Taro

I finally gave this place a try a couple weeks ago.  It was surprisingly busy that night, but the food and service were pretty good.  I don't exactly remember the dishes I ordered but they were all pretty good.  I'll go back for tapas and drinks for sure.

I went there with my gf recently.  Really nice decor & food, especially it is in Burnaby.  The lobster cappuccino, scallops, duck breasts, and lamb shank were all really good! A bottle of Portuguese wine blended in really well with the food as well.

The only reason that I didn't give it a 5 star is because the smile of our server were really really professional, quite condescending in some ways (if you know what I mean).  It could be just me.  Sorry if I perceived the wrong way because I was drunk by the end of the night.

My gf and I went to this restaurant on a special occasion.  We had a great time and really enjoy their food and atmosphere.  I will definitely go back again.

I went there recently and found it pretty good.  It's unique and not expensive at all.  I will go back again.

My coworkers and I went to Al Porto for a team dinner.  The servers were attentive and the food came at a good pace as well.  The only part that was not perfect was my rack of lamb.  It was a little bit overcooked than what I asked for (rare).  Don't get me wrong, it was not bad at all.  I understand that it's not easy to accommodate a party of 17 and be perfect on every dish.  I will still go back in the future.  

After hearing about this restaurant a lot recently, I have finally given this restaurant a try last week.  Both my gf and I are very impressed with their decors, service, and food.  Their menu is not very long but it contains both traditional and izakaya dishes.  That's also something I like about this restaurant.

Anyways, I will definitely go back again.

I just tried this place last week.  The decors & ambiance are pretty nice & cozy.  I tried their crab cake (the dish that I always order when I am trying out a restaurant), ahi tuna roll, margarita prawns, some of the grilled skewers, linguini.  The food was alright but nothing really surprised me and my gf, except for their Baily Creme Brule.  It was a pretty nice creme brule!  I will go back for drinks and desserts for sure!

I have recently visited this new Izakaya.  The decors is similar to Happa Izakaya, which is a little dark and trendy.  Their selling point is more on their innovating presentation of food instead of the food itself.  After all the quality of the food is still pretty good but the portion is way too small.  I still think Shiru-bay is my favorite izakaya.

My gf and I just tried this restaurant recently.  We had a pretty good meal there.  We tried their fresh Uni Sashimi (Sea Urchin), Ebi Mayo, Baked Misugai with Garlic Butter (Geoduck), and Kura Dinner.  They were all pretty good.  The Uni Sashimi was very fresh!

They have a lot of different kind of fish on their menu as well.  Unfortunately, we didn't have the stomach space to store them all.  We will definitely try them one by one next time. 

This Bread Garden has been my favorite place to spend a quiet day there with my laptop because they provide free wireless Internet.  Also, I like their sandwiches.

My gf and I just checked this place out during the weekend.  We both find they have pretty good deals on their dinner sets for two.

We tried their Meat Combo, which has beef, pork, chicken, the usual Korean side dishes, and miso soup.  The meats were pretty well marinated and in pretty good quality.  The side dishes are competitve comparing to other Korean restaurants I have tired before.  It only costs around $25 or something (plus tax, of course) for both of us.  Combining with a bottle of Soju, it was one of the best and inexpensive combination for dinner.

The only negative side of the experience was the service was a bit slow.  May be that was a very busy night.

Anyways, I will definitely go back for Korean BBQ next time.

Recently went back to this restaurant with friends.  Their robata and scallop japanese pizza still taste really good.

My gf and I just tried this place this week during teh City Dine event.  It was really good and we had a good time.

We tried the Sweet Chilliwack Corn Soup, Seared Wild Salmon, Queen Charlotte Sablefish, Apple Raisin Strudel, and White Chocolate Cluizel Crème Brûlée. 

I have to say the corn soup was really good.  It was not too rich but contained slices of dungeness crab.  I like it, but it would be even better if it was thicker.

The Salmon & Sablefish were both pretty good.  None of them were too dry or overcooked.  I personally like the Sablefish better because it was mixed well with the miso-maple broth.  Also the pulled pork risotto on the side was amazing!

The desserts were good but nothing really spectacular.

Anyways, we had a good time and our server was really professional and friendly.  I will definitely go back to this restaurant.

Have you ever had trouble finding a parking spot and a lounge that you can find a table in Yaletown on the weekend?  I think it wasn't easy for most of us.

Recently, my friends and I decided to go out for drinks in Yaletown.  We got there a bit late.  As expected, every lounge was completedly packed.  Since it took us almost 30 mins to find a parking already, we didn't want to go somewhere else.  We finally thought of this place after checking out every single lounge in Yaletown.

