. Honestly, everyone elses food looked great and smelled great too.. I must have ordered the wrong thing. I got the dolmah and veggies plate. It was a couple of lumps of stuff on my plate. Overcooked spinach, overcooked cauliflower, overcooked eggplant, undercooked half a potato, and the dolmah (wrap with rice in it, about half the size of my fist). It was bland and gross, and took one hour for them to get it to me. So I was pissed. Everyone else's dishes looked amazing though. Sigh.

The place looked great, outside doesn't look like much but the inside looks very nicely decorated, with dimmed lights and paintings. What kinda ruined it was the tv right above our table.. should take it out. There was live belly dancing which was pretty cool. They should turn down the music a bit though.

I think the service here is just incredible. The owner of the store is very friendly, and the server we had remembered my name, and wished me a happy birthday as well. He was very patient with my party even though 1/3 of my guests came 45 mins late. Before I left and went up to the register to pay, the server asked me how old I was turning, which is 19. He was shocked that I had never had a drink before, and so insisted on getting me my first shot. He made me an "Afghan" shot, which is like 2 and a half shots in one. Needless to say, it was hilarious and I had a great time despite my yucky food.

I'll come back to try some of their other dishes, I probably just ordered the wrong thing. Had an amazing night and would recommend it for both just to have dinner or have a party.

Kam Do

8391 Alexander Road in Richmond

I've been here time after time with my family and friends whenever I go to Richmond for lunch or something. The place, I would have to say, has above average food compared to some of the other Hong Kong style cafes.

Like usual, the service is much like other Chinese restaurants. Very brief but efficient, don't have to wait for long to get your order or to come take your order. They come by routinely to refill drinks. And the people are more nice than some of the other Chinese restaurants too.. I noticed sometimes when I go to HK style cafes they have like hostile service or something. So no complaints about that here.

I like the food here, but I mainly gave it a 4 because of the bakery. It has some delicious Chinese pastries (not like your average Maxim or Pinehouse bakery standards) so definitely give it a try. The green bean one is deelish. The lunch menus are good, some variety and the food, like I said, is above your average HK cafes. I haven't had anything bad from here.

The lunch menu is definitely a good value, it's inexpensive with large portions and decent quality (for the price you pay) and also get a drink. Best of all, they give you one free refill! No other place will do that (not that I know of). I have yet to come here for dinner, but lunch is always a good value here.

The look of the place can definitely get an upgrade, but it's not to the point where it just looks like a dump, no worries. But with a bit of a touch up, it would be great. Although the ambiance doesn't really affect much for me, cause I'll definitely be back!

Mezbaan

Located at 3499 Kingsway, Vancouver. Across from Subway.

I know the menu says fine dining.. but it's not really? And it also says it's fusion food.. but it's not really that either. There's like 2 dishes that are "fusion". Other than that, it was decent. Came here for dinner though, not lunch. Will try the lunch special soon.

Came here with a couple of friends. We had the vegetable samosas to start, which were good. They were kind of small I think and took a long time for some reason. Friends ordered the butter chicken, another.. curry with chicken in it, the chicken biryani, and vegetable biryani. Side orders of plain naan and the bread basket which came with garlic naan, plain naan, and lechhedar parantha. All really good. Liked the butter chicken curry (just the curry sauce, I'm a vegetarian). Whatever curry with chicken it was, it had a little bit of a sweet taste to it? Also really good. Didn't like the chicken biryani so much, found it a little dry. But I loved my vegetable biryani, delicious. Medium spicy, with lots of veggies and big portion. None of us could finish our food, had to take it home. For dessert, we had the ras malai whi is an Indian cheese patty in a pistachio and almond sauce. First time we had Indian dessert, the texture is a little odd (kinda like soaked bread?) but flavour is great.

The waiter/chef was really nice, and gave us recommendations. Noticed a lot of people ordering take out. The dishes were reasonably priced (most entrees range from 10-13 dollars).

The restaurant can definitely use a better make over, the place is all ORANGE. Well I guess you can't miss it whenever you go past it. But it could use some more authentic decor besides the framed pictures.

I will definitely try the lunch special that everyone raves about. Recommended place for Indian food.

Euro Deli and Market

3665 Kingsway, Vancouver, in the little plaza area by Bikram and Starbucks.

Been here several times, haven't had bad experiences. The people who work here are friendly, usually the same staff. They're usually busy during lunchtime.

I've had the vegetarian sub and sandwich. The sandwich one was on foccacia bread.. or whatever it's called. This one was definitely more tasty than the sub version, but is much smaller in portion size. The pesto mayo in it is really good. I got the italian sub for my boyfriend once. He said it was really bland, so I'm not too sure, that's why I only gave it a 3.

The owner is super friendly, I accidentally walked into the store when it was closed for renovations and he made me the sandwich anyways and thanked me for coming.

I gave it a 4 for value cause they definitely put an effort into the quality of the foods. Their veggies are fresh and the bread is really good too. No worries about it being a day old or whatever. And it's cheaper than your local Subway.

Recommended. I'll be back for another sub, it serves as both lunch and dinner, hahaha.

Honey Dessert House

3618 Kingsway by Boundary area, Vancouver side.

I've been here a couple of times, mainly because I live in the area and my cousin works here. They're drinks are just okay.. nothing special. Some of their more "special" drinks they just add tapioca to the bottom and stuff like that. Doesn't taste that great though.

