Review 5: Ristorante iSensi - Montreal

Once in a while, going to a good restaurant is essential to preserve personal dignity and maintain a high level of self-confidence. For me this summer, that restaurant will be iSensi.

Located on 15 rue Belanger (corner St-Laurent) in Little Italy, this restaurant is small but very carefully maintained and operated. From its nicely presented menu to the good personalized service, it’s the kind of place that just gives you an overall positive vibe. The reservation was done without hassle and parking was not hard to find, but challenging to do. There was even a red Ferrari parked in front.

Once seated, the amuse-guele they brought us was fresh and delicious. I believe it was some kind of white bruschetta (bruschetta blanci? I’m not obviously not Italian) on micro pieces of crunchy bread.

After careful translation (from Italiano) of the menu, it seemed to us that the Tables of Hosts menu is the most relevant and healthy. The first course of the three course meal included some mussels cooked with tomato sauce, pesto, garlic, white wine and other miscellaneous ingredients. The main dish was veal for me and some pasta cooked in some I don’t know what fluorescence pink red orange oil sauce with chunks of salmon for Karen. Both dishes had a full taste with subtle variations of sweet, salty and sour only detectable by the finest palates.

For dessert, we had the very traditional Tiramisu with cafe latte. The small piece of cake was definitely better than most cakes I’ve had so far in my cakeless life.

With the wine and two tables of host meals, the total was $91 not including tips.

Ratings (out of five)

Food: 3.7

Service: 3.8

Atmosphere: 4.0

Value: 1.9

Relative Value: 3.8

Going back? See you next year

The Bottom Line

Cross off Michelina’s off your grocery list about 45 times and spoil yourself at iSensi.

Review 4: Pho Vietnamien – Gatineau

The Little Green Place

When pho is faux.

Alright I’ve had some of you who complained about the lack of fancy restaurant reviews on this blog but please accept my sincere apologies as I do not have enough money to use in a wasteful manner anymore.

So talking about non-fancy restaurant, I went to Pho Vietnamien, a Vietnamese restaurant on St-Joseph/Allumetières in Gatineau with a few co-workers for lunch. The restaurant exterior appeared decent, there was even a 15% RABAIS poster on the window. The interior also appeared decent, generally clean but extremely small. We were greeted with enthusiasm and given the menus by a Tête à claques, a real one! The menu was acceptable with adequate amount of dishes to choose from.

Three of us ordered pho (faux) and Ben ordered some creepy chicken with curry and onion. Unlike at some other Pho places (Review review 1), the servers/owners gave us a good amount of bean sprout, lime and peppers. After a few minutes spent waiting, the food finally came. The bowls were miserably small for the prices they were charging! (large for almost ten bucks) Anyway, it was worth it I guess because we met a real Tête à claque. The faux soup was very average and didn’t taste like anything else but salt and MSG.

Ratings:

Food: 2/5

Service: 3/5

Atmosphere: 3/5

Value: 1.5/5

Going back? Not until they drop their prices by 25%

The Bottom Line

A tiny place with a Tête à claque server, Pho Vietnamien might be worth it if they lower their prices by 40%. Otherwise, spend your money else like on beer at Maxi down the street. Sorry guys, I didn't find an official inspection report for this one. By the way, the font for this post is messed.

Review 3: Cameron Restaurant - Kitchener

At Cameron, their dim sum ain't loathsome.

The Cameron Seafood Restaurant is a famous and well respected restaurant in the KW region known for its various types of crab balls. Located in downtown Kitchener, 21 Cameron St SOUTH, the restaurant looks like a cabane à sucre from inside out. Don't worry too much if you don't find it, you won't look like a fool if you ask people taking a walk around the not-so-friendly neighborhood. They'll probably tell you where it is, ask you if you've ever been and tell you that "it's quite good".

From the exterior, the place looks quite unpleasant a bit like a building from an abandoned flooded city. I sure hope Atlantis wasn't that ugly. Once inside, we were greeted by reasonably friendly employees. Unfortunately we were 10-12 people and had to wait for quite a while before getting to be seated. In fact, they told us that they never expected to host so many people at once! I bet they didn't expect we could eat so much either.

