A surprising find - Ricky's All Day Grill Victoria

I must say I was surprised by Ricky’s and the value of their meals for the quality and quantity. This was the first time that I ever ate at a Ricky’s. I’ve always associated them to be expensive (to be honest, I am not exactly sure why I associate them with being expensive). However, since it was Thanksgiving and there was really nothing interesting in the area beside fast food, my mother and I decided to give this place a shot and make it a onetime thing if it was too expensive. After walking into the restaurant, I was greeted by the hostess who was very nice and pleasant. My first impression was that the place had a small town but a big city restaurant to it. We were seated followed by the waitress asking what drinks we would like. My mother being the hipster she can be asked for hot water while the happy-go-lucky me asked for just water. A few moments later, the waitress came back with a miniature kettle of warm water and a cup for my mother and a cup of cold water for me. It was interesting how for the warm water, she gave my mom a small kettle.
While the waitress was grabbing us water, we looked through the menu. I must say, the selection is pretty interesting. They had a Turkey Dinner on special which included salad, turkey, soup and dessert. It looked fancy, but as I was running the Victoria Half-Marathon the next day, I wanted something a bit on the lighter end. Flipping through their menu, there were a good variety of food that is good for anyone from vegetarians to non-vegetarians. The main categories included burgers, wraps, pasta and a wide variety of appetizers. They also had a good assortment of sides that came with the burgers / wraps which include salad, fries and/or onion rings, potato wedges and tumbleweed chips.
Upon seeing the tumbleweed chips as an option, my attention was grabbed. I had a hard time choosing, so I decided to go with something that had chicken, which lead me to get the Zorba the Greek Chicken Wrap. My mother got the mushroom sandwich. The pricing for these were pretty fair at about $13 per order. We also decided to get a side order of flatbread to get a bit more carbs in my system before the race the next day (which was about $7).

Soon after we placed our orders, the food came. I must say, I was very impressed with the portions. The tumbleweed chips look so good. The wrap was also very good as the cheese and chicken made the right blend. The tumbleweed chips were good too as they were freshly made, and the taste of fresh chips is just so fantastic… Unlike the chips you get at the store bagged, fresh chips have more flavour and fullness (vs more dry store bought chips).
Before we left, I had a nice conversation with our waitress. She is a local and she was telling about how her son is graduating school in media production and how she is excited about her some coming home. I guess that is also one part of why I love this experience at Ricky’s so much. The fact that you can have conversations with the people too, which adds more meaning to the food. Overall, the atmosphere is great, people is nice, price is fair, I would definitely come back again if I was in town.

Dining with the sea and the mountains (BC FERRIES PACIFIC BUFFET REVIEW)

I’ve always seen the signs for the buffet when I board this route from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay, however, I never been interested in eating here as I get turned off by the price. That said, if compared to buffets in Vancouver and other places, the pricing is relatively similar. In addition, I was starving after I finished running in the Victoria Half-Marathon, so I decided to go for it during lunch and boy was it good! Coming into the buffet, the dining hall is pretty big. However, the best part of the dining hall is the environment as it’s at the back of the ferry (if you are on Coastal Celebration) and you have a view of the sea as you sail. It’s not exactly 360 degrees but it is close to 300 degrees.

The view is pretty magnificent. After paying for the entry into the buffet, your host will take you into the dining area to be seated. The environment is more on the quiet side even with the dining room all full. The also had faint elevator music (I am not sure how to deUnlike buffets that I am used to going, they don’t ask you if you would like a drink (which is good because the drinks usually cost extra, so I don’t get it anyway). Here at the Pacific Buffet, there is a selection of coffee/tea and 6 different soft drinks to choose from. Of course, being the caffine addict I am, I went straight for the coffee.

 When it comes to the selection of food, it is fair. There isn’t a huge variety, however, there is a fair bit. The main entrees already have at least 8 dishes. The dishes range from shrimp to salmon to pork curry to spring rolls. They also have rice, and teriyaki noodles. My favourite dish was the vegetarian ravioli. The perfect blend of mushroom inside the ravioli coupled with the cheesy sauce made it a mouth watering combination. I also liked the pork curry and spring rolls. It had a fresh taste to them. Besides main entrees, there was a salad bar that contains a large variety of condiments on the side for you to choose from.
There was also bread (baguettes that were sliced up with a selection of either margarine and butter). The condiments ranged from shrimp to different dried nuts and lemons. Personally I didn’t have too much of this. The most impressive however, was their dessert selection. As a marathon runner and health nut I shouldn’t be advocating for this (because they only had 1 variety of fruits when I was here – watermelon), but their cake and sweets selection was NICE. There was a table just for cheese cake, whip cream and strawberry sauce. In addition, there was another counter for a variety of cakes and macaroons. YES… macaroons, that was the first time I’ve ever macaroons appear at a buffet. Have I mentioned the views?! Sitting here is just absolutely gorgeous. Surrounded by islands and mountains with the sea and the sun reflecting the trees off the water… it is absolutely gorgeous. Overall, I would say the Pacific Buffet is worth coming to. The price is fair and also it is a great place to view the scenery and have a great meal.