They're decently priced for a sit in bubble tea place. Haven't tried their food yet.

The place is very..green. With stick on Ikea flowers on the walls for decorations. I think the place could definitely use some changes in their decor.

I gave it a 4 for service cause my cousin was serving us the last couple of times we've been here. But if you don't speak Cantonese or Mandarin, you may have a bit of a language barrier here.

Pho Hoang Vietnamese Restaurant

3388 Main Street.

Dropped by on a rainy weekday during midafternoon about 3. They had about 7 or 8 customers, with just one waitress, typical. The place is definitely more clean than your usual pho joint, and I love how they don't leave the chopsticks and spoons out for you to get yourself like a lot of other places, which is why I gave it a 4 for ambiance. But they play an odd combination of music.. from classical they switch it up to vietnamese music?

The lady who worked there seemed nice.. but it was just her, so she was constantly on her feet. Seemed like everytime she had something to say, she had to yell across the room in Vietnamese. Not much else to say. Oh, and my food came 5 mins after I ordered, which was nice.

I had the in season veggies with noodles in soup. Okay, by in season they meant one kind of vegetable (some kind of choy, looks kinda like bok choy) and carrots. That's it. But the soup base is above average.. I did find it a little salty though, not as in msg or too much salt, but like over seasoned? Maybe my soup was at the bottom of the pot and they didn't stir it as they served it out to customers or something. And they gave me more than enough noodles. For once I didn't drink cups and cups of water after having pho!

My noodles were 6.75, there are no choices for larges or smalls unfortunately. But it's a decent price for the amount and quality I got. Not too bad for a pho joint.

RECOMMENDED: Bowl Of Stars

3608 Kingsway Street, almost at Boundary.

Stopped by last week with a friend to try this place, since it's around the corner from my place. Always seems to be busy when I walk by, and for good reason.

This place advertises that it gives free bubbletea after 6 with an order of food. Honestly, it's just a hook. They normally have.. I think, two different choices for you- and don't pick the milk tea one. The milk tea is definitely powdered, I had the mango one last time, yuck. But other than that, I had a great time.

They have a limited menu, which is fine for me. Noodles take up almost the entire menu, but I chose to order one of the new items, kimchi and tofu hotpot, my friend ordered the satay beef with rice noodles. Mine was pretty good, and they give you a choice of either udon, rice, or rice noodle as your side dish. In the hotpot was kimchi, tofu, assorted veggies, and vermicelli. Yum, very good for the price you pay. And it's served with a lighted mini fire under the pot. My friend said hers was really good, but a little too much bean sprouts for her.

I like how they decorated the place, simple, lots of room to walk by people without having to listen to others' conversations. Not a fan of their music though. Loved the service, although they don't speak English very well. The server greeted me promptly, got me a seat and menu, and gave me time to pick. She'll notice when I'm ready and put my menu down, and gave me a couple of recommendations too. Without asking, she came by to refill water and even noticed when my water was a little low in my mini hotpot! Superb, no hovering servers!

My entire meal was only 8 bucks, and I think my friend's was 7. I will definitely be back, and I totally see why this place is usually full at night.

They also have Wifi if you need it.

Estea

Kingsway, Burnaby area.

Came here for the second time. I have a problem with this place, I'm torn about coming here for good bubbletea, but the people who work here makes me not want to go. Both times I went, there was just utterly terrible service.. and most of the servers don't understand half of what you're saying, and they screw up your orders too. And some of the girls dress.. inappropriately for work.

There's a limit of 2 hour seating. The drinks and food take a long time to arrive. And last time my bf's friend ordered his drink, they messed it up as a to go order, and asked all his friends to leave because you cannot drink a to go drink in the store. Wtf?! They messed up my friend's order of chicken with noodles, and took forever for the soya pudding with pearls.. which tasted so bland.

Why did I give them only a 3 for food? They're drinks are great, definitely above your normal Bubble World or Little Tea House, but the actual food isn't that great.

The atmosphere of the place is very cool, nice vibe. Really like it. Comfy chairs and stuff, clean, modern. Good hangout place with friends. Too bad there's a time limit.

I probably won't be back anytime soon, especially since I heard that Chill is better. We'll see.

Steamworks

375 Water Street, right outside of Waterfront Station.

Okay, I came here a couple months back for a double date. It was fairly crowded when we went.. I think it was a weekend night so good thing we made reservations. But even with reservations, we got crap seats right next to the big metal things on the lower floor. I wasn't happy about that.

The waiter that served us wasn't happy to be there and wasn't helpful either. Didn't give us enough time to order.

It's priced somewhat like Milestones or Joey's or something, but I feel that it's better food than say Earls or Milestones or those chains of restaurants. I recall most of us got pasta, mine was a cheese something.. it wasn't too bad, good portion, nothing special though. I do remember that one of us got something with chicken in it, and they said it tasted rubbery or something. So yeah. Didn't bother with desserts or appies, didn't like the place much.

The only real thing they've got going for them is the location, and a view if you're lucky enough to sit by the windows.

It's a big place, maybe it's good for parties and drinks?

Fish On Rice

On Kingsway of Burnaby area, near Old Orchard and second floor of nasty Earls.

