Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

I honestly don't think I've ever been to a Denny's , which seems odd because it's Canadian Owned and Operated since 1992. Maybe I just had the image it was a boring place for seniors (and they do have Thursday discounts for age 55+ seniors). First things first: ASK ABOUT THE SPECIALS. I honestly don't recall our servers mentioning the current burger offer (apparently ends late May) of buy-one-get-one-at-half-price, even when my friend ordered a burger. I only chanced to find out when the promotion screen at our table (which includes a smartphone charger) flipped to the offer. And it took a too-long time to show that offer. By then we had already put in our orders and it was too late to change. Really temped to outright fail them for this.    Dessert menu looked really overpriced and lame. Many of the menu items look great in photos but are pretty boring. That said, the items we got were mostly nicely prepared. Bourbon Bacon Burger ($19.59) My friend's order. ...

If you've read my various reviews you'll know I'm foremost a food reviewer. And Personas is basically a sports bar. So many caveats with this one I really thought of just passing on reviewing, but at the same time I also felt a caution about the food would be useful for anyone walking in. So... on to the disclaimers! This was part of a Yelp Elite event . Nothing lavish, but nonetheless we did get basically free food and free stuff. You can see what we got in the pictures. Foodwise we got plates for each table of 4-6 persons to share. It's basically a sports bar. I don't watch sports and a bar doesn't make me want to watch sports either. There's a bar. We even got free wine and a fancy to-share drink as part of the event. But I don't drink. So this is me trying to first review the place for what I feel it primarily is: A sports bar. As a sports bar, if I had to be dragged to one, this would be the type I'd like to go to. It doesn't have...

Yelp's making me work really hard this month, with yet another Yelp Elite Event . This time at ATLAS Steak + Fish at the Grand Villa Casino for a weekday lunch. Atlas is open for lunch now and they're introducing it to us obviously to get the word out. Restaurants in hotels often have a rough go and you see renos and a new name in the same spot every few years. However Atlas has apparently already made a name for themselves, and some of our members attested to having had excellent company functions and catered events through them. DISCLAIMER: We got free stuff. Not just a sample of their lunch but a gift pack of two steak knives and a 30%-off-lunch coupon. That said, if we come back to use the coupon (maximum party size of six) I'm sure they'll have made back their investment easily. And the steak knives look like the same ones diners use, so they are probably replacement stock they have on hand anyway. Décor is not super-wow but for lunch it was bright, airy...

Caught up with an old friend today at Green Basil Thai Restaurant this afternoon (her choice -- she likes Thai apparently) and checked out the lunch special. Rather rare to find a decently filling lunch for under $10 these days and for sure it exists at Green Basil Thai. There's a lunch rush around Noon but dies right down shortly after 1 pm. Lunch is served till 3pm. G9L. Chicken with cashew nuts in Thai Chili sauce ($8.75) Rated 3-chilies but not spicy hot at all. My suspicion is they go easy on the spiciness to accommodate more palates. You'll probably have to double check how spicy something is if you really want spicy-hot food. Overall okay taste. Dish portion is good, and what helps make this a filling lunch is the bowl of coconut rice, bowl of soup, and vegetarian spring roll that comes with the specials (some specials that are noodle dishes do not come with rice). Spring roll was oily. Sauce was weak. Tom yum soup was weak. Drink it while it's hot. ...

Went to Church's Chicken at their new 24-hour location in Burnaby, at 6591 Kingsway. If you're driving, it's pretty easy to just zoom by because it's recessed from the main street and at a gas station. Watch for the sidewalk banners. Really the only reason I went was the coupons that came in the mail, which included buy-one-get-one for their Spicy Chicken Burger, and a $2 deal on their new Salsa Fries. TIP: Senior's Day on Tuesdays! 20% off select order types. Spicy Thigh  Burger ($5.76) OK for a fast food burger. Looks horrid, of course if you look inside. Looks like they tried to toast the bun. Spicy thigh really does have a spicy kick. Not much, but enough to whet your appetite. Using thigh (dark meat) results in a tenderer, juicier "patty" than if they tried to use white meat. Use a BOGO coupon if you can. One burger is barely a meal and for similar money, you can probably get a better deal buying their fried chicken. Salsa F...

So I've been telling my mom about Delicious BBQ in Crystal Mall, which she frequents. According to some of my friends, they have good BBQ, but I wanted her to check it out so that she could judge for herself. Today she surprised me by bringing home a $7.80 portion of BBQ pork. Taste was OK -- slightly sweet. But not quite enough charring for that grilled / BBQ flavour, so we put some on our tabletop electric grill. Mistake. Much of the sweetness was then replaced by a saltiness and the gamey pig flavour also started to come out. It was also drier.

