Kevin "McLovin" L.'s Profile

I must have been past this place about 100 times, but I have never stopped. A few days ago we were all taking about getting a burger, and Five Guys came up. The place is pretty noisy, most of the noise comes from the speakers that blast 70's rock throughout the inside dining area as well as the patio. It's kind of loud inside, but I like that type of music, so it didn't bother me. They even have big bags of roasted peanuts for customers to much on while you wait for your order (which isn't very long). The menu is pretty basic, and decently priced for the amount of food you get. They have the usual burgers, dogs, and they also have grilled cheese, and a veggie sandwich. I ordered the double bacon cheese burger, which was excellent, and a large fry. I thought the fries could have been a little crispier, but they were still good. I also liked how they packaged the meal. All of your burgers are wrapped in foil, and the fries come in a large paper cup. It kind of gives you that old school burger joint feel. Their burgers are decent sized, and actually taste like beef. The next time I have that urge for a big burger, I'll definitely go back.

It's been irritating trying to find decent sushi since moving to Vancouver. That is until I finally notice Sushi Land. If you didn't happen to look left while waiting for a stop light, you would miss the place. They have a sign out front, but it kinda blends in. No, it's not five star sushi and everything is served on a boat, but it is pretty decent, and for being a boat restaurant only, they do have a pretty good selection. Most of the plates are between $1.00 and $3.00 so you can afford to sample a lot of different things without going broke. Some of my old haunts served better sushi, but at the end of the meal, I always had an $80.00+ bill waiting for me. I've been to a few other sushi places in town, but I think I'll stick with Sushi Land.

Can a guy get a doughnut? I'm getting tired of all the stupid Food Networked "special" doughnuts, covered with fancy Peruvian hamster chocolate, or sprinkles straight from Liberace's cape maker. I just want a doughnut, and a decent cup of coffee. Doughnuts, you know those round cake things we used to be able to eat. Well Tonallis #3 makes some pretty good ones. The shop isn't huge, they have a good old checkered tile floor, and serve yourself coffee, but that's what I like about the place. When I wake up in the morning with a hankerin for something sweet, I don't want to eat clever or daring, I want a simple yummy doughnut or three. That's why I will continue to make the 20 minute drive to Tonillis to get my morning fix.

Being a semi-recent transplant from California, I have been missing good Mexican food. Now that I have eaten at Don Pedro's twice in the last few weeks, I now have a new go to place to satisfy my south of the border cravings. I highly recommend the Carne Asada plate, and the Camarones a La Diabla. Both were excellent and fairly large portions. The dining area is a bit small, but they have a covered eating area outside. The people who work there are always nice, and I look forward to returning soon.

This market just opened around the corner from my house so I decided to go check it out. They sell live seafood on one side of the market, and the other side has various canned, dried and fresh Asian goods. The live seafood tanks are full of fish, crabs, clams, snails, and such. The owners are very helpful and can explain how to cook, and eat everything they sell. During my last trip, I bought some Dungeness crabs, clams and periwinkles for dinner. I had never eaten periwinkles before, but they turned out to be easy to cook and tasted great. Some people may shy away from live seafood, but alive is the freshest you can get. Along with the seafood, they have a variety of different meats that range from quail, to different cuts of fish, beef and chicken. This is a great place to try new things, and they get shipments of "new things" twice a week. The dry goods area isn't as big as some other Asian grocery stores in the area, but they only recently opened so the open spaces should fill up soon. The coruscations I brought home or dinner were spectacular and a lot cheaper than any of the stores in the area. I am planning on making a trip in there once a week just to see what new delight can be found.

