So after a very long tiresome day at work I decided I would just get some pizza from Pizza Garden on Smith right off of Granville street for take out and eat it at home while watching some tv. 

And I tend to go big or go home in terms of savings on buying more, so I bought a large 17" pizza with two different halves, Calabria (mozzarella, grano padano, pomodora, sausage and more) and on the other half Pollo Eccelente (alfredo sauce, chicken, spinach, red onion, roasted peppers). 

Review Time:

Food: 20/25
Service: 19/25
Atmosphere: 15/25
Value: 18/25

Total: 72/100 Average - Above Average

The pizza itself was quite tasty with a crispy thin crust, fresh ingredients and cooked in a wood stone fire oven (as I observed waiting for my pizza). It was massive as well, for being quite an eater I only finished 5 out of 8 slices and am saving the rest for lunch tomorrow. 

It's main clientele seem to be from delivery orders. So it's hard to say service wise but it seemed to be alright.

As with many pizza places, most are not a formal sit down and garden pizza was the same with only a couple tables to eat your pizza. So not quite the place for a sit down meal, probably best enjoyed in the comforts of your living room. 

In terms of value, it's not too bad. My large pizza costed about $22 which could easily feed 2 people or 3 depending on your appetite levels. They also have pizza on sale by the slice... though I saw a fly whizzing around inside.

Recommendation: Though I'm not quite sure if and how much they charge for delivery I would recommend ordering delivery. Fresh tasty pizza right to your door. I usually try to avoid buying pizza by the slice since you don't know how long pizza has been sitting in a heated window and the fact that it's almost impossible to ensure flies and bugs don't sneak in. Try it for delivery!

I caught up with some friends from my advising days at Our Town Cafe on East Broadway and Kingsway.

I hadn't eaten yet and got a panini that had bacon, cheese and other goodness as well as a Henry's Americano(which was a chocolatey mocha espresso).

Here's my review:

Food: 21/25
Service: 19/25
Ambiance: 18/25
Value: 19/25

Total: 77/100 Above Average

A small cafe yet fairly popular with locals. The panini and Americano were both delicious. The panini came with a hot sauce dip which worked quite nicely. And there's also self serve cold water available which is nice.

Service was decent though the barista had to check what the soup of the day was... French onion so I didn't get that, and they also forgot about my friends chai latte all together until she reminded them.

The cafe itself is fairly small with older style tables, chairs and benches- not really suitable for larger groups. And the place seems to attract an interesting clientele.

As for value, it's fairly on par with other cafes. My panini was $7.77 and my mocha Americano was $3.50 I believe.

Recommendation: Nice little cafe to have a quick bite or coffee with a friend. Also a selection of vegetarian and gluten free snacks too! Try it out.

So in search of a Chinese restaurant for dinner my friend Betty and myself, with the assistance of yelp, headed to Dinesty Chinese Restaurant.

After a 15 minute wait we were seated and since Betty and myself are quite the whales, we ordered deep fried soft tofu, duck in brown sauce (we wondered what this brown sauce was), prawn and pork dumplings, a chicken+ham+asparagus pinwheel type thing, and an interesting noodle dish with salted? Soy beans+eggs+cucumbers.

So for my first re-vamped review:

Food: 19/25
Service: 12/25
Ambiance: 20/25
Value: 19/25

Total: 70/100 Average - Above Average

Overall the food was good. The steamed dumplings were the best which does seem to be their specialty while the others were just alright.

Service on the other hand was severely lacking. Perhaps it was because neither my friend or myself spoke any mandarin but we essentially got our order taken after a long while, food came out very quickly as do most Asian restaurants, but after that nothing. We had to ask for our tea to be refilled multiple times.

The restaurant itself is fairly nice and has a modern feel especially considering how sketchy some other Asian restaurants can be.

Value isn't too bad, we ordered more food than the average 2 people would probably eat and costed us about $40. Just depends on what you order.

With a score of 70, it's about average though would have scored above average if the service was even a bit better.

Recommendation: Try it out. Don't expect too much quality service though. Get steamed dumplings! Go early to avoid waiting.

In my previous blog I rated restaurants on Food, Service, Ambiance, and Value, giving each a score out of 4 for an Overall score out of 4.

Though I am going to change that a little this time as follows:

Food (quality of taste and presentation)

Service (interactions with staff and timeliness of seating/drinks/food)

Ambiance (the restaurant itself in terms of location, facilities such as washroom style and cleanliness, music, and lighting, overall atmosphere)

Value ( price paid versus the food, service, and ambiance received)

Each will be rated out of 25 for a total of 100 - I found that my previously rating resulted in restaurants all being rated very similarly.

Score Values:
100-95: exceptional food, service, ambiance, and value. A must go to restaurant.

95-85: an amazing restaurant overall, perhaps slightly lacking in one area or another. A restaurant to come back to.

85-70: above average - average restaurant. Something is left to be desired but nonetheless still good and warrants a potential return.

70-50: average. Perhaps a place to try out, but probably not one to return to when compared to other options.

50-0: not recommended. Severely lacking in one or all areas. Do not try.