Riya's pizza - another groupon adventure

I got lazy cooking today so I suggested to Jordan that we use the groupon deal I've purchased for Riya's pizza to solve our dinner problem.

Being Jordan, he gladly agreed :)

(without knowing that the pizzeria is actually really, REALLY out of the way being on Dunbar near UBC... anyhow...)

I have purchased this groupon sometime near 23rd of August.

The reason why I want to use it so quickly is because, only after I have made my purchase, that I have realized that the pizzeria is of quite a low reputation among the fellow urbanspoon diners.

I am going to start my blog with a fair warning: we did not enjoy our experience there.

Before I mention why, here is what we got:

Butter chicken pizza - $17.95 - Flavoured Chicken Breast With Tasty Butter Chicken Sauce - 3.5/5

Butter chicken pizza - $17.95 - Flavoured Chicken Breast With Tasty Butter Chicken Sauce - 3.5/5

Butter chicken pizza - $17.95 - Flavoured Chicken Breast With Tasty Butter Chicken Sauce - 3.5/5

The butter chicken pizza was surely unique.

The chicken breast meats were marinated in curry powder and the sauce was a tasty butter chicken sauce.

I quite enjoyed the sauce although it was more marsala and sweet rather than tangy and buttery butter chicken - I guess I just prefer the butter chicken that way! (authenticity aside!)

The dough was just enough thickness and was crispy and chewy at the same time.  The herbs (Rosemary and Thyme) found in the dough provided enough flavour to make the dough enojoyable as it is.

My only complain would be that the pizzas were noticeably lacking in cheese. 

The meat madness pizza - $17.95 - Loaded with Pepperoni, Genoa Salami, Italian Sausage, Ham and Bacon - 2.5/5

The meat madness pizza was really salty - which is normal because it is generally loaded with cured meats such as pepperoni and salamis.  

The meat madness pizza - $17.95 - Loaded with Pepperoni, Genoa Salami, Italian Sausage, Ham and Bacon - 2.5/5

Again, the pizza itself was alright.
The dough was the same as the butter chicken and the tomato sauce was only passable.

It was an average pizza and certainly not worth $17.95 (at its regular price) - not a LOT of meats and certainly lacking in cheese!!

The meat madness pizza - $17.95 - Loaded with Pepperoni, Genoa Salami, Italian Sausage, Ham and Bacon - 2.5/5

The meat madness pizza - $17.95 - Loaded with Pepperoni, Genoa Salami, Italian Sausage, Ham and Bacon - 2.5/5

Now the reason why I said I did not enjoy our experience here...

It all starts with the options offered on groupon.  

There were essentially two options:

you could either purchase $19 for 2 large pizzas and one 2L pop Or...

$20 for $40 worth of food items.

I didn't want the pop, so I went for the second option of $20 for $40 worth of food.

When I called to place my order, I was NOT informed that there was no chicken wings available.

So when I got there ready to pay, the girl at the cashier told me that they didn't have anything else available other than pizzas.

She even told me that others who's purchased $20 for $40 groupons have opted for drinks so she semi-forcefully asked me to pick a drink instead.

Look, if I wanted the drink, I'd purchased the $19 groupon deal.

I got really frustrated trying to explain to her about the 2 different groupons that were offered.  At the end, she offered cash-back which I have gladly accepted.

Food - 2.5/5 - on average at the best.  I wouldn't pay regular price for their items.... just seems way too much of a rip-off!

Ambiance - N/A - a very small take-out joint.  You wouldn't expect yourself to be eating in!

Service - 1/5 - really poorly managed.  wouldn't recommend returning!

Late lunch at Hell's Kitchen

I have had this groupon from Hell's kitchen for too long.

So, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, we finally decided to drive out to Kits for this meal.

(more like the expiration date is approaching.....)

Hell's kitchen is not very highly regarded among the fellow Urbanspoon diners.

Guess it's time to find out on my own ;)

Upon arrival, we immediately realized that they were quite short staffed.  The poor hostess girl was both a server and a hostess; therefore we were quite neglected (10 minutes+ wait before she finally greeted us!)

Can't blame her tho, more like the management.

The A/C was obviously broken, so it was quite stuffy and hot inside of the restaurant.

So we decided to sat at the patio instead.

The groupon deal came with 2 appetizer sized salads (caesar or garden), 1 large pizza (up to $22), and 2 beers.

