Winnipeg Restaurant Review

Dine Out Winnipeg

2007-01-13T18:24:29Z

Ok, it's Dine Out Winnipeg time. I'm thinking about Be One Korean Restaurant and Taste of Sri Lanka. Any other recommendations? What about The Melting Pot?

wpgreview @ 2007-01-09T22:05:00

2007-01-10T03:07:27Z

Hi,

I'll be coming to Winnipeg in late May/early June for a week's visit. What sorts of things are there to see and do? Where should we eat?

We will not have a car and will be coming in for the Canadian Bridge Week, staying at the Clarion Hotel.

Thanks!

Susie

Paragon - Carlton Hotel

2006-12-12T01:32:34Z

I went to this place for a late lunch today, I've walked past this place a number of times. I'd never thought of having lunch here until my boyfriend asked about it. I remember going to this place when it had a different name it was a Greek restaurant in the late 80s early 90s, a friend of mine had taken me to that place.

My boyfriend and I walked in, looked at the menu and it was Greek food. We thought 'Hey, why not. The Greek's can't go wrong.' The food was amazing and the price of their luncheon menu was perfect. I had the steak sandwich was $12.99 but they charged me $1.00 more I didn't raise a big stink about it and they did forget to bring me my Greek salad, again, I didn't raise a stink. I had absolutely no space for it and I would have wasted the food. The steak was cooked to my liking, medium rare, it took me no effort in cutting it. I had the fries, perfect, I didn't get the gravy, thankfully. My boyfriend had some ground sirloin steak, it tasted okay, I'm not into ground sirloin steak or any salisbury steak stuff so whatever. He enjoyed his meal which came with veggies soup or salad. His meal was $9.99 and was super filling, it also came with a bread basket of french bread and multigrain bread.

The service was pleasant, she didn't come by 5 minutes after she served the food, I guess that was okay. The place was quiet around the time we were there which was about 3:30pm. They usually have business people there for lunch and the waitress mentioned to me that if we like jazz music that on Friday nights after 5:30pm until 9ish they have a live band playing, and it's a more upbeat jazz band. That sounds like a plan. I asked what the clientele was like and she said they have a mixture of the crowd. She mentioned the types of people that stay in the hotel are from the reserves and they usually sit in the dining area and the people that stay for jazz are a mix of people. I guess my boyfriend and I will have to check it out one of these days and let you know.

But I was quite impressed with the food. You know, I've been to the Garwood Grill for steak and eggs and was NOT impressed, it was dry and without flavour. This place was great and cooked to perfection. It's a great place for a quick fix. But if I want to go for a really good steak it would be either NV, The Keg around Whyte Ridge, or Rae and Jerry's. Quick fix would be Paragon or Kristina's.

Check this place out and you can't go wrong especially for location because it's downtown right by the convention centre and the Delta hotel.

Longhorn Texas Steakhouse

2006-12-11T03:55:11Z

So, the Brannigans up our way disappeared.

We're not sure when it went away, but it was in the last couple of weeks. One time we drive by, it's a Brannigans. The next time we drive by, it's a Longhorn Texas Steakhouse. plonq, fetlock and I decided to pop by there tonight for dinner. I've been to the Longhorn Steakhouses in the States, and it was a pretty good place, so I thought this would be worth checking out.

It's done up in a typical "western" theme, although they still have a lot of work to do to disguise the fact that it used to be a Brannigans. (Removing the giant frosted glass room dividers with the script "B" on them would be a good start.) We were greeted and seated promptly and given menus. That's when I realized this wasn't the Longhorn that I'd known. The menu, although it had the little Longhorn icons, was not the same as the menu I remembered. It seemed a bit sparse, but I thought - hey, they just started up, give them some time.

I ordered a ribeye, plonq got a porterhouse, and fetlock ordered the beef skillet. We also got one of their "flowering" onions... And it's when that arrived we knew we were not in for a treat.

I've had the bloomin' onion at Outback, and Tony Roma's here has a similar menu item. This was a bloomin' onion done very poorly. Instead of using a sweet onion, it was done with a regular yellow onion. The batter was mediocre, and it didn't seem to have been cooked properly. The batter was all mostly cooked, but the onion was still quite raw in the middle. The sauce that came with it could have conceivably saved the dish, but it just didn't seem to go with the onion.

We also got the salad bar with our dinners. It would have been ok, if we hadn't paid $3.99 for it. As it was, for the price it was a pretty lame salad bar. There were two types of greens, some potato salad, sliced beets, a few dressings, cut veggies, some toppings, and a few other things. That's it. Like I said, though, this place was just getting going... Maybe they hadn't figured out their full spread yet.

