TRATTORIA BURNABY

One of the three Trattoria restaurants under the Glowbal Restaurant Group is located in Burnaby on Kingsway street in the same building with Element Vancouver and GoodLife Fitness, across from Crystal Mall. Trattoria Burnaby is know for their in house pasta, pizza, and a more casual family friendly atmosphere compared to sister restaurant Italian Kitchen.

Walking in, you cannot miss the circular bar at the center of the restaurant. There are both tables and booth seats surrounding the bar, patio tables outside, and more seating arrangements on the second floor. Pro Tip: $13 Tuesday pastas and happy hour runs from 2:00pm to 5:00pm and 9:00pm to closing every day, including weekends! Happy hour menu consists of $5 feature drinks, antipasto for $9.95 and pizza at $12.95.

The Old Spaghetti Factory : New Westminster

SPAGHETTI FACTORY + SOURDOUGH BREAD pretty much sums up what the Old Spaghetti Factory is all about.

I cannot think of many above average restaurants in New Westminster off the top of my head and when trying to find a restaurant for dinner that is neither a pub or chain establishment around 8:00p.m., it is a pretty tough choice. So after circling around the city we decided to try the Old Spaghetti Factory on pure nostalgia. 

Milestones : Coquitlam location

Would you believe that I have never been to any Milestones restaurant before?! Cactus Club, Joey and The Keg have always been my preferred chain restaurants and for some reason Milestones has never really appealed to me. The same goes with Moxie's.

Like many chain establishments, Milestones can hold a large capacity of diners and there are are plenty of booth seating arrangements. The service for a chain restaurant was surprisingly disappointing though. The hostesses did not appear friendly and it was hard to find servers, especially during a slow dinner service. On two occasions.

Browns Socialhouse : New Westminster location

Having no sense of food direction in Coquitlam, Burnaby and New Westminster and coming up blank for a restaurant to try, Browns Socialhouse did not seem like a bad option. When Browns Socialhouse first came to Vancouver, my thoughts were very meh. Cactus Club and Joey are still on the top of my list for preferred chains and Browns, Milestones and Moxies are the ones I told myself that I am not in a rush to try. So finally after a few years, why not Browns?

Located at the Brewery District in New Westminster with floor to ceiling wall windows and two patios with a fire, I am already interested in atmosphere. Most of the time the atmosphere is not really all that important to me, but it was really nice having the whole patio to ourselves and sitting right in front of the fire where it kept us warm. We had the best seat at the restaurant and lots of privacy! Or I guess I mean lots of peace because diners have a really clear view of the patio from the inside.

Kirin Seafood Restaurant 玉麒麟海鮮酒家 : City Square location Dinner

Kirin Seafood Restaurant used to be known as the Chinese restaurant for fine dining, before restaurants like Peninsula at Oakridge Centre and Chef Tony in Richmond surfaced. Apart from being known as a fine dining establishment, the Kirin chain is known for their peking duck (or should I say used to be...) so when my sister and her friend had a craving, I suggested to come here. Let me get this straight however, I suggested Kirin not because their peking duck is amazing... but because everyone should try Kirin's just to say they have.

The most convenient Kirin restaurant for us to try would have been the one on Alberni Street in Downtown Vancouver, but that is the worst location I have been to - service and food wise, on multiple visits! So this brings us to Kirin on West 12th, which is another location I do not prefer because of their lack of service unless you are here with your family and the food is just not that good. The best Kirin I have been to is the location in Richmond, from the atmosphere and service to the food quality.

The Boathouse Restaurant : English Bay Location

The Boathouse Restaurant is one of Vancouver's own chains and there are seven waterfront locations (English Bay, Horseshoe Bay, Kitsilano, White Rock, Richmond, New Westminster and Port Moody). I remember coming to The Boathouse quite often with my family when I was in elementary school, but it sort of stopped when I started attending high school. Our Family liked The Keg more and Cactcus Club or Joey were the preferred choices in my teen years. Then I guess after a few mediocre visits to The Boathouse in my university years, I started disliking the restaurant chain. But recently, a friend mentioned he went on a date to The Boathouse and the food was decent so I started questioning why I disliked the chain to begin with.

