Wok Charred Albacore Tuna

For our work’s squad lunch, we went to The Sandbar restaurant in Granville Island. It’s part of the Sequoia group of restaurants, like Seasons in the Park and they offered the $28 lunch menu during the Dine Out Vancouver Festival. Most of us started off with the Wok Charred Albacore Tuna for our appetizer. The tuna was crusted with sesame and lightly seared so the middle was still raw. Very fresh and combined with the pickled ginger, it was very refreshing. It also came with a wasabi aioli, but it lacked any wasabi flavour. The dish also came with some crispy wontons to eat with the tuna, which gave the whole dish a very Asian flare.

Seafood Hot Pot

For the entree, I chose the Seafood Hot Pot, which came with loads of seafood! It include bok choy, salmon, snapper, clams, mussels, prawns, and even a scallop. All the seafood was really fresh and it came in a red coconut curry broth. The broth was a very thin consistency soup and was very aromatic in coconut flavour. There was barely any spice, but it was perfect for dipping the complimentary bread into.

Wood Grilled Steelhead Salmon

A got the Wood Grilled Steelhead Salmon, which had a very nice char to it. It came on top of some bok choy and coconut jasmine rice, which sat above the tomato fennel broth. A said it was very delicious.

Chocolate Oatmeal Brownie

For dessert, some of them got the Chocolate Oatmeal Brownie, which came with a creme anglaise. They said this was a bit sweet though.

Lemon Cheesecake

For myself, I chose the Lemon Cheesecake, which came with a raspberry coulis and strawberry. The cheesecake was light and not too sweet. Not bad!

Overall, we were all very pleased with our lunch. I find that their Dine Out menu doesn’t showcase a lot of their best dishes, but it’s a good price at $28 to check it out. I found it interesting that most of their menu threw in some Asian ingredients as well. Service was friendly and efficient. Our food came out quickly, but at a good pace, which was perfect since we wanted a quick lunch. Ambiance is also great, especially when you get seated outside. There’s heating lamps and you get a beautiful view of Vancouver.

Pros:
– Reasonable prices for seafood dishes
– Beautiful views of Vancouver

Cons:
– Parking at Granville Island can be difficult during busy hours
– The Dine Out menu doesn’t showcase their best food

Price Range: $25-35

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 4