Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Back to The Old Spaghetti Factory . Not my choice of venue -- I was there for an event -- so that may bias me especially as I wasn't impressed at all last time. Keep this in mind! Minestrone Soup For the " It's All Included " soup, this time I went with the basic offering, and thankfully it was actually really decent. Spicy with slight peppery (?) heat. Good as an appetizer. Spinach Salad ($10.50, extra for optional chicken or prawns) Prepared with almonds, apples, and cranberries with our own Honey Dijon dressing and topped with creamy goat cheese Price is weak for portion considering it's mostly spinach (hey, it's a salad!). You'd probably do just as well if you got Honey Dijon dressing from a supermarket and make up a salad yourself. Which is not to say it tastes bad. It's just that it's mediocre. Where a restaurant can really show value is in the additional ingredients / garnishes that the average person might not be bothered ...

Treated my friend for her birthday and she had a craving for Thai from her tried-and-true near-her-neighbourhood Thai place, Green Basil . The free stuff that comes with your meal is really sad but don't worry, your actual order will actually be good! Service on the Sunday afternoon was prompt, attentive, and not pushy. Awesome! Spring Rolls Came with our order. Maybe because it was freshly fried and not allowed to sit around and get soft and soggy (and also drain of oil), this tasted kinda oily. Sauce was so thin as to barely taste like anything at all but I think it was supposed to be that sweet garlic-chili sauce. Maybe. Tom Yum Soup (?) Came with our order. Really kinda thin tasting. G17M. Tiger prawns with red curry paste & coconut rice, served in young coconut ($13.50 lunch special price) This was actually really tasty. And with a tightly packed bowl of rice, price for portion is really decent for a filling meal. "Tiger prawns" were j...

Dropped in here for a function that happened in the back room with a stage for performances! Veggie Burger ($13.50 + $0.50 for soup of the day) Grilled tempeh patty, feta cheese, toasted kaiser bun, crisp spring mix, lush tomato & sweet onion. Vegan patty is available on request Average sized burger with no fancy construction. Bun seemed a bit over toasted but that's probably personal preference. Patty was some dark mash with visible whole black (?) beans. Strangely amazingly bland, which was terribly disappointing. I had to use the shakers of pink salt on it. Pass on this and try something else. Soup of the day was potato broccoli and amazingly thick, which means it helps make this a filling meal. So thick you could scoop it up with the crackers provided. Waitstaff friendly, laid-back, and not pushy about ordering at all.

Was wandering around Chinatown with a friend. Totally impromptu drop-in. Tight busy place even past 7pm on a Friday, so like us you might be asked to share the seven-seat communal table with another small party. This is a NOODLE place. It's not a Chinese place. It's not a Singaporean place. It's not even a ramen place. You get noodles in tasty soup. Don't go here for ethnic or authentic or whatever. Go for noodles in tasty soup, and filling portions for a decent price. Roti ($5.99) Decent curry sauce but could really use some spiciness/heat to it. OK roti prata. $6 for this measly amount? Pass. Get your roti from Amay's House instead where you'll get a big piece about four times as much roti than what's on this plate. The curry there is also better -- tastier and richer. Koh Soi Chicken Curry Noodle ($14.99) braised chicken thigh, turmeric curry, served with wonton noodles and crispy noodles It says "curry" but there's nothing...