Original Joe's Restaurant & Bar

Restaurant: Original Joe’s Restaurant & Bar

Cuisine: American/Canadian/Pub food
Last visited: February 26, 2010
Area: Multiple locations - Richmond, BC (Ironwood)
1215 Davie Street
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5
Service: 4.5

Ambiance: 4

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• Multiple locations (Canadian franchise)
• Offers traditional/classic bar food
• Made from scratch dishes
• Big portions
• Great for beer
• Lots of seating
• Daily drink/food specials
• Busy during game nights
• Very casual atmosphere
• Free parking
• Big screen tv’s
• Great for snacks/beer
• Wine available
• Small selection of desserts
• Mon-Sun 11am - midnight

**Recommendation: Joe’s Red Tractor Nachos, Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich, Sweet Potato Fries

Original Joe’s is a really casual restaurant/bar/pub serving up traditional pub food made from scratch! I actually wouldn’t have guessed from the looks of it, but it is! They have multiple locations in Canada and in Vancouver and the lower mainland. This one I visited is the newest location – it’s the Richmond location that opened in January 2010.

I came to watch the Olympics Canada VS Slovak hockey game and we won…so my good spirits and enthusiastic atmosphere may influence my review to be higher than normal. Having said that I also don’t feel like I’ve tried enough to give a proper review, but I would definitely go back to try more things because I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed everything for the most part. The food was much better than expected and very affordable with big portions. It’s not pretentious and similar to places like Kelsey’s – definitely more bar/pub then contemporary restaurant like Earls which is also bar-ish.

They have daily specials at a bargain price – so there’s always something going on.

On the table:

Crantini

• Medium $9.50 Large $11.50
  
• It was on special for $4.75.
  
• It had 1 oz of Vodka but I could barely taste any…it was pretty much cranberry juice.

**Joe’s Red Tractor Nachos 6/6

• Crisp tortilla chips piled high; layered with melted cheddar and mozzarella, roma tomatoes, red and green onions, black olives and jalapenos. Served with fresh tomato salsa and sour cream. Full 15.99 – Half 12.99
• Add spicy beef, chicken or pulled pork 3.99 Guacamole 2.99
• I ordered a half order with chicken and they are seriously ENORMOUS. The really wonder if a full size is twice as big for $3 more…seriously the half order could feed 4 and looks like a full order.

• These were delicious! Lots of cheese, really fresh ingredients and big pieces of vegetables.
• You can’t really screw up nachos, unless you cheap out and don’t give enough toppings or cheese.
• I added chicken and it was nice big slices of grilled chicken breast.
• The salsa had corn in it, which was awesome.

**Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich 4.5/6

• Slow roasted pork shoulder, pulled, then “mopped” in your choice of sweet onion mustard, cider pepper, or southern style BBQ sauce. Topped with honey slaw and served on a fresh white bun. Served with your choice of 2 sides.10.99 (They serve all the sauces on the side)
  

• This was piled high and loaded with pulled pork and lots of honey cole slaw.
• The pork wasn’t too juicy, but still good, and with the BBQ sauce it was fine.
• I asked for all 3 sauces, however the server forgot 2 of them. I think the sauce I ended up getting was southern style BBQ sauce. It was a very tangy BBQ sauce with a big kick! It was almost like there was Frank’s hot sauce in it and tons of Worcestershire.

• I really liked the cole slaw. It was very lightly dressed, not a gloppy mess so the veggies weren’t soggy. It was a tangy dressing and mildly sweet with a touch of honey. Nice and crunchy.
• The bun was just a regular burger bun. Nice and soft though.
• 

Mango Pasta Salad – Side 1.5/6

• I didn’t like this side. It was a very simple pasta salad with dill like mayo dressing. The dressing was light but I thought it would be a sweet mango dressing.
• There was pretty much zero mango taste. The mango was little bits of fresh mango tossed in the salad. I found 2 pieces the size of bacon bits in the entire bowl.
• It didn’t necessarily taste bad but because they called it mango pasta salad, I was left very disappointed.
• It tasted like a very lightly dressed regular pasta salad with some black pepper, red onions, and red bell pepper. There wasn’t much bell pepper either.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Gravy – Side 2/6

• This was the most traditional mashed potatoes I’ve had.
• The mashed potatoes are very smooth and quite creamy, and although they claim everything is made in house…the potatoes tasted like packaged mashed potatoes. No garlic or additional flavorings…it was just any old mashed potato.
• I’m pretty sure the gravy is packaged, it really tastes like it.
• They topped the mashed potatoes with fried onions or shallots – which were extremely soggy and not good.

