kawaiiVancouverSince December 1, 200742 Reviews
(3.4)- Food
(3.6) - Service (3.6)
- Value
(3.2) - Ambiance (3.3)
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(3.4) (3.6) (3.6) (3.2) (3.3)This place is such an oddity - the food they serve is at times mediocre, such as the Japanese lunch which is reminiscent of airplane or cafeteria food (if you lived in Japan), but for some reason, has a certain appeal to it.
Everything we tried, from the rice dishes to the Western meals were all perfectly fine, nothing to complain about, and decent pricing. But nothing outstanding either. Yet combined with incredibly sweet staff, charming atmosphere and just the Japanese-ness of it all, I will definitely be coming back.
After venturing out to many Korean places around town, I still think this restaurant has the best side dishes. Excellent quality ingredients.
I’ve tried a lot of the menu, and the Korean dumplings are always delicious, steamed or fried. I am also a fan of the soy bean paste tofu hot pot which seems more like a soup, it is full of vegetables, beautiful mushrooms and of course, tofu. I love the go dung uh goo yee, the bbq mackerel…perfectly grilled fish, one of my favorites. I’ve tried the black cod as well which was recommended to me, and…I think I don’t like cod, but for those who do, it might be worth a try. The beef dumpling with rice cake in soup is lovely during winter, and so is the Cornish hen ginseng soup.
I’m not so crazy about the bbq meat dishes because they grill it for you then bring it to you already cooked, I prefer restaurants where you grill it yourself. However, when it’s busy in the restaurant, it seems like every table has ordered a big plate of bbq chicken or beef…so it’s very popular among the mostly Korean clientele.
Service is efficient. If you go when it’s packed, don’t expect much more than for someone to take your order and then set it down at your table. Go there for the authentic Korean food, not the service.
The 16 piece lunch set was unbelievably delicious…just all these perfectly tiny portions of exquisite foods. It was like a dream meal for me. I enjoyed trying to figure out what some of the foods were, and the waitress was really sweet, even with her broken English, she did her best to explain everything to me. The dessert…crème brulee which the chef came over and personally recommended, was lovely.
The other lunch items are also well-done, but you could find it at other good Japanese restaurants around town. That 16-piece lunch set stands out for kingyo.
A beautiful restaurant and excellent staff.
First, their salsas. Brilliant. The salsa verde especially, I did not realize my bottled salsa verde was such crap until I tasted Cilantro and Jalapeno’s fresh version. Will never be able to go back to mass-produced, and unfortunately now spoiled by them and forced to make a long drive to North Van just to pick up some salsa verde. Their regular tomato salsa is simple, fresh and delicious.
Also had their soup and tacos…soup was lovely, although I prefer it without the cream and parmesan cheese. A nice clear broth, lots of big chunks of chicken and while I’m not a big fan of rice in soup, it’s nice here and makes it feel like a hearty meal. Excellent price at about $3.50 for the small and less than $5 for a large.
Stayed away from their fish tacos because it is deepfried unfortunately…was hoping to make a comparison to La Taqueria. And just like at La Taqueria, their soft tacos are not steamed fresh, here they are pre-packaged and they also sell them in the store. I tried it with the chicken…which I found mediocre, and served with a sad-looking salad. Their rice is excellent, and bought a take-away pack, great to make healthy, quick meals at home. Overall, I think they have some good foods that are freshly prepared and tasty, other meals are not worth the price, so just like a lot of other places, figure out what they do best and stick to those foods.
I really like their staff, very sweet and good energy. One time I called at the end of the day to see if they had any salsas left, she said she could make it for me on the spot. It is basically a fast food counter with a fresh selection of ready-made foods. For me, it is worth the trip.
As seems to be the theme for Jamaican food in the Greater Vancouver area, spicy is the overriding taste here for the jerk chicken, but it was good, I enjoyed it. I got a medium order I think for about $10 + tax. I didn’t find their prices overwhelming. The Jamaican patties were $3 each. I found their prices reasonable, but it can get price-y, their escovitch fish was about $18 (which I think I will try next time, authentic escovitch fish is so tasty), but I think most meals are in the $10-15 range.
