Tag Archives: large groups

Steamworks

Steamworks Brew Pub Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato Steamworks is a fairly large pub located steps away from Waterfront station. The first floor separated into bar and dining. Downstairs, its got a more grungy feel with a pool table and loud customers enjoying the night. I’ve been there several times, sometimes with large meet up groups, or other times with just a friend. The food has been generally good.

We were there on a Monday evening around 9:30pm. We got seated fairly quickly considering how busy it was. We also had a huge number of people – like 12, so I thought we’d had to wait a while. But since it was a large place, it didn’t take them long before we were escorted downstairs.

As soon as we sat down, one of my friend ordered her dish right away since she had to leave asap. That was a good idea because after that, the server never came to get our order. Seemed like forever…

After I ordered STEAMWORKS award winning chili , the server came back telling me that they were out of chili since kitchen was closing down. Whose fault is that? It took so long for them to take our orders, and to report that back to me. I ordered the tandoori chicken salad $14.99 which my friend had ordered first. She was long gone by then.

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Tandoori chicken salad $14.99

The chicken was really good! Great salad and crispy chips but terrible service! I can’t believe I left tip! However, this is probably an exception – I hope! I’d recommend going there – it’s got good food and atmosphere.

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Yuko Maki – CLOSED

Yuko Maki on Urbanspoon Went there with a fairly large group of about 33 people (reservation was made ahead of time). This restaurant is fairly large, we only took a third of the entire restaurant, and with semi walls to section off each of the tables and areas, we were in there comfortably without being an annoyance to other customers.

The service isn’t friendly or anything, but not terrible. You become use to the type of service you get at these fast paced, cheap restaurants, so unless they are really awful, unfortunately, it’s become the norm.

Tea is like water, and the tempura sauce is so diluted it looks like apple juice. I got the Box 3, which had 6 pieces of california rolls, salad, 3 gyoza pieces, chicken teriyaki with vegetables and tempura – all for only $7.50. This a great deal cuz if you were to make all of them yourself, it would likely cost more, not to mention a lot of preparation and cooking time/effort.

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However, the inspection report does indicate improper food handling, cleaning and maintenance. Problems with rodent droppings are indicated, but it seems that with these types of restaurants, I’m seeing that it’s something common among them. Yuck…

With that disgusting thought aside, the food is alright. Nothing spectacular, only filling. I use to go to these kind of restaurants a lot during my student years, because of the cheap price and quantity. But now working, this place isn’t my first pick. (nor is it in my list of ‘let’s go for sushi’ place at all lol)

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Went back again with a large group (not my choice) for lunch this time. Everyone was doing the All-You-Can-Eat. But I wasn’t feeling all that well that day, so I sat at the only table that was doing a la carte. The service wasn’t that great. Water, tea or food wouldn’t come out. I remember two previous experiences (again, not my choice for both times) that someone’s order was completely forgotten. The very last time we went was for take out – this went smoothly. However with new sushi places opening up and all around, I will likely be not returning, though I guess it’s never really been on my sushi restaurant list.

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Kaneda – All You Can Eat – CLOSED

Kaneda Japanese Restaurant 金田 on Urbanspoon

So, there were about 12 of us that went to try out the All You Can Eat at Kaneda. We went for Sunday lunch which was $13.95+tax+tip. (other days Mon-Thurs is $12.95/lunch) Like many of the sushi all you can eat places around town, you get a slip of paper with all the items. Indicate which ones you want and how many. Give the slip to the server and wait. Don’t get too caught up on what you ordered and who’s is what, especially with a large group. They will usually put all the rolls on one plate, making it difficult to figure out who ordered what. The beauty of all you can eat is you get to try foods that you might not normally order. And best of all, you can keep ordering as much as you want within the 90 minutes you get for the all you can eat.

The rolls were alright, and the nigiris were surprisingly good for an all you can eat. The sashimi, like most non-Japanese chef run places were super thick like blocks so I declined to take any of them. Other dishes like spring rolls, salmon teriyaki, grilled salmon, gyoza, agedashi tofu, etc were greasy and very heavy. The taste wasn’t anything great…just filling. The salmon and beef had a lot of fat, so they’re using low quality cheap food.

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One of them complained that the tea tasted like dishsoap, and the wasabi wasn’t that good. Well, you can always tell a good Japanese restaurant by it’s green tea. If it’s like faded yellow and has no taste, you can tell that the rest of the food is going to fall in the same quality. It’s not really a Japanese restaurant…it’s a fusion…Chinese spring rolls, and croquette that seemed more Korean than Japanese.

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The spicy tuna cone was actually good. Most of the sushi were ok, so maybe stick to them only…

The restaurant itself is fairly large and spacious. The tatami rooms, with separate walls are nice for privacy. If you want to fill up or have a variety of foods, this may be the place to go, but don’t count on quality. Good price for quantity but lacks quality. The servers aren’t what you’d call ‘friendly’ but they are fast and efficient. However, I will likely not be returning again.

CLOSED

A group of 5 of us went for lunch during the weekday. We phoned to make a reservation, but the staff just said ‘Yes, just come in.” without taking our names or number. I figure it was because they’re a fairly large restaurant and perhaps they don’t get too busy.

We ordered tons, from Shoyu Ramen, Yaki Udon, Tuna Tataki, Pork Gyoza, Shrimp Gyoza, Agedashi Tofu, 3 Gomae, Negitoro roll and a whole bunch of tuna and salmon sashimi. We were surprised with the complimentary miso soup, salad and mango pudding for dessert.

Food was ok, but the Tuna Tataki $10.95 was the worst one I’d ever had. It was super dry and hard, and one guy thought it was chicken! It was seared too much and seemed old. It was also a lot more expensive than other places with delicious tataki. The lettuce was yellow and cheap, the avocado was not fresh. Definitely would never order this dish again, but would not really return for the quality in the first place.

My stomach was not well that evening and the next morning…

Not surprisingly, after about 2 weeks after our lunch, the restaurant had closed down.

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