seafood Archives - Page 7 of 8

Red Robins

July 30, 2014

I suddenly had a craving for Red Robins one afternoon before school. I really wanted their freckled lemonade and chicken tenders! Unfortunately, both the locations I used to go to shut down, so I haven’t been in awhile 🙁 . We ended up going to the Red Robins in North Vancouver, which was closer to my house than I thought!

At first, we were seated at the patio but for some reason, our table had no umbrella or shade and it got wayy too hot to comfortably enjoy lunch. We ended up moving back to the a/c filled restaurant, right in front of a tv playing the World Cup!

Of course, I had to get my freckled lemonade ($4.29)! A freckled lemonade is a fruity lemonade with strawberry syrup, with real strawberries inside. Granted, the strawberries inside are like the syrup-saturated ones you would find in a McDonalds sundae but I enjoyed it anyways.

Freckled lemonade also comes with bottomless refills and the staff do a great job in ensuring your cup is never empty. We had different staff come by to ask for a refill, which I greatly appreciated.

I mentioned in my Elephant and Castle post that I love chicken tenders. I especially LOVE the chicken tenders at Red Robins because they’re always piping hot, crispy on the outside but tender in the inside, and seasoned well. I am also addicted to the Red Robins seasoning, and over loaded on it. #Sorrynotsorry 🙂

Anyways, since it was our first time at this location, I was a bit hesitant but it had the familiar, delicious taste I was used to. The chicken tenders were perfect. As well, fries are unlimited and our server did a great job in making sure we had enough. We didn’t take advantage on the fry refill though, cause our portions of food were so big.

Also, I could tell the server was busy and a bit flustered, but he was really nice and tried his hardest to check up on all the tables.

Next up was our shrimp and chips platter. It was a pretty big portion and we didn’t end up finishing all the fries. The batter on the shrimp was very crispy and the shrimp inside was very juicy and tasty as well. It didn’t taste over fried or re-fried either.

All in all, my craving for Red Robins was satisfied and I am very glad I gave this location a chance. The food was up to par, and our server was probably the nicest server I have had at Red Robins.

-Carmen

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

July 24, 2014

I don’t come to Joe Fortes as often as I would like to, but I have been eyeing their appy hour menu for awhile and decided to go with Cola one sunny afternoon after work! Appy hour was from 4-6pm, we got there around 4:15 and were quickly seated.

The happy hour special is only applicable to the limited bar seating, so I was glad we got seats! We noticed that the bar was fully seated by 5, and there was a short lineup for their appy hour specials.

Started off with the shrimp cerviche ($7). I really liked the cerviche at Tap and Barrel, and wanted to see how theirs compared! This was probably my favourite dish out of all the ones that Cola and I ordered.

It was very refreshing, and the avocado and shrimp tasted really sweet and fresh. Shrimp and avocados mark the top of my food favourites, so it was great to be able to enjoy them together.
Up next was the calamari ($9). I thought the calamari was a bit bland, probably should have squeezed more lemon juice or used more of the sauce. The batter itself was crispy, and the red onions were a small but great inclusion, and gave it a rounder flavour.

Truffle parmesan frites ($5). I didn’t really enjoy the flavour of the cheese, grana padano, and found it to be a tad bit too much for my tastebuds. Apart from that, the fries were pretty standard. I don’t think this dish is worth the $5, especially once you take away the cheese, they taste like your regular fries.
Lastly, we ordered the raw oysters. Unfortunately, I got sick from my first raw oyster experience two years ago, and have not enjoyed eating raw oysters since then. Cola loves her raw oysters so she ordered five, since they were on special anyways. She loved them and had no complaints! Looking around the bar, most of the other customers had raw oysters as well so I’m sure they are delicious! Perhaps one day, I’ll try them again 🙂

-Carmen

Sockeye City Grill, Steveston

May 19, 2014

After months of patiently waiting for the weather to get warmer in Vancouver, it has finally come. The boyfriend decided to surprise me and take me to Stevestone for a date, and I could not think of a better day to go. The skies were blue, the water was calm, the air was fresh, and the temperature was hot.

Originally, we were planning to go to Pajos, but the lineup was very long and we wanted somewhere that we could sit comfortably and enjoy the view. So after walking around, we decided on going to Sockeye City Grill because they had nice patio seats and view.
There was another restaurant right beside this one we were going to go to, but after checking our phones, we saw that it had an abysmal 28% with almost 200 user votes. I’ve never seen a rating so low save for Kiwawa in Metrotown, so I’m glad we saw that before we went to that place.
We were seated promptly on the patio. Here is a picture of our lovely view. There was a loud family next to us with a crying baby, so of course, things weren’t 100% perfect but the parents managed to keep the crying controlled for the sake of other customers.
The boyfriend decided on getting the two piece cod fish and chips ($18). Yes, the prices here are going to be a bit pricier because Steveston is a tourist area and the seafood is also fresh, local, and wild. Originally, I wasn’t going to have much because I didn’t want anything oily or greasy that day, but it was so good I ended up having more than one bite. The cod was so juicy and fresh. I’ve never had such fresh fish and chips before!