Arriving for a late lunch but before Happy Hours on a Friday, we waited at the front for around five minutes and none of the staff or hostess were on site. I further peaked into the bar area and did not see any of the staff, but there was one seated table. As we continued waiting, my guest sneezed twice and super loud which echoed. I was thinking FML how embarrassing, but the hostess was still no where to be seen! So after waiting, I was pretty pissed because The Boathouse is a chain restaurant and most restaurant chains take pride in providing well above average service. Restaurants in Downtown Vancouver usually provide better than usual service to cater to the business clientele too.

So the last straw was when the telephone started ringing, the hostess was still no where to be seen and I decided to leave the restaurant. We scanned the area and Cactus Club or Milestones across the street from The Boathouse would have been a better choice and both restaurants looked fairly busy. However, I decided to give The Boathouse another chance because I made reservations through OpenTable and already had my mind set on visiting (for a few days too lol). When we re-entered the restaurant, the hostess was on the phone and greeted us when she ended her telephone call.

The hostess led us up the staircase to the dining room, dropped off the menus and walked away. As I sat at the window seat, I could not help but think that Cactus Club across the street has a full house because their service is pretty top notch.

The large dining room has spacious seating arrangements, but the interior is outdated and not the cleanest. The table was not clean and the cutlery were literally filthy. Who is the dishwasher? When our server arrived after a while, I asked if she could change my cutlery and she did not seem to understand why. Well trained staff would also ask my guest if his cutlery needed to be changed as well, but he used his white napkin and the glass of water provided to clean them. On top of that, I wanted to order a drink but as soon as I touched the drink menu, there was literally a cloud of dust. What the hell?

View from our window seat.

From looking for the unenthusiastic hostess to the poor first impression from our server, the service did not start off good. But as we started ordering and asking a few questions, our server opened up a bit to us. It was a bit awkward because when we inquired about the ingredients in the Whiskey Crab Soup, our server responded "uhh... crab". Umm okay. Our server was not rude or unfriendly at all, she just seemed a bit  lazy. It is like she knew the answers, but it took her a while to provide more useful responses. I like how she warned us the Crispy Fish Tacos are already considered a meal and going for the Ahi Tuna Tacos would be a better choice as an appetizer though when we asked for a recommendation.

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar : Alberni Street Location

I am a fairly picky and an indecisive individual, and there is only one other person that I know of who is pickier and more indecisive than me. It was also her birthday which meant that she had ever right to be pickier than usual! Her birthday evening was already all set (literally planned half a year in advance…) and we were not going to have a celebratory lunch, but we decided to grab a bite after finishing a run on the seawall.

Like every The Keg establishment, the restaurant has a modern atmosphere and features a high ceiling, luxurious velour and/or leather booth seating arrangements, and dim lighting. Out of countless visits to The Keg ever since I was a child however, this is the first time the hostess opened the door for me! Perhaps because we visited for lunch, no one else was at the front of the restaurant, or the staff is well trained at the Alberni Street location.

Pho 99 Vietnamese Noodle House : Schoolhouse location

Pho 99 and Pho Hoa (I guess Pho Boi now…) are two of the largest Vietnamese franchises in Vancouver. Of course these restaurants may not serve the best Vietnamese food and cannot compare to some of the small family owned establishments, but they get the job done… sort of, for those who have a craving. Or in general, for the non picky.

The newest Pho 99 restaurant is in Coquitlam on Schoolhouse, very close to the SilverCity theatre. The back of the restaurant also has a door which leads to a bowling ally! Since this is the newest Pho 99, the restaurant is very clean and looks nice. I believe this is the largest restaurant in the franchise as well. There are plenty of seats along with booth seating arrangements and the restaurant overall was very comfortable to dine in.

Top Gun J&C Restaurant 名堂公館 : Dinner

When I used to hear the words "Top Gun restaurant" which refers to a chain of restaurants in Vancouver, I always cringed. The reason is because back in my elementary years, there was a Top Gun Sushi restaurant in New Westminster. It was an All You Can Eat Japanese restaurant and the quality was not good, as in on par with Sui Sha Ya. Then there is Top Gun in Crystal Mall which is a Chinese AYCE hot pot restaurant, but serves dim sum during the day. I remember going to Top Gun Hot Pot throughout high school but the restaurant did not compare to any of the ones in Richmond and the prices were higher. Also, my parents never took me to try the dim sum there before so I always assumed the restaurant was nothing special.

