Vanessa M.'s Profile

I am a little bit in awe by how BAD people's taste buds are after reading most of the reviews...

No offence to anyone, but are you kidding me?  5 stars?  4 stars?   3 is really pushing it for this place.  The only reason for giving this place 5 stars is if you are a pure meat and potato person--no, make that a pure meat person, then I can see this place somewhat appealing to you.

First off, if you want to find out how the Brazilians do it, here is a quick explanation...
http://en.wikipedia.or...

They had an impressive selection of grilled/BBQed meat on a giant sticks available... unfortunately, the servers would not come to your table consistently.  We kept on seeing the same pork guy every 3 minutes, but not the more pricier filet mignon.  

Another turn off for me was the seasoning/flavour of the meats.  I love the way Americans, Greeks, Koreans, Indians do their stuff... but Brazilians, no so much.

Here is the thing... the buffet costs forty dollars.  Now, I don't know how big your tummy is, but I cannot finish an 8oz steak by myself.  I am not a large person, but I know that even the largest men are going to be stuffed with a 12oz steak with all the fixings.

So do yourself a favour--walk past this restaurant's entrance, take the elevator up and visit the Keg at the Embassy Hotel.  Better service, better view, better food and better price.  And no it is not a buffet, but your steaks will be cooked to order.

Let's tally it all up:  Unattentive service, expensive entrance fee, and below average food equals... two stars for Copacabana.

(oh yeah, an additional tid bit.. neither of us felt too kosher after the meal)

Yet another ho-hum restaurant.  Why do Canadian chain restaurants suck so badly?

Came here with my work colleagues about a month ago.  It was so effin cold, I should have had a soup and sandwich.. but in an attempt to watch the waist line, I had the "California" Grilled Chicken Salad.  

The greens definitely looked like something out of a plastic bag and definitely looked depressed.  I think it was served 2 days ago, it would have faired better.  I only saw one piece of tomato in there (and I love tomatoes!).  The grilled chicken was as tough as leather.

As for the service, we put in several requests for soda re-fills before actually receiving one (after the meal was finished)...... I somehow don't see myself repeating the visit.

I stopped here on a business trip recently with a colleague and had dinner prior to our flight.  I cannot recall exactly why we chose this place--I would like to think because my colleague was Irish, but in reality because  we were both dead tired and it was the closest restaurant to our gate.  

I ordered the fish and chips and my colleague had the bangers and mash.  Well, it tasted like fish and chips from any other diner that I had tried it at.  Very average, to be honest.  The bangers and mash looked a little greasy for my liking, so I did not bother sampling it (not to say my dish was healthy or anything...).

With such average experience, I wish I had something healthier elsewhere.  Combined with above average prices, long food wait time and mediocre service, I can only give it two stars.  Sorry fans (btw--I am no high end food connoisseur.. but if you gave this place anything greater than 3 stars, you really should try some other places).

You can't help but like this place.  It is about the size of my closet, yet somehow they have managed to squeeze a restaurant in there.  Let's make it clear though--it is the smallest restaurant that I have ever set foot in.  There two tiny round tables with four chairs.  And the next person that comes in to order?  You have to squeeeeze in.  It is that small.

The restaurant is very colourful.  Baby blue is the themed colour here and it is cheerful and fun.  They have some fish jokes on the wall that you can read while you wait for your sandwich, like... Q: Why is it so easy to weigh fish?   A: Because they have their own scales.   Cheezy, but you get the idea =)

They have on display a selection of fish on ice.  From what I can remember, I saw salmon, tilapia, cod, haddock and a few others... I went with the grouper.  It goes on a griddle, with lots of their dry house seasoning on it, and comes out chopped and golden brown.  It is then stuff into a portuguese bun, with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and some mayo.  

Mmmmm delicious.  I would for sure go back.  I think it was around $8 for the sandwich.  Probably not the best bang for the buck, but then again, you are getting high quality fish that is well prepared and not some greasy burger.  The owners, while limited in English, were very friendly and helpful.  I think they a family, and it is nice to see a tiny family run business do well in midst of all the other restaurants.

I'm going to have to give these guys FOUR stars.

Pork Bone Soup = Garlicky, spicy, boiling goodness.

Probably not the healthiest thing you can eat at insane 3am hours.. but it seems like what my Korean friends like to do.  Sing karaoke, drink soju and eat pork bone soup =)

Their crispy deep fried sweet & sour pork with apples was yummy as well.. no idea how they got it so darn crispy.  

I have to say the banchans are pretty decent too... it seems like the more you drink, the better stuff you get on the house.

And I thought the menus were rather interesting.. combos??!!  You order a dish, and either five bottles of beer or a bottle of soju for a set price.  What a brilliant idea for the alkies!

The little button on the table to call the waitress/waiter was funny but a good idea.  But the loud Korean Justin Timberlake on TV... not so much.

Oooh yeah, I have to give Ghandi Cuisine the big F U right now!  

:P  j/k... I still respect you, Ghandi.  It's just you are so hard to access by car.. your seating area is so tiny.. and you serve everyone in a tin foil box, even if you are dining in.

