Digby_Scallopsout thereSince October 16, 200743 Reviews
(3.1)- Food
(3.2) - Service (3.1)
- Value (2.9)
- Ambiance (3.2)
Do a search below using the city or postal code search box if your city is not listed above.
Get dining news including restaurant closures and qualify for giveaways.
(3.1) (3.2) (3.1) (2.9) (3.2)If you want to visit the Land That Time Forgot, try Hy's Encore. I used to visit Hy's back in the 80's and early 90's. Must be some 15 years since I last visited. Little has changed & maybe that is one of the main attractions.
Hy's is the good old boys Howe street hangout. Steaks are big & so are the prices. You won't be having a steak under $40 unless you share & go dutch. Of course most of the steaks are large enough to do just that.
The garlic & cheese toast is still on the menu (I prefer the garlic). The ceasar salad should be called a seizure salad, as it is just laced with garlic.
The lobster bisque had a somewhat smokey taste to it. I had the filet with blue cheese as my main, medium rare. The steak was perfectly cooked (by the chef with the big hat in the grill pit) but the blue cheese just a tad overpowering. My fault, not his. The bourbon chocolate cake was delicious for dessert.
Gotham is I expect is the "new Hy's" in the city, but if you are looking for a glimpse of what was & is still a good special occasion choice, drop by Hy's.
Every once in a while you stumble across a place you don't expect to find. Seattle for example is full of these little gems but not so much in Vancouver.
Eight 1/2 is tucked away basically at 8th & Main, a little difficult to find, beside a new condo development. Our waitress commented the building beside them had recently been torn down & they now had the evening sunset through their windows. Not for long.
We came on a Friday night, without resrvations, at about 7PM. Had we been 15 minutes later, we would have had a 45 minute wait or better. The restaurant is not large & they use pevery square foot to accomodate tables. There is a long bar running pretty much the length of the restaurant.
There was a good mix of people, but the majority I would say were in the 30 something bracket. A lot of regulars it seemed. The restaurant is narrow and very noisey. We were unfortunately seated right by the entrance.
The menu was a good selection of starters, small plates & entrees. Prices ranged from the $9 thru $20 range for most items. They also had a daily feature/fresh sheet.
Both of us being on yet another diet, we opted for salads. Ingredients were local, fresh, and the salads a good entree size, while still allowing a shared cheesecake for dessert. With a glass each of wine, the tab was $55. Service was prompt.
We will return but reserve in advance & ask for a table away from the door.
Morgan Creek is one of the premier golf courses in the lower mainland. It also has some of the best views overlooking the course, a great patio in the summer, and good food.
I prefer the lounge area to the dining room.It is a small room, not kid friendly, with big fireplace, and several large screen tv's, fortunately muted during the evening. We try and gather here at Xmas for our annual glass of wine in front of the fire. Being a wine bar, it has a good selection.
The lunch menu is fairly limited but dinner offers the full range of appy's, starters, and entrees. Prices range from high teens for the "small plates" to above $30 for the mains, like their steak. On the evening we last visited, we both enjoyed salads, one the asian and the other their house greens with chicken breast on the side. The asian came with a mild jalopena ranch dressing.
The tab was $45 incl gratuity, no liquor. Not inexpensive but a nice setting and far more intimate than the Cactus Club where we were originally headed.
You don't go here for the atmosphere, despite a reno sometime within the last decade. Nor do you go for a quiet dinner. The place is noisey.
Once you get past the realization this is no longer a fast food place & the higher prices on some of their entrees, you focus on the food quality. Personally I've never found the portions overly large, particularily their burger platters, but last night's visit made me think twice.
My wife and I ordered the chicken Veronica salad & my father & daughter both had the fish & chips.The $12 salad is huge, an assortment of lettuce, grapes, celery, chicken breast,& cashews, served with naan bread. I believe the naan may be a recent addition. The $10 fish & chips was a 2 piece order, with way too many (no complaints were heard) fries. My dad & my daughter finished their fish & chips before we got through our salad.
Everyone was more than full. The tab was $61 including tip (no liquor), which was more than I like to spend in a family type restaurant but the place is unionized.
Large open kitchen concept. Somewhat noisey as these type of places can tend to be. We were immediately seated for our 6PM reservation & drink order taken. The menu is large and consists of a a good variety of pasta dishes (unfortunately no linguine ala vongole), any which could have easily been shared by two, and a number of steak, fish & chicken entrees. Good wine selection including many by the glass.
