steakhouse Archives - Curiously Carmen

The Victor

May 16, 2022 Leave a Comment

For my birthday last year, the husband and I went to The Victor! From what I remember, it was a pretty last minute decision. I think we had reservations for The Keg but then last minute, we both felt like trying somewhere we haven’t been yet, and The Victor was one of the remaining places left on OpenTable.

I remember that we were both a bit hesitant in trying it since we heard mediocre things, but we ended up enjoying our dinner!

Bread: We were given some bread to start. The bread was fluffy, soft, and warm. It tasted really fresh.

Drinks: We both enjoyed our drinks as well. The husband ordered a Caesar which was tasty, but he wished that it would have included more garnish. I don’t recall what drink I ordered, but it was a non-alcoholic one. I really enjoyed mine. This is why I should write posts while the visit is fresh in my head, and not five months later! Jeez…

Seafood tower: This was the seafood tower for two. It came with Kusshi oysters, scallop ceviche, jumbo prawns, king crab, and lobster. We were both impressed with the seafood tower.

All of the seafood was very fresh and Kusshi oysters are my favourite type of oyster, so I was happy to see it offered that night!

Filet mignon: Again, this visit was from five months ago so my memory is not the best! But I believe we split the filet mignon. There were a few different cuts of steak available.

Roasted mushrooms: We didn’t think too much of the roasted mushrooms initially, but they were actually really good!

Dessert: For my birthday, the Victor gave us a complimentary cake slice. It was a coconut custard cake and was tasty as well.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit to The Victor and were pleasantly surprised considering hearing the mixed reviews from others. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was perfect for date night, and the service was friendly.

Little Billy’s Steakhouse

June 24, 2019 Leave a Comment

During the holidays last year, my parents and relatives went to Little Billy’s Steakhouse on Hastings to celebrate. My mom said good things about it, so I suggested we go for Father’s Day dinner because I wanted to try it too! We’ve also been going to The Keg practically every special occasion so it was nice to change it up.

I made a reservation but unfortunately we still had to wait a bit. The restaurant seemed bigger on the outside, it was actually smaller than I expected due to the layout. We were surprised that the restaurant was completely full on a Tuesday night!

Four course set menu: My parents both decided to get the 4 course set menu for $22, which was a pretty good deal. The offer is only available Monday-Thursday.

Soup: The first course was a creamy chicken soup with risotto. They both noted that it was pretty salty. The soup ended with some sour lemon notes so they probably squeezed some lemon into the soup too.

Salad: The second course was a simple mixed green salad… Almost a bit too simple! It would have been nice to include some nuts or cranberries. The salad came mixed with some olive oil as the dressing.

Lobster and steak: The third course, and main entree! For $22, this was a really good deal. The lobster was fresh and delicious. The steak was good too, although my mom ordered a medium rare and was cooked more to a medium. My dad ordered a medium and his steak was cooked to a medium rare instead… So they ended up just switching their steaks.

Dessert: They finished off with a lacklustre dessert. On the menu, it was described as a “sundae” but it was more like a scoop of cheap, grocery store ice cream with some cheap syrup on top. But the rest of the food was good so they still left satisfied!

Paidaika ribs: The boyfriend was having a tough time deciding between the ribs and moussaka. It was quite funny how indecisive he was being. In the end, he went with the paidaika ribs and it was an excellent choice with no regrets!

The ribs were melt in your mouth tender. They had some sort of “Chef’s seasoning” which were delicious. All of the herbs went well together. To top it off, the fluffy rice pilaf was delicious too. The only thing he didn’t like was the broccoli because it had a strong vinegar taste.

Chicken souvlaki: I absolutely LOVE my chicken souvlaki. The two skewers were so delicious. The chicken breast was grilled perfectly and succulent. The herbs and slightly smoky flavour elevated the skewers. I savoured every bite!

My Greek potatoes were delicious too. I was overloaded on carbs that night! My only small complaint would be that the potato was not fully marinated, as the middle of the potato did not have any of the lemon juice flavour.

We were also given some pita bread, which was delicious. They came nice and hot. The outside was a bit crunchy while the inside was fluffy.

Needless to say, we all left very satisfied with our meal. At some points in the night our server seemed like she was just throwing the dishes down and running away… but I understand because she was also bartending that evening. She seemed very rushed that night but was friendly enough, and we were able to get her attention when needed so it did not sour our visit much.

