Coast
1054 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC
There are some restaurants that, well, are a pain to go by yourself. So, when a colleague who was leaving for lunch asked if I wanted to join him in Coast, I was confused. Wasn’t Coast in Yaletown? Well, it seems it “moved” to its current location in Alberni Street, near Burrard Street, across from Italian Kitchen. Still at walking distance and without meetings later that afternoon, I jumped to the opportunity.
When we arrived, we had two options: Inside with A/C or outside (with better lightning conditions). We chose outside, despite the temperature – actually, that day wasn’t that bad, plus the restaurant does not face the sun directly (not to mention all the buildings surrounding it). However, that ended up being mixed, too: it was next to the stand where the waiters/waitresses had cutlery, plates, etc.
I am not sure what is the deal with these guys with the menu. Rather than giving us small menus with several pages, we got a menu in paper almost A2 size with a cardboard/leather backing. It was quite odd, as the table was a bit too small to put the menu down and it was left in our laps while we waited and waited…
Eventually, our orders were taken and the wait started. Actually, that would be a constant during the whole meal to the be point that, if I had a meeting for 1:30 p.m. (we arrived a quarter past 12:00), I would be late. Not good… Anyway, eventually our to-share dish arrived:
Mango California roll (according to the menu, made with dungeness crab and avocado). I wanted to make emphasis on the “made with” part because, well, at the end of the day, they need to make it different, right? Well, my impressions are mixed. The mango was interesting but the crab (yes, crab, not krab) was completely overwhelmed by the mayo. As a result, there was almost no way to confirm if it was indeed dungeness. And then there was something odd in the roll that my co-worker and I were guessing for a while. No, it wasn’t that it was bad or anything like that. Instead, after eating a piece, I had a numb/tingling sensation on the tip of tongue. Could it be the red string-y thing on the top? Absolutely no idea…
This is my co-worker’s order: fish and chips. On Friday’s all fish-and-chips orders are $12 each (cod, salmon, halibut or tiger prawns). In my co-worker’s case, he ordered halibut. As for the food itself, I didn’t ask too many questions as I ordered something similar. Their bento box with fish and chips, New England clam chowder and a wedge salad. Now, it was a bit difficult to take a picture of the whole dish so I took them in parts instead:
The wedge salad, with some fried onions and blue cheese.
New England clam chowder.
Tartar sauce with a small serving of coleslaw and a small bottle of catsup. Inside the yellow “bag”, a lemon.
Fish and chips – the portion size is smaller than that of a regular order but, still, “large” enough.
Top down: The wedge salad was quite interesting though slightly difficult to eat. Actually, I wasn’t sure how to proceed. If I started using knife and fork, I would end up mashing the (news-like) paper at the bottom. After all, it was partially soaked with the dressing. And, as expected, the blue cheese was quite strong. The chowder was good, not “gritty” in any way though a bit more of seafood would have been good. Not really complaining here… The slaw was just OK and the tartar sauce was a bit too liquid-y to my liking. Finally, the fish-and-chips. The fries were decent, not much to comment about. As for the fish…
I will have to admit the batter was not as thick as some other places. But the “good points” end there. The fish itself was overcooked to the point it was starting to be dry. And no matter how much lemon juice or tartar sauce managed to “salvage” it
The service, the whole time was good, though, again, we had problems with the table given to us (not their fault). But, past that, the food… In some aspects, it was good but when the “main” component fails, we have a problem. Overall, execution was subpar. So much in their attempt to be the best seafood restaurant in Vancouver, B.C….
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
How much was your “bento box” and did you keep that cute bottle of ketchup?
what a waste though, they can just give you a regular sized ketchup to use…..
All the fried stuff looks like it was fried too long…..
Hmmm… Is this the case of flash and no dash? At the other Glowbal Group restaurant across the street (Italian Kitchen), it was plenty of pizazz and trendiness. Wasn’t so sure about the food overall. But again, at least the prices don’t seem too out of line with a restaurant in that area. But it’s too bad they messed up the fish.
Kevin, $12 for the bento box which, from the $$$ perspective, is quite a good deal if you ask me. However, when the food disappoints, sometimes, it does not matter how “cheap” it might be. And, no, I did not keep the bottle of catsup. I mean, not that I was going to use it for anything anyway (I don’t even remember if I have a bottle of catsup at home…). Yes, it seems the fish was fried a bit too long…
Sherman, I can’t say how much “flash” there was inside, at least, from the service perspective, other than the time it took for our dishes to come out, it was quite good. However, as mentioned to Kevin, when the food disappoints…
I was going to agree with the ‘over fry’ comment. Looks darker than it should, but maybe it was older oil as well?
“completely overwhelmed by the mayo” – this is why I rarely order rolls anymore. I’ve found so many of the new age creations overwhelmed by mayo (or other sauces). Solid looking presentation though, and they say we eat with our eyes..too bad it didn’t help on your visit.
Raidar, I don’t think the oil was “old” – actually, a usual practice in restaurants is that they would add a little bit of the “old” oil in the new oil to help browning when they start using it. The fish itself was dry yet the batter was not too brown/black. Oh, well. Finally somebody who understands why I have stopped ordering these “modern” rolls!
The Glowbal group is (unfortunately) all for show, and the patrons are mainly people that want to be seen, but alas, know nothin about good food.
The original Coast in Yaletown was also very average. This company must be raking in the big bucks, since they tore down a perfectly fine/good looking restaurant.
Funny you should mention the tingling, because I had the very same reaction when I ate a piece of fish at the old Coast location. They did compensate with free dessert (not that it was great dessert, but they did something in an attempt to appease).
My guess would be they don’t properly sanitize their kitchen utensils when prepping different items. When I informed them of the tingling, they didn’t seem shocked. They even went to tell me that it’s not uncommon (even though I don’t have allergies to seafood or shellfish). At any rate, hearing you having the same reactions makes me steer clear from this new glitzy-all-for-show restaurant. I’d rather phone Go Fish ahead of time and get their fantastic fish ‘n chips to go!
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