But years later, I discovered Kingsway Sushi and Richmond Sushi which are also affiliated with the Top Gun Group. It was not until last year when I discovered both restaurants too, thanks to BF for knowing the food is not bad. We actually argued about trying those restaurants before because I was ignorant and believed all AYCE Japanese restaurants were like Fish On Rice, Kawawa and Sui Sha Ya! But turns out Kingsway Sushi and Richmond Sushi serves very fresh sashimi, as fresh as it can get. So with that being said, we purchased a membership card last year for $20.00 (which is only $10.00 now, lame!) and decided to make use of it at other Top Gun restaurants.

My expectations regarding Top Gun J&C were similar to the other restaurants in the group, negative at first and not very high. However, Top Gun J&C is actually considered a fine dining restaurant and I had no clue. The interior surprised me and looks fairly "fancy". There are white linens, chopstick covers, gold seat covers, cloth napkins, and spacious seating arrangements. In addition, the staff were attentive, courteous, friendly and professional. There were only three seated tables on a weekend visit throughout our duration however, but the service was consistent and did not disappear (which happens a lot at other "fine dining" restaurants for us).

Also when ordering, our waiter was very informative when we inquired about the menu. BF asked a lot of questions because some of the prices seemed off (as in too cheap) and the waiter treated us like it was our first visit at Chinese restaurant. He was really courteous and genuinely wanted to help us.

Zakkushi Charcoal Grill : Downtown Location

After having what was supposedly dinner at Simba's Grill, we were still hungry and headed literally next door to Zakkushi Charcoal Grill. The izakaya uses Binchotan which is a Japanese charcoal that produces no flame or smoke (although I have seen photos of flames from Zakkushi?), making it comfortable for those who only go to barbecue restaurants on "laundry" or "wash hair at night" days… like me.

Similar to most izakayas, Zakkushi is not very big. The restaurant is long and narrow but surprisingly the seating arrangements are not cramped. Menus are provided on every table and kept there, which is great for those who like to order a bit and add additional orders later.

Dunn's Famous

BF, let's be open minded - with smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat. Our favourite and go to place for Montreal smoked meat sandwiches is Estrella's in Langley. And that is it. We have no back up plan in case Estrella's closes or a runner up if we are too lazy to go to Langley, and that scares me. So we decided to try Dunn's Famous. When I saw some photos online, the smoked meat did not look good and I gave the restaurant the benefit of doubt, thinking perhaps some people ordered the lean meat which make the sandwiches look dry.

We decided to have a quick snack on a game night and the restaurant was not busy. There are comfortable booth seating arrangements, comfortably spaced out tables and bar seats, along with large televisions. I do not do the bar or pub scene but this is what one would look like to me, a more luxurious one I guess.

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar : Dunsmuir Street Location

After circling around West Point Grey and Kitsilano, we decided to head Downtown to find a restaurant for dinner. As another hour passed of circling around, we decided to play it safe (and boring) and chose The Keg. Actually, the Downtown Keg locations may not really be "safe" as in the restaurants are consistent because I never had a good experience at the Alberni Street location! On at least three occasions at The Keg on Alberni, the staff were not friendly and the food was subpar. At a Chain restaurant? Beats me…

We decided to try the location on Dunsmuir Street because neither of us have been here before and I was pretty excited to try the new menu. When we walked in, the both of us were surprised at how large the restaurant is because The Keg does not even look that big from outside of the building. The lounge is located on the first floor and the dining room is up a spiral staircase.

Similar to the other locations, The Keg's interior has a casual atmosphere. The seating arrangements are not too cramped (if you get a booth seat) and The Keg can always accommodate large parties.

Boston Pizza : West Broadway location

Boston Pizza is one of my favourite chain restaurants and I only come here for the cactus cut potatoes, wings, and pizza. I love BPs twice baked wings because most of the time they are juicy and flavourful! Honestly, BP is my favourite place for wings.