Been ages since I've been here and was surprised to see so many things. Large space with a spacious feel to the seating arrangement. Nice and interesting decor. Clean. And staff friendly and helpful, totally deserving of a tip, so if you agree after your meal, put something on the table if you didn't tip up front when you paid for your order at the counter. Always in search of something curious to eat, I ended up trying the Grilled Chicken Livers ($7.75 "on its own", comes with either a Portuguese bun or their Portuguese Garlic Bread). The garlic bread was faintly garlicky and completely forgettable except that together with the "meat" (liver), it can add up to a light meal for under $10 after tax -- which is hard to find these days. Liver is liver, and despite choosing the normally sharp-lemony "Lemon & Herb" sauce / baste, the grilled livers tasted like liver. I even asked for extra sauce (which they provided for free!) and compl...

After renovations, Xu's Wonton House is now Shanghai Dimsum House. Menu looks the same. Went back with a friend today and this time I also tried the pan fried version. 1. Bayulan Steamed Mini Pork Buns ($4.95 for 5) Tasty (and slightly fatty tasting?), flavourful broth inside. 7. Shanghai Style Pan Fried Pork Buns ($5.55 for 5) The golden-brown bottom looks suspiciously deep-fried. In any case, quite crispy in parts and that it can therefore snap and cause the soup to spill out. Basically you get a fried texture and flavour to #1 for just 60 cents more. The modest cost is really good enough that you should consider it, especially for take-out. Steamed buns don't travel very well in my opinion. Depending on your appetite, one or two plates is enough for a meal, so you are looking at a mere $4.95 to $10.50 for lunch. Tasty, and great value! Counter service was pretty crappy toward my non-asian friend. The server managed to avoid eye contact for a long time even...

  Leading up to their 2016-Apr-1 launch, Crêpe Delicious (or crêpe de licious , depending on which spelling you see) sold 30% off $7-for-$10 Groupons to jump-start their food court location in Metropolis at Metrotown. They currently have this 30% off deal for their other locations. I don't really have experience with crepes, so this will be my "first time" buying a savory crêpe and my observations really don't have anything to compare them with. Veggie-Licious Savoury Crêpe ($8.95) portobello mushroom, lettuce, tomato, onion, black olive, mozzarella, pesto The cr ê pe is very floppy, so they give you a sleeve to help keep it more or less upright while you eat it. Cheese is used to paste the crepe together at the fold. Token amount of portobello. Pesto flavour weak. Taste of olives dominated everything. If they were running low on portobello (?) they could have just told me and I would have ordered something else. Price for portion was slightly high, though...

Dropped by Trattoria Metrotown tonight for a snack with a friend. We were snooping around the neighbourhood for a not-too-busy place for her to have a drink, and finally settled on the patio here. Yes, it was cold out, but the overhead head lamps did an admirable job. I had eaten earlier, so I opted for just a snack. I had initially wanted the honeycomb dessert I had tried before, but I was told it was actually a sometimes-available item from their Nosh deli next door, and tonight they were all out. Our server Clarisse did offer to look in their fridge "just in case", but I sensed that was more an appeasement than any real hope of the dessert being available. My second choice was the Brussels Sprouts which I had tried incidentally as part of another dish last time I was there. It had been good, so I was curious what the side dish was like. Brussels Sprouts ($7.95 as side dish) lemon, capers, chillies, parmigiano reggiano; server offered fresh-ground parmesan after p...

After mediocre experiences with the Glowbal Group (even the flagship Glowbal ), I wasn't actually keen on going to the "Delicious Italian Extravaganza" put on by YVR Foodies , except that I was invited by Zomato to attend for free (otherwise $25). Also, every restaurant must have at least one really decent thing, right? (And I honestly believe that). The menu for the event looked pretty decent, covering a broad range of stuff, plus platters of "chef's selections" for appetizers and desserts. It was a great chance to try many bites of their menu in the hopes that there'll be something in there Trattoria does really, really, well. We were packed into a private meeting room, and I was super-lucky to be in the company of some of the hottest makeup and fashion bloggers in Vancouver --  Jasmine Li of The Happy Sloths  ( her review ),  Jordana of Just J , and Sheila of Maddy Loves . Since Trattoria knew we were going to social media them to death dur...