As with all KW restaurants so far, the order was made with a piece of paper. We order a little bit of everything, but one too many crap balls. Opps I mean crab, I think. Anyways, other than those, everything was good and hearty. We ordered various plates such as bible tripe, curry squid, blind feet (shrimp dumplings) and all that dim sum good stuff. Seeing that all plates were empty, I can safely assume that everyone liked it. The portions were good too. The bill was quite surprising, but it was all because of the craB balls that everyone denies ordering... The service was as quick as possible, so that was good. I sincerely suggest you to go take the iXpress and take a healthy looooong walk to Cameron Seafood Restaurant for DIM SUM. Only advice, make sure you know the price of different items they offer before ordering. We didn't and ended up paying $7 or so for two balls no stick. That's no good.

Ratings (out of five)

Food: 3
Service: 2.5

Atmosphere: 2.5 ***

Value: 2
Going back? Maybe for dinner to try out their famous seafood

*** cabane à sucre is in at this time of the year

The Bottom Line

Overall a good place to eat, but they do scam you by not telling you the price of item you order. Protect yourself by bringing a camera, film their lack of business ethics and report it to the Ontario Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services. Surprinsingly their food inspect report is better than expected: find it here.

Review 2: Da Won Restaurant - Waterloo

Dawon: don't get me wrong, it's a good restaurant, but the wait was a little long.

Hey, The Bouffe publishes nothing but the truth and the truth is... I'm picky. Dawon is a Korean/Japanese restaurant located at 160 University Avenue W., Waterloo. When I first got there I didn't expect anything decent. I mean it's a University Plaza restaurant... At first glance, the place seems big and roomy. It even has a big screen television, too bad the waitress sat us in front of the support beam which blocked the view of Narnia, Prince Caspian. She handed us the menu, which was thinner than our elementary school math assignment (1 page!). My date dressed to impress, but she seemed self-conscious of her smell. It wasn't her though, it was the sticky table that smelled something undistinguishable.

The orders were taken by us once again. It should have forshadowed the slow service from the (shy? lazy? annoyed?) waitresses. Newcomers watch each other's example to learn what to do about the tea: should we just drink one cup or should we invite ourselves to an all-you-can-drink buffet at the counter where the tea container was? The latter became an instant custom. As mentioned, the wait was somewhat lengthy, especially with Narnia far from sight. We expected some side dish prior to the main course, but they only came with the meals themselves.

The meals were big and satisfactory, but I couldn't stop ourselves from getting addicted to the thrill of greed when we asked for multiple refills of anything I can think of: kimchi, rice, and things that I still don't know what they were! The table behind us did the YMCA to get some attention from the staff but the servers kept their eyes down and avoided greedy eaters. My plate of BBQ ribs was pretty decent however some ribs did feel like dollarama rubber balls when chewed on.

Ratings:
Food: 3/5
Service: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Going back? Yes, no car not far

The Bottom Line
Although Dawon has slow service and they take out your money from your bank account under a different name (Miju Restaurant?!), the food is good for hungry university students. Don't be shy, do the YMCA if you even want the waitresses to look at you and go get your well deserved cups of tea by yourself. Food safety inspection report here.

Review 1: Pho Vinh Tin - Waterloo

Pho Vinh Tin is a restaurant in University Plaza (170 University Avenue, Waterloo, Ontario - near the University of Waterloo/Wilfrid Laurier University). I go there occasionally for a quick afternoon snack (usually 005, 109 X-Large, 116 Large). This restaurant has a particular way of welcoming patrons: starting with a fake door, pungeant smell of gas leaks and dirty looks. Once settled at table 12, I plug my laptop to the secret socket behind the plant. Further dirty looks are given as the owner throws me a dried up pen, a greasy duotang and corner of lined paper. At this point don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong to deserve cold tea and more dirty looks.

I used to get a grimy metallic teapot of cold tea, but maybe they saw me disinfect my utensils with it? Either way, I am not served tea anymore. So, I use 5 to 10 napkins instead. I order the usual and bring the order on a piece of paper back to the counter where I can hear the microwave hard at work. Usually, the food is decent when you're hungry but don't count on the bean sprouts with your pho. You could, however, expect little surprises in your dish; mine came in the form of a clear plastic pellet. The food is usually cold and as you go more and more often, the quantity of food served seems to decrease.

When it's time to pay, gather up your pennies if you will and throw it all away... as tip. Do not look back as you leave.

Ratings:
Food 2.5/5
Service 1/5
Atmosphere 1.5/5
Going back? Yes, no other alternatives

The Bottom Line
Good place to go when you're hungry, however avoid eye contact with the restaurants personnel and don't look around too much, that place makes you feel wrong. And don't forget to clean the utensils, they smell like bleach. Here's the Official Food Inspection Report, you might want to check it out.