Sandbar at Granville Island - $30 Dine Out. Food was average, had the boulabaise and the soup base was literally tomato soup, maybe a tad better than Campbell's. Usually, there is a lot of thought and ingredients put into the soup base. GF had artic char, that turned out good. Service ... average. It is what it is for $30 Dine Out but I can't see myself going back.

Ask For Luigi last night, it was excellent as always.

Luigi's meatballs - so simple but so good
Saffron spaghetti with salt cod & mussels - the saffron was subtle, maybe too subtle, but still an excellent dish overall, the mussels were perfectly cooked.
Chestnut & mascarpone ravioli with maitake mushrooms - very hearty, great texture and was a delicious combination

Didn't have room for dessert, but their panna cotta is always brilliant.

Glowbal.. food - sometimes a kitchen staff will come out and ask me if the cut of wagyu is acceptable, sometimes they don't, sometimes it will be to medium as i ordered it, sometimes it will be medium well -_- also they love salt; service is of varying quality every time i go there, sometimes ill get a very attentive person refilling my water and chit chatting, sometimes ill never see my server at all, the activity in the restaurant doesn't seem to have any bearing on this.

i actually wouldnt go back there if it weren't for my friends who like the atmosphere

My guess is soho on cambie

http://www.sohotearoom.com/menu/desserttoast.html

Went to two Dine outs in one week. I will be comparing the two as the food menus btwn the two were quite similar

Per Se Social corner was a $30 meal.
Food tasted great, nice presentation
Generous portions
Server was very helpful and courteous.
Only down side was beef carpaccio wasnt as great elsewhere
Overall quite good for a $30 menu
Would return again to try their regular menu
8.5/10

Two days later..

Juniper
$40 menu
Appy and entrée were both very salty from my dishes and the lady's.
Only good dish was the elk tartar.
What killed it for me was the portion size. Very small. I got 2.5 pieces of albacore tuna vs 5-6 pcs at Per se.
Dessert was some apple stussel dessert that had no apple in it. The one at Per se, had actually slices of apple. Kinda like an Apple pie
The waitress was very nice, helpful and Courteous. That was the only plus. Just the food taste and portions were lacking.
This was a $40 menu too. I wasn't satisfied and full. Ended up grabbing pizza afterwards.
Just another overpriced hipster place in Chinatown. Not going back. 5/10.

Glowbal chain spots feel like the kind of places people buck rails off the back of the toilet to me

Swasdee on Main St, my goto Thai joint. 10/10 food so flavorful, servers are prompt. Been there a few times have not disappoint yet.

Pad Thai with Tamarind sauce is a must try there.

Keg Granville Island. 2nd year in a row went to dine out with two of my good buddies. Good food value for $40. Garlic shrimp appy, prime rib entree and miner pie dessert. Will definitely do it again next year, keep that annual tradition!

^ isnt that the same price even without dineout? feels like dineout there is nothing special

It's basically a free dessert, so I'd say that's pretty reasonable. The object of dineout isn't to just feed people out of the goodness of their hearts.

Go to T&T and buy a $100 Keg gift card by Feb 16th (select stores only). You'll get a $20 T&T gift card back.

Rather get free groceries than go to the Keg during dine out just for a friggin dessert. :lawl:

What if you double dip and use that Keg gift cert to pay for your dine out? Get $20 of grocery and a free dessert! Have today and tomorrow to pull this off, if you can get a seating/reservation. But with weather like this ... can't imagine it'd be hard. Just got to find your way in this weather to a T&T and then to a Keg.

Went to The Arbor on the weekend for a quick bite at lunchtime. Sister restaurant to The Acorn (which is a few doors down). Shared a few dishes with the gf, including a mushroom flatbread and the pulled jackfruit steamed buns. Nothing was bad per say, but I wasn't wowed either. Maybe I just can't get into veg/vegan food.

7/10

Went to a couple places for Dine out with the gf.

