Beth "never bethany" C.'s Profile

This place sucks. I'm so disappointed. I'd been in a few times for cocktails but never food, and decided to take a chance on dinner.

First, the good things, because positivity is good:

-our waitress, whose name I wish I could remember, was wonderfully helpful and awesome and friendly. She had a huge table in her section, but didn't neglect us at all, and was very good at her job. She had glasses and curly lightish coloured hair and she ruled.

-I love that their decent selection of wine by the glass also gives you a choice of pour-size -  something like 3 oz, 5 oz and 7 oz or something? But since I was driving that night, it was perfect. Their drinks menu was good.

-the bathrooms are very nice.

But man....that's where it ends, and I almost feel like I'm being generous with the second star. My husband and I shared the calamari to start, which was all right. Too small for the price ($13 I think?) by far, and unremarkable. The sauce it came with just tasted like tartar sauce out of a jar.  It was mega-bland, despite our squeezing every last drop out of our lemon slice onto it.

Then it got worse.

My husband had the salmon with jasmine rice and market vegetables, and I had the sirloin with chef's potato and market vegetables.

In both cases, the "market vegetables" consisted of about 5 overcooked, shrivelled, indistinguishable nugget of root vegetables - maybe some carrot? maybe some turnip? maybe rutabaga or parsnip? Nobody knows because they have been COATED WITH SALT AND COOKED FOR ALL ETERNITY. Throw something green on there, and stop murdering your vegetables!

And sadly, the same went for both my steak and his salmon, two of the most expensive things on the menu. They were both so heavily seasoned and so overcooked that they tasted really similar. My steak and his salmon. Yikes. Salt, salt, salt.

The chef's potato mash was pretty good, and the jasmine rice was all right, too.

But really - for what we ended up paying for our dinner, I was very disappointed. And I would have sent my dinner back except I was starving, and by the time our waitress came around to ask how everything was (the ONLY time she stayed away from us, and it really was very busy, she did her best) it would have taken way too long. I did tell her it was overcooked and oversalted, and she told the kitchen, and comped my glass of wine.

Regardless, it was a really disappointing experience. It felt like they were saying "whatever, we're in a tourist location and we'll keep getting foot traffic anyway, so we don't have to worry about doing the food well", and it bummed me out. Was supposed to be a treat night, and just....wasn't.    Show owner comment »

I like Shizen just fine. I don't find the service rude, just efficient and minimalist. Yes, I'd like it better friendlier, but I've never felt slighted - they're always professional and quick to help. I've never felt neglected. But I admit a smile is rare.

The prices are about what you'd expect, and I find the sushi (I've never eaten the hot dishes) above par. Today I had miso soup, a really excellent yam tempura roll with sesame seeds, and an above average spicy tuna roll with masago. I will say I wish they would go lighter on the mayonnaise, though - that was more than I am accustomed to. But I really enjoyed my meal, my water and (complimentary) tea cups were kept full, the service was sufficient, the atmosphere was nice and I got out for $14.50 including a 15% tip. It isn`t mindblowing, no. But it doesn`t have to be - it`s sushi for lunch, and it does that just fine.

I really think ReBar is one of the absolute gems in the city. I first went there at age 14, with my sister and her friends, and was skeptical, as she described it as "hippie meets funky", and at 14 I hated everything that wasn't painted black and sneering. But the restaurant won me over. It's primarily vegetarian (though some menu items do contain seafood), with plenty for vegan diners as well. They have an enormous menu of fresh squeezed juices and smoothies, with al kinds of addable brain foods like wheatgrass and vitamins and stuff.  The decor is very entertaining, all bright colours and unusual art, which is good, because it's so popular that unless you go at a slightly unusual time of day, you're likely to wait a while to sit. But it's worth the wait, and they do ensure you have plenty to look at. If the decor isn't your thing, the door is smack dab in front of the dessert case.

The food, simply put, is amazing. It's expertly prepared and I really don't think I've ever had a bad or even boring meal there. The veggie and rice steamer, which sounds pretty pedestrian - steamed veggies with a side of brown rice, optional tofu, and your choice of dipping sauce (GET THE PEANUT) - is flavourful, filling and satisfying. Other favourites include the salad with soba noodles, red pepper and avocado, the yam and pepita quesadillas, the enchiladas con calabacita, and the ReBar salad (with the honey ginger dressing). They also make one of the best Caesar salads I've ever tasted, and I find all too often that 'Caesar salad' these days refers to limpish romaine, heavily doused in garlic mayonnaise and buried in parmesan.

I'm a meat-eater, for the record, and I never leave ReBar feeling anything less than sated and delighted. It's really a great place.

They have a cookbook, too!

So I've traditionally had a love-hate relationship with The Reef.

Cons:

-the service. Sweet Jesus, could you people be any slower? And that "we laidback in Jamaica, mon, it ain't no ting!" doesn't fly when it's Canadian winter and you have three whole customers and are still ignoring our table.

-their poached eggs are either almost-raw runny or golf-ball solid hard, it seems. Very infrequently can they manage an in between.

the Pros:

-the plantain chips with jerk mayo.

-the free jonnycakes (think fancy, hot doughnut holes crossed with tea biscuits, served with coconut butter) with brunch.

-the coffee.

-the drink menu - so many delicious things like mango punch, ginger beer, capirinhas, mojitos.

-it's open later than a lot of places.

-no lineup for brunch on weekends (in Victoria!).

-the decor and booths and high ceilings.

AND, the service has improved. It was so bad once that I icily informed the indifferent hostess that they had lost a customer (it was a really laughably terrible experience), but have since slunk back with my tail between my legs because of all the above reasons. And to be fair, the service has never been a (major) problem again.