Avenue Grill
Avenue Grill has a long history in Kerrisdale and has actually been in business since 1927. That's a very long time considering the constantly changing food scene in Vancouver. So the food should be topnotch right? Not exactly.
The place definitely seemed more like a neighbourhood cafe than a fine dining restaurant.
The lamb shoulder ($21) was not too bad as parts of it were relatively tender. It would have been nice to have more sauce though. The mashed potatoes were not very buttery and the texture was chunky as opposed to smooth.
There was a build-your-own-pasta ($16) section on the menu. We ordered fettucini with tomato sauce, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. The pasta was a bit dry from lack of sauce and the chicken was dry and tough as well.
The BBQ stuffed pork ($19) was supposed to be a pork chop wrapped in bacon according to the waitress, but there wasn't a single piece of bacon in the dish. The pork was not tender at all and the texture was very dry and rubbery.
The cook went around to each table and asked about the food which was a nice gesture, if only he weren't wearing a dirty and stained uniform. I'm not sure whether this place is simply relying on its longstanding history and established customer base or hoping to stay afloat with its constant promotions on group deal sites. In any case if the food doesn't improve, I don't think it'll do well in the future. I especially didn't think it was fair to charge fine dining prices for cafe ambiance and quality.
The place definitely seemed more like a neighbourhood cafe than a fine dining restaurant.
The lamb shoulder ($21) was not too bad as parts of it were relatively tender. It would have been nice to have more sauce though. The mashed potatoes were not very buttery and the texture was chunky as opposed to smooth.
There was a build-your-own-pasta ($16) section on the menu. We ordered fettucini with tomato sauce, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms. The pasta was a bit dry from lack of sauce and the chicken was dry and tough as well.
The BBQ stuffed pork ($19) was supposed to be a pork chop wrapped in bacon according to the waitress, but there wasn't a single piece of bacon in the dish. The pork was not tender at all and the texture was very dry and rubbery.
The cook went around to each table and asked about the food which was a nice gesture, if only he weren't wearing a dirty and stained uniform. I'm not sure whether this place is simply relying on its longstanding history and established customer base or hoping to stay afloat with its constant promotions on group deal sites. In any case if the food doesn't improve, I don't think it'll do well in the future. I especially didn't think it was fair to charge fine dining prices for cafe ambiance and quality.
Heh. If they're having a lot of promotions, they're probably struggling to stay afloat.
ReplyDelete@pyaria: Probably... but it's a better idea to improve the food instead.
ReplyDelete