The batter was also very crispy, and the tartar sauce accentuated the juiciness of the cod even more. I felt like our cod tasted like a higher grade of fish (it’s the cheapest type of fish on the menu) because it was that good! The pieces were also very large. A lot of places have their batter really big so it looks like the fish inside is too, when it actually isn’t but this wasn’t the case. YUM!
As for me, I got their large seafood chowder. I was a bit disappointed because there wasn’t much variety of seafood in it. I only tasted a few pieces of cod inside. At least what small amount of seafood I had in here was juicy and delicious though. There was a lot of vegetables in here. I found the taste to be a bit bland, but improved a lot when I sprinkled some salt and pepper to it.
To add to the semi-disappointing chowder, I added the bread bowl for $3. However, I didn’t realize that the bread bowl meant that it would come in its own baskets. I thought it meant that the actual bowl for the soup would be bread. 🙁 Oh well, the bread was good at least. It was soft and doughy, and tasted good when dipped in the chowder.
Here is a bonus and random picture of Steveston, I just thought it looked very pretty (save for the garbage bin…oops). Overall, our visit to Sockeye City Grill was decent. I would recommend getting their fish and chips rather than the seafood chowder. The service was also nice and attentive.

Our hostess also asked us if we preferred a table with lots of sun, or shade, and then proceeded to give us the best seat available. If you want a to enjoy a nice and comfortable lunch at Steveston, I would recommend this place.

Burgers Etc BBQ House, N. Burnaby

April 27, 2014

Last weekend, a group of friends and I decided to have lunch at Burgers Etc. I haven’t been here for awhile so I was delighted! This is a local and neighbourhood favourite, well known for their pulled pork sandwich specials and alcoholic ice cream milkshakes. Yummmm!

Unfortunately, I am kicking myself in the face for forgetting to take a picture of my own food, but managing to take a picture of all my friend’s plates. So, I regretfully tell you guys that I will not have a picture of my own plate :(.

Burgers Etc has won many restaurant awards in the past. They have certificates lined up against the waiting area to prove it. There was one server working while we were there. Later on, a busser joined her. Both workers were very friendly and attentative.
One thing I really liked about Burgers Etc was their open concept kitchen. On the other side of these tables, was the grill area for the burgers. We got to see them cook our food!

The open concept kitchen speaks volumes about a restaurant’s practices, because it shows that they don’t have anything bad to hide (well, less compared to regular restaurants I guess).
Let’s start with my friend’s BBQ combo platter ($17). You choose two types of BBQ meats, and two sides. My friend got the pulled pork and beef brisket, with potato salad and baked beans.

Both the meats were extremely tender, soft, and juicy. Every bite oozed delicious BBQ goodness and smokiness! I also tried his baked beans, which I was surprised because I didn’t expect them to have a sweet taste to them.
My friend’s grilled chicken burger with macaroni salad. I got the same thing as her, expect I had fries with my burger. Since I forgot to take a picture of mine, I’ll just include it here. Their grilled chicken was grilled perfectly, and slightly charred. It was juicy, perfectly cooked, and seeping with flavour. The toppings in the burger were also really fresh!
My friend’s beef burger! For extra charge, you are able to add additional, fancier toppings such as peppers, cheese, and bacon which is what my friend did. I didn’t try it, but it looked really good and he had no complaints. It also came with an overwhelming amount of jalapeno peppers, which were scattered generously on half his plate. Yum!
Another burger! This one was the pulled pork BBQ sandwich, topped with cole slaw. I would imagine this burger was heavenly as well, since their pulled pork is so flavourful and tender.
My friend ordered the beef dip BBQ sandwich, which came with mushrooms, onions, mayo. Each burger included a dill pickle. She couldn’t finish hers, and I was curious as to what it tasted like. This burger was SO. GOOD. The beef melted in your mouth, along with mushrooms and melted cheese. The beef dip that came of it was really flavourful as well. I believe it was made with beef stock, and it was pretty light. The warm, juicy burger and beef dip are a serious match made in heaven.

All the meats from Burgers ETC were cooked perfectly. They were tender, juicy, and well seasoned- some of the meats practically melt in your mouth! Added with the great service and atmosphere, this is a great place to have a burger.