Like every BP location, the restaurant is large and spacious. There is a bar/lounge area along with the dining room and plenty of large television screens. We arrived after midnight so the restaurant was not busy, but our waitress was friendly and attentive. At most BP locations, the service is non existent whenever the restaurant is slow.

Dinesty Dumpling House : Robson location

Whenever I have a negative experience at a chain or franchise business, I tend to avoid any of the other restaurants (ABC Country, Banana Leaf, Sushi Bella, Swiss Chalet…). This is somewhat unfair because every chain and franchise business is operated differently so one location may be horrible while another is great. In this case, the franchise is Dinesty Dumpling House. I have visited the location in Richmond before and the food was horrible along with the service. Not only was there no service, but the staff was also rude!

However, BF has been wanting to try Dinesty at the Downtown location for months. He is also the same person who had dinner with me at the Richmond location and vowed never to return! I guess in the end, I did not mind trying the Downtown location just because I was in a good mood. Plus, I was not really hungry since we went to Rodney's earlier. Picking up a pair of stilettos that finally arrived after a couple of weeks of waiting did not hurt either, hehe.

Walking in, the manager immediately stormed past us and closed the front door while yelling in chinese, "who didn't close the door?!". She then made eye contact with us after slamming the door so I asked for a table for two. Although there must have been a miscommunication on her end because she waved us away like we were pan handlers and rolled her eyes… umm? After standing there for a while, a waitress approached us but did not say a word so we asked if the restaurant was still open. With a response of yes, we asked her for a table for two.

At this point, it seemed like deja vu with the Richmond location (rushed atmosphere and unfriendly staff) and I sort of wanted to leave but we already seated. The waitress was neutral though and there were no dirty looks or a negative attitude. Also because we arrived fifteen minutes before the last call, we only ordered a few items to sample and decided to revisit if the food tasted good.

Guu Garlic

Zeffirelli's, CinCin and Bacchus were my choices for dinner since we passed on Gusto di Quattro because I did not want to leave Downtown. But in the end, I chose Guu because I wanted a fast meal and was tired. This was also a great time to take advantage of being open minded because I was hungry and am not a big tapas fan. By the way, we were seated in the corner beside the couple outside and our area had no lighting above us. It was awkward because we could not see what we were eating, I guess call it a "Dark Table" experience? The table was also sticky so I was using the hot towel provided to scrub to it down. However, I forgot it was a communal table so I was shaking the whole thing while the couple next to us were eating! Whoops, thankfully they were very friendly.

The last time I came here was in high school and the restaurant looks pretty much the same. There is a mini "upstairs" section where people sit on the floor, bar seats, tables in the centre and patio seats. From what I remember, the staff is usually friendly and service has never been an issue.

Walking in, we were greeted with loud shouts from the staff but waited ten minutes for someone to speak with us. When a waiter approached us, he helped the group behind us despite mentioning we arrived first. To be fair, the waiter was rushing around and tuned everything out. He also told the group of three to follow him but walked too fast and disappeared so the group stayed behind us. Fortunately, a waitress came over and seated us first because there was no space for the group of three.

After settling down, we waited more than fifteen minutes for drinks and had no side plates or chopsticks. We did ask a few times but the staff kept forgetting. When the second dish arrived, BF did not want to wait anymore and went up to grab chopsticks himself but could not find any napkins.

Bubble Waffle Cafe 雞蛋仔餐廳

There is always someone I know that wants to try Bubble Waffle Cafe, but I rarely crave for bubble tea. However, since C'est la vie a Maggi and I were in the area, we decided to make a visit. Our first choice was actually Icy Bar but the restaurant was randomly closed for the day. Also, I thought Milk & Sugar Cafe (which is located across the street) was Bubble Waffle Cafe! Maggi wanted to go to Milk & Sugar Cafe too but it was my fault because I got the restaurants mixed up.

Bubble Waffle Cafe is located near Kingsway and Joyce, and is in the same plaza along with Honolulu, London Drugs, Papa John's and Gold Train Express. The restaurant appears to be a franchise and there are three locations in Richmond as well as one in UBC.