It’s a nice, comfortable space…staff are attentive, professional and friendly. Definitely an excellent place to drop by for a quick bite to eat.
Soups are the way to go in this place. I had the chicken soup one time, and pho the next. The chicken soup was lovely…sweet, clear tasting broth. The noodles were soft and chewy, exquisite. Fresh herbs and bean sprouts…the guy taking my order asked if I wanted the bean sprouts boiled, guess I didn’t look Vietnamese. He looked relieved when I said no, why would I want limp bean sprouts.
I’ve also tried the lemongrass chicken, was disappointed. Oily and kind of dry, looked partially deep fried and found it tasteless. Maybe the pork might be better but I have a thing for lemongrass chicken.
I like the staff…I can see how they might be off-putting to some people, but I think they just take their food seriously, and their soups are worth it.
My friend almost kissed me for introducing him to this place. I heard about their Bon 7 whatever…beef in 7 ways, and loving new things, I had to try it.
When you walk in to this place you feel like you’ve gone back in time. It’s one of those old-school Vietnamese restaurants, and I felt like like turning right around and walking out the door as soon as I stepped in. Judging by the cautious tone in my friend’s voice, “umm…do you think this is the right place?” he wasn’t really feeling a good vibe either. There’s 2 parts to the restaurant, and the first is a vast expanse of weird wicker furniture, and it was mostly empty when we went. But then there’s a 2nd part to the restaurant which is smaller and full of booths. That part is usually busy or even completely full.
We ordered the bon 7…there was a whole variety of stuff. There was beef congee, beef hot pot to wrap in rice papers with herbs and veggies, grilled beef, grilled beef wrapped in lotus leaves (that was so so tasty), a beef salad (refreshing and nicely done) and steamed beef meatballs. It was a fun meal, and a nice change from the typical Vietnamese food.
The servers are friendly and efficient. This is not the best Vietnamese restaurant in town by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s good, it’s tasty, and it’s CHEAP. And for people who eat out often, that cutting back on a dollar or 2 can be very inviting.
So I’ll rate this restaurant according to the standard that most other Indian restaurants are at in Vancouver. I have had amazing Indian food in people’s home, but I have yet to see that replicated in any restaurant. That being said, I thought Jolly’s had some of the better Indian restaurant food in Vancouver. Some of the sauces could be overly-sweet, but all in all, I enjoyed the meal. The service was also good.
What will definitely bring me back is the beautiful room and lovely style.The colors were gorgeous, I loved the style of sari-aprons the waitresses wore…just had a beautiful evening. The music could be irritating though, a bit repetitious. With the right music, we could have stayed there all night and just soaked in the atmosphere.
I’ve only ever had the jerk chicken, because I’ve had the real thing and I love it, and I’m constantly on the hunt for that amazing taste again. So…this place has a vague sense of jerk chicken spices, but it’s nowhere close to the real thing. Mainly I taste spicy…still, it’s a good deal, big pieces of chicken, lots of rice, and a so-so salad on the side.
This place is really cute…an inviting, warm interior. I’ll probably be back to try the other things on the menu, it’s a great place to just chill for a bit, and a little taste of jamaica is better than none.
Thai restaurant run by Chinese people, sigh. It’s a very clean, simple restaurant. The food that comes out is acceptable, some better than others. I think the red curry and hot and sour soup are decent. It’s open until 10 so that’s good for take-out, and the prices are good.
I’ve been to a lot of Thai places around town, and even when the food wasn’t the best, it was still enjoyable. Maenam is a really beautiful, slick room, no doubt about that. It’s not very large, it has about 16 small tables. There were a lot of servers for such a small room, and the service was still just okay. Maybe their timing was just off…some of them could be friendly and accommodating, but for such a small restaurant, we had trouble flagging anyone down when we needed something.