Usually whenever I come here it's with a larger group of friends. The place is pretty clean and they normally give us a room to ourselves that looks over Kingsway area, which I really like.

Normally we do AYCE whenever we come here, and it's alright. One of my friends is a vegetarian, as am I. The food is okay, not great though. I like their agedashi tofu. The tempura is good too. They don't try to slice the sashimi too thin I've noticed.. but I have no idea how it tastes. I have a feeling their miso soup has a lot of msg.. cause I always chug water after I drink it. Also their salad.. don't bother. It's like prepackaged salad mix dumped in there with a sauce on top, though I do like the sauce a fair bit.

The service really depends on how busy the place is. We normally don't have a problem with it, sometimes you may need to ask the waiter/waitress to refill tea or water, but no biggie.

It's affordable and has alright sushi. I'll go back, it's better than some overpriced AYCE places.

BAD: Curry King Cafe

Kingsway, Burnaby area.

I remember eating here awhile back. Though the place was clean with prompt service, the food was incredibly disgusting for me. Possibly it was an off day.. or I just ordered the wrong foods. But my brother loves to eat here for some reason.

I recall ordering the chicken cutlet with some kind of sauce with a side of spaghetti. The chicken was so overcooked that when I poked at it, it kinda started to just break apart. And the spaghetti was also extremely overcooked to the point where if I tried to pick it up with my fork, it would just break in half. I was downright angry with the quality of food they dished out and refused to eat it.. so I ended up going home to eat instead.

I would not come back here.

RECOMMENDED: New Town Bakery

West Pender location by Main Street.

I came by here from a recommendation of a coworker to try the coconut buns or something. Instead I tried their apple tarts (kind of odd considering it's a very Chinese bakery) but they were oh so good. I must have been lucky and gotten them super fresh. It was so flaky and buttery and warm, with the sweet apple sauce inside. My mouth just watered thinking about it again.

Anyways, there wasn't a line up luckily and I just got apple tarts. The place could definitely use a nice clean up but I will DEFINITELY be back soon.

Second Review: Samurai's Sushi

Davie Street location.

My last visit to this location was about two months ago. Today I came here with the bf and we ordered avocado rolls, chicken teriyaki and assorted tempura, dynamite roll, and spicy agedashi tofu.

The place wasn't busy, and I swear our orders came within 5 mins. Their avocado rolls have DEFINITELY shrunk big time. It's still bigger than most places.. but it's no longer the Samurai Sushi size. The Cambie location definitely has bigger portions. It wasn't made very well either, it just fell apart when I tried to pick it up, same goes for the dynamite roll. And the avocado roll just tasted really bland. Rice not seasoned well enough maybe? The tempura was just okay. The spicy agedashi tofu isn't that spicy at all.. and I have a feeling it may have been sitting there for a bit cause when it was served to us, it wasn't piping hot like it should have been if it were fresh. And remember to eat it right away or else it's gonna taste like a soggy mess. The chicken teriyaki came in a generous portion size. Not sure how that was, I'm a vegetarian. Also came with a miso soup, bf didn't complain about that..but I noticed he didn't finish it either.

Service, like I said was super quick. They constantly came back for refills and asked about food. So no problems here. They were very brief. All the food came up to about.. 21 or 23 dollars, I can't remember, but this place still has great value.

I'm hoping today was just an off day or something for them. Cause I do love Samurai's. Good luck guys, and hope your food improves.

La Casita

101 West Cordova in the Gastown area.

I came here a couple months back with my boyfriend and 3 other friends of his. I remember the downstairs area being very crowded because of a UFC game. I had the vegetarian quesidillias and a whole bunch of them got tacos and burritos. We were pretty stuffed from dinner and the service was nice too, cause it wasn't busy maybe. They came back to refill waters without asking but they weren't especially attentive.

Pretty good value if I recall.. it was about 10 bucks per entree. I would go back. But seems like the place has gone kind of downhill from the reviews before me. So maybe I'll go back.

Kimbob E Ramyun

423 Seymour Street and Hastings Street.

Came here during a quick break from school and got the veggie kimbob. The manager that worked there was very friendly and the girl who made my order was very sweet. I paid about 5 bucks for my order. I like the self serve area for water and napkins since it's not a restaurant place. It's annoying to have to ask for water.

The order was big. It would be an equivalent to one and a half size order of a california roll or something. It's a bit bland probably cause it's just all veggies. Not only that but the order comes with a soup too! Was a nice surprise. Will definitely come back next time to order ramen or something!

2001 Flavours

On West Pender.

Another pizza joint, often frequented by students in the area. The slices are big, very filling. Like the crust, but I think the pizza sauce is a bit watery the last time I had it. The toppings are great, they don't overdo it and it looks fresh. Service is pretty quick.

Good place to just grab a quick bite while on the go to class or work.

Pacific Culinary Arts Institute/ Bistro 101

Entrance of Granville Island.

I know, I may be a little ridiculous about this. To be clear, I did not actually dine in here, but I will soon for their lunch! I only got some desserts from their bakery there right at the entrance.

I had a hard time picking them cause they all looked so beautifully done. I actually settled on two desserts, one was given to my brother though. Each pastry was about 3 dollars and something. I would have gladly paid over 7 dollars for each of those if I knew how good they tasted. The only reason why I gave them only a 3 for service was because the girl behind the counter really didn't seem interested in helping me at all when I asked her for recommendations.

