food review Archives - Page 12 of 18

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria

August 2, 2014

One of my friends and fellow food blogger raved to me about Famoso, after asking her where I should go for dinner. After going on Urbanspoon and reading the great reviews for this place, I was very excited to try it out.

It took us 15 minutes to find parking in the Commercial Drive area, and we ended up going to a pay parking lot because finding a free spot was impossible.

Anyways, I tried to make a reservation for four at Famoso but unfortunately, they only accept reservations with parties of six and up. Fair enough, they told me that it shouldn’t be a problem to walk in past 7:30 on a Saturday night, so off we went!

We waited around 5 minutes for a table for four. I immediately liked the lively atmosphere, and the hostess was very friendly from the beginning. We were seated in the back, where we were able to see all of the restaurant. A server came promptly, and asked us if it was our first time here as their ordering system is a bit unique from other places.
Basically, they have menus, order sheets, and pencils on each table. To order, you write down what you want on the notepad (if you want), and then walk down to the pizza counter, where they place your order for you. From there, a server will bring the pizza to your table and they take care of your needs from then on. You pay for the pizza at the end of the meal, with your server.

After settling on our pizzas, my friend went down to the counter to place our order. Customers are able to see the pizzas being prepared, but there is a semi-wall between the ordering/prep station and the tables, which is good because it gives both parties some privacy.

Funghi pizza (14.75). This was one of their specialty pizzas and came with parmesan crema, roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, caramelized onions, and more! Cream and mushroom lovers would absolutely bask over this pizza! It was very creamy, and there were a lot of mushrooms on it.
Italian ham and crushed pineapple ($13.75). I thought this pizza was average, nothing really stood out to me. I wished that the ham would be spread out more, or that there was more quantity of it. The pizzas themselves were very thin, which is what Neopolitan pizza is supposed to be like, so I expected it. Since they are thin, they aren’t super filling.
Since the pizzas weren’t that filling, we decided to order some dessert to share. The affogato was $1 off and I have been wanting affogato for so long! After making a trip to the gelato counter, we decided on getting the mint stracciatella and another flavour below ($4 each after $1 off special).

Ordering dessert follows the same process as the food, servers will bring you your dessert after ordering it at the counter. I fell in love with the mint stracciatella at first bite. Mixed with the espresso, it was super creamy, heavenly, and delicious. The mint chips from the gelato became melted from the espresso, which made it taste even better!
The other affocato that we got was with the coconut gelato. This one was delicious as well, and we savoured every little bite down to the last drop of espresso. The quality of the espresso itself was very rich and dark. So good!

-Carmen

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

Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt

July 24, 2014

After visiting Steveston back in May and trying Sockeye City Grill, I came back here with a few friends for the evening. We ended up eating at Sockeye City Grill again, since I had a decent experience back in May. Afterwards, we took a beautiful evening stroll as the sun began to set around us.

We decided to stop at Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt, as we were craving some dessert and I didn’t get to come here during my last visit. Thankfully, it wasn’t too busy since we came on a weekday evening, but it was tasty nonetheless.

Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt is really popular and a prime tourist spot in Steveston, you will often see visitors strolling the pier with a delicious, fresh waffle cone in hand. Of course, we had to give it a try as well 🙂
Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt only accepts cash. One thing that I found strange was that they do not offer any ice cream samples to customers. I guess it helps speed up the transaction and also saves on cost.

However, it might be frustrating for customers if they can’t decide on what they want. Especially if they are tourists, what if they’ve never tried or heard of certain flavours where they’re from?
I was torn between having ice cream or frozen yogurt. I decided on getting the mixed berry frozen yogurt! I got the kids size in a waffle cone($2.75, plus extra $.50 for a waffle cone) The yogurt itself was pretty good, it was flavourful and had a nice texture to it. It reminded me a lot of Yogen Fruz, which I love! The star of the show would have to be the waffle cone though.

When I was handed the waffle cone, it was still warm from their machine. The waffle cone was so crispy, warm, and fresh. The price for the cone wasn’t bad either, I was expecting it to cost more since it’s a tourist area and the waffle cones are freshly made! I actually ended up going back for a regular size because the froyo and waffle cone was that delicious…..hehe…

(Also, I just realized as I was typing this that the picture included my nails! I did a review on the Etude House Nail Polish trio, which you can read as well)

A picture of Rooibos’ gelato, I forgot which flavour they had but they enjoyed it!