Steak & Prawns 4/6

• 6 ounce grilled steak and a skewer of prawns (your choice of garlic or Cajun) served with your choice of 2 sides. Friday special for $15.99
  
• I don’t expect a supreme quality of beef and you have to take into consideration it is pub food – so lower your expectations a bit.
• It was decent, it had a coating of course rub with sea salt on it and it was grilled really well. The meat was tender – not steakhouse quality obviously, but still very good.

• The prawns were not made in house – I think they’re the pre seasoned frozen ones from Sysco Food distributor. I can’t confirm, but from appearance and the fact that you can chose the flavours I’m pretty sure they are the pre-prepared kind. They are still good, but just not made in house.
• They’re a bit small and obviously fresh ones would be better, but for $15.99 – they do the job.

**Sweet Potato Fries – Side 5/6

• Cut thin, fried crisp and seasoned with a house made spice blend. Served with our signature dill dip or chipotle sauce.
• Extra 1.99 as a side, or 6.99 as appetizer
• I thought they did a great job with these!
• They’re very lightly seasoned and not that salty at all, but still flavourful. They are cut thin so they were actually very crispy.
• I think they served it with the dill dip because the sauce wasn’t spicy at all…however it was orange so I’m not sure. It basically tasted like a yogurt based dip with dill flavour – so it was almost like a mixture of dill dip and chipotle yogurt dip…but not spicy.

Caesar Salad – Side 2/6

• This was just a standard quickly thrown together Caesar salad. Not much else to say here. A few bacon bits and croutons on top.

Ceili’s Irish Pub & Restaurant

Restaurant: Ceili’s Irish Pub & Restaurant

Cuisine: American
Last visited: December 15, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown)
670 Smithe
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3 (based on 2 appetizers I tried)
Service: 2.5
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 2.5
Additional comments:

• Canadian mini chain pub & restaurant
• New menu
• Traditional UK/Irish pub food w/a couple BC influences
• Pub atmosphere, good for watching spots
• Good for drinks & appetizers
• Every Thursday 7pm “Irish Dinner Party” (appie + entrée + beer $20)
• Daily specials
• Late night
• Live music – dance floor
• M-T 4pm-late
• Friday 4pm-3am
• Saturday 3pm-3am
• Sunday 3pm-late

**Recommendation: Bushmill’s Whiskey Ribs, Shepherd’s pie and nachos are most popular, but I haven’t tried them.

I would never think to come to Ceili’s Irish Pub and Restaurant for the food. I know a few of my friends come here on the weekend, but this was my first visit. It’s a great place for socializing, late night snacking, drinking, and watching the game. I rarely do the later 2 activities, but I definitely participate in the first 2.

Browsing their menu, I found that a lot of items were suitable for lunch. They offer standard soups, sandwiches and burgers…now too bad they’re not open for lunch. The mains are more or less traditional UK pub items. The only thing missing was the mushy peas, beans and black pudding – which I guess is more England than Ireland. In that case the only thing missing was the soda bread and Coddle!

I guess the chef (who has been there for 6 months) heard through the grapevine that I was a “food reviewer/blogger” so he came out to introduce himself. However it doesn’t affect my review because I’m literally copying and pasting the notes I wrote for the food before I met the chef. I have only tried 2 appetizers, but apparently they were 2 of the most popular appetizers. Therefore this review doesn’t give a good idea of what the food is like overall. However I can always review the items I did try…and these Bushmill’s Whiskey Ribs are worth a mention.

On the table:

Bushmill’s Whiskey Ribs 5.5/6

• One pound of slow-cooked baby back ribs tossed in Bushmill’s Whiskey BBQ sauce. Ribs also available in wing sauce choices. $12.75
• These ribs were falling off the bones tender! All I really wanted was to try a bite because I had just come from dinner. (Surprise surprise) Anyways I literally tried ripping off a piece from one rib and the entire piece of meat slipped off it. As soon as that happened it wa s over – I knew I was in for a wicked good rib. The meat was so tender I barely needed to chew it. They were nice big ribs that had a lot of meat on them too.
• It came with this thick sticky and bold barbeque sauce or glaze. The barbeque sauce isn't made completely in house because they have a contract with ___________ BBQ sauce, which I don’t remember the name of it right now. However the chef adds his own spices to make the sauce better.I ding them .5 because nothing beats homemade barbeque sauce.
  
