I met up with my financial advisor here for a quick portfolio rundown and most importantly, lunch. He suggested this Korean outfit as it was close to the office and was one such I haven't yet been to.

AGJ is dressed up like most other Korean restaurants, however we were seated by the front doors. It was a bit offputting given the unusually cold ambient temperature but nothing worth going nuts about with the rain that day.

Lunch box specials are to be had, with 3 choices available. Both of us went with the beef and comes with your choice of side. It arrives like a bento box with various bits of everything: beef, rice, kimchi, potato, salad, soup and even one of those little sour milk drinks. All in all, quite tasty and filling.

Lunch time dining tends to be spry and seamless, so it's hard to tax the service. Still, they did checkup for drink refills and the like.

For $6, it's great value for a healthy lunch meal. Hard to argue that and it's better and in these present times, actually cheaper than McDonalds.

I met up with a friend here for a brunch encounter before the holidays knowing he would likely enjoy the visit.

The space resembles that of a cafe, complete with display case but with tables strewn about. It is no more spacious than a typical coffee shop and the tables are cramped together. Still, the buzz in the room meant that overhearing your neighbours isn't much of a concern. I felt like we lucked out with an available table shortly after entering.

The menu is tidy with good brunch choices. Both of us opted for fairly basic fare. My friend's blueberry pancakes aren't the flapjacks you get Denny's. They're fluffy and light and teaming with fresh whole blueberries. Even though it's mostly carbs, you can easily pay far more elsewhere. My quiche was of re-heated variety as was located in the display case up front but the richness of the bacon, cheese and flakey crust made me forget about the fact that it could have sat for a couple of days. The small side salad was a nice counter balance to the savouriness as it was tossed in a light vinaigrette with croutons.

The service appears to be good with varying degrees of minor misses as you get deeper into your dining experience, which almost seems omnipresent within bistro dining. The initial service was perfectly fine up until we started waiting for our orders to arrive, which required patience - reheating a quiche, pancakes and a simple salad should easily take less than 30 minutes. Flagging a server down also requires timing however drink checkups are unusually spot on. I had to ask another server upon leaving to grab my doggy bag, which happened to be replaced as they threw out what I didn't finish.

While I have no experience with the dinner service, both brunch and dinner menus look promising so if you don't mind some minor service quibbles, it's worth coming. I will be returning myself.

As vast as Vancouver is in terms of cuisine choices, foods like this always take an agonizing time to get here, if they do at all. Finally, we have a standalone Philly cheesesteak joint.

Its location is just off the high foot traffic path of Granville and honestly it's a bit inconspicuous from the outside. Once inside, there are hints of showiness throughout with the deliberate chalkboard menu, vinyl stools and exposed brick accents. Still, the place looks great.

To get a bit of everything, my gf went with the small 6" Bifteck which added caramelized onion jam, brie, arugula and dijon. We found the hints of jam and dijon lacking as the richness of the brie did its best to manhandle the copious amount of shaved prime rib. The drizzling of balsamic over the arugula was a nice touch and helped back off the heaviness of the sandwich as a whole. I went with the classic Philly which was simply beef and provolone. Personally, we found the shaved beef underseasoned but the fresh rolls they used were fantastic with a soft and slightly chewy texture. Portions seem scant but they are actually quite generous as fullness and satisfaction creeps up on you. We also picked up the onion rings which had coarse salt sprinkled over the top - a great idea but too salty overall. The onion rings themselves were quite crispy for the battered variety while the ACC fries tossed with garlic, parmesan and parsley were mostly forgettable. They lacked crispiness and the additional ingredients provided no added punch. Prices seem expensive, but in the end it was comparable to the price of a couple of burgers, fries and drinks.

They run a numbering system which is orderly and while it is distinctly self-serve on the whole if you dine in, the staff do try to bring your order to your table and will clear off empties regularly.

I will defer from commenting on how authentic these cheesesteaks stack up to the ones from the city of brotherly love but if you like sandwiches, especially ones with a pile of meat, little to no vegetation on fresh bread with that touch of greasiness, you'll enjoy American Cheesesteak.

While I wasn't craving a burger, a buddy thought it would be a good idea to hit up the local Vera's on campus grounds. Generally speaking, food here is of low grade, high priced or a combination of both.

Again I went with an inelegant Canuck burger combo with onion rings. The wait times are a little longer than what I expect at Vera's, however the extra wait time was worth it. Good, juicy beef patty with no filler makes the nearly $15 combo meal a little more palatable. Onion rings came right off the hot oil - crispy with a nicely seasoned batter. My friend's double patty behemoth combo was rather intimidating, requiring skilled hands or in my friend's case, a plastic knife and fork.

