Crystal Jade, Saanich BC

Time after time, I get suckered into a Chinese buffet for lunch. Continually, I find myself leaving disappointed and kicking myself for yet another poor lunch decision. Well, the case of the Crystal Jade in Saanich is no different. Crystal Jade has surely found a spot in my top 5 worst Chinese restaurants; see my post on the Lotus Inn for the top of the list.

Crystal Jade offers a lunch buffet for approximately $15. On first impressions, I was greeted by a friendly host and noticed a huge restaurant with approximately 10 people eating their. When it comes to the buffet I have to ask myself - what buffet? I found bad tasting wonton soup; a tonne of carbs;  some old looking french fries; and a couple of pieces of broccoli. Okay, okay there was probably a few more items, but the one thing I noted was that there was little to no meat. The beef and broccoli was missing the beef and was never renewed during my stay. The only other thing that resembled meat was the florescent red sweet and sour pork dish.

Now, some of you might think that I am food snob and that the Crystal Jade actually has some decent food. Let me assure you that I didn't eat alone and not one of us at the table enjoyed our meal. In fact, the one comment that stands out to me was that the food tasted old. I think that comment alone can some up our experience.

If you ever take my advice on anything - take it on this. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE CRYSTAL JADE

Asiana Pho, Duncan BC

Pho is a comfort food. Whether you are sitting around with friends or simply looking for something hot on a cold night; Pho makes you feel good. Finally, this Asian noodle delight has arrived in Duncan; along with many other classic Asian dishes. With the new addition of Asiana Pho in Duncan there is finally some ethnic variety to choose from. The only question - is it good?

I have officially eaten at Asiana Pho three times now trying something different on each occasion. My first experience was the Pho. It had a solid broth with a generous helping of noodles and beef. Like any Pho it came with sides of cilantro, bean sprouts and lime; however, I was a little disappointed with the missing jalapeno and mint leaves. I left full, but a little underwhelmed compared to good Pho restaurants in Victoria or Vancouver; and, even compared to the Pho I make at home.

Time two was the Korean BBQ; which was tasty, but again a little underwhelming. I left this meal with the overpowering taste of raw onion in my mouth for the remainder of the day.

Finally, attempt three was the Japanese Ramen. Like the Pho it had a solid broth with generous helpings, but altogether fell flat.

I feel like I am being a little hard on Asiana Pho, there food is decent and with no other restaurant like it in Duncan they should do well. Unfortunately, my comparisons to flavours and quality originate from areas with stiff competition; where if your food is lack luster your not going to last long. I don't feel that this is the future for Asiana. Duncan is a town with limited choices and if you deliver original, decent food you'll do just fine.

p.s. I forgot to mention they do make a mean bubble tea. In fact there bubble tea was better than many places in Victoria.

Kon Thai Eating House, Langford

Kon Thai, is the newest edition to the Thai food craze sweeping the CRD. One might wonder if Kon Thai can survive in the Westshore with the Thai restaurant giant Sabhai Thai just down the street. I guess time will only tell.

I have tried Kon Thai and I must say that it is a welcome change to the former site of Happy Wok.  Kon Thai did a total renovation of the former Chinese restaurant space. The new space is small, but skillfully decorated. With polished concrete floors and a bright colourful interior, Kon Thai makes you want to sit down and eat instead of ordering and quickly running out the door to the comfort of your own home.

The food is good; however, I cannot compare it to Sabhai Thai as I still haven't eaten their yet. I can  pit it up against Zap Thai and must say that Zap is still my favourite. Kon Thai does have a couple of things on Zap, first being the decor and second the friendliness of the service.

If you want good quality Thai food without the fuss, I suggest trying Kon Thai. I am sure you won't be dissapointed.

Sura Korean Restaurant, Downtown

Over the years I have had the opportunity to try many Korean dishes from homemade to restaurants; and, I have to say that I absolutely love Korean BBQ. There are numerous things I enjoy about Korean BBQ, from the delicious marinated meats, kimchee, friendly staff, but the number one thing is the dining experience. Where else do you go to eat at where you get to grill your own food right at your table?

Sura, definitely nails all the things I love about Korean BBQ. They have amazingly friendly and attentive staff, great selection, reasonable prices and delicious food. The only difference is that at Sura, the waitstaff cook your food for you. Now, this was a bit of a disappointment for me, but thinking back, it was actually a nice change. It ensured the food was cooked properly and it allowed me more time to socialize with my family.

 If you are reading this and wondering if Sura is the place for you? I say try it, you won't be dissapointed - I know I wasn't!

