minoas greek taverna: not the place for seafood pasta

in vancouver, we eat greek food either for souvlaki or for the roast lamb but on this special day, we had a social shopper coupon for minoas greek taverna which had a platter for $29 dollars. seeing as this was probably not enough we ordered a seafood pasta as well and that was a big mistake.

dinner platter ($29 - original said to be $64) 2 skewers of chicken souvlaki, 2 biftekia spiced groud Beef patties, spanakopita spinach-pie appetizer, manitaria sautéed-mushrooms appetizer, plus 2 side Greek, 2 sides of rice, 2 sides of potatoes, pita bread & and appetizer tzatziki - the food on this platter was pretty good although quite standard to me and nothing special about any of the different appetizers. the chicken breast was a little dry, the pita was not as fluffy and warm as i like, and the mushrooms were quite oily but overall, for $29, this wasn't bad but NOT WORTH $64 for sure.
3.5/5

seafood pasta ($18.95): this was NOT GOOD at all…it was very dry and had so little seafood i would've just named it a sauce-less plain pasta. on top of that the pasta was SUPER soft and the whole thing lacked salt and flavour. one of the worst pasta's id ever had.
0/5

overall: with the coupon, it wasn't a bad experience but there are better greek restaurants and this place isn't really cheap either. honestly, the pasta has scared me off and i wouldn't return unless I'm desperate. 

waffle gone wild: a snack? nope a full meal.

after experiences at neros, waffles have become all the rage in vancouver and with a social shopper in hand for $12 including 2 drinks and 2 waffles waffle gone wild was mom and i's next food destination.

japanese matcha latte ($3.75): delicious and not too heavy or sweet but missing that pretty design

3.5/5

passionfruit slush ($4.75): looking back, probably a bad choice since it was winter time but it was tasty albeit a bit icy (it is a slush though)

3.5/5

original liege with ice cream and berry sauce (~$4): we went with the original waffle because all the flavour combos allowed for our voucher had loads of whipped cream but no ice cream. so for $1.99 + $1 + $.50, this was a fresh baked waffle as our ice cream started melting off right away! we had to have dessert before our "meal" but thats okay, it was so light and delicious! 

4.5/5

black forest ham and cheese ($5.99): with a mini salad, this was PACKED with ham and the savoury actually complimented the waffle very well! it wasn't too salty and the two of us couldn't finish both halves…but we decided that sweet waffles are our preference (: 

4/5 

overall: their menu is larger now (delayed post of course) and their waffles are quite different from neros as they only have liege but they are chewy but light at the same time! 

sushi one: there's better in steveston

in my hand, another social shopper this time for sushi one which was $25 worth of food for only $12. obviously with 3 people, we spent a lot more than that.

we ended up ordering 2 lunch specials which were 2 different special rolls that come with a side dish each, miso soup and salad for $11.95. 

spicy tuna sashimi (with combo): not all that spicy but tasted fine

3/5

flamed salmon sushi (with combo): more like burnt salmon sushi...but i like salmon so it was okay

2.75/5

scallop magma roll (spicy tuna topped with chopped scallop drizzled in black sesame sauce): i liked this roll the most out of everything we ate because of that sesame sauce. it was delicious and complemented the flavours really well. the only thing is that their rice is really dry and hard 

4.25/5

spider roll: deep fried soft shell crab: this roll was pretty rice heavy and the crab was over fried/over battered. do not recommend it 

2/5

we also got a bento box that came with gyoza and yakitori pictured here, and also some sushi/sashimi pieces. ($17.95)

gyoza & yakitori: yakitori was pretty good with moist chicken and gyoza was pan fried nicely 

3.5/5

toro sashimi: we got to choose the sashimi with this combo and decided to go for the most expensive but the slices were pretty small but still good. 

nigri: tasted okay, good assortment i guess? 

tobiko and egg ($6.95): flying fish roe topped with quail egg: this was VERY overpriced and did not taste special at all...not worth it

2.5/5

overall: sushi one is really over priced for the food you get but their lunch specials are OKAY. overall, i would not return without a groupon (and i dont think you can...i believe it is closed) but they have an original location called shota sushi in vancouver. 

capstone tea and fondue: not quite high tea - mid height?

another social shopper deal led me to capstone tea and fondue in richmond for their high tea set which included savoury and sweet treats with 2 drinks as well.

matcha latte: not the prettiest latte art but was tasty and smooth 

3.5/5

matcha smoothie (half sweet): a bit too icy for my liking and the matcha flavour was lacking

2.5/5

the entire tea set; details below except for macarons and ice cream: store bought, nothing special

2/5 

mini sandwiches: filled with greens and ham were nothing special..just bread with some boring/cheap and generic fillings

1.5/5

creme filled bun, chocolate chip macadamia nut cookie: all extremely sweet and store bought

1.5/5

mini strudels: tasted like they came straight from a box and even a bit stale

1.5/5

overall: for only $20 this was a nice relaxing afternoon and was fun for the dainty ness that is high tea but i would never pay the full price ($40) for the quality and amount of food we got. it all came from a box and could easily be replicated elsewhere. i would only return if another group buy enticed me to.