After we were seated, we were brought two menus.

When I opened mine....

surprise!

umm, bbq sauce finger prints... Kaaaaiinda not very appetizing..... :$

The hostess girl noticed it when she brought us the water so she offered to change it for me right away.  

Thank you! :)

coke & beer 

They were obviously understaffed today - our server seemed so busy and with 6 tables on the patio, he was serving all of us (plus who knows how many tables inside!)

We had to wait for quite a while before he came around to take our order.

The waiter was quick and efficient in taking our orders, other than the fact that we had to wait for quite a bit before we could actually catch him.

Jordan can't drink so he opted for coke, I had a lager.  The beer was a tad flat tho.

Hell's Salad - Organic mesclun greens, romaine hearts, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, house-made apple cider vinaigrette - $5 - 2/5

 The Garden salad, well, it was just a normal garden salad.  I had a doubt that the dressing was also store bought.  It was definitely not the apple cider vinaigrette as claimed in the menu.  It tasted somewhat like a honey mustard dressing (creamy, tangy, and sweet - didn't quite go with the delicate mesclun greens)

The reason I gave it a 2 instead of 2.5 is because I have found a little bit of rotten leaves in my salad... which I find it unforgivable because the only effort you need to put in, when you assemble a salad, is to see if there's any rotten or wilted leaves that are not suited for serving and the cook failed to do that.

:(

Caesar salad - Crisp romaine, toasted croutons, shaved asiago, house-made Caesar vinaigrette - $6 - 3/5

The Caesar tasted a lot better than my garden salad with the creamy and tangy dressing.  However I found the anchovy flavour is very weak in the dressing and the entire salad (as you may have noticed in this photo) is composed of the outer layer leaves of a roman lettuce (not the heart of lettuce)resulting in chewier texture of the leaves (instead of "crisp" as claimed by the menu)

Nevertheless there was generous amount of asiago and parmesan cheese and Jordan liked it.

The Soprano - Spicy capicolla, prosciutto ham, provolone cheese, basil, chorizo - $22 - 3/5

Let me explain...

This pizza was quite good with ample amount of toppings they have used and the thin and crispy dough.

It was a tad oily but it was understandable as basically every topping on this pizza would produce a lot of grease when cooked (other than basil........... hah)

The spicy capicolla, together with the chorizo provided just enough kick that excited our pallet yet it didn't send me to shower my tongue with ice water.

The baked prosciutto was nice and provolone provided enough creaminess to the pizza.

But the highlight had to be the BASIL!!

It provided herby-ness and slight bitterness to the pizza to cut through the otherwise somewhat heavy tasting pizza.

My only complain would be that they could have used a tad more basil.... maybe even fresh!

Maybe 1~2 fresh basil leaves on top of each slice... (or chopped up fresh basil leaves on the pizza!)

Then why only 3/5?

It was a nice pizza - but Jordan and I had a really difficult time justifying its price at $22 (reg price)... of course we are judging based on our entire experience here and from the slow service to the dingy interior with a broken A/C and dirty menu... And then the salads....

I can come up with many excuses for them because I am using a groupon and I feel like I am getting a deal so I shouldn't be complaining but, when I put my feet in a regular diner's shoe, I can only think of myself complaining about my dining experience.

The salads weren't that great and the pizza was a quite greasy... with a flat beer and slow service, it would have pushed me to the edge.

Over all, both Jordan and I felt indifferent towards our lunch experience (we did agree that the pizza was good, but not great enough for us to pay regular price with) and unless there's another groupon offering, we will not be back.

Food - 2.5/5 - average food, pizza of good quality - yet at $22/pizza we expected better! 

Service - 2/5 - really slow - but I will blame it on the management

Ambiance - 2/5 - broken A/C, VERY pub-ish looking place.  Not for romantic outing but a casual outing for sure.

Brunch at Verace pizzeria

assortment of flavoured olive oils - great for dipping your pizza crusts!!

Another brunch date with one of my bestest :)

I LOVE cafe nervosa from Toronto.  More specifically, the prociutto e rucola from cafe nervosa.  In my search of those neapolitan style pizzas ("style" because I don't exactly dig authenticity) in Vancouver, I have stumbled upon Verace pizzeria.  They've got their own stone oven and located just steps away from stadium Chinatown skytrain stationn, it was a perfect spot for our little brunch! 