Baan Do's Stirfry, Duncan

A friend of mine took me to Baan Do's for lunch the other day. I had never heard of it, but he insisted that it had some pretty good stirfry. Baan Do's is has a pretty cool concept in the fact that they are two restaurants put together. On one side is Baan Do's which serves up stir fry's and on the other is Baan Do's Too which is a burger joint with shakes and fries. The first thing that I notice and very much appreciated was that they chose to leave their kitchen completely open for viewing and not try to hide behind walls. This makes it quite easy to tell that your food is being made in a clean environment.

My second observation was that the staff are very friendly; and thirdly that they have a ton of stirfry's to choose from. I actually found it quite difficult to choose what to order from the huge selection before me. Lucky for my my friend pointed out the "spicy" board so, naturally that is where I focused my attention on. I ended up choosing the Thai Peanut stirfry with chicken and noodles. My decision was mostly based on the fact that it had 3 red chili's beside it on the menu and secondly because I love Thai food.

Our meals arrived quite quickly and the portions were quite large for the price (about $9.50). However, a couple of things weren't up to my own particular standards. One, the noodles were similar to the ones out of a Mr. Noodles package; and two, the spicy peanut sauce wasn't spicy. In fact, I didn't notice any heat whatsoever. I will say that overall the stirfry was pretty good, but definitely nothing to shout to the masses about.

Overall, clean restaurant/kitchen; friendly staff; reasonably priced and alright stirfry. For Duncan this is probably one of the better Asian style restaurants, but no comparison to some of Victoria's or Vancouver's Asian stirfry joints.

Next time I am going to try Baan Do's Too as I saw a burger on their menu that looked really appetizing - The Goober Burger: topped with bacon and peanut butter.

Wah Lai Yuen, Chinatown - Victoria

I have read and heard from a few that Wah Lai Yuen "isn't what it used to be"; and, "it's gone down hill". Well, let me tell you what it used to be: It used to be good food with not so good service. The food always came out quickly, but the servers were always a tad on the rude side.

Now, let me tell you what it is currently: the food is still good, but now the service seem good as well.There is now a younger male server who has a better command of the English language and is quite friendly. I did notice some flashes of their former self when all of our dishes came out a different times, but overall much better.

So, in summation; Wah Lai Yuen is still serving up great BBQ Pork Noodle Soup and fantastic Honey Buns, but now they have good service as well. Furthermore, the food is still cheap. For three of us to order three separate dishes and be full afterwords it only cost us $27.00

Zin Sushi & Noodle, Langford

Once again - Sushi Disaster!

Why is it that every time I try and go out for decent sushi; I find myself disappointed and wishing I had just saved my money and gone to McDonalds's or some other fast food joint.

We started off with a Bubble Tea each and for food, I ordered the Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Beef) and a Deep Fried Spicy Tuna Roll. My wife and son ordered the dinner bento boxes; which came with sunomono salad, miso, teriyaki beef or chicken, 3 pcs of nigiri (salmon, tuna and ebi) and a piece of semi-frozen cheese cake.

The bubble tea's were all very good; unfortunately, I can't say the same for the food. The noodles used in the sunomono were slightly thicker than normal and the broth was way too lemony. The the nigiri was scary at best and looked as though it was cut by a five year old with a dull knife. The part of the nigiri that seemed the most off putting was the big brown spot in her salmon (eww). The bulgogi was okay at best and looked and tasted almost identical to the teriyaki beef my son had. As for the deep fried spicy tuna roll - it was okay, but nothing to rave about.

I was also slightly disappointed with the service at Zin Sushi. It wasn't overly busy, but they only had one waitress on to cover the tables and the front counter which also served as a bubble tea bar. To say that we rarely seen our server is an understatement. Oh did I mention she only gave us one saucer for our teriyaki for the whole table to share.

Overall - good bubble tea and bad everything else.

...the search for decent Japanese food continues...

Shiki Sushi, Downtown

I find Victoria to have an abundant amount of Japanese restaurants; unfortunately, most of them aren't very good. I may have found one place that steps away from the norm a little and produces some half decent (retract that) good Japanese food.

Shiki Sushi puts a modern spin on your typical Japanese restaurant, both in the decor and the creative rolls the chefs concoct.

My wife and I ordered some of our usual Japanese faves: Beef Tataki ($8.95), Tuna & Salmon Sashimi ($11.95) and a couple of rolls. For the rolls we decided on the My-My-Mai!! (Tempura Prawn, Crab, Cucumber Cream Cheese, Spicy Sauce Topped with Salmon and Masago on Sauce)- $11.95 and the Sunshine Roll (Crab, Cream Cheese and Cucumber Topped with Mango, Avocado and Sauce) - $11.95.

