Category: Pub/ Bar

Earl’s Restaurant & Bar (Whistler)

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Last weekend, I went to Whistler for a team building/bonding trip for a school club. It was lots of fun and I also encountered the first snowfall of the year at night! And what’s a trip without some food. We had originally sat down in a nice fine dining restaurant, but they only offered a set menu, and some of us really couldn’t choose anything we liked. So embarrassingly, we told our server we would be looking elsewhere…How awkward. The girls ended up ditching and went off to Earls. Yes – from fine dining to Earls. But oh, comfort food made me so much happier. Earls was located on the second level of a building and was located right inside the village.

Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla – chili, garlic and cumin roasted portobello mushrooms, red peppers and zucchini, avocado, melted jalapeno jack and cheddar, crisp flour tortilla, sour cream and house made roasted tomato salsa

There are always enough choices at Earls for everyone to find a dish. I ended up getting the Roasted Vegetable Quesadilla which came with fries. At first, I felt that the portion was quite small, and it almost seemed like an appetizer, even though it was listed as an entrée. However, I actually got really full and couldn’t even finish my fries. The quesadilla was a vegetarian dish, with no chicken, but it was still really tasty. I’m usually a meat person, but I was still really satisfied with it. The cheese was melted nicely and I enjoyed the peppers and zucchini which gave great flavor. It also came with a dip, which I found quite spicy. It was like a roasted tomato salsa and sour cream, which I mixed it up with. You were supposed to dip your quesadilla in it, but I found that the quesadilla already had enough flavor. So I ended up using the dip for the fries instead. The fries, which I was told to be really really good, were true! They were thinly cut, and somehow, they were just fried to a perfect texture. Overall, I was extremely satisfied with my dinner. Across from me, was my friend’s meal, which was a Cajun Chicken Sandwich with Caesar Salad, which I was told was extremely delicious as well.

Service was also typical and friendly. It wasn’t over the top annoying or ignorant, but just enough to make my experience satisfied. Another note is that when I went to the bathroom, I realized that there were a bunch of empty seats in the back. However, they still made us wait 5 minutes, before we were taken to our seats. They clearly want to make an illusion that they are always packed, so they make you wait a short time.

Earls Kitchen + Bar (Whistler) on Urbanspoon

Nicli Antica Pizzeria

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Chili Oil and Rosemary Oil

Margherita di Bufala – pomodoro, grana padano, buffalo mozzarela, basil

I hadn’t gone on a food adventure in a while with Steph, so after a school meeting, we decided to go grab some food. I had a gift card for Nicli Antica Pizzeria, so I decided to bring her there to check it out. The pizzeria is located in the edge of Gastown, and although there are very nice looking boutiques and such around the area, the people in the area are still somewhat..sketch if that’s nice to say. We parked on the sidewalk in front of the pizzeria but there were some creepy men murmuring to us! A little scary… Anyways, when we got in, the place was totally different from the outside. The outside looks all antique and vintage, but the inside was clean and modern. I loved how everything was white with pops of red. So pretty!

We didn’t exactly know what to order since after reading the menu, we were still pretty confused. Most of the ingredients were in Italian, and I was just plain confused. We decided to ask our server what she would recommend. She suggested us to try the Margherita di Bufala as it was one of the most popular, and so we did. Basically, they make Neapolitan pizzas, which I’m still not too sure what exactly it is, since I didn’t really do much research. I read it briefly somewhere online though, and I think it has something to do with the crust and how they actually heat it using a special oven or some sort. And wow, the crust was actually so thin! The ingredients were also extremely fresh. You could tell the tomato sauce and the buffalo mozzarella were fresh. When you take a bite with the basil leaf on top, it was really good too! I did find that the crust got a little tough at the bottom after the pizza sat for a while. You could tell especially, when you tried to use a knife to cut it, and it became really difficult to slice. Parts of the crust were also a little burnt, which gave it an ashy taste, that I didn’t quite like. But other than that, the pizza was extremely delicious. The pizza is also large enough to share with 2 – 3 people, although we saw many tables ordering one pizza for each person.

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Red Robin

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5 Alarm Burger with Yam Fries – Pepper-Jack cheese, jalapeños, fresh tangy salsa layered on a juicy beef burger and topped with crisp lettuce, tomatoes and chipotle mayo

Calamarvelous – lightly seasoned tender calamari fresh-fried golden, topped with red onions and served with tzatziki

I haven’t had Red Robin in quite some time now, so we decided to make a stop for a quick snack while shopping downtown. Red Robin always seems to have people eating no matter what time. I decided to get the Calamarvelous since I was craving some calamari. I thought it was just decent though. The batter wasn’t that amazing, and wasn’t as fluffy as I would have liked it to be. I’ve definitely had better calamari before. I never got a chance to try the burger, but it looked pretty delicious.