Pasta are $15 - 22 & entrees are in the $22-29 range.They also do a number of sharing plates where you can mix & match pastas & entrees in the $17 - 19 per person range.
Everything comes with salad & tuscan bread. It was a birthday celebration & my daughter was brought a complimentary dessert.
Tab including a shared appy, 3 drinks, 2 pastas & 2 entrees came to $150 incuding tax. Everyone was satisfied & enjoyed the meal.
If anything could be faulted,, it would have to be the pace of service. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was slow, whether intended or not. Would return.
Cactus Club has been my least favourite of what I consider the big three upscale chains. I've always found them (at least the Scott Rd location) to be incredibly noisey. Milestones & Earl's I consider the the other two in this category and I may have to reverse that & place it ahead of Earl's, whose restaurants have been remodelled & the noise levels gone through the roof. The South Surrey location caters to the business crowd. The bar area is the first you will see upon entrance & where we sat recently.
What strikes is the extent this chain has gone to market their concept. The female wait staff are all outfitted in various black desses. The eye contact and pleasant manner stands out. They are there to impress & the service is good & as they carter to that business crowd, very professional.
On our most recent visit we all had the same luncheon special, that being the Short Rib sandwich. The quantity was ample & the beef tender. A tad messy to eat. Even at Xmas lunch we were in and out in 45 minutes.
Da Gino is housed in the former Bianco Nero space on West Georgia.
As did the former tenant, it caters to the before theatre crowd at The Queen E. On the night we visited, we made reservations for 7:30PM. Upon arrival, the restaurtant was full & within 15 minutes, we were the only diners. This made for a somewhat different experience.
The service was fine, although neither the owner or manager, who both appeared to be in attendence, ever stopped by. There was lots of wait staff, but their primary goal appeared to be to clean & reset the tables for the next dinner service (which wasn't that night). As such, while I reiterate the service was fine, it came off visually as "we are closing for the night" at 7:30PM. However, we were not rushed at all and left at approx 9PM.
The menu offerred differed from the Entertainment Book, which illustrated amongst other entrees Rack of Lamb. We were presented a less extensive "Event" menu. From speaking with our server, it appears on event nights (@ The QE) they provide a less extensive menu geared for the theatre crowd. So no Lamb or some other mains illustrated in the book.
Having said that, if you like pasta, there were ample choices, as well as several veal, chicken, and one fish dish. I asked the server if the kitchen could do me up a plate of linguine & clams with white wine. They oblidged & it was an ample portion & very good. The others had various pastas (priced in the $14 - 19 range) and one had the salmon, which he pronounced quite good. Wine by the glass was $6.50 - $10 and there was good assortment.
The lights could have been a bit lower and the restaurant busier to add some atmosphere. I would return but would call ahead to ensure they were offerring their full menu on an off event night.
Have been meaning to try out this spot for the last year or so, so decided Xmas might be the time.
Our party reservation was for 7:30PM, however we were not seated till 8PM . It was clear from the start it was going to be a long evening. Eventually I had to ask for menus to get the show on the road.
Our mains did not arrive until almost 10PM. 2 hours is way too long. They came out on cold plates & the food itself was barely warm. Several plates were returned to be "re-heated" but in my opinion, the food was inedible and I personally did not touch mine.
The manager/owner (?) also provided entertainment. It was painfully obvious to everyone I guess but him he should have been in the kitchen trying to sort out whatever the service issues were, rather than playing his guitar.
Overall, not a good evening. Really too bad. It is an attractive space & very inviting. Nice people. But if you can't turn out a product to match the setting, there are just too many other places to spend your dining dollar in this area. Unfortunately all you get these days is one shot, so will not be back.
We were invited out for an anniversary dinner to this spot on the strip in Fort Langley.
As it was Tuesday night, it was their two can dine for $29.95 evening. This features a 4 course tapas meal for two. I enquired if the portion sizes were smaller than their regular meal and was advised they were not. You basically select one of a number of tapas in each of the four categories, ie: appy, entree etc.
The presentation was very good, with two portions of each tapas served on the one plate, ie: for crab cakes, each diner receives one. There was a very nice selection of offerings, incl dessert. We were well satisfied food wise.
The caveat on the menu was to receive the special, two beverages must be ordered. It did not specify these need be alcoholic. There was also live entertainment. Wednesday's is 2 for 1 tapas.
