I have been a resident of Maple Ridge for quite some time and never have had the opportunity to dine at Lava Dining and Lounge.

My daughters brought me to Lava Dining and Lounge for an early Mother’s Day dinner. We walked into the restaurant and the décor was very welcoming. It was soft colors, hardwood floors and it felt like home. The server introduced himself, took our drink order and brought us bread. They have what’s called an “amuse”, which is a little treat from the chef and changes daily. We were lucky enough to get the parsnip chips, which were amazing. They had a light crunch and did not fill me up before my meal. I started my meal with a salad covered in blue cheese chunks complimenting the almonds and the rest of the flavors throughout the greens. I am not a blue cheese fan, but I found this combination was delicious! The presentation of this salad was like nothing I had ever seen before. It almost looked like the whole head of lettuce was stacked up on top of each other! It was very impressive. For dinner, I had the “Pork Duo,” which consisted of two cuts of pork, which were done to perfection. This again was amazing! The flavor of the pork just melted in my mouth, it came with scalloped potatoes and fancy carrots. The portions did not seem very large when the server brought us our dinner but it was all hidden in the presentation. We decided to share a dessert and the waiter recommended we share the bread pudding as it was a larger portion, it was the most amazing bread pudding I have ever tasted! I will never forget the way it tasted. There were whole hazelnuts and an apricot sauce that just made it all melt in your mouth. This was a very comforting and relaxing dinner as we spent two and a half hours in the restaurant! We had two people maintaining our table who were just wonderful. I don’t think they once tried to talk to us while our mouths were full, which is a great pet peeve of mine. They knew exactly what we needed when we needed it and were very friendly.
Of course I have to thank my daughters for taking us to such a nice restaurant and I also have to thank the staff that made me comfortable enough to be there for that amount of time. What a great evening!