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Shark Club

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Oven Roasted Chicken Wings: Golden Shark, Jack Daniels BBQ, Teriyaki, Honey Garlic, and Salt & Pepper

Wednesdays are always a great day to go grab some wings since most pubs or lounges offer Wings Wednesdays where the wings are half price. My friends and I decided to go to Shark Club last week, and it was pretty packed and noisy too since there were a few sports games going on I guess.

We decided to just order a bunch of different flavoured wings and share. We got the Golden Shark, Jack Daniels BBQ, Teriyaki, Honey Garlic, and Salt & Pepper. Honestly, I thought all the wings weren’t good at all. I don’t know if it’s different on a non-wings night, but they were seriously not up to standard. The Golden Shark was supposed to be a mix of BBQ and spicy, but it was really just a fried wing with a little spice to it. Nothing special. I think the Jack Daniels BBQ was probably the most flavourful. It actually had a strong BBQ sauce, but I’ve had better BBQ wings before. As for the Teriyaki, I could not taste a single bit of Teriyaki sauce. It was covered full of “sauce”, but the sauce had no taste at all. Honey Garlic is usually my favourite flavour for wings, but it was really bland, and didn’t taste that great. As for the Salt & Pepper, it wasn’t even peppery or salty. It just tasted like a normal fried wing with little seasoning.

Overall, I was quite disappointed in the wings, and would definitely not go back for their Wings Wednesdays. Shark Club serves their wings in orders of 10 for 9.99, but since it was Wings Wednesday, it was half price. I would still rather go to another pub for the wings though.

Shark Club (Richmond) on Urbanspoon

Boston Pizza

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Long Island Iced Tea

Nachos – Freshly made, hand-cut tortilla chips layered with cheddar and pizza mozzarella, topped with chicken

This is from a while ago now, but went to Boston Pizza with Jack for some late night casual drinks and some food to chat. The Long Island Iced Tea was pretty watered down so it actually tasted pretty good with less alcohol in it. We shared a plate of Nachos which was a huge portion! So cheesy, and the jalapeno peppers were so spicy! Still really delicious, and a great place for some drinks and snacks!

Boston Pizza (Ackroyd) on Urbanspoon

The Pit Burger Bar (UBC)

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Mushroom Burger

I’ve been going to the Pit Burger Bar a lot for dinners when I have exams at school on a late night, and decided to try the Mushroom Burger. Usually they have specials each day which comes along with a drink and fries for around $5, but I didn’t want that day’s special so ended up just getting the burger on itself. It’s okay – probably just really typical A&W style burger, but it was loaded with mushrooms. I guess I was really hungry, so it tasted pretty good to me.

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Pit Burger Bar (UBC)

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Waffle Fries

Barbeque Wings

Went to the Pit Burger Bar to grab some snacks to share with my foodie bff, Steph again. This is like our go to place for snacks during our long breaks now. I kept hearing from other friends that the waffle fries are really good, so I had to try them. They reminded me of the curly fries back in high school. So oily and unhealthy, but yet so good! We also decided to try the wings, but we both thought they were just average. Nothing too special, and not the best we’ve had. Mmmm… more to come from the Pit Burger Bar! We’ll be trying more of their foods in the future for sure!

The Pit Burger Bar on Urbanspoon

The Pit Burger Bar (UBC)

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Belgian Fries with Garlic Mayo

Mozza Sticks with Marinara Sauce

Decided to get some snacks at the Pit Burger Bar in the SUB at UBC the other day, and ended up trying their Belgian Fries and Mozza Sticks. I actually didn’t know what belgian fries were, but I decided to give them a try anyways. Both my friend and I  found that there was too much seasoning, and therefore was actually really salty! The garlic mayo was really good though. So perhaps, just fries without seasoning plus the mayo would have been perfect. The Mozza Sticks were not bad, but they were probably just frozen and heated up. Being curious what Belgian Fries really were, I actually quickly googled it and found that Belgian Fries are different from normal french fries, because they are freshly cut, cut thicker than usual, and are baked twice! Now I know!

The Pit Burger Bar on Urbanspoon