I gave the mini lemon meringue pie to my brother, who said it was really really good. I myself had the raspberry mousse. It was adorably done, half a sphere with a glaze of raspberry, dark chocolate swirl, blueberry, and these sweet puffy cookies stuck on the sides. The inside was really creamy, and it really brought out the raspberry taste of the mousse. The bottom layer is a spongy cake that makes the dessert balanced in sweetness. Like the title says, it's like an orgasm in my mouth. If my boyfriend were there, he would probably be jealous cause heck no would I share that with him, maybe just a bite, HAHA.

I will DEFINITELY come back here for desserts. And I will try their lunch menu to see how it goes. I may even see if they sell cakes so I can get one for my birthday!

54th Ave

In Champlain Square.

This place is much like Honolulu. The workers here are not friendly, but they're pretty efficient. I've come here quite a few times in the past couple of years, not for the food but because it's convenient and filling.

The prices are decent for the portion size they give you. it's usually no more than 13 dollars, usually below 10. The lunch combos are pretty good cause they include a drink as well. They have only about a handful of vegetarian dishes but it's not too bad. The vegetables with creamy sauce on rice is delicious. But some of their other items are just downright oily.

I recall this one time they were gonna kick out a friend of ours eating with us cause we brought outside food. We were quite upset since everyone else was ordering from the restaurant (we had about 10 people). But it's understandable so I won't hold that grudge against them.

Other than convenience, there's not much else going on for this place.

Bob's Deli

In the Champlain Square area at Extra Foods. At 54th Avenue.

Like the title says. I came here sometimes when I was in high school and always got their samosas. The people who work their are usually pretty friendly and even help to heat up your food. The veggie samosa here is nice and big, bit more than two dollars, and tastes great! And it's not super oily too.

Wings Tap & Grill

6879 Kingsway in Burnaby area, blocks and blocks past Metrotown.

I just came home from this place with my boyfriend and his car club buddies. They come to wings every other week for their wings special, and this is my first time joining them. I am a vegetarian, and it's nice that they still have some things to order for people like me.. such as nachos, fries, yam fries, salads, and stuff like that.

I assume their wings are pretty darn good if they come every other week. They have a variety of different flavours and during the night with their special, it's like 36 cents or something per wing (if you buy at least 10 of that flavour). It was very crowded on a Sunday night. Even though the place was packed (with a line up!) the service was nice, our waitress always came back to ask how the food is, refilled our waters/drinks, and came back routinely to collect our plates (even though I noticed almost all are waitresses in low cut shirts and short skirts). One of the guys even tried the famous bobby wing, hahaha (he's okay). I ordered the nachos, which is $9. It was huge, with lots of toppings, cheese, green onions, anchovies, with guacomole dip (extra), salsa, and sour creem. It's pretty good with different kinds of tortilla chips. The service was a little slow, which is understandable for such a busy place. But it is kind of cramped seating if you have a group more than 5 or 6.

Honestly, their music could be turned down a little (top 20's kind of radio music) and yeah. I like how it's dimly litted. All in all, I'm sure it would be a great hang out for meat lovers, and it's semi-vegetarian friendly too.

HORRIBLE: Sui Sha Ya

Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam by the Henessey place and Best Buy.

I think this is the worst sushi restaurant (not take out) I've been to so far. I knew this place was crappy, but I didn't realize it would be THIS bad. Other than the look of the place (kind of, not really), everything else is just HORRIBLE.

First of all, the service was just bad. We were greeted by a waiter as soon as we walked in. No wait, not greeted, he just stared at us and told us there would be no AYCE. Not even a hi. Showed us to our table and we had to wait awhile for the tea.

The prices are too high for the crap food that they give you. We had 4 people, including myself. There was a beef teriyaki rice bowl with tempura, chicken teriyake rice bowl with tempura, gomae (spinach with peanut sauce), spicy agedashi tofu (spicy deep fried tofu), yam tempura roll, and mixed vegetable green soba.

Okay. Both the rice bowls are decently portioned but didn't taste great. The gomae was in a cube shape with sauce dumped on top. The tofu looked REALLY oily. I ordered the roll and soba. The roll.. ugh. It was so poorly made. As soon as I tried to pick it up, it just fell apart. The rice wasn't packed well enough, and who the hell puts Japanese mayo in a yam tempura roll?! My mixed vegetable soba, it was so bland. For some reason they put 2 random fish cakes on my noodles, and the "mixed veggies" were zucchini, carrots, and cabbage. It was so gross I couldn't even finish it.

The service and staff was about as great as their food. The people who worked there yelled out in Chinese to each other while working. Don't expect a Japanese person working here. We had to ask for a tea refill twice before they did it. No one smiles here, and they don't come to you unless you ask them a couple of times.

I will never come back here. If you want to throw away your money.. by all means, eat at this place.

Chada Thai

2991 Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam.

Boyfriend and I came here with a couple of friends for dinner on New Years Eve. We had no problems getting seats and the service was fine even though the restaurant was busy. Noticed a LOT of people came in to get take out though.

