Scoozi's: Homey and comforting deliciousness but not too friendly for the wallet =/

Since it was way past noon but we had a craving for some brunchy foods, Adorables and I wandered over to Scoozis after seeing their high ratings online.










Restaurant: Scoozis Mediterranean Bar & Grill (visit their website here)

Location: 445 Howe Street, Vancouver
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Price range: $15+





Date of visit: December 15, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 4/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 3.5/5

It wasn't very busy (nearly empty) and we were greeted warmly by a server then seated relatively quickly. We were told that they were very busy earlier and we came at a great time because they just calmed down a bit. Excited, we studied the menu to decide upon a Superb Scoozis Breakfast Deep Dish ($12.95) because we read that they were well known for their deep dishes. I was surprised by how small it was, but the flavors were there. This comfort food was amazing! Loved the creaminess of it and how well the spinach and tomatoes worked together with the cheese and ham. Bread at the bottom was a bit hard to scrape off though (it was stuck on TIGHT!)

Overall, had an enjoyable experience, waiters were all very friendly and this felt like a very homey establishment =) Besides it being a bit pricey, the food itself is delicious!!

Look how cute they were! :D

Sushi &: Hit or miss, glad I hit most of the time =D

Finally finished my finals, so I'm rewarding myself to sushi (of course)!! =D I really wanted to go to Sushi Elephant after my brother went and said it was "ok" (most things are ok to him). Turns out they already closed down and another restaurant had taken its place. Still a Japanese restaurant, so might as well try! The new name is odd to me though-- Sushi & . . . (what?!?!) haha

Restaurant: Sushi &

Location: 205- 403 North Road, Coquitlam
Cuisine: Japanese, Sushi
Price range: $10-20





Date of visit: December 12, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4/5
Buck worthy? 5/5

Ok. I may have ordered too much in my excitement, but packed it up to feed le parents after hehe ^-^ Ordered a Nigiri Sushi Combo B ($11.95). I felt it was a pretty good deal, there were 2 Hokkigai, 2 Tai, 2 Ebi, 3 Tuna, and 3 Salmon nigiri. The tai was very chewy and springy. Besides the difficulty biting the piece in half, it was very fresh. Hokkigai was nothing special, lots of rice for the little pieces of sashimi =/ Fresh though! Now the tuna was the only thing disappointing me a bit, it was still frozen when I bit into it. Little bits of frozen as I chomped down. The tuna was as fresh as flash-frozen could be I suppose. Not too mush and didn't have the odd sour taste I get with some tuna. I packed the salmon home, mom thought the fish was great and the rice was well-cooked.

Also ordered a Sakura Roll ($6.95) because I wanted chopped scallop in some form. Scallops were fresh but the roll itself threatened to fall apart upon picking up. Tuna was nothing special, just chopped up tuna. Liked the spicy though, added some kick to the roll and overall went super well with the creamy chopped scallops ^w^

Volibear got quite a few items, the first was the Chicken Yakisoba ($8.95)-- twas GIANT!! He was surprised by the sheer amount of food on the sizzling hot plate. It smelled pretty good, and he liked it. Not a lot of chicken I saw though.

And a Sushi Pizza ($5.95). The owner(?) was so cute, she offered to clear stuff so I could get a good picture of the dish haha xD Anyways, it was very simple and for the price, fair. Deep fried rice patty topped with smoked salmon, avocado, and copious amounts of imitation crab and some tobiko. Together it was pretty amazing.

Here's me trying to take a bite of this giant! It was really thick so it was difficult to take a bite without disassembling it (I somehow did it though!). The deep fried rice patty with that salmon had me. I loved the combo.

His last item. . . a Dragon Roll ($7.95) which he eventually had to partially pack home because there was just too much food. It looked packed with ingredients though =D

And a rather late RL arrived to order a Volcano Roll ($7.95) and only that. Made me feel like... a super-excited-to-be-done-finals-glutton soIdon'tcaretoomuch. hehe. This was spicy, but not too overwhelming. It was like an awesome roll without the bonito. And spicy. Not a fan of warm/hot rolls, especially if it's Cali-roll-based. The "miss" of the meal.

Attentive servers, the restaurant started to fill up a bit after we sat down (had me worried a little when it was empty). Definitely going to bring le parents here to try more stuff and satisfy cravings on my days of hunger... otherwise back to smaller sushi portion sizes hehe =)

Happy Holidays everyone! Eat awayyyy (that's what my excuse if for the next month or so)

Mega Sushi: An underwhelming experience indeed.

Before Bonnishii's photoshoot, we met up for some yummies to fill out tummies ;) Was studying with Adorables before this around the area, so we came here! High ratings, should be safe.









Restaurant: Mega Sushi (visit their website here)

Location: 100-3131 Chatham Street, Richmond
Cuisine: Japanese
Price range: $15+





Date of visit: December 8, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 4.5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 3.5/5
Buck worthy? 3/5

Looked at their lunch box menu and it looked really random. Bonnishii ordered a Nigiri Sushi Set ($11.95) which piqued my interest at once point, but decided against it. She rated it to be "underwhelming" and she would "give it a 3".

Adorables ordered the Chirashi don and Udon set ($12.95). So loaded with carby items, but joking about it being "trashy" was too fun to give up =P The Chirashi don was actually pretty good, had some radish in it and lots of sashimi on top. I had the hamachi and it was fresh, rice was nicely cooked.

Now this udon on the other hand was subpar. Perhaps I hold higher expectations for moderate-expensive Japanese restaurants because packaged udon is unacceptable in my books. Even some lower quality Japanese restaurants I've been at had frozen udon. The major difference is the texture and taste of the udon. Packaged udon lacks chewiness and has a slight sour taste to it (due to the preservation process I believe).

BunnyG (our photographer) ordered a Sakura set ($14.95)-- also captured my attention for a little while, but again, had some items I didn't want to eat, hence not picked. He noted his box wasn't enough to fill him up, and tbh, unless you eat very little like I do, you'd probably need to order something on top of the bento to fill yourself.

Finally my items, which came from many minutes of indecision and choices. Got me overly excited only to be... grounded. HARD. Anyways. Ordered three nigiri: Hamachi ($2.95), Uni ($2.95), and Chopped Scallop ($2.25). They didn't have Ika =( Hamachi was fresh and was crunchy (loved it). Uni was what I classify as "semi-fresh" because I did taste some unfresh bits-- if that's even possible. Otherwise very creamy and delicious. The balance of rice : topping was well done. The chopped scallop was good too, very fresh and large pieces of scallop (not overly chopped up).

Also ordered a Rainbow Roll ($11.95) and it was utterly disappointing. Where's the rainbow in this?! Not too impressed. At least the roll didn't fall apart? At least the fish was fresh and there wasn't too much rice in it =) Avocados inside were delicious!

Perhaps Adorable's picture makes it look better =/

Overall the servers were attentive and kept asking how everything was. However, with the lack of consistent quality, I'm not sure if I'll be back. Might go for that Froyo nearby instead =P Or other Japanese restaurants littered in the area!

Linked cranes courtesy of Adorables--is that even allowed?!

Happy Holidays everyone!