The food was okay. I was really looking forward to the hot and sour soup, because I love the subtle layers of flavors in this soup, and I have it at every Thai restaurant I go to. It’s kind of my standard bearer. I thought it was too spicy, that it overpowered the taste of the soup to the point where I couldn’t figure out what the actual flavors were at all, besides spicy. And then we had some of the main dishes, which I expected to be very spicy, but were actually incredibly mild to the point that it didn’t seem hot at all. I wasn’t wow-ed by anything…maybe because I expected coconut milk in the duck curry, and it was a different kind of curry, so I found it disappointing. The pad thai was way too sweet, and the chicken satays were pieces of grilled chicken with peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was good, but I’ve had more exceptional peanut sauce with a lot more complexity and depth at about half the price, so I definitely had bigger expectations.
It’s a good restaurant, but for all the raves it’s been getting around town, I expected to just love everything and be amazed. I think I would go back for drinks and some small snacks, rather than a full (and fairly price-y) meal.
I love burgers…I try not to eat burgers too often, but when I do eat it, I want it to be excellent and worth the price. At this little restaurant, this is how a burger should taste. I haven’t eaten anything else on their menu other than their burgers, but it’s good enough to keep me coming back. The orders are always correct, everyone there is friendly and professional, and the food is delicious. Probably a heart attack on a plate, but sometimes that’s what you want. I think the cook picked up the phone one time and took my order, asked me how I wanted my burger and what time I would be there because he was worried that it would be overcooked by the time I went to pick it up. I know this place is no 5-star restaurant, but that they still pay attention to the details and make sure the food you get is the best quality they can make it, I definitely appreciate that and I can definitely taste it. So it’s certainly not health food, but it’s also not a greasy cheap burger either. It’s fresh and well-made.
Every time I’ve been there to pick up my takeout, the people are friendly, and make sure I have all the extras I need before I leave, even the cooks say hello to me. I love this place and I love their burgers.
I`d heard excellent things about this place and seen the lineups, and I`ve been trying to make it here for months. Finally was able to squeeze in an early dinner on the weekend. I thought the decor was nice enough, and the servers were attentive and efficient.
I guess my expectations were high coming here, and the cooked food was pretty good. We had baked eggplant with miso and the agedashi tofu, both delicious. But I really came here for the sushi, and found it to be slightly above average, but nothing to make a special trip for. Having experienced some really amazing sashimi around Vancouver, I thought the tuna and salmon sashimi was fresh enough to not complain about, but not something I`d order again. High-quality sashimi is worth making a special trip for. Maybe the bar was set a little high for me by others, because this is a good neighborhood restaurant, just nothing exceptional (which is what I was expecting).
Been here a few times, even early on at their original very small location. But I haven't been in awhile, so I'm basing my review on my latest dinner there. Their corn tortillas are still fresh and delicious…and toppings…I think they put the most attention on the pork. I found it the most flavourful and tender. The beef was tough, and the chicken was dry, and both didn’t have a lot of flavour. But my friend ordered one of the bigger dishes with steak, and that steak was amazing, tender, juicy and tasty. So that beef was so different than the beef that came out on the taco it seemed like 2 different restaurants prepared it... I might order the full steak dish next time (which also comes with the tortillas).
Great variety of salsa although I stay on the milder end of it. I find the spicier ones have a bitter undertone to it. The mild green and red are decent, a little watery, not bad but not amazing. Maybe the spicier ones are more impressive. Overall, I think their menu is hit and miss, but they have some good dishes. I went on a Friday night and it was packed, and I'm giving the ambiance a 4 because they had live music with a woman who had just a beautiful voice. And it was nice, it didn’t overwhelm the room the way it usually does with live music. Don’t expect amazing service, they are working hard to make sure everyone gets their order, and they are all about efficiency. Everything came out in a timely manner, they got all the orders right, they make sure everyone is taken care of, so I have no complaints.
It’s a take out place, it’s fast food, whatever you want to call it…I think it’s one of the healthier choices for a quick lunch. It isn’t overwhelmingly tasty, but I still like it. It’s flavourful enough, all the ingredients seem fresh, it’s fairly filling, and they steam their tortillas which is wonderful (I always get the whole wheat tortilla). I usually have to add some hot sauce to give it a kick, but it’s definitely better than some deep fried or msg-laden lunch at the food court. I think it’s slightly overpriced, but when I forget lunch and don’t want to pay for heavy, transfat fast food, I head over to Steamrollers. The service is always friendly and the food comes out fast.