As with all Vera's, self-service is about the best you can do however ringing up your order is fairly pleasant with the staff on hand.

There are absolutely no physical barriers that prevent the kitchen stench from permeating the room, so we co-existed with a heavy, thick cloud of greasy air as we dined. In terms of ambiance, let's say a cold, rainy day on a park bench would be comparable. There are multiple tvs for your viewing pleasure, however.

A good burger, albeit steep.

Given the brouhaha of Red Wagon it obviously necessitated an eventual visit. My gf and I lucked out on a quiet weekend afternoon between the lunch and dinner hour detail as it is always busy when I pass by.

Whether deliberate or not, the space itself feels predetermined as it is decidedly unkempt but with peppy indie rock looming in the background. Positive ambiance relies solely on the customers themselves but we were one of only a couple of occupied tables at the time. The waft of lemon cleaner and mop water was a big turnoff for us as one of the staff members decided it would be a good idea to mop the floor during service. Considering the proximity to food it may stifle one's appetite.

Now, the menu is small but it makes for easy decisions. My gf's pulled pork sandwich had an ample fill though I found the meat itself bland if not for the sauce while my gf found it a touch too tang. The fries were plentiful and crispy. I started with the butternut squash soup of the day, which was simple and creamy and mildly seasoned. My crispy pork belly sandwich was akin to a Vietnamese banh mi combined with chinese bbq pork. The pork was tender with a nice sweet and slightly salty tinge but the pickled vegetables completely overpowered each bite. Much of the baguette collected the pork fat making it a greasy adventure for butter fingers. My "chips" were homemade through and through but far too oily and lacked crunch. We finished off with a slice of apple pie which had a good filling of apples without the typical store-bought taste and a nice crust.

Kitchen speed is slow so lunch hour excursions beware. Our server was friendly and I noticed she checked our table from afar however no water top ups and several mistakes on their end namely: wrong drink order, I substituted the chips for fries but received chips and was then subsequently charged for the fries I didn't get anyway. At the time we were one of two occupied tables so that was was a strange oversight.

One trip already yielding such mixed results..I may need many visits to like this place.

My gf mentioned that her old boss enjoyed this new sushi place so we decided to give it a go.

On the outside, I had suspicions that it was just another typical sushi restaurant, especially seeing a brightly coloured sign with specialty sushi roll concoctions. Upon entering, I felt an even stronger sense of the usual. The ambiance smacks of a templated theme, a carbon copy I probably have seen elsewhere, but with a different name. Still, it's neat and it's tidy.

We order our default choices: a pile of nigiri, a few rolls, my chicken karaage and my gf's miso soup. As far as the fish portion goes, it appears to be of decent quality and you can get wild salmon and real crabmeat. The sushi rice was inconsistent, with a few pieces having small bites of undercooked rice and other sections with a noticeably stronger hint of rice vinegar. Roll size was also larger than it probably should be, making single piece mouthfuls somewhat difficult. We ordered one specialty roll, the Vancouver roll which was essentially a California roll with salmon on top. The chicken karaage came in bitesize morsels with a very light yet well seasoned coating - almost like the chicken nuggets you'd get at a bubble tea joint.

As usual, service is not an issue here, with timely water refills and checks.

On the whole, it would make a decent lunchtime spot but as it turns out, it really is just another typical sushi restaurant.

As a child my parents often brought me here and when that stopped, so did my visits, until recently when I decided to bring a a couple of friends here as it would be their first visit.

The wait for a table continues to be the usual 50 minute pain during peak times and once inside, the worn out furnishings are mostly a reminder of how popular this place has continued to be. It borders on being cramped yet it maintains a chaotic order of sorts.

No need to sift through the menu nor do I need to recite certain dishes - they really are the usuals that everyone gets. Now, the wings, specifically the skin which is blistered and crispy yet thin - is quite the guilty pleasure but the flesh comes overcooked, as did the fried calamari with the rubbery texture. The highlights instead became the simple beef luc lac rice with fried egg, the infamous butter beef and the fresh peashoot tips.

Service is efficient and tidy though waiting patiently is not the way to go about things.

Phnom Penh must be enjoyed on the whole. It's a combination of the food, the waiting and the ambiance that brings it all together.

Expecting a sun drenched day, a few of us headed up to Whistler to soak in the sun when we were met with a downpour. Whistler dining is completely hit and miss with no middle ground so we crossed our fingers when we tried this place out given the number of customers.

