This past weekend Phebe and I had the opportunity to take a weekend off and head over to Hongcouver…err, I mean Vancouver. For many of you who don’t know, it was Phebe’s birthday. We decided to celebrate it by having some good eats and doing some shopping and spending time together. The night we arrived to my grandma’s place on Friday it was snowing! It was quite the treat consider how often it snows in April and in particular on Phebe’s birthday! We didn’t have the opportunity to head out for dinner since we arrived around 9:30pm. But thanks to my grandma, she had made us some good old home cooked meals for us to enjoy. What’s nice about our visit to my grandma’s is not only her food but her cable subscription to the Chinese channels. Phebe was absolutely glued to the T.V.! I think both nights that we had stayed there, both Phebe and my grandma had stayed up late past midnight to finish watching their dramas!
The next day, after 5 hours of hard core shopping, we decided it was time for dinner. We decided to walk down Robson Street and choose one from there. We stumbled upon this Korean restaurant that we thought looked good. Everything was fine about the restaurant: the food was great, the atmosphere was good, and the bathrooms were clean. The only thing missing was their customer service. I later learned from Phebe that Koreans have the reputation of having one of the worst customer service compared to all the other Asian groups. The greeter lady didn’t even great us at the front. We had to wait a long time to even get our table even though I saw so many tables empty. When we finally sat down, our regular waitress who took our order didn’t even come back to our table until we were done eating, which was about 20 minutes after the fact. We had to wave down other waitresses to fill our teas, and get refills for starter dishes. What’s worse was that during our dinner, we felt this sudden gust of wind coming from the ventilation ducts above onto our table. It got so cold that I had to put on my fleece. It didn’t happen once but twice. And when it did happen again, the table next to us said some words that I don’t even think I can even write on this blog. Nobody came by to explain what it was. When it was time to pay our bill, I could’ve went to the front counter to pay but that would’ve been too easy. Instead, I wanted to see how long it took them to want my money. After waiting about 10 or so minutes, I decided to waive the bill like a flag to see if they notice. Surprisingly, it took them almost a whole minute for them to come by. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen this so bad.
The next day we went to a Chinese restaurant called Hon’s Noodle House. If you’ve never been here before, you definately have to try. Compared to last night, the service was a lot better. First, they seated you promptly even though it was busy, took your order right away and refilled your drinks when it was low. They even gave us the bill mid-way through so didn’t have to ask! On top of that, the portions were huge and the price was affordable. Surprisingly we didn’t have room to finish everything we ordered and had to take some home!
Pictures from our Korean dinner:
