This is the well known and award winning Mr. Pickwick's on Denman. Why did they win awards? I have no idea, but those were the worst fish and chips I've had.
Friend and I came in on a weekday afternoon (well past lunch hour rush) to pick up some food before heading down to the beach, so no we didn't sit in for our meal. I ordered two scallops and two oysters, my friend had the fish and chips with cod and she also ordered some scallops too. Though the server was super friendly, our food took FOREVER to come out. We waited well over half an hour for our food even though there weren't that many people in the restaurant. Sad.
Okay. We ate at the beach. First of all, the scallops weren't good. I don't know exactly what it was, probably because they weren't fresh or something, but they just weren't there. I loved the oysters though, they were big and fresh and yummy. Now for the chips. They were just awful. They were so deep fried to the point where you can't taste potato, it was just.. oil. It looked like they deep fried it at least three times or something, and they were cut so short you can barely dip it in ketchup. Inedible. The worst of our entire meal were the fish. I don't know how they managed to win those awards and stuff, or maybe they just had an off day when we were there. The first piece of fish was just dry. The second piece was so dry, that this was what my friend said, and I quote her exactly:
"Dude, is this a piece of chicken?"
That was how dry it was. The fish was so flaky and dry that she ended up throwing away the whole thing along with the fries. We thought of going back to complain but thought it wasn't worth it. We just won't be returning and won't be recommending it to anyone.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Not Recommended: Boathouse by English Bay
This is the Boathouse located next to the English Bay beach on Beach Avenue.
After a recommendation from my coworker, I decided to come out here for lunch on a sunny day. My friend and I were seated out on their covered patio by the window. The view was nice, but that was the only pleasant thing during our meal. To start off with, the servers there are not happy to help you out at all and stand around talking to each other while playing music on the stereo. When they took our orders, they weren't much of a help either. We ended up ordering a calamari to share, fish and chips with cod, and their special seafood grill.
The service was just.. bad. Our server left after finishing her shift (not that she was very good at her job anyways) and then someone else came by to tell us they would be helping us out for the rest of the meal. The entire time he talked to us, he had these ridiculous shades on (rainbow semi-rimless shades that looked like they were from a snowboarder back in the 80's). I found it extremely rude to have shades on while talking to a customer. I know it's sunny, but that's just disrespectful. I don't know what the policy is there, maybe they're allowed to wear them while working on the patio area. He did not come by to ask about our food until 3/4 into our main.
The calamari was terrible. It was tasteless, just warm, and not crunchy. The batter did not stick to the calamari at all. What looked like a lot of herbs on it did not help. They dumped in diced onions too.. don't know why cause it did nothing to add for taste. Definitely not worth the 13 dollars I paid. My friend's fish and chips were decent, but definitely nothing special, they have better fish and chips served in Lonsdale Quay in a little shop over this known restaurant. Not worth 20 dollars for two pieces of fish and fries and salad. Worst of all was my seafood grill which is their "specialty plate". The dish is like 16 or 17 dollars, and I expected my portions since it says grill. Nowhere in the menu does it say skewer, but what I got was a skewer of two bite sized over cooked salmon, one piece of scallop, and one prawn on top of a handful of undercooked veggies. I was appalled and I let the server know when he finally wandered over from talking to his coworkers.
At least the server did the decent thing and took my "grill" off the bill. I will DEFINITELY not be back will not recommend it to anyone else.
After a recommendation from my coworker, I decided to come out here for lunch on a sunny day. My friend and I were seated out on their covered patio by the window. The view was nice, but that was the only pleasant thing during our meal. To start off with, the servers there are not happy to help you out at all and stand around talking to each other while playing music on the stereo. When they took our orders, they weren't much of a help either. We ended up ordering a calamari to share, fish and chips with cod, and their special seafood grill.
The service was just.. bad. Our server left after finishing her shift (not that she was very good at her job anyways) and then someone else came by to tell us they would be helping us out for the rest of the meal. The entire time he talked to us, he had these ridiculous shades on (rainbow semi-rimless shades that looked like they were from a snowboarder back in the 80's). I found it extremely rude to have shades on while talking to a customer. I know it's sunny, but that's just disrespectful. I don't know what the policy is there, maybe they're allowed to wear them while working on the patio area. He did not come by to ask about our food until 3/4 into our main.
