Woody's Pub

Hello, people of the world wide web!

Mrs. Chatterbox here! I just wanted to share with you a really delicious meal that I've recently eaten! After a church ceremony that took far too long, and a reception that offered (not so) delicious cake, Mr. Fussy, myself, and my family decided to take in the night's specials at Woody's pub in Coquitlam. The special was a steak sandwich with the classic sides, and for $8.95, everyone at my table was more than satisfied. We had so many leftovers, too! I decided NOT to stuff my face full of steak and carbs, so I opted for the wonton soup in chicken broth. This is what it looked like!

It was actually quite delicious...once you got past the sodium content and the hot chilies in the centre of the broth! The homemade wontons were quite delicious, and very flavorful, but in order to actually be able to finish my broth, I unfortunately had to dilute it with lemon water...which surprisingly enough added a delicious tang to the soup. The atmosphere was fun and very alive! There was a fundraiser going on, so the waitresses were a little "in our faces" about toonie tosses and keno and whatnot, but besides that, people were dancing, the music was classic and fun, and people were polite. 

I'd personally give this whole experience a 7/10! While the wontons were homemade, and were quite delicious, there was TOO much salt in the broth, and it made it impossible to enjoy. And while I myself slather everything in hot sauce, this dish was a little difficult to enjoy...burning mouth + burning soup = ahhhhhhhh! I encourage you all to try this place out; despite me not being entirely happy, the steaks were (according to the others) quite good (and plentiful)! Here is the website:

http://www.woodyspub.com/

Will try this place again soon, for something that is (hopefully) less dangerous for my blood pressure. Lol.

See you soon!

Mr. Fussy and Mrs. Chatterbox

Burgers Etc!

Dearest followers!!!

Please accept our deepest apologies for not having posted in AGES! Mr. Fussy and I have been VERY busy bees planning our wedding for this summer, finishing school, working, and starting up different blogs all over the place! In honour of you, our lovely followers, and in honour of this beautiful summer that has just started, we're introducing to you a wicked delicious restaurant. Now, it's been so long since we've posted, we don't even really remember how we're scaling the restaurants we decide to rate, so perhaps from now on we will try something a little more simple? Lets see how this goes:

I don't know if many of you Vancouverites/Burnabians know, but you have a GEM of a burger/smoked meat joint right on Hastings street in the Burnaby heights area. Mr. Fussy and I decided to take a break form our wedding dieting recently and helped ourselves to one of these each:

Of course, my delicious smoked beef burger had cheese in it, and Mr. Fussy's did NOT. Mine also had bacon, for really, if you think about it, what is a burger without bacon? Might as well go all out. The service was really fast for the fact that their small restaurant was half full, and the waitresses are always knowledgeable and polite! Better yet, they offer such a huge menu that far exceeds anyones expectations. The tangy BBQ sauce is made fresh, the meat is all fresh, smoked in Cal's beautiful smoker...I mean, what is not to love? We adore the food, the sides are delicious, the location is close by...beauty.

The only thing I think we can see being a problem is the parking! There isn't much room to park, but...it's a sacrifice we're willing to make for fresh, delicious food of this caliber. When you're finished eating your meal, you will guaranteed feel like you're full of real food. Mc What? I took mine with a side of corn nibblets (that were sweet and delicious) and Mr. Fussy had his with good ole frites. Another thing we love about this place is that you can find the old Boylan sodas in the original glass bottles! You know, the colas that are made with real cane sugar? Brilliant! 

The decor is sweet, the place is really clean, and the waitresses, the chefs, and Cal are all really nice people. We went once with the Chatterbox family and had the smoked ribs. They were legitimately to die for. Check out the website for information, and please be sure to take a look through the menu as well! We rate this place a 9.5 out of 10, the .5 deduction being only for the lack of parking (which I'm sure is something that really can't be helped by the restaurant, really).

http://www.burgers-etc.com/menu3.htm

Thanks for your patience, and we'll be back with more reviews shortly!!!!

xoxoxo

Mr. Fussy and Mrs. Chatterbox

Original Joes

I have to say, firstly and fore-mostly, that this restaurant has become a favorite for myself and for Mr. Fussy. We LOVE eating at Original Joes! We've been many, many times. We are going to talk a bit about what we ate, and then give it a solid score out of a possible 30 points. 


Steak Sandwich!!!
-Paul's staple meal; if a restaurant has it, he loves you.
-delicious! Well seasoned...placed on a nice, thick slab of toast
-comes with two delicious sides (Paul would recommend the yam fries or the regular fries, and I would recommend the garlic mash and honey slaw)
-the only bad thing that can be said about it is that they tend to over-cook it a bit, so we've learned to just ask for it medium rare, more on the rare side, so it will arrive lovely and properly pink in the middle
-VERY filling! In the best sense possible


Pulled Pork Sandwich!!!
-just as amazing and delicious and savory as it sounds
-the bbq sauce is tantilizing, and rich, and so full of BOOM
-the buns are light and fluffy
-(see recommended sides above)....I've heard the mango pasta salad is divine too


Chicken Wings!!!!
-tender and glazed to absolute perfection
-have a delicious and spicy kick to them
-pretty good portions!


