***~~ (3/5)

If you’re looking for a place for a quick drink and a quick bite, Goldies Rustic Pizza is one of those places for you. Goldies Rustic Pizza is a bar type pizza joint with a take out window on Pender street.

The take out window is for pizza by the slice. If you are dining in, you could order a whole pie, or get one slice of pizza with a pint of beer for $8 dollars. Pizza and beer deal, how can you pass that up?

There were about 8 different types of pizzas. I got the Roasted Chicken, and Mushroom pizzas. Yes, I got the pizza and beer deal, twice.

I guess I could understand the ‘Rustic’ part of the restaurant name. Pizzas here had super thin crusts, and with nicely charred bottom for ‘Artisan feel’. They used both white wheat and whole wheat crusts. There were fairly generous on the portions of chicken on the the chicken pizza. Both the Roasted Chicken, and the Mushroom pizzas were nice considering they were already made and just got re-heated to order. I preferred the chicken pizza over the mushrooms and also a little bit more cheese on the pizzas would have been nicer.

Michael, the bartender/waiter was very energetic and friendly. This was a super casual place and a nice little dive to go and have a chat, drink and eat.

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Goldies Rustic Pizza
605 West Pender Street,
Vancouver, BC V6B
(604) 681-0650

**½~~ (2.5/5)

After a long crowded Sunday at Eat Vancouver, and a meeting, and walking all around Gas Town trying to find a place to eat, we finally found Al Porto. It was really a last resort, as Judas Goat was closed, Alibi Room was closed, and Guu had a 45 minute wait. I was semi excited because I would finally get to use my Entertainment Book to save some money and make our book worth it. By the time we got here, we were really hungry, and some of us were a bit grumpy.

The dining room wasn’t that busy, but our waiter, who I think was also a manager said that they were short staffed, and that he may have to help out the kitchen occasionally. After we placed our order, they served us two kinds of bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I had the Veal Lasagna which was mediocre at best. I’d say it was a bit better than a frozen lasagna. I think it needed more meat, and had a more creaminess to it from ether more cheese or a better beschamel. I guess I may have been spoiled by a lasagna that my friend makes which is the best I’ve ever had. This doesn’t come close.

One friend ordered the Lobster Bisque, and Mussels. And my other friends ordered an Italian Sausage Penne, Spaghetti and Meatballs, Linguine Carbonara, and a Seafood Canneloni. The Lobster Bisque was good, and the mussels were pretty good too, though not nearly the best she’s ever had (she’s a hard marker!). The Linguine Carbonara was too salty. I took a tally of what my friends had to say and they all said either 2.5 to 3 out of 5.

By the end of our service, it seemed like our waiter was a bit irritated. We did have an coupon which gave us one free entree, but sadl it was placed on the lowest price one, which was actually an appetizer. Overall, there was nothing “wow” about this restaurant. If you are in the area, and you have an Entertainment Book card, you can get one of your entrees for free. I wouldn’t say stay away, but honestly, it’s just another restaurant out there.

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Al Porto
321 Water St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 683-8376

http://www.alporto.ca

***~~ (3/5)

We visited Cardero Bottega after an hour of rollerblading around the seawall at Stanley Park. I was pretty excited to get to visit this place because I love a good sandwich, and this place has pretty high ratings for its food.

The location of this deli is a little odd. It is embedded in the residential area on the west end of Vancouver. In a way it’s hard to find because there was nothing else beside it. In a way it was easy to find because it was the only non-residential building in that area.

There were 9 cold sandwiches on the menu with $7.50 dollars each. There was another reason for us to come here because Dee had a coupon. We were able to get 2 sandwiches for $9 dollars, it was a deal.

I ordered The Lord Stanley sandwich. The sandwich had rosemary ham, roasted turkey, marinated peppers, havarti, and lemon mayo. And Dee ordered the Monte Twisto, which was turkey, swiss cheese, prosciutto cotto, Dijon and lemon pepper mayo. On top of the sandwich, we also got some Feta stuffed peppers, and Roasted Eggpant with Cheese on the side to snack on.

The Lord Stanley sandwich didn’t look or taste as epic as it sounds. I was a little bit surprised by how simple this sandwich was. Although the bread was soft, but it was too thick for my liking. There was a good amount of meat, and the marinated peppers gave it a pretty good taste. However the whole sandwich all together was pretty bland, and a little dry. Maybe there was too much bread. I could have used a little bit more mayo, or marinated peppers.

