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Singaporean Restaurant in the West End.
Service was good, the food was nasty. Pad thai was made with ketchup....I think. The food wasn't fresh, it was like they went and got presidents choice frozen food and just reheated. I had heard that the quality of food left with the old management, now I know for real. That is all.
I went to one of my all time favourite restaurants last night and found myself in a bit of a Twilight Zone. Where was our favourite bubbly always laughing and cheerful singaporean-cuisine-slinging Kam? Who were these new waitresses? Why were they so glum? Who was that man in the cash area? Something was definitely up.
Then came the food. The pineapple fried rice was dry, the curries less creamy, the chicken more processed and not cut as nicely. On the whole, the food was quite a disappointment from the usual to which I had grown accustomed. I even passed on dessert because I didn't want another disappointment. It's possibly still a good value. I haven't reconciled that one in my mind yet.
Anyway, it's obvious the place has changed hands. Goodwill can only go so far. If you start messing with recipes and your staff can't keep up the positive vibe that the place had previous, then people will stop coming. And that goodwill the new owners paid for will have dried up like the crummy fried rice I had last night.
First of all, Kam the owner is so nice and welcoming. The food is well made they have large portions. You can always find a 2 for 1 coupon in the Georgia Straight. I feel it's the best singaporean restaurant in Vancoouver. I love this restaurant and will go back again and again.
The food here is alright, it tastes pretty good. But for it's price, it is not worth it. This place is only worth if you can find a buy one get one free coupon (a long time ago in the Geogia Strait, not sure if they still have it now). And yes, they were voted the best Thai food in some years I believe. However, I wouldn't go back until I find that coupon.
I have been to Kam's a few times because it is conveniently located for me. The food is not bad, but not wonderful either - and I have tried a number of different dishes here. Their lunch menu has some good selections. Service is prompt and pleasant. As long as it does not move away, I think I will be back once in a while.
Mrs. C and I went to Kam's to find out what all the buzz was about. It was not the best meal ever. We arrived at the place and some guy who seemed to be in charge (I assume it was Kam) told us "Five minutes, okay?". Then he laughed nervously. It was an inauspicious start to the meal. 20 minutes later we were still waiting. Okay I thought, it's busy. During the wait several other potential diners also got the 5-minute speech. While I was sitting around I had time to notice that the place was a bit shabby and needed a cleaning.
Finally we sat down, and ordered a lettuce wrap and a pork curry with steamed rice. I also tried the coconut lichee drink. I kept hearing Kam's maniacal cackling during the meal. This was very unsettling. The food itself was a mixed bag. the coconut drink was nice, and lettuce wrap was okay too, but the curry was a tasteless and watery train wreck. We didn't finish it.
Was it a good meal? Not really. With so many choices I won't be back. Maybe Kam knows how awful it is and that explains his nervousness...
If you've actually had real Singapore or Malaysian food, you will know that nothing at Kam's is authentic. Its your basic Chinese restaurant that has a few good dishes. I don't mind the place but just wish they don't pride themselves as a Singapore restaurant coz that's a farce.
I just left Kam's Place on Davie and I can say I won't go there anymore.
You could always go to Kam's and be greeted so well, smiling faces everywhere, friendly servers. No more! I didn't see any of the old servers.....the new staff were all so gloomy. The service was bad, not once after we got our food did anyone come to see if we were ok. Before you could be sure the servers always came to check on you.
The food!!! Awful!!! My favorite, House Chili Prawns...disgusting taste......starchy.....no taste! The first time I didn't finish the dish. Sha Cha Beef.....it was ok...but not the same taste as before.
I couldn't wait to get out of the place. I will never walk through the doors again. Sad to see such a great restaurant go down hill like that.
We used to love Kams food. There are so many other Thai, Singaporean, Malaysian restaurants in Vancouver. So dear Kam's if you want to keep your old loyal customers around don't mess with the portion of your servings. the reason people keep coming back to you is :
1) taste good
2) large portions (meet)
3) reasonable price
3) good customer service
If you change any of these four items people wont come back.
everyone I know say they like the portion of meet in your dishes. So I would suggest not to change that at all !
The new manager is polite and professional, he just needs to make sure of the consistency of the portions and quality of the cooking back in the kitchen.
As noted previously, all of the things that used to be great about Kam's are no more. No chatty host, no piles of steaming hot food-of-indeterminate-ethnic-origin. No crowds of interesting West End types piling into tables and booths to eat before or after going out for the night.
I was in Kam's last Wednesday and we had the absolutely surreal experience of being the only two people in the place at 6:00. Can you imagine?
Sadly, I won't go back. I expect the place will close soon. I will miss it terribly. There's not too many places you can take your 23 year old niece or your 75 year old mom and they both enjoy it.
I wonder what happened? I hope that the owner decided on his own to move on to a more relaxing life.
This restaurant is too dark and dingy to know what you are eating. We think we tried pad thai and mixed vegetables. We did order them from a surly old man. They sort of tasted what I used to have in Singapore, but not really. More of a watered-down version. In Singapore people were so friendly. At Kam's the hospitality was peppered with sarcastic quips meant to hurry us out of the restaurant. In all honesty, I think the owner gives Singapore a bad name.
