So Crab So Good Restaurant & Bar 蝦拼蟹嗆海鮮餐廳

So Crab So Good has been on BFs list for a while ever since the restaurant opened a couple of years ago. We have actually been to the restaurant when they first opened but left because it did not seem "ready" yet and looked like a casual hang out place for the owners. So sometime between then and now, we have tried Crab King at Steveston which was very disappointing (pre-cooked and cold food) which made me put off So Crab So Good for even longer! Although the restaurants are not related, I just rather visit Crab Pot in Seattle because the restaurant is a childhood memory of mine.

But lucky for BF… I decided to visit So Crab So Good because the restaurant was offering a Social Shopper voucher for $29.00 which included one side dish, dungeness crab, shrimp, clams, mussels, squid and sausage. For $29.00 you cannot go wrong! The restaurant is located in North Burnaby on the second floor of a building and resembles an apartment of sorts. If entering from the street side, there is a set of carpet stairs that have a muggy green leafy pattern.

When we arrived, a large party of eight was waiting in the front and there was literally no place to stand. On top of that, the waiting area is crowded as well as tight and there was a lack of air circulation in the restaurant making it noticeably easier to breathe in the hallways. The restaurant was not understaffed and there were plenty of available tables, but the waitresses were not efficient in clearing them which lead to a longer line up in the narrow waiting area.

After settling down at our window seat, I could not help but notice the ten to twelve dead flies at the window sill. It was actually quite disgusting and so far the restaurant did not make a good first impression, from the narrow waiting area to the inefficient staff and now the dead bugs. In addition, there were bits of leftover seafood around the floor. As for the table setting, each person receives a wooden board, fork, seafood pick, seafood cracker, napkins and gloves. A wooden mallet is available if requested (I think).

Kisokoma

After grabbing Nyquil at Shoppers near West Broadway and Willow Street, we needed a quick dinner so considered Sake Sushi since the restaurant is literally next door. But when looking at a few photos online, the restaurant seemed very average and our other close by options were Ro Sushi and Kisokoma. Ro Sushi did not look too bad but I wanted to go to Kisokoma because a photo of their lobster roll lured me in!

Kisokoma is a Vietnamese owned/operated Japanese cuisine restaurant and resembles a fast food sushi joint from the exterior, interior, menu and to the photos of food. The prices are noticeably a lot cheaper than many Japanese restaurants and there are photos plastered along the walls for those who order with their eyes. In addition, the restaurant has a TV menu too!

The restaurant looks a bit old but the interior is fairly clean along with the table setting. There are seats by the sushi bar, half booth seats along the wall and full booth seats on the other side. The seating arrangements are not cramped and the chairs are fairly comfortable too. As for the food, the restaurant offers plenty of speciality rolls and a variety of very reasonably priced combos.

Chef of Dumplings 四海游龍

Chef of Dumplings is one of the newer additions to the Aberdeen food court. The food stall offers dumplings, imitation shark's fin soup, spicy squid, roti canai and stir fried meats. Chinese puddings are also offered and the prices are fairly reasonable here.

ROTI CANAI COMBO ($7.75)

I ordered the roti canai combo which includes an order of imitation shark's fin soup, dumplings, roti canai and a choice of squid, beef, pork or lamb. The combo is a good value considering the portions are not small and the selection includes a bit of everything the food stall offers.

Amici

A new neighbourhood and more restaurants to try based on convenience equals one happy lady. Asides from being a selective diner, I like everything to be perfect most of the time. I am well organized, have the creepiest best time management skills right down to the second and am freakishly detail oriented (except when it comes to writing…). Having said that, I needed my first meal as a new resident in the neighbourhood to be perfect... PERFECT.

Sounds hard? Like a whole day of researching restaurants to try? Nope. I stumbled upon Amici, checked some comments on Urbanspoon as well as Yelp and even went to their website. There are a couple of comments that majority of the clientele are in their 70s and to me that is a good sign because some seniors know good food! Then I decided to check their website and found, "you've just stepped back in time, to an era when the world moved more slowly, family was the focus and every meal was a time to celebrate" and knew this would be THE restaurant where I would love everything.

"Every meal was a time to celebrate" just shouts out good food to me! I mean, there are times when I have felt like "hmm the photos look good so perhaps the restaurant is not bad", but never like "this restaurant WILL be good". There are not even many photos of the food online and it was like I had a sixth sense thing regarding the restaurant. When we walked in, the owner welcomed us and mentioned to take a seat in the corner. I took that literally because there was a corner and the only table for two. However, he mentioned we could seat at a four person table because it would be more comfortable (plus, we do need the table space considering the amount of food we order too).

I took photos of the interior as we were leaving which explains the empty looking restaurant. The interior looks like a rustic Italian dining room and the restaurant is dimly lit but not too dark. Every table has a white linen tablecloth, a candle as well as gray cloth napkins, and the chairs are very fairly comfortable. The restaurant does not look as "yellow" as the photos too.

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.