Then our main courses arrived. Out of our three dinners, there was one thing that was good: plonq's mashed potatoes. Everything else was either mediocre or less. The mashed potatoes had a nice texture and flavor, but my fries were a bit limp and bland. Come to think of it, that described a lot of the food we had tonight: bland. It was as if the chefs were afraid to use spices. The batter for the onion was bland. Our steaks - really nice cuts of meat, well marbled and cooked just right - had no seasoning at all. My steak tasted charred, and that's it. There didn't seem to be any marinating, no spice rub, nothing. If they were seasoned at all, it was really really subtle. The veggies were kinda blah as well. fetlock's skillet dish was a disappointment as well, with chewy bits of meat tossed with tasteless veggies and rice.

When we were asked if we wanted to see a dessert menu, we declined.

The service was fairly attentive and pleasant, so no complaints there. I thought about expressing my disappointment in our dishes to the waitress, but I pondered whether there was anything really wrong with our meals, or if we just didn't like them. Now, technically, anytime that you don't like a meal it's because you don't like the way in which it was cooked, but everything came out as advertised. Bland, tasteless, but as advertised. We discussed it a bit and decided that we just didn't like the food, and that's not something to complain about. (On the other hand, I was *this* close to walking over to a neighboring table and introducing myself to the occupants, because they kept staring at us. Like, really staring. Turning around and staring. Walking by our table to the salad bar and staring. It was kinda creepy.)

So, thumbs up for prompt and friendly service. Thumbs down for food, menu selections, and weird clientelle. I'm willing to give this place another shot in a year (or more) - once I've forgotten how sad I was that my steak was so boring. Hopefully they can get the kinks out of their system, figure out a logo that makes it clear they are NOT affiliated with the US chain (and if they are, I have a letter to write), and realize that good food needs good spices.

(x-posted to my journal)

Miso

2006-11-27T19:49:40Z

Hi everyone.

I went to Miso (behind the Price Choppers) on Friday. I had only been there once before and it was dead. This time we had to wait to be seated. I ordered way too much food but the waitress forgot to bring us out some of the dishes so we didn't complain as we had chosen the All You Can Eat ($22.95) and you are charged $1.50 for every PIECE you do not eat.

I wasn't impressed with the quality of the rolls prepared - this is what I ordered:

Miso Soup - was never brought out
Gyoza 3 pcs - absolutely delectable
Negi Toro (tuna & green onion) - decent, but not great
Spicy Salmon - I nearly gagged at the consistency, it was like eating a egg salad sandwich. I couldn't finish it, it was just unfortuately gross
Salmon Sashimi - just fine
Salmon Maki - nothing special

I really don't think it's worth it for me to eat here again, I can get my favourites at Sushi Train for cheaper anyway and the quality is always top notch.

I've seen a few new sushi places pop up, any reviews?

Menu Manitoba

2006-10-02T20:27:51Z

For anyone interested, I found this today:

http://www.menumanitoba.com/wpgguide.htm

Cheers,

happy birthday to me

2006-09-25T23:41:02Z

Ok, so it's my 20th birthday on the 17th of october (which is a tuesday) and we always go out for diner for everyone's birthday and they get to pick where. So as it's my turn to pick i have no idea where i want to go. I want somewhere tastey that idealy isn't a franchise like moxies or earls but has similar food that can please everyone you know? and is around that price point. I would also like it if we would be able to bring my 3 year old niece along instead of getting a babysitter.
I hope you guys can suggest something different and tastey. I also am a fan of free desert. haha. Oh and if it could be somewhere on the south-ish side of the city that would be awsome. well, south or east.

i can't wait to see what you guys suggest!

thanx!

Intro survey + Captain's table?

2006-09-22T03:54:36Z

What is your favorite restaurant? This will sound very silly, but Pizza Hut.

What is your favorite dish there? They have the best caesar salad I've ever tasted and I actually go there just for that... although I love the pizza too, but man that caesar...

What is your favorite type of food? Perhaps North American is the word for it. Normal?

How many times a week do you go out to eat? Depends on the week, but usually once or so.

What is the worst restaurant/dining experience that you have had? I've never had a really bad one. Inattentive/slow/forgetful service, cold food, the usual stuff that can happen anywhere.

Anything else you would like to add: I'm an extremely picky eater; the kind that is willing to try new things, just rarely likes them. I work in a restaurant and I tell the chefs it's the highest compliment when I like something, and they always get me to taste stuff. This also means I'm pickier about good service.