Having read the reviews we decided to check out Kam's as we have visited Singapore many times and love the food. Ordered the goong pad, green curry with veggies and a few other dishes and they were just ok. The service was friendly and Kam was pleasant to us and the other patrons.
Maybe they were just having a bad day or something as we left satisfied but unimpressed...
Perhaps would be considered "earth-shattering" and special if you have never left Vancouver and don't really know what great, authentic Singaporean tastes like...
I just don't get it. I have been to Kam's on several occasions and have never had a bad experience. In fact, I find Kam to be one of the most gracious and generous owner/operators of a restaurant that I have been to. He always seems to be cheery and in a good mood, greeting customers, joking and having fun.
I was just at Kam's on Monday night and once again had a great dinner. The portions are huge and although not upper end cuisine
very tasty. My dining partner and I enjoyed the lettuce wraps, a generous portion of curried chicken with lot's and I mean lot's of chicken, no holding back here. We also orderd two Singhia Beer and an order of coconut rice and plain rice, all of that for a mear $38.00, heck there was enough left over to give to some street people afterwards.
At the end of the meal Kam came up to us and said hold on I will bring you dessert, of course we were too stuffed to even think about dessert. What he brought were a couple of shots of Orange liqueur, on the house and this isn't the first time he has done this. Maybe some reviewers are overly critical, petty or very demanding or a combination of all of those things.
I can honestly say that Kam's is a great place to eat.
Went for lunch this week having not been to Kams for a while. The price is right but the food has gone downhill and the servers could show some enthusiasm. The green bean chicken entree was pasable but it was too dry...needed a sauce and was warm when it arrived. Kam has been in the business too long to become complacent....there are too many new places on Davie Street and I won't be back until they get better.
Never going back. Unsanitary. And I actually doubted my friend when he said his glass of water was yellowish, different from the rest of ours, and had an odd taste.... I said it might be the lighting... Until I took a sip of the garbage myself. It's )@!(# dirty dish water! How the heck do you end up scooping some of that up for someone? Or was it grabbed straight out of the dirty dish bin? Out of tap water? Give me a break! The rest of the food, if you don't experience food poisoning first, is mediocre to bland. I only went there twice because it used to be a favourite of my brother's, I don't know why. I never liked it. Glad to see that they were listed in the Province on year as part of the ones that failed inspection and was indeed closed for a while for a cleanup. Forced into closing and cleaning up otherwise, stay closed down forever. I wish they had opted for the latter.
For many years my friends and I enjoyed Kam's awesome food and service. I recently went there to find it under new management. We had ordered about 6 dishes between us, one of them the stir fried squid.
It was so rubbery and inedible I complained and had it sent to the kitchen. The manager came out with the same dish ( with a spoon floating in the middle of it) and declared there was nothing wrong with it because the chef tasted it and said it was good. The manager went further to say, squid it supposed to cooked rubbery and the texture is supposed to be be hard to chew! He left the now cold plate ( with drowned serving spoon in middle) on our table and then instructed us to pay the full amount as he stood there.
Needless to say we will not be going back, such a shame that the new management kept only the name of the restaurant, naught else!
I went to Kam's on September 26th for dinner with 2 friends visiting from England. They are only here for 8 days but loved this place so much they are itching to go back. The food was wonderful and the service very friendly.
We ordered the Ginger Beef which was amazing. We are going back tomorrow and ordering that again. We also ordered the Pad Thai and Green Chicken Curry. Everything was amazing, but order the Ginger Beef!!!!!
We've been going to Kam's Place for a couple of years regularly, and it never fails to please. Dishes are tasty and very generous in their portions. Lots to take home! The level of spice varies a lot, and the server was helpful in pointing this out to us. The owner even gave us a set of ceramic bowls for our new baby, which was unexpected since we don't know him at all! Recommended.
My fiancée and I have had takeaway delivered to us from Kam's many times and have always been impressed with the consistent quality of the food; the portion sizes, the spices and the flavours are great.
After a Friday stroll through Vancouver, we stopped at Kam's for the first time and we were seated immediately. For a drink, the lady chose the Kam's Special Cocktail, which was a piña colada with a particularly nutty flavour, and she said it was the best piña colada she'd ever had. My Singapore Sling was pretty good too.
After I'd started with the hot and spicy soup, namely suar lang la tang, which was wonderful and brilliantly spicy, we chose the lemon chicken, the rock salt chili pork and the pineapple fried coconut rice with beef. It was consistently eight-out-of-ten stuff, save for the rice, which was even better. Everything just tasted right and we were very happy, even the next day when we fried up what we couldn't finish.
The place feels authentically oriental and the service for us was fine, even when the manager saw my camera and called me Mr. Nikon for the rest of the night.
We'll certainly be back and I'd recommend Kam's to anybody.
A great place for a fill up. Not unlike Stephos, another Davie Street institution that offers moderate quality food at affordable prices and high volume. Service is excellent. This was our first visit here and the server was quite helpful in suggesting good choices with a smile. If you find yourself very hungry with little time this is a good choice. Ambiance was nothing great, but clean and offering a good view of the Davie Street.
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| 2. | Subway (12 m) | |
| 3. | Mr. Paris Bakery (18 m) | |
| 4. | Priscilla's (18 m) | |
| 5. | Denny's (21 m) |  |
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