Belgium Place

RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED

Belgium Place is one of the newer cafes that serves authentic liege waffles; the ones with pearl crystals throughout the dough which caramelizes the exterior and results in a nice golden color. Walking in, one of the cashiers was having lunch and he immediately got up to greet us and take our order. We were very pleased with his friendliness along with his patience as we browsed through the four screen television menu.

The cafe is very spacious and there is a fair amount of seating arrangements along with a few patio seats. I like the spaciousness because during busier times, both the ordering and picking up line ups would not be cramped. There is nothing worse than bumping and nudging the next person beside you when in a long line up!

Other than waffles, Belgium Place offers croissants, quiches, panini and baguette sandwiches. About the waffles though, there are sweet as well as savoury choices and everything is housemade. There is also a choice of almond, chocolate, as well as chocolate and almond waffles for those who want to skip on the plain ones.

As for the accompaniments, there are fruit compotes which include apple, apricot, blueberry and strawberry. On top of that, gelato (vanilla or chocolate), sauce (chocolate, caramel, maple syrup) and caramelized nuts (almond or walnuts) are also available as toppings.

Kaya Japanese Restaurant (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON KAYA JAPANESE [HERE]

Generally I choose not to blog about restaurants when I have a meal with my family or a group of friends. The reason is because I am spending time with good company rather than for the purpose of eating. Plus, considering the amount of food I order with just BF… imagine how much dishes there are with more people! Another reason is also because I tend to visit my regular restaurants with family and friends rather than trying somewhere new.

However, Kaya Japanese is an exception. My family and BF travelled forty five minutes just to come here because my first experience was great; food and service wise. Our waitress followed up with our dishes a few times and always asked if we needed more drinks. Most importantly, the food was good too! I practically raved about the restaurant on my first blog post. Although unfortunately, the staff from my first visit was not here this time around and our experience was a negative one.

Walking to the front doors, I noticed a sign on the right door. There is a sign that mentions which door to open now… so no more getting yelled at by the staff as a welcoming! After seating, my father did not bring his reading glasses and asked the waitress what the meaning of a Chinese character on the cup was. Surprisingly her response was, "Why? Why are you asking me?" in a rude tone of voice. She could have easily mentioned that she cannot read Chinese instead, or fake her customer service skills and talk in a "happier" tone of voice, like she is shy and was curious to know why he asked.

Furthermore when the waitress brought over the table setting later on, she did not even bother serving the plates and side bowls to us. She just plopped them on the table and walked away. Not much service so far…

Happy Family

I did not really plan on posting about an experience of Happy Family Restaurant because it was a small take out order, but decided to do so to make my man happy. Plus, we recently stopped at a red light literally in front of the restaurant and it seemed like it was meant to be - to take a photo of the restaurant's exterior!

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.

Rodney's Oyster House Gastown : Low Tide

The last time I came to Rodney's Oyster House was most likely back in high school and a second location has opened since then, in Gastown. An out of town guest actually reminded me to revisit the restaurant after many years, but our schedules did not match so I went without him! BF and I arrived during happy hours, which Rodney's calls "Low Tide" and people can order off the dinner menu too.

When entering the restaurant, there is a set of stairs to walk up before arriving at the bar and dining room. We waited at the front for only a couple of minutes and there was no greeting while the manager and another waiter looked for a table to seat us. I like how the staff was actually looking for a table to seat us rather than asking if we had reservations and when hearing the answer no, acting like having no reservations troubles them (which has happened at restaurants that are not even busy!).

There are two levels of dining area in the restaurant and the lower level has a few tables along with bar seats, and an open kitchen. The atmosphere at Rodney's is very upbeat, non-rushed and casual. Although maybe a bit too casual… as the manager sits on the counter by the preparation area and bar seats. As for the upper level, there are more tables and the seating arrangements are not cramped.

After settling down and looking at the menu, we waited a while for someone to take our order. At the time, there were four waiters at the front and only two seated tables in the restaurant. The service was not an issue later on though because one of the waiters stayed upstairs. He also checked up on us a couple of times and was the friendliest waiter of them all. There are quite a few negative comments regarding the service at Rodney's especially during the Low Tide, but the none of the staff was rude (although we did visit the restaurant during a slow period).