Overall, a very pleasant evening, with a tab of about $50 for two including the two cocktails and gratuity.
My last visit was the month they opened some 33 years ago. I remember it quite well as they had not yet been granted a liquor licence. I have wanted to return many times over the years but for a variety of reasons, never made it.
It would appear I have missed very little.
The Brock House from what I can ascertain has largely become a facility dedicated primatily to catering special affairs such as weddings. Whille you absolutley cannot argue with it having one of the nicest settings on the water in the lower mainland, that is not enough to cut it, at least for dinner.
The "dining room" is ostensibly an area not being used at the time for a special event. This evening it was "set up" on the ground floor. Tables were lined up by the window. No decor to speak of and areas were draped in curtains to hide service areas. Staff sat in the bar area. It was a Sat night and there may have 5 or 6 tables occupied. Apparently the area designated fthe dining room moves around the Brock House dependent upon the size of the special event.
The bread served was I am absoultely sure brown and serve rolls & would expect they go through a few trays of these each week. To me, that set the tone of the evening and had "catering written all over it."
Service was fine and our waiter knowledgable, pleasant and I suspect has a long tenure with them.. Food presentation was well done and a good variety of seasonal vegetables accompanied each main course. Mains were ample size and generally well received, although the blackened cod was not presented in that fashion to my thinking.
Perhaps with some interior ambience the place would pass muster, but I will not be returning .
Have eaten here several times over the years, the last 3 on their outside patio. Most recent dinner was an anniversary and likely one of the last beautiful evenings you'll be able to enjoy your meal outside this year.
Despite our reservation request, we did not receive a table "by the water." As one did open up, they happily moved us, only to find that 25 feet move closer to the water dropped the temperature several degrees. Not a problem. Out came a portable heater & blankets. Perfect.
The food I have always found high quality. My steak came out medium as opposed to medium rare. Returned it and the replacement excellent. The first one was ok but the difference made the evening. Halibut was beautifully done.
A request for my daughter for "another piece" of bread as opposed to purchasing a 2nd $5 bread basket was met with a replacement basket at n/c.
Service despite it being a Monday evening was slow as this is a very popular tourist spot. But once they were at your table, they could not do enough to make you happy.
Our meal was finished at sunset but we lingerd for coffee and dessert. Future summer visits will be a little later so we are eating closer to sunset, as it is a beautiful spot at that hour.
I've been coming to this DQ for years as it is the nearest location to our home. But I have to tell you, it is poorly run. They are a busy location, but are almost always under staffed. Typically you have 2 counter people, someone manning the drive thru window and a cook. The place is usually dirty (not dirty in the sense of unclean ) because they are busy and have inadequate staff and time to clean up after themselves. And they close at either 9 or 9:30 PM, which in the heat of summer is simply a mystery to me. The franchisee here needs to take a hard look at the overall operation.
After an incredible first visit in early 2008, I had been disappointed upon my return. I had opted to try the hot sauce and it was a big mistake. However, decided to give it a try again, this time knowing exactly what I did and did not want.
What I wanted was something other than just meat. You cannot fault this man. He is generous to a fault with his portions. I would never go back to Subway again if his place wasn't so far out of the way.
So this time I asked him for lots of lettuce & pickles. We had a wonderful conversation and he made me a great roast beef & ham sandwich , with an ugodly amount of two different types of cheese. I declined his offer of hot sauce. My wife and I split half of it before golf and I had the other half for lunch the following day.
The man has a real passion for what he does. At $7 plus tax, throw the bun away and make your own sandwiches for a week. A little hard to eat but it is one beautiful sandwich.
As to the language, the man knows what he can and cannot get away with it. He is a good judge of people. But enter at your own risk. I left the wife in the car but I'm pretty sure he would have been fine.
Was in Vanc and on the south side of the bridge. My daughter wanted a club sandwich but not at The Pantry, so we stopped in first at Cactus Club ( I must say i really liked the feel of this location & the look, but no club) so we walked across the street to Earll's.
They were busy but accomodated us almost immediately in the lounge/outside covered patio area. The place is one big entertainment centre with big screen TV's and the golf is on. I go to the washroom and the wife has us sitting right in front of one. I like it altready.
Not terribly hungry so i order the sushi appy, the daughter the Chicken Club and the wife the kungpou. 2 drinks and the tab comes in at $50, all satisfied and in and out in an hour.
