Rating / 2 out of 5 stars

Cambie Vietnamese Restaurant on Main Street was, as its name suggests, once located on the corner of Cambie and King Edward — which is now home to one of the new Canada Line stations. The service has remained similar — the owner is still an overly eager host excitedly greeting customers with his distinctive catchphrase, “Hello my friend,” and finishing off every sentence he speaks with “my friend.” The host’s enthusiasm aside, we wanted to see how well the food’s quality had made with the move to its new home on Main Street.

Cambie’s Vietnamese Restaurant decor has always been a mishmash of random found objects: Christmas lights, Spanish looking knick knacks and Asian artwork are scattered all over the dining room. Wine glasses sit on top of red cloth napkins in an (unsuccessful) attempt to elevate the restaurant’s poshness. The space is bigger than the previous location but lacks the warmth and personality it once had.

(Top to bottom: 1. Prawn salad rolls. 2. Standard Vietnamese fixings: bean sprouts, lime, basil and hot peppers.)

It was empty when we walked in. An older gentleman (not the friendly guy) gestured for us to sit wherever we liked. He appeared slightly annoyed he may now actually have to do some work. Tre orders the beef noodle soup (Pho), while I order noodle soup with just beef tripe. To accompany our soup we order prawn salad rolls. The soup broth was decent, but was filled with more noodles and less meat. The prawn salad rolls were only okay. The rice wrap tasted a bit stale and over cooked, but the prawns were not bad.

Cambie Vietnamese Restaurant is known for their friendly service and ample portions. The owner will even go out of his way to customize your dish to your liking if you have particular demands. But given the number of quality Vietnamese restaurants in this city (i.e. Le Do, Pho Hoang, etc.), this place wouldn’t exactly be our first pick. I’d prefer smaller and tastier portions than volume.

Perfect for: Vietnamese noodles soup, and to be fawned upon by the friendliest guy around… if you so happen to be in the area.

The Details

4136 Main Street, Vancouver
604.872.3455

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Sweet Revenge Patisserie on Main Street serves up a variety of desserts decked out in a boudoir-like atmosphere and a mish mash of early 19th century vibe. The dessert house is draped in deep, fiery red walls, wooden tables are scattered about, and old-time photographs and artwork pepper the walls. The decor at Sweet Revenge Patisserie is cute and quaint. The service, on the other, not so much.

Tre and I arrived during the evening on a weekend not expecting to get a table right away. But lucky for us there were two empty spots waiting to be filled. We stood at the door for about 10 minutes waiting to be seated. The host was behind the counter attending to something else, glanced at us, and went back to whatever he was doing. The lone waiter was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He eventually came and seated us. I was initially excited to sink my teeth into some yummy sweet goods, but was completely turned off by the lack of service. It was hot inside with no air circulation. Did I mention this place is small? Like, downtown condo small. But I remained optimistic the desserts would turn things around.

(Clockwise: 1. Some sexy lights. 2. Nice teacups. 3. Sexy, lacey doilies.)

Tre and I ordered a slice of cake to share. The Smooth Operator — unlike the classic 80′s song by Sade which is definitely smooth — this rendition is a chocolate sponge cake layered with mascarpone cheese, icing, fresh raspberries topped with white chocolate shavings and drizzled with raspberry coulis. To accompany our slice of decadence, we ordered a couple cups of tea. Earl Grey for moi, and a London Fog for Tre.

Sadly, the teas were nothing special. Tre’s London Fog was a disappointment: a mixture of flavourless tea and milk. My Earl Grey was nothing special and was light in flavour. Our Smooth Operator was okay at best. It tasted similar to a supermarket Black Forest cake that had been left uncovered in the refrigerator. For just under $10 a slice, we expected better — much better.

I was glad to leave Sweet Revenge’s stuffy dining room to get some fresh air. I had high hopes that Sweet Revenge Patisserie would become our new sweet spot to get our fix — but I think not. One thing I did like, though, was their gold trimmed tea cups, which were pretty dope.

Perfect for: A glimpse into the past. And very nice tea cups.

The Details

4160 Main Street, Vancouver
604.879.7933
sweet-revenge.ca

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Helen’s Grill Restaurant on Main street is an old fashioned mom and pop diner that serves breakfasts all day. Old school juke boxes are situated beside each table with burgundy booths and black and white checkered floors. Helen’s is like a time warp.

It’s been while since Tre and I have dined here, but we were craving for some greasy spoon dishes and didn’t feel like hitting our usual spots. So we thought it would be nice to check out Helen’s Grill & Restaurant again. Like other old school diners, Helen’s menu is basically diner food plus some other ethnic cuisine — usually those originating from the owners’ homeland. So in addition to sandwiches and burgers, Helen’s also offers Gyros and other Greek dishes like Souvlaki.

(Top to bottom: 1. The standard greasy spoon condiments. 2. Mmm… eggs and sausage.)

