Joey’s Grill and Lounge
Several locations in Western Canada and the US
820 Burrard Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC
After coming back from weeks of travelling, a friend agreed to meet for lunch, as he had some questions for me and some issues where my “personal expertise” was really useful. Well, that sounds good, specially considering that, after weeks of travelling, cooking was nowhere in the priority totem pole. I let him choose the place and we ended up going to Burrard and Robson location (in Vancouver) of Joey’s Grill and Lounge.
It was my first time in this chain and, of course, I asked my friend for suggestions. I did not spend too much time looking at the menu though, as I was more interested in talking about that “other issue”. Still, in between, we were presented with samples of a dish they were testing. It was chunks of deep friend chicken, not that different from KFC’s pop-corn chicken – though, of course, it was of “regular size”. No pictures about that, sorry. Anyway, here is what we ordered:
Grilled chicken salad. I won’t comment too much about it but my friend seemed to like it. Or at least, not give too much fuss. I don’t know about you but, such dish, sometimes looks over-rated if not over-priced. As for myself, here is what I ordered:
Angus beef dip with their skinny fries. I will be blunt here: I did not like it. For one, the sandwich was salty – way too salty I must remark. The dip did not help in any way as, again, it was over-salted. It was a good thing they provided that supposedly “hot” radish mayo (it wasn’t really hot either), as it did partially cut that salt overload (not enough in the container, though, as I ended up having all my fries with the radish mayo). Also, the fries were a bit too thin for my liking but did what it was supposed to do.
Overall, it ended up being just another restaurant on the same line as Moxie’s, Cactus Club Cafe, Sammy J Peppers, et al. What does that mean to me? A restaurant staffed by young women whom, although they might be attentive – sometimes over attentive (*), I can’t help to shake the feeling they were hired partially for their looks, and where food is over-priced for no other reason than brand name. Yes, feel free to say I have a bias and low opinion of these places. Likewise, you can safely guess if I will NOT be back (unless dragged by my friends)! 
(*) Why would they try to open the door for me when it swings outside, while wearing their skimpy dresses and it is around 3C outside? Again, I am not blaming the staff, everybody is entitled to earn a living; it is just that I wonder the restaurants’ reasoning behind it (and, yes, I have a good idea of the why…).
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I actually emailed Cactus about the girl issue asking why I have never seen a server over 30 or over a size 6. They just gave the standard “we hire everyone” response. Which I know is a lie, and you know is a lie too!
I’m going to go on a limb here and mention that having a few friends and classmates over the years that worked at Joey’s/Earls/Moxies, it was understood that a ‘certain’ type of woman was hired. People can simply mention Earl’s Girls and it’s totally understood.
There was a restaurant review in our local newspaper, the Edmonton Journal, last weekend that described the staff as:
“The staff at Kai appear to be drawn from the same gene pool frequented by Earls and Joey’s, all of them squeezed into signature short dresses, and many of them spending an inordinate amount of time pulling down on their skirts and up on their tops when they might otherwise be making eye contact with hungry customers.”
Seems that ‘style’ of hiring is branching out.
Wow…believe it or not, I was just here very recently and ordered the exact same dish. The Beef Dip that is!
I actually don’t think Joey’s is all that bad really. Some of their other items are pretty good. However, I do think it’s overpriced for what you get. It’s funny how that when Joey’s was Joey Tomato’s, it was less expensive. Now that it’s gone upscale and the servers are now “different”, that you pay more.
Oh yeah, it’s one of *those* chain restaurants. I haven’t been, nor do I have the desire to. I only ever go to chain restaurants when I’m forced to (that is, when there’s usually a larger number of people having dinner and I don’t know them enough to express my aversion, haha). But, living in Vancouver with all the dining choices, there’s really no need to eat at a chain.
ILFB, I will wait for your post about it (if you are going to do it), as I would like to compare notes, hehehehehe.
Sherman, unfortunately, I never managed to go to Joey’s Tomato (as you mentioned, when it was Joey’s Tomato) so I will take your word for it. Still, if you can get the same food (under the assumption it was “good”) at a cheaper price, which one would you go?
TS, that’s a really good point. Unfortunately, sometimes, when I go out with friends, there will always be a picky eater or two and we have to settle for these chains.
Well Kim… When Joey’s charges $18 for a bowl of Ramen, you know I won’t be going there since there are a gazillion good Japanese restaurants in town. However, I think TS is right though, when there is a large group, there will be someone who will be very conservative and will only eat at “known quantities”. Unfortunately, those known quantities are chain restaurants. Actually, I’m not a big fan of chain restaurants myself, as you said, for the money, you can practically eat anywhere else. But I guess they do serve a purpose.
KimHo:
I’ll definitely post a review…however, it might not be immediately, but eventually I’ll put it up.
Oddly enough, Seattlelites LOVE Joey’s.
Don’t be offended at the age or beauty of the Joey’s/Cactus/Earl’s girls. I mean really – the rest of the world has to get faced with ugly reality, why should I have to be served by it? I’m appalled anyone would complain.
Leonard, welcome! As far as I know, nobody here is offended by the Joey’s/Cactus/Moxie’s/Earl’s girls – as I mentioned in my post, everybody is entitled to earn a living. However, when you overlook the rest for eye candy, in my opinion, I will have an issue (you ought to expect this from me. After all, there is a reason why this blog is called “I’m Only Here for the Food!”).
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