We were given menus and water was refilled without asking. From what I recall others ordered, their curries are okay. The skewers were good. The salad was bad. My boyfriend ordered the yellow curry with rice. I thought it was decent with a good portion size. I ordered a pad thai with a tofu substitute instead of the meat. It was pretty good, not super saucy and presented nicely. What made me only give the food three stars was that they put a cole slaw mix on the side of my dish. Who puts coleslaw on a pad thai dish? I would rather they take out that part and put more noodles in, yeesh. It looked like they took it out of the prepackaged salads. My dish was a good portion size, not to the point where I have to take some of it home. None of us bothered with appies or desserts.

Nice touches: the water had cucumber slices in it. Gave it a more refreshing taste I found.. but some people didn't like it. They should have asked and warned before doing that. The ambiance of the restaurant is nice. Dimly litted, nicely painted, great Thai decorations hanging around and statues too.

Warning: their washrooms apparently are really hot. I quote one of my friends coming back and saying, "Oh my god, it feels like a 100 degrees in there." I have no idea why.

The Bombay Restaurant

2748 Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam.

I came here.. last year to meet my boyfriend's friends for the first time. I am not an expert at Indian food either.. so everything ordered and paid for was from one of his friends who is Indian.

The restaurant itself was a little dim for dinner, which was nice and it had plain colours on the walls. I don't remember too many decorations. There were lots of different kinds of curries but I didn't try them all (I'm a vegetarian). They were pretty good, but I found them a little spicy. I think my favourite must of been the flavoured naan bread, I think it was garlic flavoured. Really yummy. I remember ordering dessert.. it was two round balls in rose water. It was waaay to sweet for me to handle. But all in all, it was a nice dinner.

I don't remember exactly how much the bill came to, it was from about 150-200 cause we had 7 or 8 people.

Tropika

Can be found at 1128 Robson Street.

My friends really like this place. Not sure why, I just think it's okay. The look of the restaurant is sleek, not really traditional Thai/Malaysian stuff, not many ornaments. The waiters are just all guys it seems, my cousin used to work here, so service was decent when I went.

I'm not really a fan of their desserts. The coconut fried rice I heard is okay, the pineapple fried rice is supposed to be really yummy. The vegetarian dish with curry and stuff is nice too, pretty filling. The pad thai is not bad, but definitely not the best but generously portioned. The prices for everything didn't go past $20, so it's okay.

The waiters here only come to take your order, bring your order, refill water, and take away your plates. They don't really smile or engage in any kind of interaction.

All in all.. an okay restaurant. It's at least better than Sala Thai on Burrard.

BAD: Tang Thai

New Tang Thai location that just opened up at the end of Robson by Denman (right next to Sammy's Hot Wings) has gained a bit of mixed reviews for me.

I've read some of the reviews for the location on West Broadway.. they don't completely apply to this restaurant. We came in on a pretty quiet Friday afternoon at about 3.. even though the sun was shining on Vancouver there weren't THAT many customers (and this is by the tourist-y bits too, near Stanley Park). As soon as we came in, we were greeted by a waitress.. that had a baby on her lap? Okay, and we were seated.

We had to wait just to place our orders in even though the restaurant wasn't busy. Not only that, but we had a long wait even though we had just the two entrees, green veggie curry and pad thai. They served to everyone AROUND us that came in after we did! All the while waiting, the waitresses just wandered around doing nothing and talking. The baby was crawling all over the place.. and at one point crawled into the kitchen area. And one of the waitresses was wearing a very fitted black dress with the back so low that it showed her entire back bra strap. Highly unprofessional. They should just have uniforms like a black or white dress shirt with black pants.

When we finally got our food.. I noticed my curry wasn't as big as I thought it would be. I don't eat Thai food that often (Tropika, Sala Thai, etc), but I know when my portion size is small. The veggie curry had very little sauce with it (but the sauce tasted great.. what there was of it anyways) and most of the vegetables did not look fresh, and also lacked in variety. Kind of looked like frozen peas and corn to me.. some VERY SHRUNKEN tofu, and some brocolli and red peppers. That's it. With a bowl of jasmine rice. My boyfriend had their pad thai, which was really really good surprisingly, but the shrimp in it was very small.

The waitresses did constant water refills without asking. I didn't bother with ordering dessert after my experience. When I came to pay the bill, I noticed that I got charged extra for the rice. The waitress never told me there was an extra charge for it (1.65) and just gave it to me with my curry with no warning. And each entree was 11.95.

The only thing I really liked was the decor. It had lots of purple, paintings, and little ornaments. But other than that.. nothing else.

Needless to say, I probably won't be back. Better places along Denman or Robson to spend my money. Maybe I'll come back for the pad thai. Maybe.

Book Kyung Ban Jeoum

1638 Robson Street, by Bidwell.

I came here with a bunch of coworkers for a farewell dinner, and it was pretty quiet when we went. Had somewhere about.. 15 people going and the service was decent. My coworkers drank, and had this special alcoholic drink that had yogurt in it? They seemed to like it a lot.

The service here is decent, despite the fact we had lots of people. One problem we had was that most of the people who work there don't actually speak English or had a hard time understanding what we wanted. We ended up writing all our orders down on a sheet and giving it to them, so that was fine. We never had to ask them to do refills, and they would routinely come by to see if we needed any more drinks. They were brief but friendly.

