Vancouver Entertainment Book Restaurants

[Feedbag]

Why, whatever do you mean?

Hey, I'd never think anyone with info

from the inside would post too much!

Very valuable insight. I just meant, servers are

generally the ones who encounter the

card-holders. Wondered about their feelings

toward it.

Are we card-carrying pond scum or what?

As for posting too much, I'm on a posting flurry

on this bleak Sunday afternoon when plans have

been cancelled and I'm bored. That's my excuse.

What's yours?

(If I knew how to play with the emoticons, I'd

follow that with a smiley face...)

[PaoPao]

My view point is that is if a waiter or waitress has a problem with it, that's their issue, not mine. The restaurant owner has the choice to be involved in the program and they have a choice to work for that restaurant.

Maybe it's one of those self fulfilling proficy things where they expect a bad tip from a coupon holder, so they give bad service, then surprise-surprise .... they get a bad tip. Who knows.

I don't usually give the card until I ask for the check anyway so it's never been an issue.

[SushiCat]

Ah, the E-card.

As a note to the Dining Diva - please re-read the above part about maximum number of cards - As much as I am fond of the egulleters, a table of twenty sporting ten Entertainment cards would only end up in me writing another post about " A funny thing happened at the restaurant today.........". Anyways, now that I know who you are and your evil plans, I will be watching for you all the time, ever vigilant, standing guard against the egullet army !

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makes me want to buy the e-book just to participate in the large group of e-g diners at HSG with our coupons!

[nwyles]

We had a group in last night that got into an arguement at the table as to who was going to be able to use their cards last night. A table of 14 wanted to use 7 cards ! The waiter infomed them that three was the maximum and no matter what way they wanted to carve up the bill, three was still the maximum. The server had to step away from the table for five minutes while these folks worked it out. It became like a quick draw gun battle, who could whip their cards out the fastest. I might have stepped in a perhaps allowed another card or two but as all this group drank was 12 waters ( Tap ) , one cranberry juice and one smirnoff ice for a grand total of beverages of $7.75, I decided against it ( No starters either ) . And to top it all off, they brought their own cake ! Store bought chocolate with whipped edible oil product blue icing. I did take the high road, much to the server's annoyance and offer to cut and plate the cake. No charge ! ( I mean could you imagine the calamity if we had a cake cutting fee large than the entire beverage portion of the bill ! )

How do these people find each other ?

[*Deborah*]

I think they have their own secret decoder rings, Neil!

[jamiemaw]

( I mean could you imagine the calamity if we had a cake cutting fee large than the entire beverage portion of the bill ! )

How do these people find each other ?

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Was their aggregate tip larger than the beverage tab? I have a theory that bev tab for groups like this will always and precisely reflect the average shoe size of the men in the group, in this case 7 ½. I'm only surprised that their hands were big enough to manage a steak knife.

And as to your other question--How do they find each other? There must be some sort of Darwinian principle that applies to this very lowest level of Pond Life that goes beyond gravity (as they can't drop any lower) but stops short, hopefully, of actual reproduction. So I feel forced to ask--did they look like newts and salamanders? Did any of them lack ears?

Just curious.

Edited May 2, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[Keith Talent]

Who cares how they find each other, just be thankful they do. Better they travel in a pack as opposed to scattering their social ineptitude around the greater populace as a whole. Yeah, it sucked to be Neil for one night, but you're contribution to the greater good is now made, freeing you up for more pleasant pursuits, like advertising for waitresses, non-ex Earls employees need not apply.

[Vancouver Lee]

How do these people find each other ?

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In line at the Dollar Store? Buying almost-rotten vegetables for $0.99 a bunch?

I dunno....I just hope they never find me.

Edited May 2, 2005 by Vancouver Lee (log)

[PaoPao]

Steadily for the past two months we have been dissecting our Entertainment Book to try new places.

All of the restaurants we have tried so far we have thoroughly enjoyed including: The Cannery, The Denman Street Free House, Wild Garlic, Lombardo's, and a handful of others.

I've got about 100 other restaurant coupons ripped out ready to go or pages dog-eared that we hope to try by years end.

This book is just such a fantastic value as well as guide to try new places.

Has anyone else been trying some of the other restaurants in the E-book? Which have been your standouts?

[rm_blizzard]

One of our favourite coupon places each year is the Singapore Restaurant at 546 W Broadway. My wife lived in Singapore for a couple of years before moving to Vancouver and she raves about their spicy eggplant dish. They also have a tasty, mild beef curry dish. This place is very inexpensive; with the coupon, ridiculously cheap.

Here's a pic of the eggplant dish:

[fpang]

My last Ent. book meal was a couple weeks ago at Rossini's in Gastown. Thought, what the heck, let's go; the last few times I was there was not bad, plus they've got live Jazz. We got there at around 7 Sunday. There was a man playing the keyboard. Our waitress handed us the menu and directed our attention to Big Al's features.

"Big Al"? I thought he owned a restaurant on Rupert & 1st. I went there many years ago and had a good lunch there. A great character, and he'd step out of his kitchen once in a while to check on his customers. He's a pretty good chef, I'd think. So, I decided to order the chicken and shrimp jambalaya. Pretty spicy, and and good amount of shrimp. mmm.. my gf had a seafood sauce with her pasta. it was a bit on the overdone side for our tastes, but the sauce was good, fresh. Overall it was better than the last time I was there, and I think it had a lot to do with Big Al.

Check it out if you have the chance.

[BCinBC]

After a weekend of burgers, steaks and a skinfull of beer, I had the urge to eat something relatively healthy Tuesday night. Cruising the entertainment book, I spotted 5-Point on Main - which I remembered this time as the place where Butter had the spinach salad.

The first thing you notice upon arrival is it is loud. Hard ceiling with a kind of parabolic shape that reflects everything; hard walls, music turned up, and people drinking the cheap pitchers are turned up higher just so they can be heard. I would be fine with all of this if I was with my softball team drinking beer after a game, but alas I am not.

I have the spinach salad and, since it is wing nite, a dozen wings. N has the grilled vegetable tower. Wings are the breaded kind, which I think are almost always greasy. But at 35c they are typical pub wings, so no surprises. Hot are not that hot, honey garlic are okay though. Wing Nuts is not losing sleep over 5-Point, and 5-Point is not losing sleep over Wing Nuts.

Spinach salad is very good, you get a lot of stuff. Candied walnuts are great, and the feta is nice too. However I am of the mindset that one never gets full on salad, one just gets sick of eating it. I've now appeased my salad craving, so I stop eating. Again, it's a good salad, but...

The zucchini I sampled from the veg tower tastes good, but as N put it, the dish could have been served a little hotter. She likes the garlic mashed though.

All in all, with the glass of Sumac Ridge gewurtz and except for the wings, I had quite the girly meal. Which is not what I'd recommend this place for. Burgers looked good on other tables, and Big Rock (Traditional and something else, probably Grasshopper) is $4.29 a sleeve. Did I mention that pitchers are equally cheap? So next time I'll go for burgers and beer.