I don't know why people are bashing this place so bad? No it probably doesn't taste like the food you get in Japan....oh wait, this is Vancouver Washington, maybe that's why? Nice comparison. I thought dinner was fine. We were seated as soon as we walked in, our drink order was taken as soon as we sat down, and the waiter came back multiple times to ask if we needed anything like refills on drinks. The food selection was pretty decent for a buffet. I liked the various meats on skewers, and that night they had all you can eat crab legs that were pretty good as well. They did have an assortment of sushi rolls and a few individual pieces like Ebi and Maguro which were fine. I only give them a fine, because I recently moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area, and as far as I am concerned, all sushi in Vancouver sucks. It wasn't horrible, just not as big of a selection as I had hoped. No, I didn't try the fish that the cooks will cook for you because after two trips through the buffet, I was topping out. Everyone in the dining room seemed happy to me. I didn't see any wait staff yelling ay anyone, nor did I smell any rotten food? In fact, all of the food we ate was pretty good. I am living on a student budget so the dinner price would be the only thing that would make me think twice before three times a week, but other than that, I thought they were pretty good.

I just ate here over the weekend. I have been to the original, and I loved it. The old building and the "grit" give it charm. The new place is definitely new, and it does look like a cleaned up Applebee's. We got there just before lunch, and were seated right away. This was good because the place filled up pretty quick. The food is good. I had the scotch eggs, and the pub burger. The beer list is extensive, and many are local which I also like. I had the monkey face porter. I can see where they are coming from with the décor, because the main location down town, although great, seems to rest between two rescue missions "I like that". This one is next to a mall so making it feeling familiar to shoppers who probably wouldn't ever visit the one down town makes it feel comfortable and "returnable".
The only issues I had with the place are that it took WAY too long to get our food. Our drinks came quick, but in the wrong size "sorry I likes my beer". Once we got our drinks, the rest of our lunch took close to forty minutes to arrive. I didn't know a medium rare burger took 40 minutes to cook? The other issue I had was with the staff. Our waitress seemed more like a bored mime until it came time for the check, then all of a sudden she found her personality. Neither of these issues would keep me from going back. I like the food and drink, and it is closer than the older place. If people don't think they can take their kids here for lunch, they probably shouldn't. After all it's called a pub. I just hope they don't stray away from what little "pub" is showing to accommodate the shoppers.

I just came back from eating dinner at Bill's and the food was excellent. I had an order of fried chicken and the chicken was cooked just right. Nice and crispy yet still juicy. We were seated right away, the staff was very polite and attentive, and the food was good enough that I plan on returning. The poor reviews on city search seem to have been posted a while ago. I took all of the reviews in to consideration while I was eating dinner and didn't see any of the things people were complaining about?  I would recommend them to anyone looking for a decent dinner for a decent price.

This is one more eating establishment that saved my sanity! Being born and raised in the heart of Silicon Valley, I used to have access to just about any type of Asian food, but after moving "North" I was having trouble finding the comfort foods I loved. This place is half deli and half sit down restaurant. When I go some place new to eat, I usually order a little bit of everything, and Tan Tan didn't disappoint. On trip one, I ordered two Bahn Mi, one with the basic pork and the other with head cheese and pork. Both were fantastic. I also ordered some of the onion and pork puff pastries that had just come out of the oven, and a freshly steamed pork and egg Bao. After my little feeding frenzy was over I enjoyed a nice nap. Their sandwiches are amazing and the staff is very friendly and eager to answer any questions about anything they sell. I have been back many times and everything has always been top notch. If you ever stop in, head over to the fridge in the deli area, it's usually full of tasty specialty drinks. I like all of them accept for the soursop flavored one. If you are up for a tasty challenge, they even make durian smoothies. MMmmmm durian.....

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I guess I got kind of spoiled as far as possible food choices. When I moved to Vancouver it was tough to find the things I needed to make my favorite Vietnamese and Pacific Rim type dishes. I finally came across A-dong market and was relieved to find that they have just about everything you would ever need to make your favorite Asian dishes. I was able to buy everything from the serving bowls to dried noodles, sauces and even produce. Now it's the only place I shop for specialty foods. All of the produce I have bought there seems to last three times longer than what the major chains sell. Each time I stop in, I try to pick out something I have never tried before, and now I have a new favorite brand of fish sauce. MMmmm fishy. The prices are VERY reasonable and the people who work there are friendly and will answer any questions you have about anything in the store. If you want to make your own Pho, this is the place to go. Heh.