Japa Dog....it's good if you like tons of mayo and nori flakes sprinkled on your hot dog, I did not like it. The tastes didn't blend well for me (hot dogs and seaweed??), but once again, I guess it comes down to personal preference. I might go back just to have a regular hot dog without any of the extras, the hot dog itself is excellent. They also have a variety, if I remember correctly, there's turkey, beef and possibly veggie. The people working there keep the line moving, and on a sunny day, it's nice to eat outside. It can get a little messy, but I guess that's part of the experience.
This place does great business, it’s in a beautiful location, although a bit out of the way to get for me. Heard about the famous fishnchips and decided to make the effort and give it a try. Friends raved about it, thought it was in competition as one of the best fishnchips they’d ever eaten. Me…not so much, maybe I just don't like fishnchips, I loved the fish tacones though. Don’t know about authenticity, didn’t taste the same as the amazing ones in Mexico. These had their own west coast twist, really simple fresh flavours, basic seasonings with some cole slaw minus the mayo wrapped in a white flour tortilla. The simple flavours really stood out. Not authentic, but incredibly enjoyable.
The service was efficient, I guess. I didn't think they were particularly friendly which was fine, it's basically an excellent fast food shack. But I found they get kind of surprised and irritated if the customer isn't the typically west coast friendly and polite towards them, but rather, just matches their slightly stand-off-ish manner. They like to make remarks to each other about customers not getting out of the way, not knowing how to order properly, etc., but when I made a remark back to my friend that no one told me it would take over half an hour just to get a couple of tacos to go, they seemed sort of surprised that I said anything at all, and then two of them started saying to each other that they make good food, not fast food which I assumed was said for my benefit…and on it went back and forth. So I would say, they seem efficient but not really all that polite, but then they expect the customers to be polite to them! So the fact that they were so sensitive given their rather cold, snobby personalities was a bit of a surprise to me...I mean, you don't have to be friendly, but at least be professional. Still, it’s just a take out place and at most maybe 30 words are exchanged, so I'm really not all that concerned about service.
These do remind me of the ones in Mexico, although it’s unfortunate that they don’t steam their tortillas fresh. But a lot of taquerias in Mexico had a similar habit, so can’t fault them for being inauthentic. They had all the requisite options like various pork, beef, fish…even some west coast added in with tofu. Fish was my favourite, although I found it a bit dry. I would like to go back for the veggie-mushroom. Didn’t like the chicken mole…probably a personal preference thing. Also, missing from the condiments was the guacamole which was a staple at every taqueria in Mexico, I remember because it was my favourite condiment. I don’t know if I would make a special trip down, at $2.50 a pop for a small taco, it’s not that filling. However, I heard they use organic and free-range ingredients, so what they miss in quantity they make up in quality. I think it’s a great place to check out and have a little taste of Mexico up in rainy Vancouver.
This tea shop/little restaurant is one of my favorite places in Vancouver. They sell organic green teas, have organic lunch sets that are incredibly tasty...my favorite is the chicken or salmon over rice, with a lovely miso soup. Maybe it's the thought that it's very healthy and made with organic ingredients that makes it taste better. The downstairs is beautiful...it's such a unique room, I could sit there all day and feel relaxed.
I think the owner is also an artist and supports a lot of local artists, so there are lovely little things for sale all around her shop. It's a gorgeous space with healthy food.
I'm kind of torn about Fish Cafe. On the one hand, I'm not overly impressed with it, on the other hand, there's something about it that keeps me coming back. It might be the utilitarian, working-class feel of the place. It feels like a very honest seafood shop, even though I think the prices seem steeper than how they portray themselves.
So I don't think it's cheap, $15 for 2 large pieces of fish and and a big serving of rice. My friend ordered the scallops expecting giant scallops, but they were average-to-small size. The crab cakes are made fresh, came on a pre-packaged looking but nice enough salad. I was expecting to be wow-ed by the flavors, but when it came out I thought it was ok, nothing special.
But there's something appealing and relaxing about the place. I don't think the food is fantastic, but I love seafood, so it's enjoyable. I don't think price wise that it's a great deal, but for some reason I really like eating there.