Little Billy’s is a good option in the area, and has a nice neighborhood vibe to it. It isn’t as upscale as The Keg, more of a family owned-cozy vibe but still delicious! I can see us coming back in the future.

The Keg – North Burnaby Location – Revisit

May 22, 2019 1 Comment

The Keg in North Burnaby was one of my first ever blog posts, over five years ago! Since then, The Keg has been one of the go-to places with my parents for special occasions. We come here at least 2-3x a year, so I figured it was time for an update post!

This location is located next to the Costco in North Burnaby. There is a big, free parking lot but we still find it hard to find parking, depending on the time of the year or if it’s Mother’s/Father’s day.

Prime rib, medium rare, 8 oz: This is my parent’s go-to! Their prime rib is always amaaaazing. It is tender and cooked to a perfect medium rare. Just looking at the picture makes me salivate.

That night, they got the grilled vegetables, but the double baked potato or mashed potatoes are quite delicious too. The angle of my photo makes the steak look small, but it’s a filling portion.

Tuna steak: I usually get the prime rib too, but my digestive problems were at its peak that week so I wouldn’t have been able to handle a rich and juicy steak or that much red meat. How sad right? So, I decided to play it safe and order a tuna steak. This was my first time ordering a non-beef item at The Keg.

The tuna steak was very small and not that filling. I found it to be a bit dry too. For the portion and price, the steak was definitely the better value and I felt pretty ripped off by this. But what can I do? Hopefully next time, my stomach will be in better condition so I can have the prime rib.

Baseball top sirloin: The boyfriend went with the baseball top sirloin that night! It was also a 8 oz, but looked smaller because it was thick. I believe it’s called a ‘baseball’ sirloin because it’s thick and could easily fit in the palm of your hand like a baseball would.

He enjoyed the sirloin a lot and had no complaints. Since this is such a thick cut, they can only cook it to a medium rare.

Service here can be a bit hit or miss here, depending on the day that you come. But the steaks are consistently delicious and it is a good place to come for a special occasion!

Rio Brazilian Steakhouse

October 10, 2018 Leave a Comment

Once in awhile, you come across a delicious restaurant and can’t stop thinking about it for days afterwards. This was Rio Brazilian Steakhouse for me! When Cheese randomly suggested this, we all wanted to check it out! I made reservations online for us the following week!

There are two locations – one in downtown on Denman, and one in Coquitlam. We went with the Coquitlam one because parking would be easier to find, and it was free! The restaurant was spacious and comfortable. They have live performances on Friday and Saturday nights, which you can see from my photo above!

Prior to the performances, the lighting in the restaurant was very dim – which led to a problem, as I’ll explain below.

Rio Brazilian Steakhouse is an all you can eat restaurant. Servers walk around with different cuts of meat and will keep serving you until you flip over your green card to a red card.
This is where all of their meats are prepared! After they are cooked, servers will walk around with one of those sticks and go to each table until all the meat is gone (which is pretty fast!)
They also have a self serve buffet bar. Your typical carb dishes, soup, rice, veggies, and some fruit.
Now the part we have all been waiting for: the MEAT! There are many servers walking around, and we didn’t have to wait any more than 5 minutes for someone to be walking around.

I can’t tell just by looking at the photos which type of beef it was. This was either the alcatra, which is a rump steak, or the fraldina, which is a skirt steak.

It was so incredibly juicy, rich, and served medium rare. Full of delicious seasonings too.
Another one of their delicious juicy steaks being served! Please note the boyfriend’s patient hands in the background, LOL.
Maminha: Although smaller than the rest, the tri tip was the favourite among the five of us. It was roasted, so the outside was a bit grilled and crispy.

Meanwhile, the inside was so juicy!
Calabresa: Perhaps the only meat that we weren’t a fan of that night. We found the pork sausage to be very dry.
Ribs: I don’t normally have ribs, but I’m starting to slowly eat more. After one bite, Cocoa told me I HAD to try it, so I had a bite. The ribs melted right off the bone, and was so tender.

I’m glad that the server was still cutting pieces for everyone else, because I ended up getting my own piece after too.
Deep fried platains and cheese balls: Halfway through the meal, our server dropped off some snacks! We didn’t really eat these as we wanted to have more of the meat.
Salad: After all that meat, I decided to go and get a plate of veggies to feel better. The veggies were really fresh and the lettuce was crunchy.