Another picture of Parmie’s gelato, I forgot what flavour she had as well! Sorry 🙁

Here is a bonus picture of the sunset that evening, which I captured at the end of the dock (Click for bigger and better resolution!). Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt is a great place to buy a delicious fresh waffle cone before exploring the pier.

-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

Brewhouse (Whistler)

July 24, 2014

Another Whistler post! After settling down in our hotels and hitting up the pool (such a great time, by the way), we decided to finally grab some late dinner. After spending a long time in our hotel room browsing Urbanspoon and debating, we decided to try a small Italian restaurant that had great ratings.

It took us awhile to find it and when we finally did, it was packed and the wait was too long. We ended walking around the village a bit more, stopping here and there looking at menus, how full each place was, etc.

Eventually, we stopped at Brewhouse which looked decent from the outside. At this point, we were all pretty hungry and the hostess told us that there was no wait if we sat inside the restaurant, which was a relief! But if we knew what was in store, we would not have stopped here… *cue horror music* (Joking. Kind of.)
Turns out, there was a reason why it was so quiet inside the restaurant…It was so hot and stuffy inside the restaurant. There was no a/c, I’m not even sure if there were fans because it was that stuffy.

The patio doors were open, but it did not help. They had an open concept kitchen, with a big wood oven for pizzas, which explained why it was so warm in there.

I felt bad for the cooks because they were right beside the stoves and ovens, in full cooking, long sleeve and hat attire. We asked to sit near the patio doors, but for some reason, the hostess declined us and led us to a table inside the restaurant…
The beginning of our restaurant experience was not pleasant. It was super hot, and our server did not show up until twenty minutes later. At that point, we were getting hungry and really wanted ice water to cool down, but no one helped us. We tried to wave servers down but were ignored.

Thankfully, we finally got a pitcher of water so that we didn’t have to go through the challenge of finding servers to refill our glasses as often. One cool and trivial thing about the restaurant was that they had a train set that went around the whole restaurant. The trains advertised different companies in Whistler. It was pretty cool, but I could see it getting annoying as every 10 minutes you would hear this chugging train noise :).

Now, moving on to the food, was it delicious enough to make up for the lack of service and uncomfortable heat in the restaurant?
Nothing on the menu looked too appealing to me, and took me longer than usual to decide what I wanted. I decided to order their valley chicken pizza ($18). It came with free range chicken, prosciutto, apples, and sage. I actually enjoyed the pizza a lot, the crust wasn’t too oily and was very doughy.

There was a generous amount of chicken and prosciutto on it, while the apple slices enhanced the flavour. I didn’t end up tasting any of the sage though, but everything else tasted great together.
Macaroni ordered the wild mushroom fettuccine ($19). She despises peas and asked the server to exclude it, but they ended up including it as you can see in the picture.

She ended up just eating around all the peas because we didn’t want to go through the hassle again of waving down our server. I had a bite of the fettuccine, and it was pretty creamy and cheesy. If only they took out the peas for my friend, she would have enjoyed the dish a lot more.
Cheese and Cash both ordered the Thai chicken salad ($17). It came with marinated chicken, snap peas, mushrooms, cashews, green peppers, crispy onions, spring roll chips, and a peanut/sriracha dressing. They both enjoyed their salads, but noted that they didn’t taste the srircha in the sauce.
The boyfriend ordered the beef burger ($16) with poutine for an extra $3. He was very disappointed with the taste of the burger. It lacked flavour and put simply, it was just not good. He loves his burgers whenever we go out to eat, and this was probably the first time I have heard him say that he did not like his burger.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy my visit to Brewhouse. The food was decent, but the service and atmosphere needed improvement. The food was a bit overpriced, but that’s to be expected when in a resort town.

You would think that a tourist pub like Brewhouse would have better service, but it was very sporadic and the server was not that friendly either.

Also adding to the fact that it was super warm in the restaurant without a/c or a strong fan, it was just not a comfortable experience. I hope that this review did not sound too bitter, but I can not have perfect dining experiences every single time, and this just happened to be one of them :(.

-Carmen