Great service but average hotel (Arbutus Inn Victoria)

It was a week to the Victoria Marathon when I realized that I forgot to book a hotel. I did a quick search on Hotels.com and the one that was the closest I can find was Arbutus Inn. It’s located about 2.5km from Downtown Victoria. On the map it seemed relatively close, however when you actually arrive downtown and you walk to the hotel, it takes a good half an hour.
From the exterior, the hotel looks like any other motel/inn in the area. The only exception was that this hotel also doubles as a car rental place for National Car Rentals. Walking into the lobby, the heater was turned on full blast (I understand that it is cold outside… but the temperature inside was like the tropics compared to the comfortable type of warmth). The hotel front desk was split into two parts where one part was for National Car Rentals and the other was for the hotel check in. Both side of the hotel front desk was staffed with people. The lobby also has a vending machine for food and drinks and basic amenities for a bit of a higher price margin. When I checked in, the hotel check in lady was very nice. I explained that I was running in the marathon the next morning and I had to leave early. After hearing that she immediately helped me look for bus routes (I was already expecting to walk and knew busses don’t run that early but that was still a very nice gesture of her). After checking in and authorizing my credit card for deposits, I proceeded to my room.
The interior of the building takes on a slightly retro feel and a retro smell of wood. The lobby is actually located on the second floor as the building is built on an incline. As I walked upstairs towards my room, it nothing out of the ordinary besides the look of a retro hallway.
The room itself was very tidy on first inspection. It was a bit stuffy but everything was there. The washrooms had all of the basic amenities such as shampoo, soap and etc… The room also had an air conditioner, fridge, microwave, a hot water boiler, TV and coffee packets (where you boil hot water and pour it over the coffee packets). The only “A-HA!” moment I had was while I was showering.. I realized that the air vent wasn’t on. My first instinct was: “Who on Earth designed this place? It’s making this bathroom feel like a sauna”. I wasn’t until I finished showering, I noticed a small knob (very vintage feeling too) that you can turn on to activate the ceiling fan in the shower…
Overall, the hotel stay was fair. The facilities is slightly on the old side, but the surrounding area is pretty decent in the sense that Mayfair mall is just across the street. If you are looking for food or anything, it is convenient. I would say that the cost of the stay was a bit on the expensive side (At $180 or $212 including tax), however, I am sure if you booked earlier enough the cost would be lower.

Vintage with a bit of an Abercrombie and Fitch feel (The Local Downtown Victoria)

After walking along the edge of the harbour, I noticed there was a pub with a patio that looked pretty cool. It had it's servers all dressed in beach flashy coloured (but not swimming suit) clothes so I decided to go in for lunch.
At first, the insides reminded me of an antique shop and the big moose coupled with the dark lighting sort of gave it an Abercrombie and Fitch sort of feel. When the waitress took me to my seat, she also brought the water and the menu.
In terms of the menu options, there were not much to choose from as compared to other pubs but they did have a decent (maybe around 20 of each type) selection of burgers, misc (like steak and fish and chips) and starters. They also had 2 selection of soup. All of the options for the burgers were around $15.
 I decided to get the most simple option that I can see and that was the grilled chicken burger (they call it something fancy but it literally was just a grilled burger). I also decided to choose fries (I know, not healthy. It is however a good way to compare with other pubs on whether or not the food is good.) To compensate for the fat on the fries, I also decided to ask for no mayo in my burger.

When the food came, the presentation was pretty interesting. The burger and fries was served on a piece of wood with the name of the pub engraved on it. I thought that was pretty cool (though hard to wash).
 The fries tasted like they were freshly cut and fried while the burger tasted fresh. The cheese in the burger wasn't the processed cheese that many burger places use either. The quality was pretty good and for the location,15 dollars was not too bad. Overall I like this place and would definitely come back again!

Vintage and comfy eating atmosphere but cheap tasting noodles (Wai Lai Yuen Victoria Review)

In the midst of Downtown Victoria, I think this is the only bakery/ restaurant on the street. I was here with my mom and brother and we were looking for something that was not too heavy, something that we can just eat and go (rather than deal with left overs and having to share). When we came across this place, we realized that they sell wontons, so at the first instinct we went in.
   When you walk into this place, you will find the front of the restaurant to be a bakery. When it comes to the selection of baked goods, the bakery carries a Cantonese style/ Hong Kong type selection. These selections include things like egg tarts and buns. Behind the bakery section is the restaurant section.
   We arrived around lunch time and it wasn't too busy. We were seated immediately and the menu was brought to us. One thing I must point out is that everything here feels vintage. The tables and plates (or maybe it's because of the dim lighting here) makes it feel as if some of these things come from some sort of museum.
   After we were seated, the waitress came and brought us our menu. The menu featured many of the things such as fried rice, and wontons (typical things you would find at a Chinese restaurant). There were pictures of some of the items but not all of the items were displayed. After looking through the menu, we decided to give the Wontons a try.
Chinese restaurants usually put MSG and a lot of oil into their soups and things that they cook. Knowing that, my mom decided to ask the waitress if it was possible to not put as much MSG into our Wonton noodle soup. The waitress explained that the soup was already prepared so nothing can be changed. After we placed our order, the Wonton Noodle Soup arrived.
The portions was average in size. I would say the price was a bit high because in Vancouver the prices for Wonton Soup would be a bit lower. That said, given that it was in Victoria, the price margins might be different. The wontons tasted pretty average, however the noodles tasted slightly on the cheap side.
You can tell that the noodles were purchased from a discount retailer because the texture and taste was lacking. Overall, besides the noodles tasting a bit funny... The overall price was average and it is pretty interesting to eat at a vintage feeling restuarant in Chinatown.