We got a table almost right away.  We tried their Chocolate Fondue and Cheese cake.  They were both pretty good.  I guess their fondue is one of the best I have had in Vancouver.   The service was just okay.  Nothing really spectacular.  It's a nice place for drinks if everywhere else is packed.

My gf and I went to this place during the weekend since I have heard quite a lot of buzz about this restaurant in Burnaby.  Thank God I got there early (6-ish).  It started to get packed 15 mins after we sat down.  We ordered their Beef Noodle, Deep Fried Pork Rib noodles, and Spicy Wonton.  They tasted quite good, but the beef noodle soup was a little bit bland. 

In general, it's not a bad place for a quick bite since there wasn't anything really extraordinary.  Also it was quite tough to look for parking because the plaza that it's in is pretty small.  Some people were already doing double parking.

I found out about this place on the way of walking to see watch fireworks.  I finally tried it out during the weekend.  I guess it was a busy day, most of the stuff we wanted to try were sold-out.  We tried Kobe Beef Capriccio, Bin Taro Tataki, California Tofu, Torilika, and Takoyaki.  The beef capriccio and california tofu were pretty good and quite inovative, but the other 3 dishes are somewhat just normal and not very special.  Also, the decors were not very trendy as Hapa or Shiru-bay.  I am not sure if I will go back again.

I finally tried this restaurant over the weekend.  I have always wanted to try East is East/Chai since I found out this place last year.

I wasn't sure rather I wanted to try Chai or East is East at first because I heard that Chai serves Vegetarian food only and I wasn't in the mood of just veggies.  I wanted meat!

I found out that Chai also serves meat dishes from the hostess and she offered to give us a tour of Chai.  After a short walk upstairs, I felt like I have entered a very different world.  The wall decorations, the tables and chairs, the carpets/rugs, and candals gave me a very strong feeling of being in a tent on a desert in middle east.

As for food, we chose to try their buffet because we wanted to try a bit of every dish.  The buffet has a salad bar, 10 different selections of hot food, and 4 ~ 5 selections of desserts/fruits.  My favorite hot dishes were Portebello Mushroom in South Indian Currey, Beef Kabob, Veggie Mantu, Tiger Prawn in Mango Currey, and Green Bean & Tofu in Coconut Currey.   I am not a super big fan of desserts, but their Rice Pudding was pretty good and the watermelon was pretty sweet & fresh as well.

There was also live performance as well.  The show was Tap Dancing.  It was pretty good as well.

It's not easy to pick on something negative about this restaurant.  The only thing I think they may want to improve on is their way of serving wine.  I ordered a bottle of wine, but I actually haven't seen the bottle or the cloak of the wine.  The wine was opened when I ordered, I assume, poured in a nicely looking bottle, and brought to my table while I was getting food from the food section.  It would be nice if they could at least open the wine in front of me and poured that into the beautiful bottle.  Don't get me wrong, the wine was not bad.  I am just being picky!

I go to this place almost once a week these days.  It has more than 10 set entrees with side dishes.  The food tastes good and quite well presented.  More importantly, it's really not expensive.  It's only $6 ~ $7 per dish and it comes with soup or iced black/green tea.  It's pretty good for a quick bite.

The only turn-off is the lack of convenient parking space.  I usually park across the street or the underground parking of Crystal mall.

I haven't been to this restaurant for more than 3 years.  I went back last Saturday and I find it as good as before.  They have some new items on the menu, like Black Cod with Pumpkin, Portobello Mushroom stuffed with sunflower seed crusted goat cheese, Scallop and Tiger Prawn tournedos, etc.

I tried the Black Cod, Portobello Mushroom, Crab Cakes, Goat cheese oven dried tomato salsa & navajo fry bread.  Salsa & Bread and Crab Cakes are still my favorites!  They are SO YUMMY!  May be it's just me, I didn't like the mix of the black cod and pumpkin.  Otherwise, the black cod is well cooked.  The portobello mushroom was just okay.  The mix of the mushroom and goat cheese didn't strike me.

Anyways, the dinner was not bad.

I have been to this place for lunch many times.  It's food is okay in general.  It's not a bad place to go for lunch with your boss when he pays for the bill. 

Unfortunately, I am not very impressed with their service.  One of the servers accidentally poured the whole plate of chicken strip on my back (frankly, it was not a piece of steak and had no sauce).  I thought he would eliminate that dish from the check, but he didn't.  I think I won't go back to this place for a LONG while.