They started off by serving us the Beef Tataki which I must say I was slightly disappointed in. The beef was cut slightly too thick and the ponzu sauce tasted off. However, the rest of the meal was great. The fish tasted fresh and was cut nicely, making it melt in your mouth. The rolls were both fantastic. I especially like the My-My-Mai roll. The cream cheese and crab tempura played exquisitely off of the spicy sauce. KUDOS to the Chefs for these fabulous rolls.

Overall, we had a fantastic dinner (minus the Tataki) and the service was great as well. I will definitely be back.

p.s. sorry about the bad picture, first time with the new Black Berry.

Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant, Langley BC

Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work, I spend a lot of time traveling; however, on up side it gives me plenty of opportunities to try new restaurants. Recently, while staying in the Langley I had the pleasure of stumbling across Mai's Vietnamese Restaurant. Now, I will not profess to be an expert on Vietnamese cuisine, but I will say that I do enjoy it.

Mai's isn't your typical Vietnamese restaurant, it comes off as a little more upscale than most I have been to. As I noted earlier, I am not an expert on Vietnamese; therefore, I tend to stick to what I know (BBQ Pork, Vermicelli & Spring Rolls or Pho). This time I chose the Vermicelli, BBQ Pork and Spring Rolls ($16). I must say that the pork was delicious and the spring rolls were also very good. I have had better spring rolls, but I wouldn't kick these ones out of bed for eating crackers. Seriously, they were pretty good. I cannot comment on the service or the overall dining experience since, I got my food to go. I will say though, that the food was made fast, the portions were large, it tasted fantastic and the price was reasonable.

I enjoyed Mai's so much that I went back again for the same thing on the last day of my stay!

Genki Sushi - Kapolei, Oahu HI

Japanese culture and food seems to be well and alive in Hawaii; who would have thunk it...after all it was Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbour that brought the U.S.A. into WWII. Enough with the history lesson and on with the food.

Being as Japanese food is almost as popular as fast food in Hawaii, it was difficult to make an informative decision on where to eat. We decided on Genki Sushi in Kapolei as it was close to Costco which we had just finish shopping at. Genki Sushi is a chain sushi restaurant with locations throughout Hawaii and Washington state. The big reason we decided to eat their wasn't because of the atmosphere of rave review, it was simply because my wife wanted to go because you can pick your sushi off of a conveyor belt! It's the little things in life...

Now, I am a firm believer that fresh is always best and the thought of eating sushi off of a conveyor belt that has gone around the restaurant umpteen times doesn't really peak my appetite. However, I was happy to learn that you can pick off of the conveyor or order off of the menu. If you have ever been to a Japanese restaurant such as this you will be familiar with the pricing system; if not, each item is on a colour coded plate and each colour represents a different price. At the end of your meal you simply add up all of the corresponding colours and plates to know how much your bill is going to be.

There were two big standouts at Genki that would and did bring me back to eat their a second time. Those standouts are Masubi: a Hawaiian twist on sashimi where they use fried Spam instead of raw fish to top the rice; and secondly the Genki Burger: seaweed for the bun, then filled with rice, spicy tuna, cucumber, tomago, mayo and Spam. I know the both items seem a little weird, but trust me they were both delicious; seriously, I don't even like Spam and I enjoyed both the Masubi and the Genki Burger.

If you are in Hawaii check out Genki Sushi, if not, at least have some Masubi.

Aloha,

Lotus Inn Restaurant, Kamloops BC

Sometimes you find the best food in restaurants that look too scary to eat in. If you don't know what I am talking about -- I mean the little hole in the wall joints that serve up some delicious eats. Well, I am here to tell you that this is NOT the case with Lotus Inn.

I was working in Kamloops for a week and a co-worker of mine said we had to check out Lotus Inn. He raved that they had an awesome Chinese dinner buffet and that it is a must for him every time he visits Kamloops. Not being one to turn down new restaurant; especially, one that comes highly recommended from a co-worker, I thought - hey, lets give it a go.

As we walked into the place I started becoming regretful of my decision to allow myself to be swayed into a Chinese buffet (yet again). This place was quite large, but almost all of the tables were empty (bad sign). Secondly, the Lotus is so, outdated. It looks like a bad restaurant in an even worse hotel. However, I overcame my natural reaction to run out the door screaming - HELP, HELP.