As for the interior, the restaurant is fairly clean and there is a good amount of seats. Every table has three types of menu which includes noodle combos, Japanese paper hot pot, teppanyaki, snacks, rice rolls and drinks. Since we spent the whole day eating already, we decided to try only the bubble tea and bubble waffles. As for the service, the owner is quite friendly. I put my purse on a chair next to the table beside us and she pushed the chair towards me. Although her English was not the best, she was friendly.

Qoola Frozen Yogurt Bar : Oakridge location

Qoola is a Canadian frozen yogurt franchise and there are over ten locations in B.C. The frozen yogurt stands are usually located in shopping centres and are completely self serve.

Consumers select their choice(s) of frozen yogurt along with toppings and have control of the portion. This year, Qoola launched an organic selection and the flavours on my visit includes banana split, blood orange passionfruit, green tea, peach lychee, vanilla, lemon, original and blackberry. Asides from frozen yogurt, Qoola offers smoothies, "Q2GO" take home froyo or sorbet, and waffles.

Sushi Town : Coqutilam

The original Sushi Town restaurant is located in North Burnaby along Hastings street, and the small franchise has expanded to Coquitlam as well as North Vancouver. Back in my high school years, Sushi Town in Burnaby was the go-to place for large portions at a cheap cost. Also, I have never complained about the quality.

As for the location in Coquitlam, I have been here on three occasions. On the first visit, I took my parents here and bragged about how the portions are huge. However, my father was very unpleased because the sashimi did not taste fresh and the table setting was dirty, he is even pickier than me… We left the restaurant with only a few grabs from each dish and the car ride home was silent because he hates having low quality food. Many years later, I did not want to revisit because of the bad memory with my father LOL… but BF wanted to try this place out. The second visit was very similar to the first, but the ending was more "I told you so" and me gloating.

Fast forward to a couple of more years later, there was a third visit. This time, I needed an excuse to go to Coquitlam's T&T because after spending the whole day going to Richmond (Osaka and T&T), Downtown, 1st Avenue and Burnaby's T&T… NONE of them had ice cream mochi. WTF? I was desperate and really needed them, so we had to go to Coquitlam.

Sometime within the last few years, Sushi Town has renovated. The interior is nice and looks like Cactus Club, compared to the former cafeteria layout. We waited at the front for a while and noticed a sign to put your name down but despite doing so, the waitress seated the couple who arrived after us. Furthermore after seating them, she was about to seat another group of people who arrived after them! Fortunately, the group mentioned we were ahead of them.

Papa John's : Burquitlam location

If it was not for Papa John's being one of the few pizza restaurants in the Lougheed Mall area, I would not even know about them! Papa John's is a franchise and their slogan is, "Better Pizza. Better Ingredients". Furthermore, if comparing Papa John's to Domino's and Pizza Hut, I believe the last two are more popular.

My friend and I ordered from Papa John's twice and on both occasions, the delivery drivers were friendly and arrived within the time stated. On the second visit, the pizza actually arrived fifteen minutes before the estimated time of arrival. As for the delivery charge, it is $3.00 which we could have saved, had we walked literally across the street lol!

Bubble World 大頭仔 : New Westminster location

Bubble World is a Canadian franchise restaurant with ten locations in B.C, but only five of the restaurants serve food while the rest sell drinks. As for the Bubble World in New Westminster, the restaurant is located within seconds from Douglas College and I remember making a visit years ago, but the food was not very good. At that time, I concluded this location caters to students and declared the restaurant as probably being the worst out of the whole franchise.

So why the revisit? A friend of mine moved in to her new condo in New West and it was based on convenience. Plus, perhaps the food has improved and she could also find out if the restaurant could be her go-to for late night snacks.

The interior looks modern as well as clean, and nice for any Asian fast food restaurant. Also, there is a good amount of booth seats and comfortable as well as spacious seating arrangements. When we walked in, the staff was friendly and there was Taiwanese pop music playing in the background. If anything, because the restaurant has two sides, it may be hard to get service for those seated on the side without the counter (like us, which we thought was fine).