Tre orders the all day breakfast special. For $6.95, the breakfast comes with: two eggs, pancakes, and sausage. I order two eggs which comes with hash browns and toast, also for $6.95. The food is so so. The eggs were cooked nicely and the pancakes were light and fluffy. But the hash browns needed some more love. They were tasteless, bland and mushy.

(Clockwise: 1. An old school jukebox sits next to each table. 2. Atmosphere. 3. Toast and jam.)

The prices are a bit high compared to other mom and pop diners. And the food didn’t really satisfy our greasy spoon cravings. For $23 including coffees, taxes and tips, we could have ate at another greasy spoon and had money left over. Helen’s Grill and Restaurant does have a unique atmosphere, which some greasy spoons lack. But even though the atmosphere was cool, the food was lukewarm.

Perfect for:

Reminiscing.

The Details

4102 Main St, Vancouver
604.874.4413

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars :

Deacon’s Corner, a new old school diner, is aiming to bring a little bit of personality to the far edges of Gastown. They serve classic diner style breakfasts at reasonable prices to an up and coming, but still sketchy part of town.

What if you could dine at a future classic diner; one that still has the freshly-painted new restaurant smell? Well, it might be a little something like Deacon’s Corner — a restaurant with all the character of an old-school diner, but appears to have been hermetically sealed for several decades: complete with checkered tiles, swivel bar stools and squeaky clean condiment baskets at each table.

The dining room is filled with a melange of Main street hipsters, local construction workers, business men and some folks that look like they may have simply wandered in by mistake. It was busy.

Case ordered the french toast with daily fruit compote. I wanted to check out the eggs and sausage, but couldn’t pass up the biscuit and country gravy. The waitress helpfully suggested that if I wanted both, I should really be ordering the hungry man sausage and biscuit meal. I didn’t disagree.

The french toast portions were generous — they used three gigantic, thick cut french bread and dunked it in a bath of cinammon egg batter. It was good. The fruit compote, however, was only so-so — nothing special.

My hungry man breakfast was — for a very hungry man: three eggs over easy, three homemade sausage patties, hasbrowns, and three biscuits slathered in country gravy. Jenny Craig would not approve. The eggs were well-cooked, but the sausages were a bit dry, and the hash was okay. The biscuits and gravy, however, were the stars.

At under $30 with taxes and tips, our meal wasn’t as much as a bargain as we had expected. To be fair, the portions are ridiculous. Regardless, any restaurant that brings simple, home cooked food to the city is a welcomed addition.

Perfect for:

A decent breakfast at a decent price for lost and wayward souls that accidentally find themselves on the border of Gastown and the Downtown Eastside.

The Details

101 Main Street, Vancouver
604.684.1555
deaconscorner.ca

Rating / 4 out of 5 stars

Crave is a trendy, urban bistro located in the Main Street Neighborhood. They serve grown up comfort food created by the former executive Chef of the Four Season’s Hotel. It’s a popular little spot, which can make it really busy during dinner time. The line ups are long and can take up to an hour to be seated. But we’ve always had a good experience here, so we thought it was time to return to see if Crave was still on top of their game.

(Clockwise from left to right: 1. Beet Salad. 2. Short Rib Poutine. 3. Foie Gras Mayo.)

We arrived just before the dinner rush and the friendly wait staff seated us right away. We decided to grab some small plates to share. Tre was eyeing the short rib poutine which was hand cut parmesan truffle fries with short rib jus. For an extra $2, we added the foie gras mayo on the side (since we’ve taken up jogging again, we figured it would only be an extra couple of miles we’d have to huff and puff for). We also ordered the ahi tuna tempura roll: lightly battered sushi roll with ponzu and ginger. I normally avoid ordering sushi at non-Japanese establishments — especially after a particularly bad experience with a hideous sushi roll at Earl’s (I shudder just thinking about it). But I was curious and was hopeful this sushi roll wouldn’t be a disappointment. And to make sure we had something healthy to balance the oh-so-good, deep fried delights we were about to indulge in, we ordered roasted beet salad which consisted of goat cheese, greens and pumpkin oil dressing.

The food arrives, and everything is good — even the ahi tuna tempura roll. The lightly battered, fresh ahi tuna makes this sushi roll light and tasty, and not the potential disaster it could have been. Although tasty, don’t expect the roll to be that of a traditional sushi restaurant or else you’ll be disappointed. The short rib poutine is good: a decent portion of short rib is smothered on top of the parmesan truffle fries. The side mayo had two decent chunks of foie gras (although we were a little curious why it wasn’t actually blended with the mayo instead). The salad was delicious: light and refreshing with sweet bits of beets, thin slivers of peppers, cherry tomatoes and topped with sunflower seeds.

We were happy to see Crave on Main is still on top of their game. Not much has changed. The only downside is it can get quite hot and stuffy inside, since the space is tiny. You have the option to sit up front at the mini bar and have your meals, but it’s quite cramped. Other than that, we highly recommend it.

Perfect For: Comfort food with a modern twist including the best popcorn shrimp ever, and a lemon tart worth running the extra mile for.

The Details

3941 Main St. Vancouver
604.872.3663
craverestaurants.com