The calamari was terrible. It was tasteless, just warm, and not crunchy. The batter did not stick to the calamari at all. What looked like a lot of herbs on it did not help. They dumped in diced onions too.. don't know why cause it did nothing to add for taste. Definitely not worth the 13 dollars I paid. My friend's fish and chips were decent, but definitely nothing special, they have better fish and chips served in Lonsdale Quay in a little shop over this known restaurant. Not worth 20 dollars for two pieces of fish and fries and salad. Worst of all was my seafood grill which is their "specialty plate". The dish is like 16 or 17 dollars, and I expected my portions since it says grill. Nowhere in the menu does it say skewer, but what I got was a skewer of two bite sized over cooked salmon, one piece of scallop, and one prawn on top of a handful of undercooked veggies. I was appalled and I let the server know when he finally wandered over from talking to his coworkers.
At least the server did the decent thing and took my "grill" off the bill. I will DEFINITELY not be back will not recommend it to anyone else.
Second Review: Paciflc Institute of Culinary Arts
Right at the entrance of Granville Island.
I've been here once on a weekday for lunch and another time for the spot prawn festival for dinner.
Lunch: I was with a friend for the first time here and we had crab cakes to start, I had grilled halibut for main, she had pork tenderloin, and I had chocolate truffle cake for dessert, she had the panna cotta. The crab cakes were well presented, tasted fairly well but nothing out of the ordinary. My grilled halibut was less than mediocre. Though it was "grilled" (it looked like it was just pan fried) it was on top of a very bland brothy liquid with tasteless pasta on the bottom. The crispiness of the fish was definitely gone because of that. My friend's pork tenderloins were okay, but the side of yam fries (who puts yam fries with pork tenderloin?) were extremely soggy. My chocolate truffle cake was too rich and overly indulgent, I could not finish. The pineapple panna cotta was delicious though, very light with a subtle creamy finish in your mouth. Loved it.
Dinner: I had a special night with the bf here, or so I thought. It was a 5 course dinner. The two middle aged women next to us were rather odd- I think their taste buds must have disappeared cause they thought everything was delicious. Anyways, to start it was jellied spot prawns. I didn't expect what came out.. it was actually 2 little spot prawns stuck in a gelatin cup with a piece of cilantro and cilantro sauce circling the plate. The jelly made the prawns extremely fishy tasting and was disgusting. After that was the shrimp bisque, which was equally gross. It tasted like.. the Lee Kum Kee shrimp sauce with water or something. The intermezzo was a nice change, I forget what it's called, but it's like ice shavings of alcohol in a champagne glass, super refreshing. The main for me were grilled spot prawns, which were okay, the veggies were a bit of a mess though. My boyfriend had the veal wrapped around spot prawns which were pretty good. Dessert was delicious. Something like a strawberry napoleon cake. Scrumptious.
Anyways, I would not come back to dine, but will most definitely come back for desserts from the bakery!
I've been here once on a weekday for lunch and another time for the spot prawn festival for dinner.
Lunch: I was with a friend for the first time here and we had crab cakes to start, I had grilled halibut for main, she had pork tenderloin, and I had chocolate truffle cake for dessert, she had the panna cotta. The crab cakes were well presented, tasted fairly well but nothing out of the ordinary. My grilled halibut was less than mediocre. Though it was "grilled" (it looked like it was just pan fried) it was on top of a very bland brothy liquid with tasteless pasta on the bottom. The crispiness of the fish was definitely gone because of that. My friend's pork tenderloins were okay, but the side of yam fries (who puts yam fries with pork tenderloin?) were extremely soggy. My chocolate truffle cake was too rich and overly indulgent, I could not finish. The pineapple panna cotta was delicious though, very light with a subtle creamy finish in your mouth. Loved it.
