Dharma Garden Review

We were celebrating a friend's birthday and decided to try this place in Richmond. It's not very big in there but looks tidy. It's actually a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant.

When we entered my friend said for 4 people and the woman that worked there talked to us in this way that didn't sound very nice. She asked for our vaccination card and ID, doesn't say thank you or anything. She also acted so annoyed that she has to check these cards or just unhappy that we entered their restaurant. Another friend entered and we saw that woman look at our friend but she was just doing her own thing while my friend waited for her to check her vaccination card and ID. It took so long that my friend decided to sit down with us until that woman was free to check her cards. We didn't see her treat other people like that. It was probably the worse customer service ever. If she was the boss, she needs to change or no one would come back after one time. If she just works there I hope her boss can retrain her on customer service.

Anyways, aside from the horrible customer service, the food was not bad. We all ordered the crab meat tomatoe soup and the chicken noodle soup ($12.75). A friend wanted beef noodle soup but the woman said no beef. It's like how is it possible for a Vietnamese restaurant not to have beef (vegetarian)? Isn't that one of the main ingredients?

Friends said the crab meat tomatoe was very tomatoe and nothing really special, something they can make at home. They used the round thick type of noodle, different from normal pho. The taste was really plain as well.

Another friend and I thought the chicken noodle was actually not bad. It tasted like normal pho to us. They actually used the normal flat type of rice noodle in this one, I thought they only used the round ones for everything. The rice noodle was a bit overcooked, it was so soft that it breaks apart very easily. Some noodle were stuck together. The vegetarian chicken was not bad as well. Friend thought it was similar to real chicken. Large size was ok filling for me.

Their washroom had this really strong smell, not washroom smell but kind of like this oil smell that's been at the restaurant forever. I could even smell it through my mask. My clothes had that smelly smell on it too when I got home, had to steam it out but could still smell it. It was a bit gross.

Overall, food was not bad but really need to improve on their customer service. I was going to bring my hubby again but I don't think I will because of the customer service. We may go to the one in Burnaby someday but we'll see.

Belgian Fries Review

Hubby wanted to give me a surprise and he seemed to know I wanted to try this place and I never told him about it. I wanted to try this restaurant because of their well known poutine, tons of different toppings and looks very yummy.

This restaurant is more of a serve yourself restaurant. You order and they give you a vibrating disk. When your order is ready, you go pick it up. When you are done, you put the dishes in a bucket. 

The restaurant is ok size but not a lot of people inside, most were sitting at the patio because of covid.

We ordered the medium triple decker poutine ($15). The size was pretty big and more than enough for us two. Hubby said the large size is as big as a tray, probably can feed an extra person or two. It was really yummy but we thought it was a bit on the salty side. It had a good amount of gravy which I like because some place don't give you a lot and it seem so dry. Some of the fries were still crispy with the gravy. Nice amount of cheese, bacon, beef and chorizo.

Overall, very good and I would come back again to try their other flavours.

Viveau Sparkling Mineral Water Review

I got this as a sample from Social Nature. You can purchase this sparkling mineral water at any Save on Foods or Price Smart Foods locations. They should be in the soft drink or alcohol aisle.

The glass bottle was quite nice and easy to hold.

There are 3 different flavours and I got the apple cider one. It has a light apple juice/ apple cider smell to it. The drink tasted like a sparkling apple juice/ apple cider but the after taste was a bit plain or water like to me. It would be nice to have that apple cider after taste as well.

I forgot the original price for this product but I think it wasn't that expensive. 

Overall, quite good and refreshing, would love to try all the other flavours as well (blueberry and cherry I saw at the store).