• Part of his add-ins is the Bushmill’s Whiskey. This is a really traditional Irish whiskey and it gave the sauce this malted flavour and a nice tangy kick. It was sweet and tangy and he also cooked the sauce with some red onions. The onions got so caramelized and stringy and were disguised in the sauce. I didn’t even see them until I bit into one of the ribs with an onion latching on…it was awesome!

Cork Country Calamari 2.5/6

• Tender squid, light lemon pepper batter, garlic tzatziki, diced green and red onions $11.75
• The seasoning on the calamari tasted like the seasoning you would put on Buffalo wings. It was similar to (or was) a Cajun spice and reminded me of that orange spice they would season a crispy chicken sandwich with. I could taste salt, cayenne, paprika, and some garlic powder and maybe a dash of hot sauce in the batter. I have sensitive taste buds :) It wasn’t really spicy for me, but it did carry some heat.
• What I didn't like about this dish was that the calamari pieces were really small, so they got too heavily battered. They had a few decent pieces, but most of the time it was almost like eating popcorn shrimp.
• The dip was a tzataiki yogurt dip but with no herbs and seasonings. It tasted more like yogurt to me.

Yummy Asian Delights

Restaurant: Yummy Asian Delights

Cuisine: Malaysian/Singaporean
Last visited: November 3, 09
Area: Richmond, BC (Richmond Public Market food court)
Unit 2100, 8260 Westminster Hwy
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2
Service: n/a
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Family owned/operated
• Hole in the wall Malaysian stand in Richmond Public Market food court
• One of the popular stands
• Homecooked
  
• Quite authentic, but really oily/greasy
• Great deal - 2 items on rice about $4.25
• Big portions, pile up the food
  
• Offers Malaysian shaved ice desserts
• Cheap
• Cash only
  

**Recommendation: n/a

I haven't tried enough here to make a fair judgment about their overall food or to give a recommendation for what to order. I ordered 2 items on rice which was a great deal and they load up your plate. I think it was about $4.25, but I don't really remember. There's at least 12 items to chose from and you can see them all. Everything is quite authentic although it's pretty greasy. They make about 3 kinds of deep-fried halibut/fish and the pieces are pretty big. A lot of people went for this.

On the table:

• Malaysian BBQ Halibut 3.5/6
• I actually have no idea what this is called, I just chose it because it looks really good.
• What I called it is the best way to describe it, except it's not barbequed. It's actually boneless strips of halibut deep fried and then sauteed in the Malaysian style BBQ sauce.
• The sauce tastes like a combination of Hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce and fish sauce.
  
• The fish was really good and tasted like fish jerky. It wasn't necessarily dry, but it has that texture and marinade where it tastes like jerky. It was very flavourful, saucy and the strips are pretty big. Quite greasy though, but you expect it from these places.
• Eggplant and Tofu Curry 1.5/6
• I don't know if this was the name of it either. It was a vegetarian Malaysian curry made with big chunks of eggplant, green beans, cabbage and tofu puffs.
• The beans weren't very fresh in this and the curry sauce was way too mild. It looked like it has been sitting under the heat lamps for too long. Which very well could have been the case. It was almost bland. Not spicy at all.
• The tofu puffs absorbed a lot of sauce so those were good, but everything else was just bland and mushy. It was almost like a stew or soup.
• They had really big chunks of eggplant, but when they served it they tried skimping out on them. I specifically asked for at least 3. Do the same :)

Shabusen Yakiniku House

Restaurant: Shabusen Yakiniku House - Sushi & Korean BBQ
Cuisine: Japanese/Sushi/Korean BBQ/Buffet

Last visited: October 19, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC - Downtown (2 locations in Vancouver)

755 Burrard Street

Price Range: $20-30 ($23 dinner buffet price)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2

Service: 2.5

Ambiance: 2.5

Overall: 2.5

Additional comments:

• Offers Korean BBQ and popular Japanese items/sashimi
  
• Owned and operated by Chinese
• Not authentic Japanese sushi
• Typical all-you-can-eat/buffet standards
  
• Busy/crowded/line-ups
• Good for large groups
  
• Reservations recommended
• Lunch buffet $13 11-2:30pm
• Dinner buffet $23 5-10:30pm
• Open everyday

**Recommendation: n/a

What can I really say? It's another all-you-can-eat Japanese place except it also features all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ as well. It's convenient and good for large groups, not a bad deal, but I wouldn't pick it. It's not quite for me, but I'm not their target market either.