I have finally come here for my first high tea experience.  The experience was great.  I tried their High Tea menu with 3 tiers of mini-sandwiches & desserts and tea.  As for tea, I tried their Jasmine Dragon Tear & my gf tried their Secret Garden Secret.  The Jasmine was good just to drink it without any milk & sugar, just like other chinese tea.  The Secret Garden Secret smells very good and tastes very smooth.  The sandwiches & desserts are great as well.  They are tiny yet full of variety.  It is more than enough for a great brunch.

Actually, it should deserve a 5-fork rating, but b/c I didn't make a reservation (my bad!!), I had to wait for about an hour.  Although it's worth the wait, I still can't give them a 5-fork rating this time... (sorry!!! I am bias...)

Learn from my lesson, make sure you guys make a reservation

Nice Roast Lamb & Wine at very affortable prices.  If you are NOT too hungry and the line up is NOT too long (depends which day and what time you arrive), the line up part is actually not too bad.

Long story in short, this is such a great place for an inexpensive dinner with decent food quality!

I finally tried this restaurant last night.  It was more casual than I expected.  Here is the detail of my experience:

Food:
The food is pretty nice.  Not too spicy and very well marinated & cooked.  I tried their Village Dinner, which includes Salad, Tandoori Chicken, Peas, Chicken, and Beef with Naan bread & Galum Jamun (dessert).  I also ordered their appy combo, an extra place of Galum Jamun, and Chai Tea.  They were all pretty good!! :-)

Price:
We were SO STUFFED and it only costed us around $30.  It's such a GOOD deal.

I am pretty surprised to have such a decent Indian restaurant in Richmond.  I will definitely go back again!  

I LOVE PISTACHIO TOO!!!!

I recently went back to this restaurant and tried it out.  I had the lamb cutting noodle and my friend had the beef cutting noodle.  They are both very good.  We also had the Spicy Beef Lung.  OMG! I like it!!! I don't eat spicy food very often, but it was JUST so good that I almost wanted to order another dish.  I will definitely go back again!! :-)

I went there for lunch with my coworkers today.  We tried their lunch boxes with Salmon Sashimi, Teriyaki Chicken and Tempura, and Goma-ae & Tamago Nigiri on the side.  They are all pretty good.  Fresh sashimi & sushi, nice sauce for Goma-ae, and great deal for a lunch box.  It's almost comparable to Chiyoda with the same price range as Urban Sushi.  I will definitely go back again if it didn't rain as hard as today.

I went there for lunch with my coworkers the other day.  I tried their Braised Veal Shank!! OMG!! It's ALMOST comparable to the Braised Lamb Shank I had at Hart House during dine out!!  It would be better it was softer, although it's pretty soft already.  The juice & sauce was great!!  Also the potato on the side is stuffed with ground beef, interesting eh!?

My coworker tried their Chicken Schnitzel.  She claims that it's the best she has ever had.  I haven't tried it, but I think it must be pretty good!!!

Anyways, I am just surprised that I can have something really nice for lunch. 

It's the 1st time I go back to this restaurant after they changed their management/owner.  I went back for Valentine's dinner this time.  I will start talking about the good things first.

We had 2 hot and 2 cold apettizers.  The mixed green with dungeness crab meat was very good and fresh.  The seafood in crepe and camembert are super tasty!!!   We had AAA steak and rack of lamb for entree.  Although they were overcooked, they were kindly enough to re-make it again when we sent them back.  They taste pretty good at the 2nd time.

Here are the bad things: we waited more than 30 mins to be seated, it took them more than 30 mins to give us the first apettizers, the steak & lamb were overcooked for the 1st round, staff were not well-trained (they looked confused sometimes), the menu is not so French anymore, etc.

In general, it's not too bad except that it was super long dinner because of all the waitings.  I may go back again when they start running more smoothly.

Just visited the Beach House with a large group of friends last nite.  It's located at Dundarave Pier.  It has a very nice view and pretty warm & romantic atmosphere.  I am sure it would be a nice place for Valentine's Day or watching the sunset at the patio during summer.

The food was pretty good, not amazing yet.  I guess the view and ambiance can make up for the little disappointment from the food.  Surprisingly enough, I found the New York Steak was cooked very well.  It was not overcooked comparing to many other places.  Also, the Honey and vanilla poach aujou pears was not bad either.

I went this place for the Dine Out event last night.  The first things I was impressed were their decors and service.  They have pretty cool chairs, lounge tables, glass dividers, and lights in green or brown.  You can see their theme colors on their website.  Although they somehow messed up our reservation, we got free drinks & tasting appetizers.  That was pretty good!

I tried their dine out menu and some of my friends tried some items from their regular menu.  The "Roasted Cepes Mushroom Soup" was okay.  It was a bit bland.  It would be better if the taste was a bit more stronger. 