Mother India is a legit restaurant, with menu, server, water, steel cutlery, washroom and space for several tables.  I did not get to try the Butter Chicken Roti when I was at Ghandi last time, but went for it here based on strong Yelp recommendations, and I was not disappointed.

Was it the best butter chicken that I have had?  Mmm... not really.  That title would belong to Babur.  But I am knit picking here, because it was still very deeelish.  

And yeah, all the other compliments that went out to Ghandi goes here too--perfect level of spiciness (I had medium, and it was exactly that, medium level of heat), texture, dirt cheap and friendly service.  A fresh!  You can hear the vegetables being chopped in the background.  When your food arrives, it is piping hot!

Definitely a repeat visit.. if you have a favourite roti that you think I should try, shoot me a message please =)

This is pub located near where I live.  Driven and walked by it many times,  always buzzing with people, but never really been until about a couple months ago when I had some friends from out of town visit.

The staff was very approachable; we were seated right away and presented with menus quickly.  We sat near the back, on high tables.  I thought the stool style chair was going to be uncomfortable but my butt was fine.

I ordered the fish and chips, while my friend ordered a chicken salad.  Here is why I ended up giving the place three stars--my fish and chips were absolutely fantastic.  Light crispy batter, flaky fish that was moist.  Fantastic crunchy hand cut fries.  Fatty tar tar sauce and fatty coleslaw.  What could be better, right?  

Well, the salad for starters.. ok ok, so who orders salads at a pub, I know.  But hey, we wanted some greens in our systems.  The chicken was definitely out of a box and appeared to have almost been.. dare I say, microwaved??  It definitely was not the grilled chicken type, that was for sure.  

So it was a mixed bag experience from the food point...

As for the ambiance, the customers were on the very loud side.  Especially the heckling middle aged cougars next to us.  I know it was noisy in there, but was there a need to add even more decibel to that mess?

Anyway, I would definitely go back just for the fish and chips.. which I probably only eat a couple times a year, so it will not be a frequent visit for me.

This place does Hakka food--that is a fusion of Chinese & Indian, for those not aware.  In reality, they also do pure Chinese, Thai and other various random dishes.

Definitely not a superb dining place... decor is pretty blah, service is barely acceptable, but the hey.. there is always the ultimate upside--food is cheap!  Dirt cheap.  

Lunch only:  $5.95 -$6.95, for "something-on-rice"...

What is that something?  Chicken & mixed vegetables, mango chicken, general whoever chicken, etc.. All in all, they had a choice of about 30 lunch dishes.

I recommend crispy ginger chicken.  It was breaded chicken pieces, deep fried, in a spice/sweet/sour sauce.  It had a lot of orange zest, which was a nice touch.  The bombay chicken was quite good too (sampled my friends'), which was quite spicy/garlicky/coriandory.

Oh, and they also throw in a pretty bad spring roll and a can of soda (or in my case, a Nestle bottled water).

For you lazy asses who never pack lunch and eat out all the time, here is a good alternative. Cheaper than your $6.99 Wendy's salad and you still get a drink :)

Yes, it is a chain restaurant.

Yes, it is not authentic Italian--actually, they know this too, since they are an Italian-American restaurant, and let's everyone know that it is (check out the pictures of all the Italian immigrants in America all over the walls, and total absence of pictures of Italian scenery).

There were six of us, so we had the Family Style Dinner.  For those of you that do not know what it is:  You choose two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two entrees (proteins), and two desserts--and this is for the entire table.  And from there on, the portions are limitless.  Finished?  You will receive another.  And there are no restrictions.  In fact, you are encouraged to over order, for the sake of takeout bags.

My favourite apps:  Bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms and the shrimp scampi.

My favourite salads:  Maggiano's, and the chopped.

My favourite pastas:  Baked ziti, spaghetti, and the pesto linguine.

My favourite entrees:  Beef medallions (steakhouses can take tip from here on how soft a steak can be) and chicken marsala.

My favourite desserts:  Chocolate Zuccotto Cake (new, and awesome!!) and Apple Crostada (comes out warm, and with icecream).

Now, the great food aside (probably gained 5lbs)--the service was impeccable.  I do not know what it is about Maggiano's, but everywhere I have been (Vegas, Tampa, Orlando, and now Troy) it has been the most pleasurable service ever.  It was so good, that I wrote to the company to compliment the waitress.. something I have never done before.

This restaurant is the very definition of "A-OK."

There is nothing that stands out about this place--average flavours, average portions, average service and average ambiance (for the price range)... all tied together by above average prices.

I cannot fault anything about this place, but I also never have any cravings for this place either.  It is one of those places you end up going because it is someone's birthday, or a work function.  

The dish I had was the angel hair pasta with shrimp, in garlic/herb/oil sauce.. with some basil & tomatoes thrown in.  The pasta was a bit over cooked, so was the shrimp--not so great texture, but the flavours were pretty good.

Canadian operated Italian chain restaurants are so bad compared to the American ones... what more can I say?  It is better than East Side Mario's--but much much worse than Maggiano's. or Carrabba's.