Compared to other all-you-can-eat places it's only better because you get you're Korean BBQ. The variety is decent with all your standard items but the quality and execution is better at others places.

Is the food at least good? Well it's all-you-can-eat for $23...it's not going to be gourmet, but it's not dog food either...although it doesn't look appetizing. It's very basic, slightly below average, and a rough assembly.

I've divided my review into 2 parts because it was too much to digest...ha! Love the pun.
1) Not deep-fried items
2) Deep fried items

As a side note, what I really liked about Shabusen is that they minimize waste by offering 1 piece ordering.

On the table:

• Kimchi 1.5/6
• Spicy preserved cabbage. A traditional Korean appetizer.
• It wasn't authentic here and the colour is off. It wasn't marinated/preserved long enough so the flavour was not strong enough. It was decently spicy, but not flavourful.
• The cabbage was cut too big, and it and I couldn't see any garlic bits, which there has to be.
• Gommae 1/6
• Spinach with what's supposed to be sesame sauce, but there was almost no sauce. It was very bland.
• Ohitashi 1.5/6
• A traditional Japanese appetizer: boiled spinach with soy sauce and Mirin or rice wine vinegar.
• This is simple, I prefer the gommae. Traditionally it should be served with bonito flakes.They didn't really do a bad job because it is a simple recipe, but I think they just used soy, it wasn't tangy enough.

• Sunomono Salad 1.5/6
• A traditional Japanese vermicelli salad appetizer soaked in vinegar, sugar and Mirin. Served with cucumbers and carrots.
  
• The flavour was alright, but there was no baby shrimp or anything on the top. Even a little frozen one would have been good. A lot of all-you-cat-eat places will include at least a couple baby shrimps.
• Salmon/Tuna Sashimi 3/6
• Fresh, but the quality of the tuna is pretty poor.
• Hamachi/Toro/Tomago Nigiri 3/6
  
• Hamachi/yellow fin tuna: the quality wasn't great. Not as smooth, cold or clean tasting.
  
• Toro/tuna belly: not bad. Has a richer/creamier/heartier texture than tuna.
  
• Tomago: a bit overcooked and dry. Tastes like it's been sitting there. Flavour wasn't bad though.
• California Roll/BC Roll 2/6
• The sushi rice isn't good here. There wasn't enough flavour in the rice and it was really poorly presented and executred even for an all-you-can-eat place.
  
• California roll: Too much rice around the roll and wasn't wrapped tight enough so it fell apart.
  
• BC roll: not a fan. Salmon skin was soggy. Lettuce wasn't as fresh, it had wilted leaves.
• Alaska Roll 3/6
  
• My favourite out of all the ones we ordered. It's not bad, but it was cut really really thin.
• Special Shrimp Roll 2/6
• Shrimp, imitation lobster and chopped scallop I think. It was alright.
• Chopped Scallop Cone
  
• I didn't try it.
• Vegetable Teriyaki 3/6
  
• It was actually freshly cut veggies, I thought they would have just bought the bag of pre-cut veggies. They give you a lot too and it tasted fresh. They weren't sauteed long enough though and because they were big pieces it was more on the raw side.
  
• It's lightly coated with Teriyaki sauce which is watered down and very bland. The sauce was probably bottled and watered down. No salt and pepper either.
• Salmon Teriyaki 3/6
• Frozen salmon fillets and it actually wasn't overcooked even though it looks like it. It wasn't marinated with teriyaki sauce, the sauce was just poured on top and served. It actually tasted pretty good.
  
• 
• BBQ Beef Short Rib 3/3
  
• It was well-marinated as in overnight - but the sauce was just packaged sauce or generic sauce.
• I didn't need any additional dipping sauce but it was very very oily and greasy. I could taste the canola oil. I grilled my corn on the BBQ after and my corn was super greasy from the short ribs.

Dinner didn't end here, to see the rest of it visit the 2nd part of the review: The deep fried part.

Nordy's BBQ & Grill

Restaurant: Nordy's BBQ & Grill

Cuisine: Barbeque/American
Last visited: October 9, 09

Area: Loveland, Colorado
4360 St. Cloud Drive
Price Range: $10-20 USD

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3
Service: 4
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3
Additional comments:

• Beer & BBQ
• Best baked beans EVER
• BBQ meats were just ok
• Homemade desserts
• They don't waste - use leftover meats for baked beans
• Use leftover cornbread for croutons
• Busy/crowded/line-ups
• Casual, lively atmosphere
• M-F All you can eat lunch buffet $9.50USD
• Family/kid-friendly

**Recommendation: Aunt Judy's Beans, Maple syrup cornbread muffins, croutons

As you can see, none of my recommendations were their BBQ meats. There's a million of these BBQ joint in North America and I've been to a handful - I almost always order the "feed a tiny country" platters. So I'm quite familiar with my bbq and have a high standard for good bbq. So far nothing beats good ol' fashioned Texas bbq...although I have yet to hit other Southern states like Mississippi and Louisiana...I'm sure those are major hubs for competition.