Half way through my first half of the sandwich I was already getting full. Looking over at Dee, he didn’t seem to be enjoying his too much either. Actually his sandwich looked plainer than mine because he didn’t have the marinated peppers. I tried a quarter of his Monte Twisto, the Dijon mustard was the most distinctive taste to the sandwich, and it tasted even more bland than mine. Luckily we picked up those Feta Stuff peppers and Egg Plants, those side dishes were flavorful enough to get me finish the quarter of Dee’s sandwich.

Best sandwiches in town? No. In retrospect, I should have picked a sandwich with meats that had more tastes, such as capacollo, or salami. The sandwiches we had looked a lot like the pre-packaged sandwiches at Safeway. I should have asked for their most popular/famous sandwich.

I’m not saying the sandwich was terrible, it was not. It just didn’t live up to the regular price of $7.50 dollars.

Note: The owners were super friendly, don’t be afraid to talk to them.

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Cardero Bottega
1016 Cardero St
Vancouver, BC V6G
(604) 689-0450
www.carderobottega.com

****~ (4/5)

..and ouch that hurt the wallet.. haha. I went here about 3 years ago for a company dinner and we had a 5 or 6 course meal and from what I remember most of the dishes were really good. I had no clue how expensive it was since the company paid for it all, and we didn’t even get to see the menu.

Fast forward to today, I went to treat my sister-in-law for her birthday. I called in advance to see if I could bring my nephew, and they said yup they had high chairs. Great, I made a reservation immediately, though I really didn’t need to. We got to the restaurant and it was pretty dead. My brother said it was normal for a weeknight thought. They’ve been there 4-5 times on a weekday and there’s only 2-3 tables filled.

We were seated and put baby in the highchair. Honestly, we felt a bit out of place as it was very quiet and dim in there, and my nephew would yell here and there because he wanted a baby cracker, attention, or an electronic to play with and drop on the floor.

After we ordered we were given some bread that was similar in size and texture to a baguette, and sliced into 1/2 pieces and a olive oil and some-type-of-salt dip. It was pretty good, definitely different from your regular oil and vinegar. The bread was warm, and had a nice crust, and soft on the inside.

To start we ordered the PORTABELLO IN FILO, which is sautéed portabello mushrooms wrapped in phyllo, white, crushed truffle , quattro formaggi – tomato coulis  for $15.88. I personally didn’t like the dish very much. You could definitely tell it was Portabello as it had a “meaty”-mushroom taste. I guess the quattro formaggi was just the cheese sauce which didn’t add much to the flavour, neither did the tomato coulis. The phyllo was crunchy and light. It was also was accompanied with a couple sundried tomatoes. Worth $15.88? Not for me – I guess the truffle raises the price a lot. I wish I ordered the Carpaccio for the same price.

For my main I had the VITELLO PICCATA scallopine of veal, minced garlic, parsely, capers, white wine, lemon, mascarpone – polenta, roasted bell pepper for $32.88. This dish got better the more I ate it. On my dish were 3 tender veal cutlets with a wonderful sauce.  It was really good and cooked perfectly. Originally I ordered this for the polenta, which was fried and crispy, topped with roasted red pepper. This left me a bit unimpressed as it wasn’t that flavourful. You could tell that it was polenta, as it had a corn flavour to it. The veal did make up for it though. I mean as a side it wasn’t bad, it was an OK accompaniment to the main dish, but it didn’t have a strong flavour. I think I’m overhyping polenta to myself because seeing fried polenta on FoodTV made it look so good. Oh well, the 2-3 times I’ve had it, I’ve been disappointed – I guess kind of like Mac and Cheese. I think I’ll stick to mashed potatoes or other sides. It also came with some green beans. My dish was garnished with a charred lemon. What was I supposed to do with it?

The Birthday girl ordered the ANATRA pan seared Fraser Valley duck breast, braised duck leg, pineau des charentes - orange emulsion, caramelized shallot – ricotta cheese tart  for  $28.88. I had a little bite of the breast and it was pretty good and tender too. My brother ordered the MERLUZZO pan seared sable fish, encrusted in panko flakes, lemon vinaigrette and white truffle oil, asparagus and wild mushroom rice cake for $31.88. I also tried this a bit, and found out I’m still allergic to seafood. Damnit! He loves it though, and he always orders this dish here.