Let's get to the reason that you all are reading this - the food. I wish I could say that I was taken aback by how wonderful their food was; unfortunately, their food matched their decor - Old & Tasteless. In actual fact, this has to be one of the worst Chinese buffets I have ever eaten at; probably, the worst restaurant I have ever eaten at.

If I can make one suggestion it would be this - Stay Far, Far Away.

Golden Lion, Langford

Now, I am not one who normally enjoys "Canadianized" Chinese food; especially, in Langford! In my experience there isn't much for choice in Langford and the restaurants you can choose from tend not to be that great (see reviews on Happy Wok and Asian Noodle House).

My wife came home with her sister last night and were craving some Chinese take-away.  We decided to try Golden Lion. I must mention that I have ordered from Golden Lion once before; however, it was quite a while ago,  I will say, I quite enjoyed it. We ordered the Wonton Soup, Crispy Ginger Beef, Mushroom Chow Mien, House Fried Rice (rice, veggies, egg, chicken, bbq pork & shrimp) and Sweet & Sour Pork. I chose to pick it up as I had some other errands to run before hand and was surprised that  it would only take 15 minutes to be ready. I arrived about 20 minutes after ordering and our food was ready and piping hot.

I can't review the whole meal as I stayed away from the wonton soup and sweet & sour pork. I don't mind the taste of wonton soup; however, the texture is a little hard for me to swallow. As for sweet & sour pork - I actually find it quite gross. From what I did eat though - I would have to recommend Golden Lion. The staff are friendly; the food is fresh and well seasoned. In fact their Ginger Beef was some of the best I have eaten on the Island.

If you are going to order Chinese food in Langford -- order from Golden Lion, it is the best you'll find.

Zap Thai, Esquilmalt

Have you ever left a restaurant with that euphoric feeling? Feeling happy to have just had the most amazing meal and thinking, WOW, I can't wait to go back and try something else off of their menu. I had just that experience tonight, an experience I haven't had in Victoria since the first time I ate at the Empress Room. This new experience happened at a tiny little hole in the restaurant in Esquilmalt: Zap Thai. Calling it a hole in the wall is probably a little over the top, Zap Thai is a small quaint restaurant which is simply decorated in Thai memorabilia and old radios. In fact the name Zap Thai makes me think of super heroes; and, after eating their I understand why they call it Zap, simply put I felt SUPER afterwords.

We started our meal off with the most amazing appetizer - Mhee Grobb ($7). I have never had Mhee Grobb before, but I am sure I could eat it like junk food, in fact, if for nothing else I will go back to Zap Thai just for some more Mhee Grobb. If you are reading this and thinking what the heck is Mhee Grobb, it is crispy rice noodles with tofu, shrimp and egg topped with a tasty sweet sauce. Trust me on this one - go get some; heck, if you are reading this and Zap Thai is still open; stop what you are doing, drive/walk down there and order some Mhee Grobb to go, then come back and finish reading because there are more dining delights ahead.

Our second appetizer were their spring rolls ($7), they were good, but slightly greasy. However, even being slightly greasy they were still pretty decent. They weren't the best spring rolls I have ever had - that title belongs to my stepson's grandmother, but they were nothing to complain about.

Enough about spring rolls - I now want to influence you on trying one of the best Curries I have ever eaten, I am speaking of the Panaeng Currie! The Panaeng Currie is by far the most delicious Currie I have ever eaten, I find it delicious because it is not your typical Currie, this one is slightly thicker and has a delicious peanut sauce mixed in with it (YUMMM).

I hope I have inspired you to check out Zap Thai - I guarantee you won't be disappointed because this has to be my new favorite restaurant on the Island (other than the Empress).

Oh, and, if you did happen to stop by Zap Thai on your way home, feel free to comment on what you think, maybe even save me some leftovers....

Asian Noodle House, Colwood

I will never say that I am an expert on Chinese food, but I have eaten enough of it to determine the great restaurants from the average and the down right awful ones.

Feeling lazy and not in the mood to cook, I decided to order some take-out from the Asian Noodle House. Having never been to the Asian Noodle House, I walked in and was pleasantly surprised by the friendly staff and the wonderful smelling aroma. Immediately I started to wonder if this might be the hidden gem of the Westshore I was looking for...

I ordered the dinner for two which consisted of your normal Chinese fair - beef and broccoli; sweet and sour pork, steamed rice and choice of egg rolls or wonton soup. Feeling that I wanted to try more, I order both the wonton and the egg rolls as well as the pad thai (which was recommended by the hostess). My bill came to approximately $36, which for what I ordered didn't seem too unreasonable.

