My fiancé and I chose Sideshow's West Coast Grill as a last-minute dinner option on the eve before Valentine's Day. We called at 5PM on Saturday to make a reservation for 8PM the same night and the host my fiancé spoke with informed us that although they were "wicked busy", they shouldn't have any problem seating only the two of us at that time. We hadn't planned on doing anything significant for Valentine's Day itself (neither of us care for all the Corporate-Show-of-Love-Day hype), so we hadn't planned some big romantic evening out or anything. Thank Dog (I'm a dyslexic agnostic), is all I can say.

We arrived shortly before 8PM, and the restaurant was in full swing. A large birthday party lined one wall, and the rest of the tables (of varying heights and seating arrangements) seemed to be crammed somewhat haphazardly into the rather small (approx 600 sq ft) space. The Olympic Games were being shown on several flat-screen TVs which was nice; whenever a Canadian athlete did well, everyone in the room cheered. The happy cheers added to the restaurant's self-described "martini lounge ambiance", which was indeed quite cozy.

Our host escorted us to the middle of the room and said, "So where do you want to sit?" There were three unoccupied tables, only one of which was for two, but it was a window table, and overlooked the ocean. We opted for that table, although it was so tight that the people at the tables on either side of us had to move their chairs just so we could sit down. Had it been earlier in the evening, we would have most certainly enjoyed the view, as we were seated with what would have been a breathtaking view of the ocean on a clear day.

I wish I could say the food more than made up for the lack of view, but it didn't. The best part of the meal was the 2007 Sumac Ridge Gewurztraminer (by the glass) that we both chose to accompany our meals.

We started off by sharing an appetizer. We chose the Smoked Salmon Caper Quesadilla for $13. I'm sorry to say that plate absolutely DOES NOT belong on the menu as a dish representative of West Coast cuisine. It was borderline horrible. I am not kidding you when I say it tasted as if the chef added 100% more salt to the dish - ON TOP of what would have already been a part of the smoked salmon itself. I made the mistake of not asking our server how the salmon was prepared, but I thought it was going to be more like Lox. It tasted as if it had been cold-smoked, THEN cooked. It was done with melted goat cheese (which I usually love), slapped inside a tortilla (crisp on the top but soggy and falling apart on the underside), then served with a dish of sour cream and some corn and black-bean salsa on the side. Although it did nothing to complement the taste, the sour cream DID cut down on some of the saltiness. However, as far as flavors go - this was an epic FAIL.

The entrées we had were passable, but not outstanding or anything. I'm a vegetarian who still enjoys seafood (I don't eat ANY red meat, pork or poultry though), so I opted for the Asian Seafood Hot Pot (full of salmon, squid, mussels and clams over rice vermicelli noodles in a coconut curry broth) for $17 and my fiancé had the Tandoori BBQ Slow Roast Back Ribs for $20. Our server was quite prompt, bringing out our dishes hot and the instant our appetizer was finished.

My fiancé's dinner looked like something my Mom would have laid out for him on a weeknight. I don't say that to be mean to Mom (I think hers would have tasted better), what I mean is that the dish lacked any presentation appeal, which is actually something I look forward to when dining out. Unfortunately, his dish appeared to be merely tossed together, the ribs sitting atop 2 pieces of asparagus, some mashed potato and a couple of cooked beets, on a plain white plate. That was it. Now, I understand simplicity can be key - especially if the food is amazing all on it's own, but that was NOT the case here. Not to mention, The ribs were coated with a gooey, albeit unappetizing-looking sauce. Once my fiancé bit into the meat, I could tell that the meat was tender *enough*, but his reaction was merely, "Mmm, yeah - it's OK." As a meat lover, when he eats delicious ribs he's usually licking his fingers and stripping the meat off the bone. Not this time. He didn't hate the meal, but he certainly didn't love it. And to top it off, the waitress didn't even bring him a finger bowl. I had to ask for one - and even then, she looked a tad confused at my request. At least she was quick in bringing it back - I would have been annoyed if he'd had to sit and wait for it. I *can* say that our server was very nice and very efficient, if not a little scatterbrained at times. Great customer service can *sometimes* undo the damage bad food leaves in it's wake.

Having said that, my dish was alright. But just *alright*. Not bad, but not great, either. Most of the seafood was cooked very well - the mussels and the clams were done perfectly, but the squid rings were quite tough. There was a lot of seafood in the dish, however. The salmon was done well too, but the broth was pretty bland, as far as coconut curry goes. I'm glad the noodles were not mushy, or I might have sent it back. It wasn't awful or totally unpleasant, it just wasn't very memorable, that's all. I've made much better seafood hot pots in my own kitchen, and I'm no Jean-Georges Vongerichten, myself.

All in all, the wine was very good, and after we discussed our total tab at home, we realized that our server forgot to charge us for our second glasses (at $7.50 a glass, that was a bonus we weren't expecting). We also split the Hazelnut Cheesecake for dessert, and that was better than both entrées combined, in our opinion. I'm betting, however, that it was made off-site.

So, we probably won't go back to Sideshow Bob's anytime soon. We DID save $$ with an Entertainment Book coupon (30% off the bill, excluding alcohol, tax or tip), and we weren't charged for the second glasses of wine, so our dinner was VERY reasonably priced, considering all that we had. Unfortunately, the flavors weren't there and there wasn't much else to draw us back for another dinner.

I do love White Rock in the summertime though, and this *may* be someplace I'd go with friends to enjoy a cocktail on the rooftop patio... before heading out to dine someplace else.