The food here is okay. A coworker of mine who's from Tazmania ordered the black bean noodle which he found way too spicy- of course I have no idea if that's his problem cause he's not used to hot food. Another coworker from France had a hard time eating his fried rice dish cause it was also too hot (don't think French people really eat spicy food either though). I had a dish with just cooked veggies on rice, and my boyfriend had something similar but with seafood on his. Both were just okay, nothing special. Dunno if it was just me, but I had to drink a lot of water while eating my dinner. The portion size is decent, but according to my bf (who's Korean), lots of other places give you bigger portions than this place does, so I'm not sure. The price was from about 9-15 dollars for an entree. No one bothered to get dessert.

Overall look of the restaurant is kind of sleek and clean. No fancy decorations or anything. They also have rooms for karaoke if that's what you're looking for. And they do play Korean music.

I wouldn't say my experience here is awful, but it's not the best either. I wouldn't mind going back, but I wouldn't recommend it either.

Pasta Polo

2754 Barnet Highway in Coquitlam.

Went here with my boyfriend for a late lunch/early dinner at about 4pm. It was almost empty, except for one other table, it picked up a bit a little later into our meal.

I like the atmosphere and the mood of this place. It's clean and relaxing, nice decorations. We were greeted as soon as we got in and was settled at a booth. The service was nice and the waiter came back to ask about our food and refilled our water without asking. Unfortunately we couldn't order from the lunch menu (it stops at 4, right when we were about to place our orders) so we chose from the dinner menu. We just got entrees, no appetizers or desserts.

I forgot what my boyfriend had..something with chicken on pasta. I had the eggplant one on pasta. It was okay, I liked the cheese topping on the eggplant a lot, but the actual eggplant kind of left an odd bitter taste in my mouth. The actual pasta was decent, but the tomato sauce that they used was kind of sour for me but still edible.

Overall, the value was okay and they give you a decent portioned meal. But I wouldn't come back for their pasta, it was only okay and plus I live in East Vancouver. My current favourite pasta joint would be the Well on Main (next to Bo Kong), fabulous food and decent prices.

DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED: The Well

Located at 3048 Main Street next to Bo Kong.

Okay, so I just went to the Well for a really late lunch/dinner today at about 5. I was a little unsure even after reading the other reviews cause it's a Saturday night and there were only a few people inside. But, thank god I sat down and ordered food. I went with two other friends.

We had their eggplant appetizer. It looks kind of small but is actually pretty filling for an appetizer. It has eggplant, zucchini, red onions, and spinach with a mix of tomato sauce and melted cheese on top. It was absolutely delicious (thanks for the recommendation in the earlier review!). For entree, we ordered a seafood pasta (my friend) which had a creamy alfredo sauce on top of penne and shrimp, salmon, and mushrooms. The sauce was so rich and creamy, but the mushrooms were the best. She said the shrimp was a tad overcooked and didn't like the fact that the skins were on. But I tried the penne, so yummy. I had a primavera pasta (a slight mix up with my order, I wanted the sandwich but the pasta seemed even better) with these really wide noodles (they were perfectly cooked! and great texture)with a tomato sauce (not sour at all) with sliced eggplant and zucchini with flat bread. Yum yum yum. And for dessert, the cheesecake, which isn't bad but I think the consistency of the actual cheesecake part could be better, the texture could be more smooth. We also ordered a creme brulee, which was absolutely amazing. The top thin layer of hard caramel and the super creamy inside..mmmMmMm. Anyways food was absolutely amazing, the portion size for the pastas are pretty big (couldn't finish).

The prices are fairly low too and are great value! I split my appetizer and dessert with my friend and paid 25 dollars with tips. So worth it. I didn't order any drinks though.

The service was great, the food came out a little slowly though. The waiter there was super friendly and very good about refilling our waters and asking how we liked our food.

Overall look of this restaurant is very clean, kind of fancy looking. It looks much like fine dining but is a bit small.

Absolutely recommended. Amazing food, great price, great smile, and great atmosphere. What more to ask for? My only problem with this place is that if you go to the washroom, there's a weird painting on the ground where if you sit on the toilet, the girl is staring at you, and the other girl in the picture is staring at the other girl's chest. And I just wish this place were bigger so I could have my birthday party here! Love this place!

OVERPRICED: Top Gun Hot Pot

Second level at Crystal Mall on Kingsway.

Came here for late night hot pot with a bunch of my friends once. We had about 15 people or so, and I definitely do not recommend it.

Though the sauces and soup bases are definitely a plus, the orders came very slowly. The food wasn't bad and there were choices even for a vegetarian. The meat seemed to look pretty fresh.

The service here is bad. All the workers there are grouchy, unwelcoming, and you need to find your waiter/waitress and call them over to order more things. The waitress we had kept giving us bad looks. They also constantly rushed us to pay.

It was pretty overpriced at about 27 dollars per person, especially with service like that. Will not come back.

HORRIBLE: Pittsburgh

This restaurant is at Crystal Mall on Kingsway and Willingdon.

Honestly, don't bother coming here. It's your usual Hong Kong style cafe with just barely mediocre service. It's overpriced and the food isn't good. I remember ordering a fried rice item from here.. it was just okay. Plus they added dried shredded pork on top of it.. which made it taste really weird. Nothing special at all, nothing new on the menu from 54th Ave restaurant or Honolulu (maybe Pittsburg has fewer items). But yeah, don't waste your time here.

