2011-10-03 Dinner @ Monk McQueens

601 Stamps Landing, Vancouver, BC

604-877-1351

Knowing that MomM was coming to town, we had to at least take her to one western meal.  Since her favorite restaurant, The Cannery, has shut down, we were looking for a nice seafood joint to bring her.  Buddha Girl spotted an Offeron coupon for Monk McQueens and I suggested that we could give it a try.  Walking into the restaurant, you get a hit that this place is aged.  We were the first customers of the night and we were offered a table in the middle of the main seating area, it was quite an open area, kind of awkward, so we asked for another table, perhaps a window seat.  The not-so-pleasant hostess mentioned that many tables were reserved, so we asked for a booth instead.  Hindsight, considering that she said that may tables were reserved, we only noticed three additional parties present as we finished our meals...but I digress (you can see what type mood I'm in).

The bread was soft, light and crispy.  Our server mentioned that these came right out of the oven.  Sorry MomM, no balsamic and lobster oil to dip, just butter spread.

MomJ started with a simple Monks Caesar Salad.  This was pretty good, but really, it's not a complicated salad to make.  Not sure if they made the dressing from scratch, but MomJ had no complaints here.

We ordered the Tiger Prawn Salad for MomM to start.  Instead of the usual blue cheese dressing, we asked for the mango dressing (offered as the dressing for another salad on the menu).  MomM enjoyed the salad, it was refreshing and simple.

I'm a sucker for crab cakes, so I ordered the Mascarpone Crab & Shrimp Cakes.  These were nicely done with a light bread coating, served with a balsamic reduction.  The surprise was the addition of the crab claws, MomM enjoyed this part.

Buddha Girl had the Harbenero Scented Seafood Tacos.  The harbenero gave the seafood a nice kick and the corn added a nice crunch texture.  Notably, the seafood was diced into chunks, but it was still moist.  Buddha Girl's not a taco person, but she really enjoyed this.

For main, MomJ ordered the Short Rib & Scallop Aqua Terra.  This was a fail.  The rib was meaty, but it was also quite tough and bland.  The rib was not braised long enough, so it was extremely chewy and lacked any flavor.  The creamed polenta and asparagus on the side was quite good, but the rib had already ruined the dish.  The sauce helped in flavor, but it was still tough to chew the meat.

MomM had the Grilled Wild Sockeye Salmon.  The salmon was cooked perfectly.  It was moist and well seasoned.  The sauce was done very well, but it was not needed.  The polenta cake was bland and was overcooked to the point where the cake lacked texture.  MomM was happy with the fish, but everything else (except the sauce) on the plate was quite disappointing.

I ordered the Roasted Sable Fish.  Like the salmon, this was cooked perfectly.  This was served atop one of the best risottos I've had in a long time.  I don't like beets, but roasted beets were good.  The overall portion, however, was a bit on the smaller side.

Buddha Girl loves bouillabaisse.  If you do too, don't order it here.  The Vancouver Bouillabaisse lacked flavor, depth and pretty much everything...including the salmon, as stated on the menu.  The crab didn't taste fresh, the clams were sandy and the mussels were fishy.  Considering that the service was already spotty, Buddha Girl didn't bother informing our server about the bad bouillabaisse.  After all, we don't plan to return.

Overall, the restaurant service was slow and weak, considering that there were only a small number of tables present.  The food execution started out nicely, but really disappointed us in the end.  Parking was another issue.  There were parking out front...but for valet only.  I noticed that there were some commercial parking spots right out front available for public parking at 6pm, but I also noticed that the valet moved what looked like employee vehicles (from valet parking lot) to those prime spots a few minutes before 6pm.