This post is long overdue but I will still write about it! Earlier in the summer, I bought a Groupon at Tivoli’s Restaurant. It is the restaurant inside the Executive Inn Hotel in Burnaby, just by Gilmore Station and the Steve Nash gym.
The Groupon was a 3 course dinner for four people, which was $25 each.
The entrance to the restaurant is inside the hotel. As well, there is free parking for customers – just make sure you park in stalls that say reserved for Tivoli’s customers.
We all decided to share the food as we wanted to try some of everything. There are a lot of pictures coming so I will try to keep the text as short as possible! The Groupon came with 4 appies, 4 entrees, and 2 desserts.
Mixed salad: The mixed salad was very fresh! I appreciated the decent amount of berries in the salad.
Caesar salad: Again, the salad leaves were fresh and crunchy. Not much to complain about either.
Sweet & spicy beef bites: We really enjoyed these! It tasted like Chinese sweet and sour sauce. The fried Alberta AAA beef cubes were also seasoned with Mediterranean spices. Talk about mix of cultures!
Sauteed garlic prawns: The prawns were fresh and had that nice snap to it. They were also slathered in butter which made it even tastier.
NY Steak: For $5, we could upgrade our Groupon to a NY steak. One of my dad’s favourite things at Western establishments is steak, so naturally we had to get this. It came a perfect medium rare and was nice and juicy.
The sides were a creamy mushroom risotto and grilled veggies.
Veal shank: The veal shank was also cooked excellently. It was tender and full of flavour. It came with a saffron-mushroom risotto, which was creamy and delicious.
Chicken parmigiana: Considering how tasty everything else was, this was everyone’s least favourite. The breaded chicken reminded me of those microwave dinners. It was also quite bland. I guess they’re better at their beef.
Smoked salmon linguine: There was a very generous portion of smoked salmon in this plate! With every forkful, we were met with smoked salmon in our mouth. It was a bit bland but easily fixed with a dash of salt. The boyfriend packed this for lunch the next day, and apparently it was even better since the flavours had soaked in more!
Cheesecake trio: I don’t remember the exact flavours of the cheesecake, but everyone quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, everyone was too full from the appies and entrees so we couldn’t finish this.
Ice cream parfait: Whoa!! Take a look at this monster! It came with layers of ice cream and fruit. It would have been easier to eat as a sundae since we were all sharing (well, I couldn’t have it so excluding me haha). Normally, this costs $10 without the Groupon so I think the Groupon was pretty worth it.
I can see why they only included 2 desserts instead of 4 because you are guaranteed to be stuffed after the appies and entree!
Overalll, we all left really stuffed and satisfied. The Groupon is definitely a good deal and I’m glad I bought it, otherwise we would have missed out on a delicious meal. I would consider getting the Groupon again for the next special occasion.
Yay!
We had plans to go to another nice restaurant but that didn’t go through, so it was a pretty spontaneous decision to come here (we decided to come here half a hour before). I was Yelping and this placed seemed like the perfect atmosphere that we were looking for.
I didn’t really want to sit on the patio because it seemed cold outside, but we were ensured that the patio was heated. We were seated next to a roaring fireplace which kept us warm and cozy the entire evening! Not all the seats have the fireplace, and the views are slightly better without the fireplace blocking.
Bread, free: Standard complimentary bread. The bread was nice and chewy instead, and served slightly warm with a side of butter.
Calamari, $13.50: We normally don’t get appetizers to save money and our appetite, but it was a special occasion. We were glad we ordered this because it was really good. It came with a very generous portion of calamari, with crisp and fresh batter. The calamari was seasoned with a variety of herbs which made it really good.
Alderwood grilled BC salmon, $29.50: The salmon was DELICIOUS. It flaked off nicely, and had a slightly grilled taste to it. So good. I just wanted to eat the whole thing.
New York Striploin, $42: My entree was the striploin, cooked medium rare! It was very juicy, tender, and flavourful. If I recall correctly, it usually comes with some sort of sauce or butter, but I asked for only salt and pepper with it. I’m a big believer in eating steak with good ol’ salt and pepper because I find it tastes so much better when made simply! Am I the only one who prefers steak this way?
Close up of my medium rare steak! WordPress needs to have an emoji keyboard so I can insert the drooling and heart eye ones here!