Great Wall Mongolian BBQ

Found at 717 Denman Street (and Alberni/West Georgia) area.

Okay. So I work directly across the street from this place, so I've been there a couple of times. A lot of my coworkers are regulars there and eat maybe 2-4 times a week there for lunch and stuff. Often it lasts them for two lunches.

I've been there twice, both during dinner. The people who work there give quick service and are understanding if my coworkers are short of cash sometimes, they just leave a tab and pay extra next time they go in. It's a great deal for the price you pay.

At night, they give you soup, small bowl of fried rice, and these really yummy flaky biscuits. You pick your own foods (noodles, meats, veggies, sauces) with a chart of different flavours you can make with the sauces there. The cook there by the huge round stove? pan? (not sure what to call it) is usually quite friendly.

My boyfriend doesn't really like this place that much, he says it gave him a stomachache last time we went. But I've never had a problem like that and neither have my coworkers.

This place is very filling and gives quick service! Would recommend if you have friends who are picky about what they eat.

Great Han Mongolian BBQ

On 3043 Main Street, near 15th Avenue and across from Bo Kong.

Here's another Mongolian place (very similar to the one on Denman by Alberni) where you get to pick what you want to eat. I haven't come here in awhile, but my mom usually just picks up take out for me from here. Why? The owner is a close friend of my mom's.

It's pretty inexpensive food that you get to pick yourself, and the sauces too. So it's unique like that. I agree about the cleanliness, I'll let the owner know. As for service, I remember my mom mentioning that she's been having a bit of trouble hiring new people, most of them being foreign people on working visas. So gave the lady a break. It's not bad for the price you pay, and I know all the veggies are fresh. Dora (owner) goes out every morning to go buy them from the grocery store.

Good place to go if you're really hungry but don't want to spend a lot. Plus you get to pick what your food will taste like!

Peking Restaurant

5939 East Hastings in the Burnaby area.. kind of down the mountain from SFU.

So I'm really writing this review for my mom. The owner of this restaurant is a close friend of my mom's and it's a family run business.

It's true, the waiter is extremely nice. My mom just called the owner (Lisa) to give him a raise and never to fire him. Hahahh. I normally don't go with my mom to eat dinner here cause there are too few options for a vegetarian. I've never eaten lunch here, only dinner.

My mom comes here to eat dinner with a bunch of her friends often. The service is great, the food is good, it's fairly clean. As their restaurant is named Peking, one of the special dishes for dinner is the peking duck. I think it's originally a Thai dish.. but yeah. It's deep fried peking duck, stripped to just the skin with green onions and a hoisin sauce (it's thick, dark, and sweet). This is suppose to be wrapped in something close to a steamed dumpling wrap. It's pretty good (quote my mom, I'm vegetarian). They also have another Thai dish, which is a mixture of chopped up deep fried veggies, ground beef (I think?), and thin vermicelli, all put into a lettuce wrap with some hoisin sauce. It's not bad, but from the looks of it, it's a tad oily.

I will go try the food at lunch after school some time..and say hello to the owner too.

Super Great Pizza

Great pizza, mostly known as Joyce pizza really, on Vanness Avenue directly across from Joyce Skytrain Station.

I've been going to this place for years now. They have really big slices of pizza and I love their doughy crust. It's never burnt and just one slice can fill me up. They put a good amount of toppings, not overbearing (they do it to the pizza on Pender called 201 Flavours). Before I turned vegetarian, I often ate their meat pizzas which were delicious, and the vegetarian ones are great too. It is a tad bit oily, but nothing a tissue can't blot. This place is so much better than the big franchises like Domino's or Little Caesar's.

Also noticed that in the past year their service has gotten much better. They're really efficient, always have been and quick service. If you order a whole pizza, it takes about 15 mins for a fresh one. Plus the people are more friendly now, I think it's the owner who's usually at cashier. He's very sweet and always greets me with a smile.

If you have a couple of people for a movie at home (about 4-6), definitely come pick up a large pizza here, won't be disappointed.

Wang Ga Ma

Same as previous post, located on the second floor of H Mart on Robson.

I've been here a couple of times. Wang Ga Ma is like right next to the E-Mo noodle place (are they a joint business?). Both places have good food, I'm pretty sure it's run by all Korean people. I went with my boyfriend once, (he's Korean) and he said it wasn't bad, especially for the price that you pay. There's lots of different kinds of noodles, I've tried the black bean noodle and ramen with hot sauce.. but both from the E-Mo side. My boyfriend went to the Wang Ga Ma side.

Anyways, the service is pretty quick and efficient. There's places to sit and self serve water. Menu prices (with both Wang Ga Ma and E-Mo) range from 5-10 dollars which is pretty inexpensive. From all the times I've been there, I've left with a content stomach. I can't rate how great it is as authentic Korean food (I've only had home cooked Korean meals) so yeah. It's yummy to me.

By the way, the Matoi sushi place on that floor isn't bad either. Their miso soup is good! It doesn't taste like MSG like a lot of restaurants. And the sushi is good too, but small portion size.

Matoi Sushi

On the second level of H Mart I think on corner of Robson and.. Seymour?