Dinner: I had a special night with the bf here, or so I thought. It was a 5 course dinner. The two middle aged women next to us were rather odd- I think their taste buds must have disappeared cause they thought everything was delicious. Anyways, to start it was jellied spot prawns. I didn't expect what came out.. it was actually 2 little spot prawns stuck in a gelatin cup with a piece of cilantro and cilantro sauce circling the plate. The jelly made the prawns extremely fishy tasting and was disgusting. After that was the shrimp bisque, which was equally gross. It tasted like.. the Lee Kum Kee shrimp sauce with water or something. The intermezzo was a nice change, I forget what it's called, but it's like ice shavings of alcohol in a champagne glass, super refreshing. The main for me were grilled spot prawns, which were okay, the veggies were a bit of a mess though. My boyfriend had the veal wrapped around spot prawns which were pretty good. Dessert was delicious. Something like a strawberry napoleon cake. Scrumptious.
Anyways, I would not come back to dine, but will most definitely come back for desserts from the bakery!
Ddoo Gau Bee
Located in the Burnaby Lougheed area, 4501 #203 North Road. It's part of a large plaza with many other Korean restaurants and market place. Second floor.
Was here with my Korean bf and I have no idea what he ordered. Whatever it was, it was huge. On one side for both or dishes was the black bean noodle, which was okay. I've definitely had better. The other side was this noodle in spicy soup, which was also okay. His other side was this fried rice covered with a thin fried egg, I found it really oily. Everything was okay, nothing outstanding though. We also had a side of the spicy deep fried dumplings/gyoza maybe? which weren't bad. I would come back and try some of their other dishes cause the entire meal was very inexpensive.
Was here with my Korean bf and I have no idea what he ordered. Whatever it was, it was huge. On one side for both or dishes was the black bean noodle, which was okay. I've definitely had better. The other side was this noodle in spicy soup, which was also okay. His other side was this fried rice covered with a thin fried egg, I found it really oily. Everything was okay, nothing outstanding though. We also had a side of the spicy deep fried dumplings/gyoza maybe? which weren't bad. I would come back and try some of their other dishes cause the entire meal was very inexpensive.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
El Warehouse
989 Granville Street, approximately 3 blocks down from Robson and Granville if that's easier for you, on the right side.
This is my second time at El Warehouse, though the first time I went I was just there to see my coworkers, did not drink or eat. But I came here last night for a couple of drinks with coworkers.
First of all, it was Saturday night, the place was packed. We told the server we had a large party but didn't get a big table, we got squished into a tiny little table with about 8 or 9 people.. and some of our friends were forced to wait outside. I guess it made sense to some point, but was annoying because they separated our group.
The service was minimal, our server barely came back to us as she was busy talking to some other group of guys most of the time. The bartender is really nice and funny though. The bouncer was trying to be reasonable and finally got us the big booth to seat everyone.
This place has a lot of restrictions. If you sit at the bar area, you can drink as much as you want. If you sit at a table, you can't drink unless you order food. But not like, one plate to share with like 3 people, EVERY single person has to order food to drink. It was extremely annoying. I think it's cause the place is under a restaurant license, not a bar.
Luckily the food was under 5 bucks. Everyone seemed to like the nachos and stuff, some of the sandwiches I heard were okay. The fries could be better, but whatever. I ordered onion rings, DO NOT ORDER THEM. They look good, but they are so so bland (how that happens, I don't know) and the dip it comes with doesn't make it better. And their mixed cocktails are a no no too. They tasted very watered down and nothing special. I had the Sex On The Beach and Peter Jacobs. Not good.
The place definitely has it's own look and vibe. It's nice.
I would not return unless I was tipsy already and hungry.
Second visit: The nachos we ordered were fairly good, and the chicken brouchette is awesome. You would think it would be really dry cause it's pub food, but it's nice and juicy and piping hot from the stove.
North Garden Restaurant
3355 North Road in Burnaby.
I was here for a birthday dinner for about 12 people. The place looked clean but lacked decor. No surprise though, typical Asian restaurant.
The food here I found decent. We ordered quite a bit, and being a vegetarian I didn't really eat much besides an eggplant hotpot sort of thing. It was good without being oily and large portioned. The rest of the food looked okay and I didn't hear any complaints.