First place was Horizons on Burnaby mountain. I believe it was a $30 menu. Appys we both had was seafood chowder and mussels. Both were good nothing special though. Entress I had the New York strip. Medium rare cook was perfect. Couldn't ask for a better sear and tenderness with good flavor. Definitely better than the Keg. She had the bone in pork chop. That was also quite good. Great flavour and good sear. Was tender and juicy with a hint of pink in the middle. Dessert was Crème Brule. Another good hit on that. Nothing to complain, proper torch on the top and the inside was the right consistency and flavour. For the price and the food, portions, plating, atmosphere,e view and service. 10/10. Didn't disappoint us

Next was Edible Canada in Granville Island. Appys was Bison Tartare and Lamb hearts. The Tartare was gamy as expected. Good flavour nothing overpowering and went well with the root veggie chips. Lamb hearts was good flavour but we felt it was a bit too rare on some pieces and that most likely contributed to the chewiness. Wasn't really tender at all but the proper cooked ones were not as chewy. We would order the tartare again but not so much the lamb. Entrees..yes I got the seal. Newfoundland seal pappardelle to be exact. In case no one knows what that is it really resembles beef stroganoff. Quite interesting to try seal for the first time. On its own it tastes like pork liver but as a dish it tastes like gamy ground beef. Probably can fool anyone if one was told it was ground beef. She had the Quebec rabbit orecchiette. Dish was kind of plain looking. Rabbit was cooked good and was tender but the dish itself was uninspiring. Dessert we both had the chocolate pot du crème . Definitely the best of all the courses. Rich and decadant and not overpowering sweet. Overall the pricing was ok as we went there for a $30 menu but almost all the items you had to pay a bit extra for. Lamb heart +$4 tartare +$5. Seal pappardelle +$3 Rabbit+$4.
Our server was in training. She was good. Our water and sparkling wine was never empty but she seemed a bit too eager to wait on us. Could've given us a bit more space but food service was quite quick. Our dinner was done in less than 1.5 hours. Portion sizes could've been a bit bigger. We didn't leave hungry but not really full either. Dinner was at 5pm and we went to superstore after and when we got home around 930pm, we were both hungry. I'd give it a 7/10.

Milestones in Guildford
was not my pick, and my first time at Milestones in over a decade

Came here for drinks and snacks on a weekday. Got the appy platter, chicken bites we're drenched in sauce. Nothing amazing and was totally not worth the price.
Drinks we're shit. Who the fuck shakes an old fashioned cocktail? It tasted like watered down bs. :seriously:


1/10 - 1 for service.

The quality of the former mediocre chains like milestones, moxies, etc has just gone so far down the shitter I'd be willing to bet McDonalds uses fresher, and healthier ingredients.
I can not believe people still spend money on that fucking garbage.
Not to say all chains are bad. Places like Cactus, earls, etc are great for what they are, and seem to be taking even more of an interest in using quality ingredients. Just speaking about the lower end chains. The gap between the "good vs. the ok" has turned into "really good vs. microwaved, chemical laced compost."

Is it because you (and all those thanked) work in the restaurant business?

holy shit, Moxie's still exists?!

only went to one place for dine out this year

The Cannibal Cafe ...kinda overpriced for a burger joint imo

Never really liked milestones myself but had a bit too much wine there one evening and proposed to my wife. Now we gotta go once a year. FML

Props for not being ashamed to admit this.

Used to go to milestones once in a while on Robson for their prime rib

Went to the one in Langley after not going to one in years, shit was an absolute joke like westopher described, it was laughable what they presented and their menu was complete garbage. I'm pretty easy when it comes to restaurants so it says a lot when there isn't one thing I care to order

Tried black and blue last night for the dineout. First time at black and blue and also first time for dineout. Service was better than everything else, although the server forgot to bring the seared ahi tuna dish (add on) and dessert so we told them not to bother with it and just bring the bill. everything else was lacking. Appys like garlic shrimp and beef carpaccio were average. shrimp over the carpaccio in terms of flavour and as the portion was lacking. Entrees were nothing great, 10$ add on to switch to the ribeye steak and 12$ add on for half a lobster tail which was tasty but not worth it (half of a lobster tail was more like a quarter of one). Probably wont be returning here or even trying dineout in the future unless something seems really appealing in the future.

Should have grabbed Chipotle to go just underneath where that place is. :troll:

We relocated to Earl's after lol. Tad bit better.