Having arrived back home and starving after smelling the magnificent aromas wafting from the bag; I was extremely excited about delving into my new found favourite Chinese restaurant in the Westshore or, at least I thought so....

Maybe it was the anticipation or, reading all the wonderful reviews on Urbanspoon, but somehow I felt, ripped off, disappointed, even peeved that the food hadn't lived up to my expectations! In actual fact I found it quite bland and typical of most Chinese buffets. Now, don't get me wrong this isn't the worst Chinese food I have ever eaten, to quote my stepson "I'd give it a 6 out of 10". It's just that, a six, mediocre, standard "top 40" Chinese food.

Having said all of that, Asian Noodle House is still probably one of your better options for Chinese food in the Western Communities the only competition being Golden Lion on Jaclin Road.

I guess this is a lesson, if you want authentic Chinese food go to China Town or, don't be disappointed in the suburban joints.

May's Asian Cuisine, Duncan

Located in behind A & w and Pizza Hut sits a small PINK building; probably, the only building painted pink in the area or, the Island. Don't let the drastically coloured building scare you off, think of it as a beacon, signaling you to come and try somewhere new.

May's serves up a limited selection of "top 40" style Chinese food in a soup kitchen kinda style. The staff are friendly and they are dishing up massive portions of cheap, flavourful food. This isn't the best Chinese food you have ever eaten, but it is probably the best Chinese you have eaten for under ten dollars!

I don't know if there is much more I can say; other than, humongous portions, dirt cheap prices, decent food and friendly staff.

Happy Wok, Langford

WARNING!!!!!!

This is the worst "Chinese" food I have ever eaten. Food this bad, the restaurant should be paying me to eat. This so called Chinese food could be featured in Fear Factor or some other challenge where the contestants are forced to undergo extreme hardships in order to win.

I am not even going to review the food - I don't believe it is worth the effort. The only suggestion I can make is stay far, far away!

Sabhai Thai Restaurant, Langford (NOW OPEN!!!!!)

**UPDATE** December 7, 2011 - I drove by Sabhai Thai again today and noticed they have changed their sign from Opening soon to NOW OPEN!!!! I can't wait to check it out. If you get their before me let me know how it is.

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I drove by the old Garlic Rose restaurant, which used to occupy the corner of Goldstream Ave and Jacklin Rd in Langford, and to my delight there is a banner posted that Sabhai Thai Restaurant will be opening soon.

Can't wait to check it out!

Noodle Box, Westshore

I have tried Noodle Box a couple of times now and still can't seem to understand the attention this place gets. I tempted it again last night, in the hopes that something would change, but more importantly because I was lazy and didn't feel like cooking.

Well, I was again and maybe more so than other times: DISAPPOINTED. I ordered the Thai style chow mien with chicken. As always they ask you what spice level you want and every time I try a little bit hotter, but it never seems to change. This time I got the medium-hot - it tasted the same as the medium. As for the food, the whole dish was bland and lacked any flavour - the only thing you could taste was the bit of heat they added.

Overall - Noodle Box sucks! I think they should visit FOO and take some lessons in creative cooking. I have also come to the conclusion that the only reason people flock to this place is because of the Chinese take-away boxes.

Eating my way to Orlando, FL

Recently I had the pleasure of taking a work related trip to Orlando, Florida. Anyone who travels knows that you tend to eat out more than usual when on the road. And what better time then when traveling to try out some new spots and revisit some old faves.

Sushi Harbour, Langford

**UPDATE** I revisited Sushi Harbour; and after my last experience I expected another great meal; sadly for me, this time they were horrible. With only about 3 couples in the place it took about half an hour before our order was taken; and about another half an hour before our first dishes started to come out. I think the waitress was too busy socializing with friends from a not so distant past (high school). I watched as our food sat, waiting for her to deliver it to us and when she finally did bring it out, she took it to another table that arrived after us. My wife and I were just about to walk out the door when our food started to arrive.

The quality and taste was definitely not up to our first experience; in fact, we left some of it for waste after having only one bite. Oh... I forgot to mention, they brought us wrong orders and tried to tell us that we did in fact order it; and failed to bring us items that we did order.

I left disappointed, thinking...will I ever find a decent Japanese restaurant in Victoria....the jury is still out!




Ever since the passing of my favorite Victoria sushi restaurant - Tamami (now Ulla), I have been searching for something to satisfy my cravings for raw fish and rice. Today I think I found my solution; I tried Sushi Harbour in Langford and they are serving up some mean rolls.