Service I found was even worse than your typical Chinese restaurant; mostly the language barrier. Our group had about 4/5 who didn't speak Cantonese. They gave us odd looks and we had to ask them for things several times (cause they didn't understand or just forgot, not sure) like water, tea, changes on some dishes.
I most likely will not be returning to this restaurant.
Miku
1055 West Hastings.
Came here for the first night of dineout. Unfortunately one of our party was half an hour late for our reservation, and she brought an extra person but our server was happy to accomodate us. Service was great, he made jokes and made appropriate suggestions to our food. Overall, the restaurant was nice, beautiful atmosphere, very open, friendly people. They also do the odd shouting thing at each other (much like Guu apparently, haven't been there myself).
To start off, I ordered a bottle of their Indigo Wind, which is sparkling sake. Can't say much, but I really enjoyed it (my first time having sake). Our appetizers arrived in beautiful presentation. Loved the aburi bincho, which was albacore tuna with masatake on top and veggies. The way it was put together really accented the true flavour of the tuna. The carpaccio was also absolutely delicious. Tiger prawns (ebi fritter) were beer battered and done perfectly, so so good. I was not a fan of the chicken nanban, it seemed a little out of place amongst all my other appetizers.
The main was exceptional, with a variety of their most popular rolls and nigri sushi. None of the sushi needed soya sauce. My favourite was the red wave roll, which was snow crab with avocado and the same masatake sauce on the aburi bincho. The pacific roll (mainly albacore tuna, cucumber, and tamago) was put together in a new way, but I just found okay because the jalapeno really took out a lot of the flavour. The alburi salmon oshi was good, but wish there was less pepper in it. Nigri sushi worth noting is their hotate (scallop) which had a very creamy sauce on top, delicious, and their bincho (albacore tuna) nigri sushi.
Honestly I would say that the dessert was a disappointment, but the appy and main made up for it. Dessert was caramelized apples on top of cobbler, with raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream. As much as it looked nice, it was just mediocre. And I would have expected something more traditionally Japanese.
Overall, I would say that the sushi here is delicious, however, may not be traditionally Japanese. Many of their rolls and nigri sushi are peaked and flavoured with sauces which sometimes overtake the taste of the fish. So I don't know, I'm no expert but I find this to be a little westernized. But, an amazing meal nevertheless. I paid $80 for dinner, $38 for dineout menu (so worth it), $23 for sparkling sake (200mL in case you're wondering), and a nice 20% tip.
I might come back if I'm feeling like I need some high class Japanese cuisine. Happy eating guys.
Joe Fortes
Located at Thurlow and Robson corner, second floor on top of Cupcakes. They sometimes open up the patio area where the garden is on nice days.
Was here two weeks ago with my coworker who also loves food as much as I do. We were greeted and welcomed at the door, our server was really sweet (maybe even a bit too friendly). Unfortunately we were seated at a table that was between two aisles kind of, so that people constantly rushes past us and the place is very.. dated.
We ordered from their lunch special menu, where 2 courses were around 15, and 3 were for 18. We also had oysters, 2 kusshis and another 2 from the west coast oyster menu.. forgot what they're called. I liked the kusshis better, the other ones were a bit grimey for me, but LOVED the oysters. My coworker had the clam chowder, which was very filling for her and was decent. She had the shrimp linguine for her main, she said it was just okay. Though the shrimp were fairly small, it was compensated with quantity. I had the grilled salmon. It was very mediocre for me, especially at a well known restaurant like Joe Fortes. It was a piece of salmon on top of a bed of vegetables. The vegetables were just okay, the salmon was overcooked and dry and not seasoned enough. Squeezing some lemon juice on it just gave it a bit more taste. We shared the creme brulee. It was just mediocre. The sugar on top was burnt, which really affected the taste overall. The bottom was not creamy enough, perhaps the ingredients weren't of high standard. Nice touch with the vanilla beans at the bottom though. And overall, the presentation of the food was nice.
Our bill came up to 50 dollars (both of us), each of us getting a 2 course menu with an additional 4 oysters and tips. I liked that they gave a chance for us to give feedback with the little card that came with the bill. I may or may not come back.. depends.
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