I have a question right off the hop for you fine folks. I'll be going out for lunch this Sunday with friends. Essentially I'm trying to introduce some friends but in a no pressure way. We'll be in the downtown-ish area, and looking for a place that has enough well "normal" (I suck at describing) food that everyone will find something they like. Inexpensive would be better as this is just a casual lunch. There aren't many places open Sunday for lunch so I've found my choices to be very limited. We could very well just end up going to Moxie's, which sounds boring to me.
One place I've found is called Captain's Table. I liked the selections on their menu and their prices are great, but I've never heard anything about it except a review from the paper they posted on their website. I'm not looking for the best place ever, but I don't want to be disgusted and have a bad lunch ruin the set up. Any thoughts?

wpgreview @ 2006-08-30T13:16:00

2006-08-30T18:15:01Z

Best thai food in Winnipeg?

Only exception is I will not go to Swatadee.

Thanks

wpgreview @ 2006-08-04T19:37:00

2006-08-05T00:41:12Z

Casa Azteca

Anybody been yet? It's really the only authentic Mexican restaurant in the city and I've been dying to go there, just none of my friends like really spicy food. If it's super great, I'll just go there by myself sometime. That is, unless some random stranger wants to go on a lunch hookup sometime soon :D

wpgreview @ 2006-07-24T15:28:00

2006-07-24T20:38:44Z

Hello!

My question for today is this: Tomorrow is my 2 year wedding anniversary and we want to go somewhere reasonably priced, tasty and close to home (Ft.Rouge) any suggestions? The only real restriction is that my husband can't handle super spicy things, but other than that it's all good.

It doesn't have to have a hugely romantic atmosphere, but some place that doesn't feel like a cafeteria (like Daily Burger) would be nice.

wpgreview @ 2006-07-14T12:42:00

2006-07-14T17:43:33Z

We all gotta work late tonight and the boss is buying dinner.

Usually we end up with cheap pizza cause we can't decide (or Gondola's which is alright but I'm kinda sick of it.)

I need suggestions please. :)

Restrictions: Not OVERLY expensive, takes credit card, delivery avail. to our area (Route 90 between Dublin & Notre Dame).

Anyone got any decent ideas for something different or just really good?

Thai food

2006-06-19T00:29:19Z

I love Thai food almost as much as I love Thailand, and fortunately for me there is no shortage of Thai restaurants in Winnipeg. My top 3 Winnipeg Thai restaurants:

1. Magic Thailand: Authentic down to the XO coffee candies! My vote for best phat thai.
2. Vientiane: Delicious and reasonably-priced Lao-Thai food. Have only eaten here once, but will definitely go back.
3. Thida's: The matsaman curry is to die for and it's owned/operated by a really nice Thai family.

Mise

2006-06-12T00:01:59Z

Anyone been to Mise lately? Is it worth the price?

Bistro Dansk

2006-05-18T19:31:51Z

My new favourite restaurant for the past few months has been Bistro Dansk, 63 Sherbrook St. just a block up from Misericordia Hospital (map).Look for the yellow canopy.

It's a Danish restaurant with good hearty food (you know it's good when you can see grandma in the kitchen). Prices are reasonable (~$16) and the portions are huge. Go hungry or split one entree with two people.

It's a pretty small menu with most of the emphasis on their meat & potato dishes (schnitzels, frikadellers, etc.), but there are a few other dishes to choose from as well. Their soups are fantastic and a large serving (~$5) is easily a meal on its own. There's a selection of homemade desserts available as well, so check the whiteboard on the wall for what's available (I once had a meal composed entirely of their desserts).

The service is always friendly and food comes relatively quick.

Cora's - waverley location

2006-05-18T18:00:52Z

Hi everyone;

Just thought i would add in my two cents about my visit to Cora's Breakfast & Lunch ('chez cora' as it is known in Que.).

I went on Mother's day, very early in the AM. I was really hoping for a satisfying breakfast, but found i left hungry and paid way too much for what we had.

My breakfast was a raspberry crepe, "raspberries for lucie" i think it is called. I would call it Raspberry Overkill. I LOVE berries, but there were tooooo many raspberries and they were very sour. the crepe was superthin and tasteless, with about a cup of these sour raspberries, and chunks of cream cheese. again, the raspberries so overpowering that you could not taste the cream cheese even! I would have enjoyed this more if it were half the price... $10.25 for one lonely crepe was far too much.

My fiance had the steak and eggs. It was $12.95. He says the steak was much thinner than he had ever had before (he had been to cora's before), and was not cooked to his request. The serving of scrambled eggs was very tiny. Of course, it being Mother's Day, we did not complain out of politeness. His hashbrowns were burned, too. Since it was so early in the morning, there was not even a rush yet. We were hoping our food would have been fresher and bigger portions for the price.

