western Archives - Curiously Carmen

Pizza Pizza

March 14, 2020 Leave a Comment

Pizza Pizza is a Toronto based pizza chain that first opened in BC in 2018. Since then, Pizza Pizza has opened more shops in BC and I finally tried it!

To be honest, I remember reading many really awful reviews of Pizza Pizza when they announced that they were coming to BC. The reviews turned me off so I never bothered to try it. I only stumbled upon this place because Lager and Sangria ordered pizza for us here after a night of doing their wedding prep!

At the time, there was a really good deal. Two large pizzas, two Cineplex movie tickets, and 4 cans of soft drink for $30!

Meat supreme: What kind of pizza night is it without a meat lovers pizza? (No offense to the vegans out there. I’ve actually had pretty good vegan pizza at Virtuous Pie, and Vegan Pizza House).

There was a lot of meat and gooey cheese. The dough was thick with a slight chew, which is my ideal type of pizza. There was some sort of herb seasoning on top which made the pizza even better!

Anyways, I was really surprised considering all the negative reviews I read about Pizza Pizza. The pizza was actually really good for fast food pizza!

Bacon chicken mushroom melt: Yes, this pizza was as good as it sounded. Bacon, chicken breast, mushroom, cheese, with a creamy garlic sauce.

The garlic sauce was delicious and went really well with the chicken, bacon, and mushroom. There was a very generous amount of toppings on this pizza as well.

For “fast food” pizza, here is my rating starting from best to worst: Panago Pizza > Pizza Hut > Pizza Pizza > Uncle Fatihs > Papa John’s > Little Caesars > Domino’s.

Pizza Pizza has easily climbed to one of my top favs for “fast food” pizza. Obviously this is no craft, authentic pizza but it hits the spot for a greasy pizza craving.

Riverway Clubhouse

March 12, 2020 Leave a Comment

Riverway Clubhouse is inconspicuously tucked away behind SW Marine Drive, almost by the Fraser River. They are owned by the City of Burnaby just like their sister restaurant, Burnaby Mountain Clubhouse.

We have been to Burnaby Mountain Clubhouse many times but my mom wanted to try Riverway Clubhouse this time, so off we went!

Riverway Clubhouse has a slightly upscale feel to it. The theme is modern and rustic, with very high ceilings. It would be really nice in the summer because the floor to ceiling windows overlook the golf course pond!

This place is also quite popular for weddings and fills up quickly! 😉

Clam chowder: My parents chose the three course menu for $35. My mom had no complaints with the clam chowder or garlic bread that came with it.

Prawn salad: My dad chose the salad for his first course. The veggies were very fresh! In addition, the prawns were crunchy and fresh with a sweet chili glaze on top.

Steak and lobster: My parents both ordered the steak and lobster for their main course. The steak could have used a bit more seasoning but the lobster was good!

Chicken strips: What kind of person orders chicken strips at a nice restaurant? Apparently this food blogger.. sue me! Chicken strips are life!

My chicken strips were amazing and I had no regrets. They came out piping hot and were very juicy. I was impressed that it came with 5 pieces! I ended up taking half of it home w fried for lunch the next day because it was quite big.

Fish and chips: The fiance enjoyed his fish and chips as well! The pieces of fish were fat and juicy. I find that sometimes with fish and chips, it is just a giant air pocket that makes the fish look big. Am I making sense?

Dessert: The dessert was an AYCE chocolate fountain with different items such as bananas, marshmallows, melon, apples, cookies, oranges, etc. It was fun to go up to the chocolate fountain and choose desserts. There was also some mini donuts and pastries too! Other tables had kids and they really enjoyed going up to the chocolate fountain.

Service was attentive and the atmosphere was calm and peaceful. They were playing Charlie Chaplin videos on loop the whole night which was entertaining!

If you’re looking for a quiet but nicer place to go away from the city, I would recommend Riverway!

Cactus Club North Burnaby – Revisit

January 29, 2020 Leave a Comment

Konnichiwa from Osaka, Japan! The fiance and I are back in Japan! I have a backlog of food posts though in my absence. Stay tuned for Japan posts next month!

Cactus Club is a restaurant that I frequent often, whether it is for happy hour or dinner! I thought I would have written another review on Cactus since I come here so often, so I was surprised when I found out the last reviews were from 2014! The fiance (boyfriend back then) wrote a guest post for me, and then I wrote a review on the Coal Harbour location.

Over the years, Cactus has changed their menu by adding new items. Sangria and I came for their happy hour during the holidays. Cactus is our go to restaurant for happy hour because the prices are great and the food is tasty.

Passionfruit bellini: I love the cocktails here! My current favourite is the passionfruit bellini. I’m a huge fan of passionfruit so this hit the spot perfectly.

Blackened Creole chicken: The blackened Creole chicken is a chicken breast grilled with Cajun spices and Creole butter. The chicken was incredibly tender, juicy, and flavourful as usual. The butter made it taste even better and richer.

As if the chicken wasn’t enough, the side of mashed potatoes was tasty too. I could see some people thinking it may be too salty, but we found it absolutely delicious.

The Creole chicken was a few dollars cheaper at happy hour, even though the size was the same. It’s a great deal and relatively new addition to the happy hour menu, I haven’t seen it in previous years.

Pesto chicken quesadilla: Sangria and I also split a pesto chicken quesadilla. The quesadilla was cheesy with a nice amount of juicy, sliced chicken in it. The cranberries were a very nice touch and kept it exciting!

Truffle fries: We can not go to happy hour, and not order their truffle fries! They came piping hot and crispy as usual. The truffle oil gives the fries a wonderful aroma and taste.

