Although not the first choice of the day, my friend wanted to try out Joey’s, and luckily I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now too. I’m a bit confused though, did Joey Tomato’s turn into just Joey, and open up a bunch more locations? I know the Coquitlam location used to be called Joey Tomato’s and I went there back in highschool or early university, and when I got there today, there was still a door labelled Joey Tomato’s Head Office or something.
Anyway, if you’ve been there before, the outside doesn’t look like a restaurant at all, inside is a totally different story, looks pretty nice, but still the same overall atmosphere that I remember from years ago. Maybe it’s the dimness. Going in, it took me a while to figure out what to order because nothing really appealed to me that much. The waiter said he can bring a taste of an appy if we want to try things. My friend wanted to try the Ahi Tuna Tacos, but didn’t want to order it because I couldn’t have any. So we told the waiter we’d like to taste it. Turns out that it was $2.50 for the sample. We actually thought it was going to be free, because he didn’t mention a price, and it’s kind of weird asking “how much is that going to be?” when it’s something kind of offered to you. Still pretty cheap though. I wonder if I could “taste” everything for $2.50 a pop. Anyways, it was served on a flat deep fried little tortilla with coleslaw, seared ahi tuna, with a light wasabi-lime aioli. My friend said it was the “bomb-diggity!” The tortilla was crisp and nicely salted, and not oily. The tuna was awesome, and was complimented well by the fresh coleslaw. The acidic dressing was great, but it didn’t have a kick from the wasabi. It was also messy because it was a flat crisp shell, piled pretty high with the coleslaw and tuna.
The earth and surf calamari also came with some vegetable tempura and a roasted red pepper aioli. The calamari was pretty good, lightly salted, and well fried. Fairly crisp, and airy, and the calamari itself had a bite left to it. This is the first time I actually ate more than 2 pieces of it, and I’m glad I can now. The vegetables were lightly battered, and crisp. The sauce however was not very good. Alone, you can definitely taste the red pepper, but I don’t really like the mix of red pepper and mayonnaise. Something about the red pepper made the mayo a bit watery, and the sweetness and flavours doesn’t mix well in my opinion. That being said, when dipping the calamari and tempura into the sauce, the red pepper flavour totally disappears. It can’t stand up to the fried food.
Steak Frites with Crispy Mashed Potatoes on the side. This is a 7 oz cab top sirloin served with a bowl of fries, and an arugula salad. The steak was cooked to my liking, medium rare, and nice and juicy pink inside. It had a nice sear on top, but honestly, although touted as the most flavourful cut of meat, it also is not the most tender cut of meat. Still a bit chewy. 7 oz is pretty small, but this meal is sub-$20 so it’s a good deal. The fries could have been a fried a bit longer to make it more crisp and golden. I added the crispy mashed potatoes ($4), because that was my reason for agreeing to go. My friends have raved about it. And they were right. It was a hit, and my friend agreed, and willing to pay for my meal because it was awesome. It’s 2 mashed potato stuffed spring roll with sour cream, green onions, cheese, and bacon on top. It was crispy, and the inside mash was creamy, and the toppings just add even more yummy flavour. I especially liked the little kick that the green onions bring out. Love it. Friends loves it lots too and is definitely going to be bring his wife back.
My friend ordered the 1/4 Chicken with 1/2 rack BBQ ribs to try as much stuff as he can. He really liked it too. We agreed that the ribs aren’t as good as the Apple Butter ribs at Montanas, but it was still good and tender, and had a spicy honey BBQ sauce which was actually quite tangy. The chicken that looked like it would be dry was surprisingly very tender and moist. He especially loved the gravy. It was better than the ribs.
Individual Baked Apple Pie. I love baked apples, I loved almonds, I love caramel. Therefore I love this dessert. The apples were baked perfectly, soft with just a tiny bit of crispness left in it for texture. The puff pastry was crisp and airy, and the baked almonds on top were awesome. Combined with the melted vanilla ice cream (you can choose vanilla or maple), it was awesome. The only sad thing was that the ice cream made the middle of the pie cool down too quick, but cold stuff tends to cool things down right? Great flavours, and great end to the meal. I had to keep eating and finish it because it was so good, even though I was stuffed.
Molten Lava Chocolate Soufle is made with dark chocolate cake on the outside and molten dark chocolate inside, served with Ice cream and chocolate and raspberry sauces. My friend didn’t like it, because well, he doesn’t like dark chocolate lol. I don’t like it either, so I passed on trying it. He did comment that the raspberry helped in adding some sweetness.
We had fun at the restaurant, and it was a lot better than I expected. Still, there isn’t much on the menu to keep me coming back. But, there’s always the crispy mashed potatoes and the apple pie. I guess I can give the rest of the menu a chance too. They have many other locations.
Joey (Coquitlam)
550 Lougheed Hwy
Coquitlam, BC
(604) 939-3077