I tried the food here today, and ordered a vegetable combo. The service was quick and the people were friendly. They seem to have a wide selection of food even though it's a pretty tiny place.

Okay, so the sushi is really good. The combo came with a yam tempura roll, avocado roll, and kappa roll (cucumber). Oh, and it came with a miso soup too. I found it super tasty.. but a little too much rice on my yam tempura rolls. The miso soup is great! It tastes like it's actually made with raw ingredients, unlike the other Japanese places where it kinda tastes like those instant soup mixes.

My problem is.. I feel like it's overpriced. I paid a tad over 6 dollars and it was pretty small portioned. So yeah. Other than that, I really liked it. I didn't have too much of a problem with this cause both my boyfriend and I walked over to the E-Mo Noodle place right next to it to order. It's nice and big, and I found it very yummy. Had the ramen with spicy sauce and black bean noodle. But then.. I haven't had a lot of Korean food experience other than home cooking at my bf's house (he's Korean) and one other restaurant. So don't take my comment here seriously.

Red Burrito

Red Burrito is about another block or two down from Babylon Cafe on Robson and Granville. You can't really miss it, the entire place is painted in a bright red colour. There's always seating and some different kinds of soda other than your usual Coca Cola or Pepsi.

The service is fast and friendly. I would definitely not suggest the tacos (they're tiny and small portioned and are more expensive than the burritos) but the burritos are big portioned and delicious. From what I`ve heard, the beef one is okay, the chicken is really good, and the shrimp.. well you can't taste it cause it's so small. But because I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat any of those and it's perfectly fine. There's a choice between whole wheat wrap and the tomato wrap. Normally I put the rice, black beans, red sauce, cilantro, onions (cooked and uncooked), corn, and sometimes guacomole (extra charge). There's hummus and other sauces that they add, as well as hot sauce. It comes together really well and super filling. My order normally comes up to $6 ish to $7 so yeah. By the way, I think the salad thing is just silly. The tortilla chip thing with guacomole dip isn't bad but small portioned. So really, just get their burritos.

My boyfriend usually orders the chicken one and it fills him up too (he's a pretty big boy) and he says the cilantro overtakes the flavour of the burrito. I'm not sure cause I love cilantro. There's your tip! Hahaha.

But seriously, good place to eat if you're really hungry and want a place to sit.

The Foundation

Located on Main Street across from the new Mount Pleasant public library.

Finally went to The Foundation today after complaining about going there for months. I went with 3 other friends for lunch in hopes to avoid big line ups and such. It was only about half full of people. Right away you notice that.. everyone who works there are hipsters. And everyone that comes in are hipsters too. So if you're not even close to being a hipster.. you might feel a little out of place.

Okay. It looks worn out. Seriously. The place could definitely use a new paint job.. and replace their really old worn out chairs with "new" vintage chairs or whereever they find their furniture. Apparently the washroom was creepy and the door was broken too. The music volume needs adjusting.. it's not all equal. Sometimes it's blaring and sometimes it's soft. And wtf is with the jars for glasses? It's not cool, the ridges on the jars make it inconvenient to drink out of.

It's true. The service sucks.. so badly. Other than coming to take our orders and dropping off the menus, don't expect a smile or recommendations. Oh, and don't even think about a water refill. They ignore you unless you go up to them. And sometimes they leave your order sitting there for like 5-10 mins before they bring it over to you. And we had to wait for our orders for OVER HALF AN HOUR. Around 40 mins! And this was when the place was only half full! My god, I don't want to know how long dinner would have been.

I'm a vegetarian, so this place is a HUGE plus for me. Despite everything else, I would so come back for the food. And the price. It's so good. One of my friends had the burger which is really good (it's her first time trying a veggie burger, she's almost a carnivore), another had the hummus plate, another had the mingling yam plate (ahhh I loved this, I almost got a take out for this dish), and I had this sandwich.. I forgot the actual name of it. It has sourdough bread that's spicy though. The salad is a plus, dressing was very different from your usual salad. Loved my sandwich. But loved the yam dish even more, it's a mixture of yam and strong garlic dip with tortilla chips and flat bread. They could have heated up the bread more, and if the dip were hot instead of served cold, even better. And with the price? Wow. Each dish was anywhere from 5-8 dollars with tax.

But yeah. If you're not in a rush and with a few friends that have plenty to chat about (so the wait doesn't seem so long).. come here and eat. Great pricing, great food. If they're service finally met up to their food standards, this place would easily be one of my favourite places to eat.

Noodle Box

This Noodle Box is located on West 4th at the bottom of the hill from all the shopping in Kitsilano.

I really like how they put the entire place together. It's not meant to be restaurant like, and they have seatings by the window as well as by the wall, and if you have a few more people, there's more seating closer to the back. Also the green coloured walls and their eco friendly utensils. It looks clean and healthy.

But with that said, the food is only okay. I don't know what all the rage was about with Noodle Box. It's okay.. but there are so many other places to eat at. It's nice to have the vegetarian option of getting tofu.. but I think the food is overpriced for the portion they give you. And I always find the noodles way too saucy. Like there's too much topping to too little noodles. The noodles themselves aren't bad.. just the way they cook it needs to be changed. The service is brief and efficient, nothing else. I like their self serve water area. But yeah, I'll only go back if I wasn't really super hungry and not caring what I ate at the moment.