We really like Sideshows. Right on the White Rock beach with free parking. They used to do great ribs (tandori) with baked yams - yum. Pricing seemed very reasonable. Service was good. You can also sit up on the roof and overlook the ocean although it gets a little hot and bright during the summer weather.

From the moment I laid eyes on Sideshows I wanted to love it. The location, the view, the rooftop patio, it seemed the planets had alligned and my dream had come true to find a quaint local place to have a nice glass of wine and stare at the ocean while enjoying great food and good amience. But alas, it wasn't to be..... Our waiter was disinterested at best and when I had a question about the wine list he told me to refer to the menu, a menu that had, in fact, led to the question in the first place. We ordered several "Tapas" style dishes (without the help of our waiter as once we got our drinks we did not see him again for half an hour, a difficult feat for him considering the restaurant is about 500 square feet) that were fairly large portions, and seemed good in theory, but that really did not translate in execution. The cheese plate consisted of very greasy deep fried cheese and an intensely sweet fruit compote that did not complement the cheese, actually I don't know that anything would have complemented that cheese, so I forgive the complote. The sausage and prawn saut literally looked like someone threw it at the plate. It was a very peculiar mix of flavors with sausage, prawns, spinach tomatos (sounds alright so far) and maple syrop.... I am not sure how I felt about it. The tapenade baked flat bread was our final item. And holy tapenade! I mean I love tapenade but this was spread on so thick I had to scrape it off. Overall I found my expreience both suprising and sad. For a place with so much potential it was suprising it didn't capitalize on that, and sad because it was within walking distance of my house.....

The place has great ambience and the view is priceless that is if you plan on not eating! I have never been to a restaurant where I had to have two different orders returned as it was totally disgusting in presentation and taste. I ordered a grilled portabella mushroom appy and got my portabella drowning in balsamic vinegar. Totally unappealing. The watiress graciously took it back. Then came my chicken and papaya salad which made the portabella mushroom appy look better. The papaya was mushy (wouldn't even use it for my smoothie) the beautiful salad greens was soaking in dressing and the chicken was cut in miniscule cubes which looked like they were leftovers from the day before. My boyfriend ordered fish and chips which wasn't the greatest either. With their menu so small, I canno t even think what they would do with a mahi mahi or halibut. This is one restaurant that could be featured in Hell's Kitchen Nightmares! No wonder, they had no line up and it was peak dinner hour.

I was here on Saturday night and was very impressed with the ambiance. It's very cozy inside, warm tones, and cool atmposphere. Our server was Keegan, he was very pleasant but seemed to be having a rough night as he gave the lunch menu (it was dinner time) and realized that the table was lacking cutlery. He quickly rectified the errors and we were happy.

Started off with a martini and an Okanagan Springs Pale Al, the martini was tasty and the beer was nice and cold. The crab hushpuppies were the best I had ever tasted, light, crispy, and full of flavor. Although they were deep fried you could not taste a hint of grease in them.

I had the portabella mushroom penne and my associate had the mahi mahi tuna. My pasta dish was very unimpressive as it was like trying to find toothpicks floating in the Pacific Ocean, the pasta to sauce ratio was totally out of balance as near the end I was stuck with tomato chunks, mushrooms, and some of the left over meat sauce. The sad thing was that it didn't even come with any bread.

My associated meal looked a lot more appealing as it had the tuna steak, yams, greens, and a few other surprises that were very pleasant. She was happy with her selection.

The ambiance was kind of killed by the jazz quartet that was there, don't get me wrong they were great but they got a little too loud when they started doing some odd improve soloing thing. Having a conversation was difficult as both of us had to raise our voices just to speak to one another.

we belong to a car club and had booked our party unfortunatley we were unable to enjoy the roof top patio {because of snow, who would of thought it would snow in the lower mainland in december???}. the indoor dining room was a little small as we had 32 members attend. the appy's were very good [the wine prices were a little high as the selections were limited, as were the size of servings]. but the martini's more than made up for the short fall [recomend trying a "sideshow bobs" incredible!!! . the food was magnificent, i had the roast pork and the misses had the wild salmon with sweet miso sause.perfect serving sizes left just enough room for a delicious dessert. best dinning experience in years . looking forward to going back in the spring to enjoy the patio. also had the priviledge of watching a couple of trains go by, so close you could touch them. inside you forgot the train was there but for a silent rumble on the tracks. prices were very good well worth the money. live music was some timesa little loud ,[made conversation a little difficult but overall well worth the trek in the snow for.!!!!

We hit Sideshows on a Monday night. I'd driven by a few times and always wanted to stop in and check it out.

The weather was a bit dismal but the place still looked inviting. The food was even more so.

The menu looked good, lots of appetizers but only a few main courses. The main courses, price wise were a bit up there.

To start, I tried the Chorizo Sausage and Prawns with Spinach for an appetizer. A nice size portion arrived and it was delicious! Very flavorful and worth the price. Anything smaller and I would have been disappointed. They put together an excellent starter. A friend of mine had the Portobello Mushroom. He was moaning and groaning about how good it was, it was embarassing! I had to try it and did...ok...maybe the moaning and groaning was warranted. Very nice!

For the mains, two of us had the roaster bbq chicken pizzas! Again, a good value and absolutely delicious. Very flavorful, plenty of toppings, it was super! Other buddy had the 2 piece fish and chips. I thought that was a little unadventureous but he headed to the can and I snagged a bite off his plate. Needless to say, I'll be ordering that the next time I'm there! I just hope they have a 3 piece version!

All in all, it was an excellent night out and not overly expensive! Service was attentive and was able to offer suggestions and even knew what they were selling and talking about.

Can't wait to head back with the girl!

Try it, you won't be disappointed!