Therefore, I've had better versions of all of the meats Nordy's offered. It was packed with locals and you can tell it's a favourite, so I'm assuming it's one of their best bbq houses. I've definitely had better...even some places in Vancouver do better bbq meats.

The portions of everything on the platter aren't right either. The platter for 4 always feeds up to 6. However at Nordy's they give you hardly any beef brisket and pulled pork...literally just a sample for 4. They just loaded the platter with ribs and chicken and the ribs weren't even that good. You needed a bite of everything to enjoy this platter, but it didn't help that the brisket and pork ran out way before the others.

On the table:

• **Aunt Judy's Beans 6/6
• This was the best baked beans I've ever had in my life!
  
• It has pinto beans, navy beans & black beans! They use the leftover smoked meats from the day and add it to the baked beans. So it's loaded with all their meats like brisket, sausage, pulled pork and bacon!

• These beans are almost like a really saucy stew. Thick, rich, hearty and soooo flavourful made with molasses and brown sugar. Savoury from all the meats and sweet and tangy from the sauce. The texture is also amazing, biting into all those pieces of meat mixed with all those different kinds of beans. I've never had anything like it. It's a meal in itself.
• It tates like BBQ sauce so I used it for everything else on the platter especially since nothing else was smothered in bbq sauce. The beans worked perfectly! I even dipped my cornbread into it. SO GOOD!
  

• 

• St. Louis Style Ribs 2/6
• They call them "falling off the bone" but they definitely were not. They say they cook it for 5 hours too. But we all had to work to get the meat off the bone. I felt like they boiled the ribs first and then barbequed them. Not very tender...I was definitely biting meat off the bone.

• They used this dry rub that could have been better, it just tasted salty. It was also a bit too charred and the meat wasn't tender so it didn't help the situation.
• They do give you a lot though and they are really big pork ribs if that counts for anything.
• BBQ Beef Brisket 3.5/6
• The menu says "Even Texans are envious of this"...but I was actually dining WITH three Texans and they weren't.
• Yes, it was very tender, but the cut they used was really lean which made it not as juicy as it could have been. You know you're getting good brisket when they let you select your cut. For example hole in the wall chain restaurant, Rudy's BBQ in Texas, let's you select the amount of fat for your brisket: Moist (fat is marbled) or Lean (little fat)

• It was soft and tender, but it still required me to use my knife and fork. You can tell by the way it's folding in the picture...really tender beef brisket would just break apart with little effort.
• They gave us 4 strips of beef brisket - barely enough in proportion to everything else.
  
• 
• Smoked Sausage 4/6
• Big, fat, plump, and juicy - this one was a general favourite but it was also really salty. I had to alternate bites of it with something else.
• 
• Down Home Roasted Chicken 2.5/6
• Large pieces of chicken and it was slow roasted with a dry rub and served with a crispy skin. It was actually really tender and moist and cooking it with the skin helped lock in the moisture. It didn't have an outstanding flavour or anything, I couldn't see or taste the dry rub, but they did a good job on the roasting.
• 
• Carolina Pork 3.5/6
  
• It's hickory smoked and chopped to order.
  
• They didn't give us enough of this either. The pulled pork is the tiny pile beside the beef brisket.
• It was good pulled pork, but Ive had better. There was nothing special about this one. It tasted great with the beans though.
• Maple Syrup Cornbread Muffins 5/6
• These were great! Buttery, soft and moist! They bake them in house daily so they're really fresh! They had perfectly browned tops and a maple syrup glaze to give them a slight sweetness and gloss. We ordered extras!
  
• Pasta Slaw 2/6
  
• It was cole slaw with macaroni. Nothing special. Really really standard and too watery.
• Garden Salad
  
• Notice the croutons!!
  
• Croutons 6/6
  
• They use the left over cornbread muffins from that day to make these. It tastes like sweet corn bread biscotti! So crunchy and soooo good! It was such a good idea to use it as croutons!
• We ordered an extra bowl of just croutons.
• That's one thing I loved about Nordy's - they waste nothing!