Pajo’s Fish & Chips
Four locations in Metro Vancouver
3500 Bayview Street
Richmond, BC
Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt
3800 Bayview Street
Richmond, BC
On the BC Day long weekend, I decided to drive around to places I don’t usually have the opportunity to go (lots of reasons) or choose not to go (too far of a drive/crazy traffic). One of those places is Steveston Village, known for its seafood restaurant. Being mostly a fishery area, you would expect most, if not all the restaurants be selling seafood, right? Actually it is, except for a pizza shop here and an Indian restaurant there. With such stiff competition, you can only survive by providing or doing something “better” (or at least different) from the competition. To me, at first sight, the notable difference from Pajo’s is its location. But, would the fish and chips be better than the rest?
One thing usually mentioned about Pajo’s is that it is a tourist trap. In fact, I was tempted to believe so when I queued in and the next person in the line happens to be an American. OK, let me try again, a local with an American. In this case, this couple heard a lot good of things about it and mentioned he was interested in franchising it in the US. Hmmmmmm….. Anyway, just as seen in the picture above, there is a long line but, then again, since it was the long weekend, it sort of made sense.
Wait… Could those two catsup containers be the ones that somebody “lost“? 
I must mention that between lining up and getting my food, it could have easily been 30 or so minutes. WTF?! It does not really help it was extremely sunny – I ended slightly sun burned myself. While it is possible it takes this long because they fry the pieces as they are ordered, I am sure they would at least do so in small batches. I mean, to pick up the different orders (you pay on one side and then wait on another window), they were not necessarily going in sequential order – they kept jumping back and forth with the order numbers. Still, with such a long wait…
And here is my order, “one of each”, that is, one piece of cod, one piece of salmon and one piece of halibut. Aside from the fries, I also ordered their coleslaw. I am not sure how “noticeable” is from the picture above but the order comes in a “cone” (tradition?). Just in case, they have some wooden boxes with holes to “fit” these cones (likewise, some plastic “tables” have these holes as well). However, that ended up being a real pain, as some people hog these tables while their companion is waiting on the line and the wooden boxes are big for single orders. I mean, if you want some degree “authenticity”, why don’t just wrap the fish and ship in butcher’s paper, like Dave’s Fish & Chips?
The side of coleslaw, not the best, better than what I would have imagined.
Piece #1, cod.
Piece #2, salmon.
Piece #3, halibut – the whole piece.
Piece #3, halibut – inside.
There is a reason why I took the picture of the piece of halibut “whole” before I dug in. For reference purposes, there is that lemon wedge on the side. Yes, that was the “piece”. I know that the first picture does not really tell you much about the size but I hope this one does – It is really disappointing. I know, I know, at $13, it might be relatively cheaper than other nearby fish and chips shops (not necessarily so when compare to other fish and chips destinations); just that it is almost insulting. After you go past the batter, what do you have left?! Now, the other pieces do not necessarily fare any better but the last piece… Could these be the “half” pieces they usually put in their “small” and “large” orders?
As for the taste of the food itself, I won’t say I was particularly excited. It was not particularly seasoned (I will let this one go, as this is something in common with most fish and chips shops) and had to have each piece with a bit of tartar sauce – which, was on the runny side rather than on the thick side. Out of the three pieces, the halibut was better cooked than the others, in the sense it was not cooked dry and was still flaky. The fries, errr… chips, well, felt undercooked (no “two step frying”).
At this point saying that I don’t like Pajo’s would be an understatement. It is possible people like it because of the hype (or in the case of tourist, well, this might as well be a tourist trap) or the ambiance (but, just above it, it is a public area!). Not me. If I was in the area again, Pajo’s won’t be the first place to come to mind for fish and chips…
As a “bonus” to this post, after my disappointing meal in Pajo’s, I decided to finish my visit by grabbing something “cold” (it was a hot day!). In this case, I went to Timothy’s Gelato. In a way, they have all the bases covered: they have gelato, sorbet and frozen yoghurt. Now, in the case of the later, they use blocks of frozen yoghurt and blend it with frozen pieces of fruit, in the same way Yogen Fruz do it. Despite some claims of other shops, I don’t mind it is done this way. If I eat yoghurt for “health”/beneficial reasons, I would instead grab a tube from the supermarket…
I guess gelato is not their main seller…
As for myself, I grabbed a kids size of frozen yoghurt and, for the fruit, I went with blueberry. Heck, notice a theme here?
I won’t say it was necessarily good or bad. But, what I will say is that it hit the spot. I needed something to “cool” myself and they delivered.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Yah, my piece of halibut was small too. However, my salmon and cod were better cooked than yours. It’s probably because it wasn’t as busy when I went? It was a weekday. But you are right, it is a tourist trap. And if it depends on the day or conditions when their food is actually good, then that’s not good either.
Sherman, exactly! A very important aspect of a restaurant is consistency. They should be able to provide the same quality level regardless of the amount of customer or day of the week… Unless, that is, you are consistently bad, in which case, it simply sucks.
Sorry to read about your disappointing experience at my favourite fish and chip shop. Since it does attract a lot of tourists due to its location/reputation, I try to avoid long weekends, or any weekend for that matter, and uusually go only during weekdays. You’re right about the problems with inconsistency, as I have experienced off days. Also, don’t try their clam chowder or you will have nightmares.
But man, when the halibut is fresh and you’re sitting there enjoying the ocean breezes, there’s nothng else like it.
Why don’t you give it another try and go during the off season like in Sept. or Oct. when there’s still fresh halibut to be had?
Holly, unfortunately, I do not live anywhere near Steveston so that leaves only weekends. But, putting the long queues aside, you bring a really good point, the achilles heel of all restaurants: lack of consistency. Good restaurants ought to be consistent! Regardless, given your opinion, I will give it a try again in September or October.
at timothy’s, you should try their waffle cones next time. theyre handmade to order. and you can even get it in kids size.
Christina, welcome! Will keep it in mind the next time I am in Steveston, probably after the revisit to Pajo’s!
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