Food quality high as I always find Earl's to be. Service was very good (I do wish this site would have something between solid & outstanding in their ranking system).
Had to organize lunch for an informal business meeting last week. Called The Wrap Zone and spoke with Michael. Asked if he could fax or email me his menu and he took the time to point me to his website. While on the phone we discussed the menu, options etc. Called back later that day & placed my order for 12 of us. Didn't insist on payment before pick-up (paid in advance in any event). Food was individually wrapped, hot and tasty and ready for pick-up when requested. Good selection of filling wraps. Service was professional .
With the myriad of restaurants on Denman, one tends to look for something out of the ordinary. Over the freezing cold holidays, we decided to give The Central a try on a Sat night before Xmas.
The atmosphere was inviting enough and we were dining early, so the place was not busy. Srervice therefore was quite attentative and our waiter friendly.
Portions were ample, although I though a bit pricey at $9 for an order of Yam fries . Martinis were the same price. Food generally tasty but nothing special..
Unfortunately the restaurant was quite cold with the coming and going of patrons & the outside winter conditions.
I guess the days of getting excited about White Spot have disappeared, along with almost all their outdoor car service locations.
Prices are higher than elsewhere for basically a pretty plain burger and fries, no doubt due to the union status. They have tried to upscale their menu by adding input from the likes of Umberto Menghi and John Bishop. I'm sorry, but if I am going to spend in the high teens for a creation of theirs, it will be in one of their restaurants. I'll pay more but you get the ambience & service to go with it.
Food is decent and they do offer all you can eat fries, not that I order them anymore. Service is so so, hit and miss.
To me, just a place to grab a not so quick lunch in my opinion.
I visit this spot every 5 years or so and have for over the last 20. I have never been disappointed. Reading some recent reviews, I hesitated to return but did so last night for an anniversary with my wife & daughter.
Reservations were for 7PM and we were seated as requested at the window. We were the only party in the restaurant but it was very well staffed. It did start to fill up over the next 45 minutes.
Prices have increased considerably since my last visit, topping out at $39 for The Rack of Lamb. Most mains were in the $32-35 range ,with three vegetarian offerings in the $25 area.
They still do a fair amount of tableside preparation, ie: Ceasar salad, steak tartar and crepes suzzettes. Service is extremley attentive. I drink lots of water & couldn't keep up with my glass being replenished.
The restaurant as previously noted is indeed showing its age. It seems to work though, particularly after dark when the lighting is dimmed.
The rack of lamb was pronounced excellent. My halibut tasty and our daughter's sablefish well received, although to my taste, a little underdone. The latter two came with risotto. High marks are awarded for presentation, although portions "appear" on the smallish side. With an appy and the delicious bread, we were all more than satisfied.
This restaurant has maintained its high standards and while pricey, particularily on the wine side, is well woth a visit for that special night out.
I started going to Nick's back in the very early 80's. At the time I dubbed it "Nick's Fettucini Palace" and I used to frequent for lunch.
It was busy, the atmosphere great & overall just a good spot to dine away from the beaten path.
I'm afraid the place is now dated and way too expensive (they even have a minimum $ per person charge. )
Service has always been good and the staff pleasant. Unfortunately I won't be going back, knowing exactly what I will experience. The value for the dining dollar isn't there and in this city, that isn't going to fly.
...you won't find a better choice for a sunset away from the water. Duffey's is located in the clubhouse of the Northview Golf & Country Club, former home of the Air Canada PGA event.
Duffey's has a huge indoor seating area complete with several big screen tvs abd various seating packages. The room is floor to ceiling glass, offering outstanding views of the course as well as the north shore mountains. Adjacent to Duffey's is The Palmer Room, the fine dining companion.
The food quality and presentation are very good indeed. Portions are large and could easily be shared. I enjoyed a corned beef on rye deli sandwich today, which for $10 included fries or salad. Their yam fries ($7) were very tasty as a side.
The menu serves up many salada, burgers, wraps etc ideal after a round of golf on the challenging course. They also offer salmon, steak and prawns and stir - frys.
Duffey's does up a Sunday Brunch as well as Friday night Pasta Buffet. It can be a busy spot on a nice night.
They have a wonderful outside patio which offers a great view of the 18th green.
Service I have always found kind of spotty and some of the servers do have a bit of an attitude. Well worth the trip.