-Carmen

Toyotomi, Richmond

April 21, 2014

My friend heard that this place was really good for AYCE hotpot and sushi, and after much speculation and anticipation, the six of us went to try it out for the first time. Prior to our visit, I was obsessively reading my fellow Urbanspoon-er’s reviews to know what I should be aware of. So thank you, fellow reviewers for giving me the heads up! We came prepared 🙂

Previous reviews warned us that Toyotomi was a bit confusing to find, especially their parking and entrance. They were correct.

They were pretty strict about parking in the right area, and you had to put down your license plate number or risk getting towed. Toyotomi is located on the bottom floor of an office building. I noticed that the lobby of the building smelled really nice, like laundry.

When we walked in, we were greeted by an elaborate table of empty alcohol decorations. Whoa!
We made reservations for 7:30, since people said that this place gets really busy. It was probably about 1/2 full when we went. Our table was very awkwardly placed. On one side of the table, was booth seating and then there were four other chairs.

However, the table was shorter than the booth and the chairs were awkwardly placed, so that the person sitting at end couldn’t really reach the hot pot. They also didn’t have a built in stove like most hot pot places, just the portable ones which I guess makes it more flexible for them, incase customers don’t want hot pot.
We were also well aware of their strict food wastage policy, so we ordered very carefully. The menu above is their AYCE menu. We chose deluxe since people said that’s the best value, because you get sashimi and more hot pot items.

You can also get AYCD (drink) which cost an additional $4, but I think everyone at the table had to order it. Sauces, and extra toppings cost $0.5 approximately as well.
For an extra $1, you can get two soup bases. We decided on getting the Japanese chili and Japanese bone. The servers were really good at coming by frequently to make sure our soup didn’t run out.

Both of the soup bases were really flavourful. The chili one had a mild spiciness to it, while the bone broth was like a standard, lighter broth. Both tasted pretty different from each other.
Our first round of meat! We ordered AAA prime rib, sirlon beef, fatty beef, lamb, and lean beef. All of them might not be pictured here, as I mentioned in the intro. All of the meat was really juicy,tender and delicious!
Next up, came our other hot pot items served under a bowl of ice. We ordered pork blood, prawns, beef omasum, pork dumplings, and shrimp dumplings.

The pork dumplings were disappointing because they tasted exactly like the frozen ones that you buy at TNT. I also didn’t taste or see any shrimp in the “shrimp dumpings”, but just some sort of seaweed and other meat in it instead. Other than the dumplings, the rest of the items in that bowl were tasty.
My gosh! Look at all that sashimi! The sashimi made it worth the deluxe for sure. Each piece of salmon and tuna was so thick, sweet, and juicy. They definitely did not skimp out with their sashimi.
This next bowl was kind of random. I’ve never seen onion rings, fries, or sausages offered at an Asian AYCE but hey, it was good! We completely devoured this bowl.

My friend couldn’t even wait for me to finish the picture before digging in, as you can see from the chopstick. The onion rings and fries were really crispy. The fries reminded us of Costco fries, which are the best! The takoyaki balls were also really delicious, the skin was pretty crispy. The fried chicken was really juicy, crunchy, and seasoned well!
Up next were our rolls. We ordered california rolls, and a special house roll. I didn’t try the california roll, but the special house roll was amazing. The shrimp tempura inside was super crispy and juicy. The topping was tuna sashimi, with crunchy flakes and special sauce. We ended up ordering so many more of these after because they were simply delicious!
This was the beef sashimi. I don’t eat beef sashimi, but David said that the beef was extremely tender and they ordered many more rounds of this. It also came with a ponzu sauce which complimented the beef perfectly.
Behold! The spicy salmon and tuna sashimi. I honestly wasn’t expecting it to be this delicious, especially for AYCE. The spicy sauce had a mild sweetness to it. The sashimi was also really thick, like the non-spicy sashimi. It came with a crunchy topping mixed inside which I loved, it gave the sashimi a good crunch. The onions on top were also a tasty garnish.
This was our seaweed salad. Nothing too special about it. It came in a really, really small bowl (think soya sauce sized) and with a small quantity. It was pretty crunchy and flavourful, but I wouldn’t order it again just because their other dishes are so much better.
After ordering many rounds of each dish I mentioned, we were ready for dessert. Again, I’ve never seen frozen pineapples offered as a snack/dessert before so I was intrigued. The pineapples came rock-frozen, but eventually melted so that only the inside was frozen. This was a great, healthy (non fattening), and light dessert to an overwhelming indulgent and gluttonous meal. The pineapples were very, very sweet, and did not have any freezer burn taste to it. They were the cherries to the top of a fabulous cake!

Overall, we had a really pleasant and worthwhile visit to Toyotomi. Each person ended up paying $25 (not including tips). Since it was our first time, we didn’t know what to expect but I was impressed with their service, and the quality of their food. What stood out the most was their sashimi and the quality of beef. I can’t wait to come back here again! I also can’t believe I’ve never heard of this place until recently!

-Carmen