Mista Insalate (Sm - $6.75, Lg - $12.75) - Mixed greens, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and roasted peppers tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, topped with pancetta crisp - 4/5

We arrived on a Thursday early afternoon around 1:30 pm and the place was pretty empty - only 2 tables were occupied and by the time we left the restaurant, it was completely empty.  After we were greeted and seated by the friendly server (who also appeared to be the manager), we asked for water and were given option of either still or sparkling - both for free!  Both Helen and I are not big fans of sparkling water so we opted for still but if you are a sparkling fan and have always hesitated to order in restaurants because some places can charge up to $6~$7 / 750mL, this is your chance! (my Cheap Chinese mind set is talking right now, anyhow...)

I already knew what I wanted to order and Helen made up her mind pretty quickly too.  We both wanted salad so we also decided to order a salad to start.

First to arrive was the Insalate Mista.  It was a HUGE salad with plethora of fresh butter and romaine lettuce, red and yellow peppers and cherry tomatoes.  The zesty and savoury pickled artichoke heart went nice with the crunchy leaves and the garlicky and tangy vinaigrette. I liked the idea of using pancetta crisp instead of crispy bacon because this version was less oily (possibly because it was dried then salt cured).  Over all it was a zesty salad but was really refreshing.  We both enjoyed it very much.                                                                                 

Prosciutto e Rucola - $17.25 - Plum tomato sauce, fior di latte mozzarella topped with prosciutto, fresh arugula, grana padano and evoo - 3/5

      Next up was my prosciutto e rucola.  When I was presented with the dish, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of arugula they piled up on to this pizza since arugula is one of my favourite green leafy veggies!  I just love its peppery, nutty flavour. (who am I kidding, what leafy veggies do I NOT like....?)  The crust looked great with the leoparding and it held up to the moisture from the sauce and everything else above.

After I dug in, indeed the crust was light yet chewy.  The sauce was more tangy than zesty, possibly due to the nature of the plum tomatoes (or added sugar during the sauce making) but when combined with the savoury prosciutto and nutty arugula, the flavours were well balanced and the tanginess really cut through the richness from the fat of prosciutto pieces as well as the creamy mozzarella and grana padano cheeses. 

However, I was not very happy with the prosciutto.  It could have been that we went on a bad day and that particular batch of prosciutto happened to be made from a pig with extremely stringy fat or they use lower quality prosciutto ( I really REALLY hope it's the former) - the prosciutto pieces were SO stringy and tough to chew that I had to spit most of it out, it was almost inedible.  Sadly, this place was not comparable to Cafe Nervosa's Prosciutto e Rucola.  Not just because of its rubber like prosciutto, but also the flavour.  I guess it's not always "more the better" even when it comes to veggies!  I found the flavour of arugula over powering everything else on that pizza and, please... use Parmigiano-Reggiano instead of grana padano?... It really would make a difference!

Funghi - $17.50 - Mushroom cream, cipollini balsamic onions, mixed crimini, portabella, and oyster mushrooms.  Topped with oregano, grana padano and evoo - 4.5/5

Our last pizza was Funghi, Helen's order.  

What a surprise!  This pizza was literally a flavour explosion of earthy crimini and portabella mushrooms.  The mushroom cream was garlicky and the balsamic cipollini onions were sweet and savoury and slightly tangy.  The slight bitterness of oregano was perfect to balance out all the creamy, earthy, richness of the toppings.  - 0.5 point for grana padano instead of  Parmigiano-Reggiano.  For the price of this pizza, it shouldn't be a problem to use parmigiano instead!  The flavour is richer and more complex!  

The flavoured olive oils were wonderful to dip the pizza crust.  I actually liked the garlic one the most!  The original was not bad either, but I just couldn't pick up too much red chili pepper from the chili pepper one so... that was my least favourite. 

Over all, we both enjoyed our dining experience here and we'd definitely come back for more yummies!!  (just no more prosciutto e rucola)

Final Verdict:

Food - 3.5/5

Service - 4/5 - friendly and tentative service!

Ambiance - 3.5/5 - depends on the occasion, not exactly a romantic spot (located right beside T&T supermarket so you tell me....? but still quite nice/ spacious)

Tips:

Pick up your "groupon now" deal ($10 for $20) before you head in!!