True to their name it boasts an old west feel. Varying shades of brown, worn, rickety and dirty chairs and tables and various knick knacks on the wall pay homage to the American nineteenth century. However, top 40 music blared through the speakers and the space feels disjointed and too partitioned.

The menu is typical of a bar with burgers, chicken, ribs and not much else. I was hoping to get their roasted chicken entrée but alas I ended up with what everyone else got which were the ribs when the server told me they had ran out of chicken. The ribs were boiled but tender and rather meaty. Still, the glopped on chipotle sauce made the combination unappealing and rather disgusting half way through. The fries were decent and in light of the rest of the meal, was the best part. The side soup or salad that came with the entrée was merely a tack on but still probably a better option than the ribs. My soup de jour of cream of mushroom was more of a minestrone variant but with a white, cream roux finish instead – marginal. Drinks were watered down and expensive, pass.

Luckily, our server was unlike the food. She was pleasing and checked up on us rather frequently. Anything to make the experience a little better despite the food is a plus.

Portions are ample so you won’t leave hungry, but it was definitely one of the least satisfying meals I’ve had in a while given the fact I left full. It’s another miss in Whistler.

My girlfriend brought me to accompany her friend on a dinner date and chose Banana Leaf. Malaysian food doesn’t quite lend itself to enjoyment on a sunny day but it’s hard to resist.

As with every restaurant that offers their variation of the staple bread, we made a double order of the must have roti canai to compliment our dishes. The lamb curry was fantastic with a thick coconut broth with fork tender pieces of lamb. The sambal tiger prawns were shell off with tails intact and coated with a garlic chili sauce. The prawns were plump but I thought the sauce was a little over the top in heaviness but I liked the bit of a kick it gave. I didn’t care much for the dried shrimps but that’s a personal preference. The nasi goreng made its way to the table and is certainly better than many fried rice concoctions out there but it is heavy and just sits at the bottom of your stomach. The curry tofu and vegetables were ok on the whole – the combination didn’t seem to work for me with the big chunks of okra and peppers swimming in a thin tamarind sauce but the vegetables and tofu themselves were cooked well. I ordered off a bowl of their Hainanese steamed rice, a pillowy and fluffy mound of rice cooked in broth – a nice change from plain rice.

While our server was friendly overall speed was on the slow end. Parades of kitchen staff seem to make their way out to serve dishes but otherwise it’s a bit anxious to wait if you’re really hungry.

The restaurant works around the dim lighting but that almost seems to tone down the loud chatter from customers. Space between tables isn’t exactly spacious either but for whatever reason it feels comfortable yet fairly private still. All the while, the billowing scent of your neighbour’s dishes tend to add to the ambiance.

Banana Leaf is best enjoyed with a large group of people.

Slocan restaurant is rather unassuming from the outside, despite its conspicuous northeast corner location and firmly planted roots in the area since the mid 1970s. My girlfriend and I have made multiple visits recently to this established locale.

The decor falls right down the middle, whether good or bad depends on which side you lean towards. I found a certain kind of charm with the worn interior space, vinyl benches, metal napkin dispensers and the liberal use of brown tones throughout. Nothing feels contrived nor deliberate, just age taking its course. The patrons, all regular looking folk from families to the elderly all look to be regulars while the staff and owners are genuine and easy to warm up to, complete with friendly small talk. The faint noise from the tvs in the background bring up the back of the ambiance.

Alongside their daily specials the menu has many of the typical diner offerings. The hot turkey sandwich comes open faced with a good amount of white meat covered with serviceable gravy. The big, round scoop of potato salad on the side reminds you of where you are, but the noticeable bits of diced celery and the controlled use of mayonnaise makes it more than just an untouched pass-along. The reuben is good yet unassuming but not unlike something you'd find elsewhere, yet they don't pass it on to be anything more than just hot meat, sauerkraut and swiss on light rye. The pork chops are exactly what you expect out of a diner though. They're dry, a bit charred on the edges and likely not quite enough for the hungry. The scant carrots and cauliflower on the side were quite good but overall it's one of those misses that you experience and move on. I find their rotating list of daily soups (which come with most meals) to be fantastic, notably the split pea. The pies are ok but I always tend to find that the pie is far superior when it comes out of the kitchen instead of a display case over the counter. Portions are a touch small but prices tend to reflect the portions.

The servers are welcoming and quick. Even the owner comes around to the tables and gabs with the customers. Despite the physical appearance of the space, comfort level is high here because of the staff.

The food is utilitarian, almost indifferent yet it leaves you happily satisfied. If you leave your expectations at the door you'll love Slocan for what it is which is so very unlike Vancouver, a good thing.