Coast Seafood Restaurant: From Coast to Coast

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a couple of female co-workers and we decided to head over to Coast Restaurant in their newer location on Alberni. I’m not sure if it was what I chose to eat, but I think I liked the food at the old Yaletown spot better.  Somehow, even though the atmosphere was larger and more modern and they have a great patio at the new place, it just felt like the food could’ve been from…well, anywhere that served seafood really.

The other thing that we all really noticed was that the service at this particular lunch was not up to par.  We waited for awhile to order (of course it was prime lunch hour and really busy), but then the server didn’t even ask for our drink order first.  I think he just completely forget and when he took our food orders, we just threw in what we wanted to drink.  We then had to wait 20 minutes until our food had come, and remind him to bring us something besides the water on the table. Other than that, it was just really slow to get our bill after asking, and I think he may have forgotten the sushi until we checked in on that too. I do have to say though that the other two times I’ve dined at the new Coast (one other lunch and once for dinner) the service was better, so it could’ve just been an off day, or that person in particular.

So here’s what we had to eat:

Mango California Roll and Eel and BBQ Salmon Roll – These rolls were definitely the best part of our lunch. Mango puts a great spin on any roll since it’s always nice and fresh, and having real crab is a must-have for me to eat any type of California roll. The fish roe on top was a great touch as well. As for the other one, I’m not usually a fan of eel, but the sauce on this roll (bbq sake) was better than most since it wasn’t too thick or overpowering, and the eel tasted quite good as well.  What I really liked about this roll (and what my co-worker also mentioned), was that the portions of all of the components of the roll fit well together.

 

 

Lobster Hot Dog – Now this was interesting. The idea sounded so great when you looked at it on the menu – who wouldn’t want a whole chunk of lobster! The problem is, it was literally a ‘hot dog’ in the sense that the lobster was ground up and made into something in the shape of a weiner, which ended up with a similar texture to a fish cake.  There were also fairly large pieces of regular lobster on top, along with the dijon mustard and the sauerkraut, but it just wasn’t quite what my co-worker had in mind.  Also, it did look kind of funny – let’s just say my friend lost her appetite partway through, and when I asked her why, she just pointed and made a face. I’ll let you use your imagination and leave it at that. The lobster dog was served with a chowder of some sort (which I didn’t taste), but was told was “good, especially since it had real chunks of lobster in it.”

 

 

Cod Burger – We were told that halibut season just abruptly ended this past weekend, so although the menu item was originally a Halibut Burger, another co-worker was able to substitute this with cod.  Again, this was served with the same lobster chowder.  The burger was a bit spicy, in a pale ale batter.  We were trying to figure out if it was the patty itself, or the sauce in the burger, and I’m pretty sure it was the cocktail sauce within. Although I didn’t try this myself, I did want to include some info and a pic about it so you have more examples. She did say that her meal was good and would order it again.

 

 

Cod Fish and Chips – I have eaten this on another occasion when I was at Coast for dinner a few weeks ago. I was nursing a bit of a red wine hangover from Wednesday night, so I felt like something greasy and carb-heavy, and this definitely fit the bill! The batter was a bit thick in some parts, and I ended up peeling some of it off. I picked at the coleslaw once or twice to try to get some vegetables in me, but that’s something I would suggest skipping next time around - it was limp and pretty tasteless. As for the fries, they were fairly average in my mind. They were great in terms of fulfilling my need for greasy carbs at the time though!

 

 

Other items I’ve had when dining here in the past were the Hers lunch box  – this comes with tuna sashimi on a salad, a shrimp wrap, and a bowl of Manhatten clam chowder.  This was definitely a better option, but it was somewhat small (just something to note if you’re usually a big eater like me). At the dinner a few weeks ago, I had the Signature Chilled Platter.  This was fairly tasty as well, but I’m not sure if it was just my expectations going in were too high or what, but I didn’t find it to be anything special either.  We also tried out the Signature Seafood Platter, which includes a wide array of hot items.  I thought that the best part of this was the potato gnocchi and the wild sea tiger prawns.

Overall, I would suggest going here for dinner and trying out the platters and other seafood options rather than lunch.  I remember that I enjoyed the food at Coast a lot more when I went to the old Yaletown location, but that was over a year ago and a bit of a distant memory at this point (so I’m not exactly clear on the details). The atmosphere was great, and so is the heated patio (but watch out for the bench seating as you’ll be looking up at your dining partners the whole meal since the ground is on an upward slant). I would go back again for drinks one night.

Coast Restaurant
1054 Alberni Street
Vancouver, B.C., V6E 1A3
604.685.5010
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Society Dining Lounge Yaletown – Unpredictable or Awkward?

To view this post on my new domain, please go to http://victoriasfoodsecrets.com/2009/11/society-dining-lounge-yaletown-unpredictable-or-awkward/

Tuesday was a fun and crazy night in Vancouver – and the fact that I was able to eat a meal at a new place didn’t hurt either! It’s a bit late for me to be putting up this post, but I figure I have a pretty good excuse since I’m still trying to recover from my boyfriend’s big birthday bash that he has every year. Those who have been to one of these parties at any point in the past will know exactly what I’m talking about…

Anyway, we started the night out at the new Society Dining Lounge in Yaletown that’s run by the Glowbal Group. There, we had the entire upstairs lounge area to ourselves, and were able to enjoy a dinner with a variety of the comfort food that they serve. Mind you, comfort food to me is more Asian style fare (see my Congee Noodle House post), but I’m always willing to give something new a shot.