Margherita Pizza!!!
-perfectly thin crust...not too thin, and not too thick. 
-delicious fresh tasting pizza sauce
-topped with silky cream cheese, fresh, stringy mozzarella, and the MOST FLAVORFUL basil you will ever have in a restaurant!
-makes for absolute chaos in your mouth, NO JOKE.


We've gone back various times and have enjoyed these meals, and have been with people that have tried various other meals and everyone has always been VERY pleased with their food and the beverages and service. I'm STOKED to be able to give this place a great review!!!!

Service: 4.5/5

-we're able to seat ourselves, and everyone is always SUPER SUPER friendly. Except having to wait a few times (for extended periods of time where it hasn't been too too busy) for the bill (Paul's pet peeve), everything in terms of service was EXCEPTIONAL. 

Food:

Quality: 9/10

Quantity: 9.5/10

Atmostphere: 5/5

-there is a super relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant (the location on west Broadway and Cambie)...and yet the waitresses are hilarious and really, really polite!

Out of a possible 30 points, we give this (or these) experience(s) a 28/30. Awesome awesome awesome awesome, and SUPER recommended!!!!!!!

The Tuesday night Texan buffet at the Grand Villa Casino

We arrived at the buffet at around 6:45 pm to find that the ribs were gone. We choose this as the opening line because this mere fact set the mood for the entire evening that we spent at the casino. The advertisement (complete with a lovely picture of decadent, tender ribs slathered in sauce, and barbecued corn) paints a picture of deliciousness available at the snap of a finger. As we entered, we told our waiter that we wanted to savor the buffet, and were not made aware that a large party that had previously been, had cleaned out their entire supply of ribs. Had they have informed us, we probably wouldn't be writing this critique, let alone this blog. The saving grace of this 12.95 plus tax experience was that the corn muffins (tiny corn breads) were actually quite good, and the tiny chicken wings they replaced the ribs with were a) "more expensive than the ribs" (incompetent casino cook, verbatim) and b) good, once you managed to retrieve the morsels of meat from the bones. The corn/red pepper melange was watery, the "roast potatoes" (deemed chloratoes) tasted of chlorinated pool water, the ribs were invisible, the beef sandwiches aged my arteries, and the half glass of iced tea cost more than a 2L pop at safeway. The refills WERE free, but at this point, we were fed up with the no ribs situation, and the no waiter/waitress situation. After sitting around for about ten minutes while figuring out what we were going to do, and whether or not we were going to pay for a buffet that ran out of ribs, my husband decided on a burgar, which came about twenty minutes later with a very tiny serving of shoestring potato fries (no chlorine this time, thank GOD.) The meal actually left us feeling incredibly full, but we were left wondering if it was our arteries that felt full, or the chloratoes working their magic on the lining of our stomachs. We may be back for a second go, and just to make sure we didn't get one rare, bad night, but if it wasn't for our need to be fair judging, we would NOT go back.

On a scale of "I should have gone to Pizza Hut" to "I would spend a million bucks here", I would definitely not go as far as the former. However, we would have been happier with fast food. 

Service: 1/5

-no buffet instruction, didn't ask for drinks, seated ourselves, and we were not informed that the ribs were not available

Food:

Quality: 4.5/10

Quantity: 9/10*

*as it was a buffet, you could essentially eat as much as you want. As one of the staples of the advertised foods was missing (delicious, holy ribs) we knocked it down by one. 

Atmostphere: 3/5

-not particularely buzzing, quiet, apart from casino dinging and clanging (to be expected), hostile cook that attempted to convince us that chicken wings cost more than giant ribs, no entertainment.

Out of a possible 30 points, we give this buffet option a 17.5. 

Hope this helps!

Wishes of many good eats,

Yours faithfully,

Chatterbox and Fussy

My elbows are off the table...

Over the course of my becoming a functional and money-spending part of society, I have encountered many situations where I have caught myself saying, "Oh man, I would make a killer food critic." I am an open-minded Italian 20-something year old that has tried many different foods, from many different cultures and from many little hole-in-the-walls, and I feel like I have a lot to share. There are many gems in the rough in this beautiful city, and many overrated hotspots that don't deserve their place in the limelight; i intend to expose the overrated, and to shine light upon the less known, and hopefully, help create new and positive experiences. With the help of my husband, and through repeat experiences, and careful tasting and note taking, I will scale my experiences from one (should have gone to pizza hut) to ten (i would spend a million dollars here). I'd like to try different foods, and truly get everything I can from the amazing ability we have to savor so many different deliciousnesses. I truly hope you readers take from our experiences, and that you open your mind (just as we must), and truly learn to enjoy what food can bring to your life. 

Sincerely,

Miss. Chatterbox and Mr. Fussy