For dessert we ordered the TIRAMISU  Kahlua, Gran Marnier flavoured cream of mascarpone, layered with espresso soaked ladyfingers, topped with curls of bitter chocolate. My brother has to order this, but this time was a bit different. It wasn’t served like a slice of cake. It was served in a dish (please look at the picture because my description sucks). Kind of strange. My first bite was unimpressive, as I got mostly the cream. Second bite was a lot better since I got some of the espresso soaked lady fingers which had a light cake like consistency. The tirimisu was very light and delicate. There were crunchy chocolate balls placed on top too. I’m not much of a coffee lover, so I probably don’t like this as much as some.

We also ordered the LA CREAZIONE – warm white chocolate cheesecake, wrapped in layers of phyllo, topped with sour cherries. I loved this one after the first bite. This was definitely better than the deep fried cheese cake at Galini. The warm cheesecake was a lot dense, heavier, and richer than the tirimisu, and the crispy and light phyllo added a nice texture.  The white chocolate cheesecake would probably be already awesome by itself. When you cut into the dessert, the warm cheesecake would slowly kind of ooze out a bit because it was really soft – though it was not runny at all. The strawberry coulis was also a really good sauce and light strawberry flavour to the cheese cake. The thing I could’ve done without though were the cherries. I liked this one more than the tirimisu, maybe because I am cheese cake lover. Each of the desserts were $11.88 or $12.88 a bit expensive, but not really considering the price of everything else. I’d definitely order the cheesecake again. We also ordered some Pinot Noir which was very good. Fruity and not full bodied. The way I like it.

Our waiter came by very often. We got new plates and utensils as we finished each course. He was very attentive, and came by to refill our water when we needed, and refill our wine glasses when we drank some.

Overall, this isn’t somewhere you can go to every week unless you are a baller. I guess splurging and treating family and friends every few months is OK, at least for me. Most of the food was good, and I enjoyed an evening out with my brother and his family, but having such a quiet ambiance (with Andrea Bocelli in the background), I’m not sure if bringing baby along is such a good idea.

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La Terrazza
1088 Cambie St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 899-4449

http://www.laterrazza.ca

½~~~~ (0.5/5)

Wow what a huge disappointment. But maybe I set myself up for it, because the ratings on Urban Spoon weren’t very good either. But, I’ve been wanting to go to Capone’s in Yaletown for a while now. Mainly because they had beef wellington on the menu (though as an appetizer), and because they have live Jazz music. I finally got to go this past weekend, during the crazy Olympics.

We were all very disappointed. We made our reservation in advance for 10PM. It wasn’t until close to 10:40 that we got seated. The restaurant was also burning hot. Even after just wearing a t-shirt I was still pretty hot. Aside from that everything was slow. We got our menus, and to my surprise…NO BEEF WELLINGTON! Damnit, the one thing I wanted to try on their menu is not even there. Why? Because “it’s the Olympics and we changed our menu so we can push out food as fast as we can.” Well that’s a fail, because this was some of the slowest service I’ve ever had. Even the drinks took forever to make. Our waitress took just half of our orders because she knew the bar was backed up, but still. Don’t take half of the table, then leave, then take ther rest of our orders 10 minutes later. Not cool. Especially with the crappy temperature in the restaurant. We were all very thirsty. We probably got our drinks 30 minutes after the first orders were placed. These drinks were $10 and over. Yah, they are doubles, but not worth it…I ordered a Fresh Berry White Wine Spritzer ~ White Wine/Fresh Seasonal Berries/Sprite $12. Uh, problem here, I didn’t see any berries, except for a red liquid and ice in my cup. It was good, but missing one of the 3 ingredients!

Next, we ordered some food. I had eaten at Amarcord just a few minutes before getting to Capone’s so I wasn’t very hungry, but I wanted to try something. This place is not cheap. It’s actually way over priced for what we’re getting. Since my Wellington was gone, I decided to just get the Beef Carpaccio ($15) which was served with some mustard and greens and toast. The rest of MePlusFood just ordered some desserts – blue berry cheesecake, and strawberry mousse. Well this was another long wait. I got a beef carpaccio, and the waitress came a few minutes later with my toast. I didn’t even know it came with toast, but guess what. The toast was rock hard and obviously burnt. Yet it was still served to me. Awesome. The carpaccio was OK, though a bit warmer than I would like, and served with mustard aioli (which I swear was JUST grainy mustard. No mayo here), and warmed arugula salad, which was just 3-4 leaves of arugula on top. Not impressed.