Maybe it just wasn't what I expected, and I would definitely order something else if I am to go again. I think most people would be better off getting breakfast somewhere else for a lot cheaper.

s

wpgreview @ 2006-04-03T21:55:00

2006-04-04T02:56:47Z

A few months ago a restaurant in St. B was profiled in the Free Press. I think it was newly opened by a couple from France, and they apparently served really authentic and cheap French food. Any idea what the name was?

wpgreview @ 2006-03-29T22:33:00

2006-03-30T04:33:47Z

Anyone been to Bistro 7 1/4? I don't know if I got the name right, but it's across the street from Lux Sole.

FYI

2006-03-24T19:17:02Z

If you sign up for red lobster's newsletter on their website, you get a printable coupon for free dessert or appetizer with two adult meals.

Don't sign up until you plan on going there, because it expires a couple of weeks after they send it to you.

EDIT: It's actually called the overboard club, or something like that.

wpgreview @ 2006-03-22T12:25:00

2006-03-22T18:27:05Z

I found this site looking for restaurant coupons so I thought I'd post it here in case some of you haven't seen it: Winnipeg Restaurant Menus. Ever wanna go out for dinner but don't know where, or what you want? This is perfect!

As a side note.. does anyone know of any deals going on right now? My mom and I are going to the WAG for the commercials thingy and we wanna grab a bite after but we're both too broke to spend too much - don't want fast food either. Suggestions? Know of anyone who has printable coupons or anything like that?

Seven and a Quarter

2006-03-16T05:20:41Z

Hey all - I have a review from a friend. She and her husband went to 7 1/4 (I have no idea which way it's spelt but it's pronounced like my title apparently) a few weeks ago and it wasn't the greatest experience.

She had ordered a wine that is supposed to be served chilled and it came out warm. She asked the server to please bring a bucket of ice out in her sweetest voice and the server told her the wine wasn't supposed to be chilled. My friend and her husband are wine snobs. They know their stuff - and this wine was supposed to be served chilled but she bit her lip and let it go.

The both ordered salads and one was drenched in dressing and the other only had lemon juice as a dressing. They asked to speak to the chef and asked him what his background was. Apparently he's served under a few chefs but that was the extent of his training.

I think in short, this restaurant gets a thumbs down.

Dragon Palace

2006-03-07T04:12:35Z

I went there for dinner on Saturday with some friends, they said they've been a few times and said it was delicious so I thought I'd try it out. It wasn't the best tasting Chinese food I've had. It was totally Americanized and they cooked with Canola oil which makes me gag to smell and hurl if I can smell it while I'm eating. I had to order a Pepsi to offset the gross smell.

The Chinese (that's what I am) say that if you see a lot of Chinese people in a Chinese restaurant that means it's good. I was the only Chinese in there besides the owners.

The soup was good cream of corn with chicken. The beef brisket with fried tofu was delicious. The other things were okay. I liked the ginger beef, but I don't really order that when I'm out with my family. The scallop cooked in black bean was okay but not enough black bean. We had 10 dishes and it came to about $20 per person. I felt ripped off.

My friends really liked the chow mein and garlic prawns.

I wished we went for ribs instead.

The service was great, I spoke Cantonese to the wait staff and they loved it because I was with my Caucasian and Filipino friends. They're religious so I thought it was weird that someone said grace before the meal.

kelekis

2006-02-20T16:06:51Z

hey everybody, i thought i would report back on my trip to kelekis. i went there based on the review further below, and darn skippy, wouldn't you know, the club sandwich was DEE-LISH.

the only problem was my dining companion got his food about 20 mins before mine!! the waitress was very apologetic and gave us a free milkshake, so that evened things out nicely. good milkshake too.

i had heard a lot about the famous 'chips' but i was surprisingly disappointed when they arrived. they were fresh, but i found the serving a bit small and a lot of little fry bits, not really any fries over 2-3 inches long. they kinda tasted like mcdonalds fries.

but i did enjoy it, and at least now i can say i have been there after 12 years!! thanks guys.

wpgreview @ 2006-02-19T01:59:00

2006-02-19T07:59:47Z

hi,

If someone wants to take this community over, email me at rebellemichelle@gmail.com

I am leaving lj but I thought that someone else might want to keep this one going.

NV (again)

2006-02-05T05:16:24Z

Okay, I went there this evening with my buddies and I took some photos. I had the steak again and I wanted to get some fries with gravy but unfortunately they ran out. I'm going to have a chat with the owner...

The photos didn't come out as sharp as I wanted it to, it was pretty dim in there and I'm kicking myself for this.

I apologize if they're a bit blurry.

Calamari

CBLT Ranch Wrap (sorry about the blur)

Honey Dill Salmon

Black Jack Steak

Seafood Pesto Linguine

This wasn't on the menu so the friend I was with said give me something with chicken and pasta with a cream sauce.