The basil and feta sprinkled on the watermelon was a nice addition, and brought out the sweetness of the watermelon. It isn’t something I normally would have tried myself, so I’m glad I had a chance to try it here.
Grilled pineapple with cinnamon: My apologies for the terrible quality of this photo. I forgot to take a photo of it, so this is a screenshot from an Instagram boomerang.

Sangria and Lager came earlier this year, and both said that we all had to try the pineapple with cinnamon! It took awhile (compared to the meats) for the servers to come around with this, as it was gone after one table.

The cinnamon went really well with the pineapple! It was so good that I asked for two slices. The cinnamon made the pineapple even sweeter. Next time I have pineapple, I wouldn’t mind dusting it with cinnamon before eating.

All in all, we were very satisfied and happy after our dinner at Rio. Some of the meats were pretty salty, so I would recommend having a side of veggies with it. It’s probably a place that you would want to come once a year, when you want to have something different.

The only negative thing I encountered was that the lighting was very dim, which led to one problem. The photos above were edited to make them a lot brighter… so you have an idea of how dark it was in there.

After ordering the chicken, it looked a bit pink and raw… so I used my phone’s flashlight to check. To my shock, the inner part of the drumstick was completely raw and bloody! I know that sometimes meat can be pink and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unsafe to eat (sous vide meat comes out pink), but this time the chicken was bloody.

I was very glad that I checked! So if you do come here, I would recommend checking that you aren’t eating raw chicken! Or maybe just stick with the beef steaks because they were SO DELICIOUS.
Yay!

Food: Smoke and Bones – Terrible Experience!

March 6, 2018 3 Comments

It’s been a really long time since the boyfriend and I were this disappointed at a restaurant. After attending Ribfest in July and going to their BBQ stand, we were counting down the days until Smoke and Bones opened their first location in North Vancouver.

However, our experience here was a total 180 from Ribfest… so many things, if not all things went wrong.
After a 30 minute wait, we were finally seated. The restaurant had a warm and inviting feel to it, although it did feel a tiny bit cramped. This is where the ‘good’ ends, although there wasn’t much good to begin with.

When we ordered, we were told by the server that they were out of BBQ ribs and brisket… the two main menu items. Okay, fair enough… new restaurant, busy Saturday night. We were a bit disappointed as they should have told us at the beginning but whatever, we will survive. So we ordered other things which were not good.
Pulled pork burrito: This sounded good on the menu, but it was abysmal. First, it was really small and definitely not a burrito size… more of a snack wrap. Secondly, it was bland and flavourless.

Thirdly, it came with a bunch of grocery store chips. We really regretted ordering this because it was NOT worth the money… but not like we had much of a choice since most of their menu had BBQ ribs and brisket.
Chicken & sausage platter: So since they didn’t have BBQ ribs and brisket, we opted for our second choice. The sausage was the only decent thing because it’s quite hard to mess up sausage. The chicken was VERY dry.

Only the skin had flavour, while the meat was just bland and dry. It definitely needed more marinade.
Bread: Can we just take a moment to look at this sad piece of white bread? The platter came, and we were told that they were out of corn bread as well… ok. So, she said that she could bring us a ‘Southern style white bread’. Well, not like we had any other options if they were out of corn bread.

IT WAS LITERALLY A PIECE OF WHITE BREAD. Nothing special about it, no ‘Southern’ style. Straight up plain bread that I can buy from Safeway. Not toasted, no jam, butter… nothing. Just plain bread. I can’t even call it toast because it wasn’t toasted.

THEN, I noticed that they had given us the wrong side. We ordered fries, which I confirmed with the boyfriend incase I said the wrong thing. So we decided to try the mashed potatoes, and if they were good, we would just stick with it and not ask for our server.

Nope, the mashed potatoes were equally as bad as everything else. Super bland, no flavour. So we told her about the mistake, and the server was quite rude about it. She treated us as if we were stupid, and gave us attitude saying “well you ordered mashed potatoes”. No, we did not.

After everything, we were just ready to leave this place ASAP. I’m not a picky food blogger and usually have good experiences. I don’t like to complain and cause trouble, but looking back, we probably should have said something. But we were just so done with this place that we wanted to leave.

Will we be back? Nope, and I don’t recommend coming here. Mistake after mistake after mistake.

Nay x100000000.