As for the desserts. Does it really take 45 minutes to get these frozen pre-prepped desserts on a plate and out? At Capone’s it does. I guess the wait took so long because everything was still frozen and they were trying to thaw it. Fail. Cheesecake was frozen, and the mousse didn’t even have a mousse-like texture. The whip cream was also disgusting and melted.

I also got to try a taste of the Chicago Pizza, and that was like eating salt. I just took one bite.

We didn’t have a good time at all. Which is a shame. Service really is important. They had a band playing and they were OK, but way too loud when they were playing. And the decor and ambiance were nice. Just everything was ruined by the temperature in the restaurant, the slowness of everything, the crappy food, and the cost. They changed the menu for the Olympics, to push out fast, but if this is “pushing out fast”, then what the hell would a normal service be like? Would we wait 2 hours for our food? Don’t go to this place unless you just want to hang out and listen to Jazz and have a drink. Wear a T-shirt, and bring your patience.

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Capone’s Restaurant & Live Jazz Club
1141 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC

604-684-7900
http://www.caponesrestaurant.net

FYI: The 1/2 star they got is for our Waitresses nice arms, and for the live Jazz and atmosphere.

***~~ (3/5)

Amarcord Ristorante Italiano is an upscale Italian restaurant in Yaletown. We walked into the restaurant at around 8:30pm on a Saturday without reservations. Like the rest of the restaurants in Yaletown during the Olympics, it was packed. We got really lucky, because a table had just paid right when we walked in, so we were able to get a table in 20mins. The couple that walked in right after us were not so lucky, they were told there was an hour and a half wait.

I ordered the Gnocchi alla Reggiana which is gnocchi with Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes, basil and white wine. It was my first time having gnocchi, and it was pretty good. The portion was good, and it came with 8 Italian meat balls. The meat balls added a nice strong flavor in the dish because the rest of the dish had a really mild taste.

My friends got their Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi and Gnocchi Cardinale (we tried all their gnocchi entrées). Out of the 3, I liked mine the best. The Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi was gnocchi with 4 cheese, it didn’t have a lot of flavors but cheese.

The ambiance of this restaurant was nice. It’s a nice place to take your dates to as I saw there were quite a few couples out for dinner here. The service was good, however the food wasn’t exceptional for an upscale restaurant.

Note: Make reservations! No coupons in the month of February 2010 because of the Olympics.

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Amarcord Ristorante Italiano
1168 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2S2
(604) 681-6500
www.amarcord.ca

***½~ (3.5/5)

“This place is good! And I don’t even work for them.” – a woman walked up and said it to me while I was standing outside of Zefferelli’s, reading their menus.

I was craving for pasta that night, and Zefferelli’s didn’t let me down. This place has really nice ambiance, with dark wood furniture, wine, and pellegrino bottles stacked a long the walls. I got seated right at the window where I could look down on Robson street, that was a really nice spot to sit at.

The menu isn’t big, mostly pastas. I decided on Spaghetti con Vongole ($17.95) with a glass of Kettle valley Gewurztraminer ($9). The dinner started with house bread with marinara sauce. The bread has a nice crust, and really soft on the inside. The marinara sauce tasted really fresh, and had a really intense flavor, with a hint of spicy. It was really nice.

My Spaghetti con Vongole was spaghetti with clams, white wine and olive oil. It smelt really nice when it hit my table, and it tasted good too. It was a nice light pasta, the clams were nicely seasoned, the pasta was cooked Al-dente. The portion was nice too, not too big, and not too little, they didn’t skimp out on the clams.

I really really liked the Kettle valley Gewurztraminer wine. It was sooo good. It had grapefruit and lychee notes, very very nice by itself, and very good paired with my pasta. It was worth the $9 dollars. I really recommend it if you like white wine.

Customer service wise, the waitress could use some improvements. She didn’t seem really detail oriented, and it felt like she was always rushed. For example, when she was grinding the pepper on my pasta, she stopped and left before I could say ‘Ok, that’s enough’. What if I wanted more?  She definitely needed to pay attention to more details.

Their restroom was a big let down. With how the restaurant looked, I expected the restroom to be just as nice too. The restroom looked like a restroom in a mall, kind of embarrassing.

This place was family friendly. There were a couple families there, as I heard a couple baby cries during my dinner. It is also a good place for to take your dates, or parents to.

It’s a very nice place with decent pasta. Would I come back? Yes I would.

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Zefferelli’s
1136 Robson St
Vancouver, BC V6E 1B2
(604) 687-0655
www.zefferellis.com/