Belgian Fries

Belgian Fries located on Commercial Drive claims it has the "Best poutine in B.C." stated by CBC Montreal. Unfortunately I beg to differ, at least it wasn't the best to me.

Let's start off with what my friends and I got first. The poutine in the front is the Divine, a new menu item which is basically a pulled pork poutine and the one in the back is the Beef Steak. Now ordering is pretty standard, pay at the front and you receive a ticket with a number which they will call when your food is up. Strike one, the ticket they give definitely does not look appealing to hold at all. It's old and filled with grease stains; I'm sure there's better alternatives than those tickets. When the food did come out, it doesn't fail to make your mouth water but as soon as you take the first bite everything changes. There's something grinds my gears the most and that is unseasoned fries. The fries at this place was simply boring, there was no "wow" factor, not crunchy, somewhat mushy, and tasteless. Perhaps, maybe that's why they offer two containers of salt and soy sauce... The poutine as a whole did not live up to CBC Montreal's rating of "Best poutine in B.C.", it was mediocre. 

I've only tried the pulled pork poutine and to me, it might've been my least favourite pulled pork poutine I've tried. The pork was tender and sweet but to me it was a tad too sweet, it was missing a something tangy, something like more ketchup would've probably fixed it. However, the Divine does come with a side of BBQ sauce, but that sauce was also sweet and they only gave us a small ketchup container full and refills are .75 cents each.

Something I noticed between the Beef Steak and the Divine is that the cheese curds did not melt. For the ones that came in contact with the gravy and the hot toppings might've gotten softer but it didnt melt to the point where the cheese strings as you pull. But this isn't the only place that has this problem.

With so many varieties of poutine to choose from, I constantly think that maybe I just got the wrong one. So I'll go back another time to give them another chance. Giving the fact that the prices are fairly cheap with nothing over $15 and portions big enough to be a single meal itself. Hopefully, when I go back they won't disappoint.

Ratings:

Food: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Price: 9/10

Cockney King's Fish and Chips

Well I think the picture explains it all, all you can eat fish and chips. There are two locations, one by the SFU Burnaby campus and the other in New Westminster. As I went inside and waited to be seated, a worker told me that I can sit anywhere I want. I later realized that there was a sign that told us specifically to seat ourselves, but as the restaurant got busy, the sign switched to "please wait to be seated". So I recommend going just before the lunch or dinner rush or else you risk waiting a long time.

Now the food itself was okay. As I keep telling my friends, its only good because it was cheap. The whole dish itself can use some basic seasoning and maybe a lemon wedge on the side would help too. However, the portions were huge with 3 Pollock fish and a handful of fries, two orders was all I can eat. Service wise, it wasn't fantastic but what more can you expect when everyone is trying to order at the same time. They walk by without acknowledging that you need them but when they see that your plate is empty, they definitely don't fail on asking if you want another plate. Beware though, if you say no, you're practically invisible. As the menu promised, a free refillable drink. It's not "fresh out from the tap", meaning they fill jugs of pop ahead of time and refill as needed therefore making us suffer with flat pop.

If you don't want all you can eat, they do have a regular menu with different variety of fish. I did take a look at their regular menu and to me it looked fine; nothing to die for but prices were decent.  Overall, not a bad place, if you're craving for fish and chips and lots of it, I recommend Cockney King's.

Ratings:

Food: 7.5/10

Service: 5/10

Price: 9/10

Cost of Dish: $9.95/adults 4.95/kids