Chongqing Seafood Restaurant

205 - 1665 West Broadway

604-734-1668

Atmosphere - Dim sum is served between the hours of 9am and 3pm. The restaurant is jammed packed during the weekend with hungry diners, especially busy during and after lunch time. Chongqing has one very large main dining room that looks out onto West Broadway plus two additional, cosier rooms at the back of the restaurant. During dim sum hours the food items are wheeled around on carts by waitresses who shout out what the particular item is. Usually we just end up trying whatever comes by because it gets so busy you may not get a cart to come a while or it will be empty when it gets to your table.

Service - During dim sum hours it can be quite chaotic, probably because of too many tables for the staff to contend with but they do their best. Patrons at different tables compete with each other to get the cart to their table and then find out what the waitress has. If you have specific dietary requirements and you don't eat meat (I would not recommend this restaurant for strict vegetarians) you can usually order certain items off of the dim sum menu, though you must remind the staff of your order.

Food - On the dim sum menu you can find any thing from pork to chicken feet to shrimp dumplings. I usually go for the shrimp dumplings, Gai Lan, which has to be ordered, plus spring rolls. They usually provide some tea and a side of hot chili sauce which is good mixed with soy sauce.

Whom to take - Take your friends or out of town guests for a weekend brunch. Be sure you have a bit of time to spare.

Value for Money - Good, each dim sum item is $2.

Cafe il nido

780 Thurlow Street (hidden away)
604 685 6436

Atmosphere - Tucked away in a corner at Thurlow and Robson made it a little difficult to find but added to the relaxed charm and cozy ambience of this restaurant.

Service - We were greeted by the hostess as soon as we arrived, we had a reservation so we were seated right away. Because it was Valentine's day it was very busy, but the servers did their best to keep up though really only had enough time for basic service. It probably would have been a good idea to have another body on hand.

Food - The Valentine's Day Menu was quite varied and had lots to choose from. I ordered the Grilled Salmon with vegetables and salmon mousse. I thought it was a bit strange to have a cold salmon mousse on the same plate as the grilled salmon, and it turned out that it tasted a bit strange as well. Aside from that little issue, the salmon was done well, and it came with crispy vegetables and mashed potatoes, one of my favourites.

Whom to take - It ended up being a nice place to go on Valentine's Day, but it would also be a great place to take one's parents or out-of-town guests.

Value for Money - Good, the service was great for such a busy night and my food tasted delicious and was presented nicely.