Since we had a larger group filling the place up, we ended up doing a set menu buffet-style arrangement so we would have the chance to taste a variety of appies and desserts and other menu items.  This was a great way to be introduced to the food at a new restaurant in town, and wish I could do it everywhere I go.

Here’s what was brought out (in a great, quick way – thanks to all the staff there that night for the prompt and friendly service!):

Appies:

• Mixed Leaf Salad – with a light vinaigrette dressing – a little bland for my tastes, but I’m also not huge on salad in general
• ‘Mac and Cheese’ Balls – these were essentially macaroni and cheese in a deep-fried shell
• Forno Baked Nachos – loved the whole black olives on this one!
• Poutine, with cheese curd and chicken gravy – a good way to carb up in preparation of a big night of drinking (or at the end of the night before bed)
• Smoked Salmon on flatbread – this was definitely my fave of the night.  The salmon didn’t taste overly strong or smoky and wasn’t fishy at all.

Main:

• Loaded Prime Rib Burger – I really could taste the distinct flavours of the caramelized onions.  Not really my favourite – I love prime rib but prefer it on its own instead of in the confines of a burger.

Dessert:

• Junk Food Platter – everything from cotton candy to caramel corn to a delicious ice cream sandwich milkshake. The doughnut holes, filled with warm, white chocolate were soooo divine. I heard the rice crispie squares were also pretty tasty. I love dessert, no complaints there.

Photo Credit: Mark Kinskofer

In my opinion, the upstairs lounge at Society has a great atmosphere and I really liked the deco and the comfortable open seating.  It was really great for hosting a larger party and turned out really well for our group.  However, when I was downstairs walking towards the bathroom, I noticed that the dining room seating was a bit crammed and am not sure I’d really be into having food in that kind of setting.

All in all, I’ll for sure go back to Society for the upstairs lounge atmosphere, drinks and friendly service. The team was definitely accommodating and did an excellent job of ensuring our large group could eat and drink and stay on schedule for the rest of the night’s agenda. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really a fan of the comfort food and the servers in white tank tops and jeans.  Maybe this needs a bit more fine-tuning so it feels a little less awkward and more like their goal of ‘unpredictable.’

What did everyone else think?

Society Dining Lounge
1257 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, B.C.
604.629.8800

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Give it to me Straits

Rating: A fun resto-lounge for a decent meal and drinks. Skip the oysters.

I love family-style dining: ie. share plates for everyone!  This comes from the Asian side of me – but it also means that I get to try more food and what can be any better than that? Wherever I go, even if it’s the type of place where you order your own entrée, I still prefer to share and split meals with whoever I’m with if they’re up for it (and even when they’re not, as my boyfriend would know. I think he’s getting used to this now and has finally just given in).

Last night, I tried another new place after I had gotten my fill from shopping.  So, I wandered over to Santana Row which is kind of like two streets of shopping and restaurants (the Yaletown of San Jose?). There, I met up with a co-worker and we wandered up and down the row to try to pick our fuel for the evening. We wandered past a couple Italian places, some really Americanized looking Japanese restaurants, and quite a few other options before we walked all the way back to the first place we stumbled upon: Straits Restaurant – Santana Row.

It was really busy when we walked in around 9 pm, and there was a DJ playing some fairly loud music in the corner. Apparently there are quite a few hockey fans down here as well, since there was a huge crowd in front of the big screen tv behind the bar, watching the Sharks play. The ambience was great – kind of a resto-lounge feel with a lot of lively people, and it was all decorated in time for Hallowe’en.

We started off with a half-dozen oysters – big mistake!  Remind me to not do that again when I’m outside of Vancouver unless it’s in a world-reknowned place for these types of mollusks. A couple of them tasted kind of milky to the point where we were joking around and hoping that we wouldn’t be stuck in the bathroom for the rest of the night.  We also tried the Murtabak, which is basically roti stuffed with some spiced meat and a curry flavoured dipping sauce.  This one was actually pretty salty, and I almost wonder if they accidentally spilled a bit too much of the spice in while cooking. The best of the small plates was the Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio. I loved the flavour of the dressing on the veggies on this – it tasted very fresh and was so delicious! There was a bit of cilantro, some mint, capers (I love their little salty-goodness) and the flavour combination left me wanting more.

Now on to the larger plates: the Origami Seabass was the overall winner here.  I loved the texture and could be biased (this is one of my top favourite types of fish behind sablefish). There were longans (kind of like a mini-lychee nut fruit), red peppers,  shitake mushrooms, and a rice wine sauce and it was served in a neat paper box that kept all of the steam inside.  We had this with a massive bowl of Nasi Goreng – coconut fried rice with prawns and a mixture of veggies. Sometimes I still need to adjust to the sizes of the dishes down in the U.S. because I tend to over-order (and overeat) while I’m south of the border.

The drinks here were also quite tasty. We tried the mango soda which was perfect as it wasn’t overly sweet, and the lemongrass mint soda which was pretty good, but would’ve been better if there was a bit of alcohol in it. It basically tasted like a fresh mohito without the rum. Next time I go back, it’ll have to be when I don’t have an early morning meeting and can try more of the non-virgin options.

I noticed that this lounge has two other locations in California (San Francisco and Burlingame) as well as one in Atlanta, Georgia, should you venture in those cities as well and want to give Straits a try.  Overall, the flavours were fresh, the lounge was bustling and the decor was festive. I will be back.