My entre, Duck Legs, was braised very soft.  I got two of them.  One of them was a bit bland as well, but the second one was good (maybe they are from different pots!?).  My friends tried the Seared Mosaic of Wild Salmon, Flat Iron Steak, and Crispy Braised Pork Belly.  They all look and taste pretty good.  My personal favorite is the Pork Belly.  It's a MUST try!!!

As for desserts, they gave one of our friends an extra dessert b/c she didn't order one, where other of us did.  I had their Warm Apple and Almond Pitivier and it was not bad and quite special.  But I like the Creme Brulee that my friends had.  It was one of the BEST Creme Brulee I have ever had.  They did a very good job on the surface and the creme inside was SO soft & smooth.  Try it out!!!

The prices of items on their regular menu & wine list are actually VERY affortable.  I am sure it's a really nice dating place b/c it has pretty nice view as well.

This is my favorite lunch place.  Almost every Wed with my coworkers.  They have very fast service and decent quality of food for a reasonable price in downtown.  They are very busy during lunch hour.  If you want to dine in, make sure you go a bit early.

I went there for lunch with coworkers today.  The lunch boxes were amazing!!  They were presented nicely, the fish that was used for sushi was wild salmon & fresh tuna, well cooked tempura, and served with teriyaki chicken & rice.  I tried their Salmon Teriyaki Lunch Box.  It was SO GOOD!! The salmon was well cooked and has  crab meat salad, tofu, potato cake, and rice on the side.  Yummy!!!! The service was not bad too! I will definitely go back again!

It's a great place! Acturally, I heard a bit about this restaurant saying that its service sucks before I went.  However, that's NOT TRUE!  Their service is pretty good! I love their decors on the wall & the 60s - 70s style tables & chairs.

My friend and I ordered the appetizer platter and took the recommendation from our server, we ordered the black bean & peanut butter spinach pasta.  They were SO GOOD and in HUGE portion as well.  This place is a must try for veggie lovers!!

I have been to this restaurant "N" number of times.  It has the best price for the quality of food they serve.  Their deep fried prawn with cocktail dipping, curry chicken, New York steak, and Soy Sauce Mushroom Chicken are my favorites!!  It's a MUST try if you are around that area.  Make sure you go a bit earlier or prepare to line up on the weekend.  

I went there for my friend's b-day.  Their food is okay for an All-you-can-eat restaurant.  Just like most of the chinese owned restaurants, the service level @ this place is quite minimal.  Although I didn't have a very good experience personally, they tried to make up for it by giving us a discount.  I may go back if my friends want to go again (I am not a fan of all-you-can-eat).

I tried this restaurant during dineout event and went back again one month after.  It was GREAT!  They have a very cozy and warm decor.  I tried their set dinner.  It had all the best dishes in very nice portion.  Their dessert "galum jamun" is my favorite.  It's a MUST try for people that LOVE desserts! :-)

I am surprised and very impressed to see a fusion restaurant in Richmond.  It has really nice decors and service.  Also, it has a pretty innovative menu.  My favorite items are Threesome Mushroom soup, Nipponese Pizza, Seafood Rivioli, and Gone with the Wings.  Go and try it out!

Great View!! I was there twice for drinks during the summer.  The view was EXCELLENT!  They have a pretty nice wine list and have very good service.  When I went back on my second time, I wanted to have have the same Spanish wine I had on previous time.  They couldn't find it and they recommended me another more expensive Spanish wine for the same price as the one I wanted.  That's what I call Good Service!! 

I tried this restaurant recently in the taste of yaletown event.  The Pork Tenderloin & the Gennaro's signature cheesecake in phyllo ARE really good!! However, the servers were a bit too cool on that night  I guess it's b/c it's too busy on that night!?

Anyways, it was not bad in general.  Anybody else tried it during the taste of yaletown event as well?  And, how does it compare to the regular nights?

If you like trendy Japanese food, you don't want to miss Shiru-Bay
Chopstick Cafe. It's relatively new restaurant is located in Yaletown.
I first tried it last summer when it first opened. Since then, I have
gone back 3 times already. I don't usually go back to one place unless
it's REALLY REALLY good!

The first thing I tried was their green tea. You may ask, what so
special about green tea in a Japanese restaurant? My answer is: You've
got to try this one. The green tea they serve is not those ones that
taste like water in regular Japanese restaurants. They seve it in a
little cute pot that has real green tea leaves inside and you can
adjust how strong or light you want your tea. It's pretty cool!

They have pretty good service as well. When they grill the Mackerel in
front of you, you can decide how do you want your fish. Just ask tell
them if you want it relatively raw or cooked.

Anyways, it's a great restaurant for dating too! Wish you have a good
date!!