Mac and cheese, $7.00: Wow, I didn’t realize how much food we ordered until writing this post. For $7, this was a really good value and good size. The mac and cheese was baked with four types of cheese. The boyfriend said it was really comforting, with very stringy and delicious looking cheese.
I had made reservations on Open Table for an early dinner, at 6 pm. When we arrived, the parking lot was completely full! We ended up parking on the hotel side, which was still a really quick walk. The outside of the restaurant looked pretty modern and posh.
We were quickly seated, and the restaurant was pretty empty, save for a few other tables. Other parties ended up coming in as well, but it was nowhere as busy as The Keg would be. I guess this place isn’t really located in a residential neighbourhood or an entertainment district either, which explains the quieter venue!
It was an special occasion, so of course drinks were ordered!
Tuna tataki, $14.95: As an appetizer, we decided to order the tuna tataki because the boyfriend looooves tuna tataki. Unfortunately, this dish was really disappointing. The tuna was pretty hard on the outside and tasted as though it had been prepared awhile ago and left in the fridge.
Bread, complimentary: The bread was served nice and warm, with no complaints!
Filet mignon, $39.95: On to the main course! I had my heart set on the prime rib, but changed my mind last minute and ordered the filet mignon, cooked medium rare. The filet mignon came with a red wine reduction, and I chose fries as my side.
Rib eye, $37.95: Unlike how I was set with the prime rib before changing my mind last minute, the boyfriend stuck to his original decision and ordered the rib eye. When we were looking up the menu a few nights prior, he knew immediately that he wanted the rib eye!
Mini birthday dessert bite, complementary: I had called in requesting a birthday dessert for the boyfriend. After confirming with our server, they brought over the mini birthday surprise! She was nice enough to give us the option of a complementary full dessert due to her dairy mistake above, but the boyfriend was already too full at this point and I am unable to help him eat this =(
Complimentary bread: To start, we were given a nice loaf of warm bread to munch on. The bread was fluffy, soft and came out lightly toasted. No complaints here!
Wagyu beef french dip, $23: Originally, my mom and I were going to share this because it sounded amazing! However, after telling my server about my dairy restriction, she told me the wagyu beef is smothered in butter before getting cooked. Sigh.
Prime steak salad, $25: I wanted to try the steak, but I didn’t want to pay $50 for steak at lunch so I went with the prime steak salad. That way, I was still able to try their famous steak! The salad normally comes with blue and Parmesan cheese, and dressing. Obviously I wanted to have the dairy component, but due to my stupid and frustrating restriction, and risk of getting super sick I had to order without it.
Prior to visiting this restaurant, we had never been in this area before and missed the turn from Vancouver to Sea Island. It is in a pretty quiet area, with nothing else here except for the smaller airport terminal for flights within the province.
This place is in such a random and quiet area that they offer a shuttle bus service! I thought that was pretty awesome. I’m not too sure on how often the shuttle service works and where they pick up customers from, though.
Baja fish tacos: The boyfriend chose this as his starter. It was a pretty good taco, with a generous piece of fried cod inside. The veggies here were crunchy and fresh as well!
Steak bites: I wanted the clam chowder, but since it contains dairy, I chose to order the steak bites instead. I definitely did not regret my decision because this was delicious! The steak bites were cooked medium, and was slightly pink in the middle. It had a nice smoky and grilled taste, and was bursting with flavour. It was also really peppery, which I loved.
BBQ Pork Ribs w/ scalloped potatoes & cole slaw: The boyfriend loves his ribs, so this was an easy choice for him. The pork ribs were very tender and fell off the bone perfectly. There was a generous amount of BBQ sauce, giving the pork a lot of extra flavour too.
Seafood grill w/ veggies & jasmine rice: I love my seafood, so this was an easy decision for me! The skewer came with sockeye salmon, prawn, and Atlantic halibut. The skewer was pretty big and all the seafood was cooked well. The fish flaked perfectly off, while the prawns were nice and snappy.
Tiramisu w/ belgian chocolate: I wish I could have tried this, because the boyfriend kept saying how amazing this was with every bite that he had.
Chocolate brownie w/ vanilla ice cream: I asked for the ice cream to be served on the side, so that I could enjoy the brownie without worrying about dairy contamination.