The bad things about this location are that parking is quite difficult depending on when you go. Parking was never an issue but the last few times, I found the lot to be full and had to circle around a few times.

As well, service can be hit or miss. Sometimes, it is hard to waive the server down and seems like they just disappeared.

Glowbal

January 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

Glowbal was a last minute decision for my birthday lunch with my parents! I picked Glowbal because it was one of the only places that still had a reservation spot available (whether that’s good or bad, IDK) and also because they had good lunch deals.

In addition, my parents don’t go to these types of restaurants often so I thought it’d be nice to go somewhere different for a change.

This was actually my first time at Glowbal, but I’ve been to other Glowbal Group restaurants such as Coast and Trattoria so I kind of had an idea of what to expect. Glowbal is located in the heart of downtown inside the Telus Garden building.

Another great bonus at Glowbal was that they offered a translated Chinese menu! You rarely see that at Western restaurants. This made it a lot easier for my parents to decide what they want.

Through the Chinese menu, we found out that one of their pasta dishes was actually a tomato sauce base which the regular English menu didn’t say (we confirmed with our server).

Complimentary soup: We each received a small cup of vegan, sweet potato and ginger soup to start. The texture was quite light but also a bit pureed, as if the chef couldn’t decide if they wanted a thick puree or light soup. It was gingery and warming.

Glowbal’s Ultimate Burger: I thought my dad would want one of the lunch deals, but he was in a #treatyoself mode and went all out with the ultimate burger. Ultimate burger it was, indeed. It came with a burger patty, short rib, bacon, mushrooms, deep fried mac and cheese, onion rings, and the usual vegetable toppings.

The burger was monstrous and overwhelming. Unfortunately, it was also disappointing because this was a case of quantity over quality. The burger patty was really dry and overly salty, which ruined the rest of the burger for him. For a $22 burger, you’d hope the main part of the burger was cooked right!

With that said, he did end up eating the rest of the things and was really stuffed after. I also had a couple bites and agreed that the patty was too dry and salty. The deep fried mac and cheese balls were delicious though.

Rigatoni pomodoro: As mentioned above, the English menu did not say this was a tomato base sauce yet the Chinese menu did. After confirming with the server, my mom decided to order this pasta which was part of their $14 lunch feature.

Although it was meatless, this dish was quite delicious. The rigatoni was cooked al dente and the sauce was very flavourful.

Philly cheesesteak sandwich: For myself, I picked the Philly cheesesteak sandwich! I found it to be underwhelming.

There could have been more sliced beef inside, and the beef wasn’t as tender or moist as I would have hoped. But the fiance enjoyed it and asked if I wanted to trade since he liked it a lot. That was fine with me!

Original benny: The fiance ordered the $12 benny special before trading dishes with me. The original benny came with Canadian back bacon and the usual hollandaise sauce and potatoes.

The benny was decent, no complaints about it! For $12 considering Glowbal’s pricing and atmosphere, it was a good deal although not the most amazing benny we’ve had.

We ended off with a complimentary birthday dessert plate, which was delicious! I don’t recall the desserts anymore (sorry, I should have written this review earlier or wrote it down somewhere) but they were great. It made up for my lacklustre Philly sandwich.

All in all, the food was not overwhelmingly delicious, but not the worst either which seems to be the case for other reviewers too. It was nice to go somewhere different and fancier with my parents. Service was great and attentive, and the birthday dessert was a nice bonus.

If you’re wanting to go somewhere more upscale without breaking the bank, I’d recommend coming here for the $14 lunch special or $12 benny (pricing as of Jan 2020) but don’t be expecting an amazingly delicious brunch – just an average one with nice atmosphere.

Fable Diner – Revisit

January 2, 2020 Leave a Comment

Happy new year everyone!

It’s been a few years since our first visit to Fable Diner. We came here with a group back in 2016 when they had just opened, you can read that review here. Fast forward to present day, we were looking for a place to have dinner one evening that wasn’t one of our usual places!

After some browsing, we decided to come here because the fiance loves the tomato cheddar soup and I would finally be able to try it! I’m happy to say that my digestive issues have temporarily subsided so I need to take advantage of being able to eat dairy.

Peanut butter and Nutella milkshake: This was one of the items that was ordered in our first visit, but I wasn’t able to have dairy back then so I didn’t try it. I was able to try it this time and it was very delicious!

The milkshake was very creamy, rich, and chocolatey. There was also a good balance of peanut butter as well.

Cheddar tomato soup: The star of the show! This soup has been raved about by multiple friends and the fiance. It did not disappoint as well!

The soup had a nice, smooth pureed texture. It was very tomato-y and you could taste the cheddar that was pureed in as well. To elevate the soup even more, it came with some deliciously cheesy garlic bread on the side.

Poutine with BBQ duck: The poutine was delicious with lots of cheese curds and gravy. The BBQ duck was very moist and tender. It reminded me of Chinese style BBQ duck.

Both were good separately, but I did not find that the combination went well together.

Mac and cheese: The mac and cheese was my favourite dish of the night. It was so incredibly cheesy. The sprinkled goat cheese on top gave it more excitement.

Chicken and grits: We both never had grits before, so decided to give it a try. I was not a fan of the texture at all. It appears that each restaurant makes it differently. I found it to be undercooked and as if I were eating plastic.

The fried chicken was juicy, fresh, and crispy! We got two pieces with this plate.

We ordered a lot of food and had enough leftovers for the next day. It was nice to be back at Fable Diner and I would recommend going. Service was very attentive and friendly throughout our dinner too.