Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill

So, my first trip to Vancouver – and on the first day right after I got checked into my hotel, I found myself wanting seafood! Calgary doesn’t offer anything great since we’re not near the ocean, and the front desk agent recommended us to Steveston which really wasn’t far away at all! We parked our car and took a walk towards the wharf and saw a restaurant called Shady Island Seafood Bar & Grill. How bad can it be? There was guests in the restaurant constantly at the odd hour we were there… so, we walked in for a try! Right at the door, it advertised Award Winning Seafood Chowder, so I knew I was going to get a bowl of soup!

This wasn’t really a meal and more like a huge sampling snack! So, the first thing we ordered was Mama’s Seafood Chowder which was really delicious actually! It was creamy with quite a few chunks of seafood in the chowder!

Then, we also had some BC Crab Happy Cakes which was a plate of crab cakes with a roasted red pepper aioli and tartar sauce to dip in. The crab cakes weren’t the best I have ever had, nor were they the worst. They were decent, but they were filled with lots of crab meat inside – without too much binding agent.

Our main was the Seafood Melt which was a patty made with baby shrimp & crab with mayo on foccacia – then topped with mozzarella and probably put in the broiler to melt the cheese. It came with a huge bed of fries on the side – which we never finished. Out of the entire meal, and if I had to pick something I didn’t like the most – it would probably be this main. It didn’t taste like there was enough taste to it and it was rather dry.

To our main dish, we shared a side dish, the Lobster Morsels which was lobsters and scallops on a cast iron plate – so it was sizzling! This dish had more of an Asian flair to it as it was seasoned with basically ginger and soy sauce.

My overall experience was decent. The place was a little dark, but it was a gloomy day. The bathrooms were on the upstairs, and it was a tad creepy. The food was quite good, so we left quite satisfied! We definitely can’t get anything like this back home, so we got nothing to complain about!

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill on Urbanspoon

Shady Island Seafood Bar and Grill

#112 – 3800 Bayview Street
Richmond, BC V7E5W3
(604) 275-6587
Steveston

Prince Seafood Restaurant – Calgary, Alberta

Prince Seafood Restaurant is a pretty decent dim sum restaurant. I would say the dim sum tastes alright, but for it’s price, it’s not cheap either! Sure, it’s not as expensive as some other places, but it’s pretty high for it’s taste and quality!

Price does have some very unique dim sum that I really enjoyed! They have this crispy crepe dish that is really good fresh! I would probably be back for that!

We went just before Chinese New Years, and they had turnip cakes for sale — so, of course I ordered a plate during my dim sum experience first… and I was actually disappointed with it! It tasted burnt, and if you look at the picture… it doesn’t look burnt. So, I never actually got to buy any lo bak gao to take home.

Another really disappointment dish I had was the lau sha bao — which when made, creamy egg yolk would ooze out when you eat it. This one.. it was oozing oil, and a lot of it. It made it really distinguishing to eat.

My overall experience would be decent. I’ll stick to the regular dim sum and be a little bit adventurous at times. But, chances are I won’t be back. For the distance to get here, I would go elsewhere with better quality dim sum. I don’t mind the price tag if it’s actually worth it.

Prince Seafood Restaurant

2825 32 Ave NW
Calgary, AB
(403) 250-8880

Forbidden City Dinner

If you’re looking for a place that has Chinese food, with elegance, and sophistication, Forbidden City offers that along with great food. Be sure to join Forbidden City for dinner!

  • Celebrate at Forbidden City
  • Forbidden City
  • Forbidden City Bean Sprouts
  • Forbidden City Soup
  • Forbidden City Soup
  • Forbidden City Deep Fried Tofu
  • Forbidden City Crab Claw

Forbidden City Hot Pot

Forbidden City is a good place to go for good Chinese food. Forbidden City offers hot pot during the winter months, which is about $23/adult, and it is an “All You Can Eat” hot pot. I believe they start offering hot pot from November until the end of April.

We get to go there for dinner and dim sum a lot as my family enjoys the food there. I enjoy the food as well. The service, I think it’s good, but I’ve heard quite a lot of “poor service” stories, and that may be because we’re just familiar customers to them.

Here are some pictures from Hot Pot during the winter:

  • Hot Pot Utensils
  • Hot Pot Sauces
  • Hot Pot: Cuttlefish Balls, Deep Fried Fish Balls, Imitation Crab Meat
  • Hot Pot at Forbidden City Calgary
  • Hot Pot: Beef Slices
  • Hot Pot: Deep Fried Donut with Shrimp Paste
  • Hot Pot: Fatty Pork Slices - stomach
  • Hot Pot: Cuttlefish
  • Hot Pot: Cooked vermicelli  with Chinese Mushroom

Be sure to check out Forbidden City Dinner Review

Forbidden City Dim Sum & Seafood

999 36 St NE
Calgary, AB T2A
(403) 250-1848

Monday – Thursday 10AM – 10PM;
Friday 10AM – 11PM;
Saturday 9:30AM – 11PM;
Sunday 9:30AM – 10PM

Forbidden City Dim Sum & Seafood

Dim sum at Forbidden City really is quite excellent. Sure, it costs more than almost all the places in Calgary, but it’s got really good quality dim sum in the city.

The service is alright, they do not use the old fashion steam carts that they push around anymore — probably for safety reasons. Here, they give you a form, and you mark own what you want, and they’ll bring you just that. It’s quite different than traditional dim sum, and the actual food is quite special as well.

Sometimes, I do miss the old fashion style, because.. even if you’re not hungry, and something looks or smells extra delicious, you’d get it. Now, you just eat what you ordered. I guess it’s good if you’re limiting yourself, but it doesn’t allow you to try new things that you wouldn’t have thought of while sitting down and marking your little sheet. Regardless, I really like it here! On weekends, be prepared to wait outside as the lines usually get quite long!

  • Forbidden City Fried Squid
  • Forbidden City Beef Balls
  • Forbidden City BBQ Pork bun
  • Forbidden City Tripe
  • Forbidden City Shrimp dumplings
  • Forbidden City Pork Dumpling
  • Forbidden City Beef
  • Forbidden City Spare Ribs
  • Forbidden City Rice Crepes

Forbidden City Dim Sum & Seafood on Urbanspoon

Forbidden City Dim Sum & Seafood

999 36 St NE
Calgary, AB T2A
(403) 250-1848

Monday – Thursday 10AM – 10PM;
Friday 10AM – 11PM;
Saturday 9:30AM – 11PM;
Sunday 9:30AM – 10PM