La Terrazza

Sorry for the delay as I had to purchase a new computer since my old one died and unfortunately, a lot of photos were on there too... oh well, time to start again. So I'm in a diet pact with some friends and after three weeks of eating very healthy, we decided to treat ourselves to what we missed most... carbs! We decided to check out La Terrazza given its relatively good reviews and we were craving pasta that was not Anton's... There's parking along Cambie and Pacific and since it's not the main part of downtown, meters aren't bad.

We were greeted and taken through the lounge to their main dining area. It's a very nice and spacious room; they even have an outdoor area. It'd be a perfect place to take a date with the intimate setting, dim lights and the soft classical music playing in the background.

Lumacche ~ $14.88 - sauteed escargots with wild mushroom-filled pasta envelopes. Very good and you can really taste the escargot. The only other place where I've tried escargot was at Les Faux Bourgeois and if I had to recommend between the two, I'd say LT is more authentic although LFB is like $6 cheaper and tastier because of the salt.

Pizzeta de mare ~ $14.88 - flat bread crust with tuna, avocado, and a cilantro aioli. I really liked this dish and wished there was more. It was cut into 4 with each piece being about the size of a credit card and a half so while good, a tad pricey. Reminded me of the flat bread at Sciue but softer.

Risotte de mare ~ $21.88 - risotto with tiger prawns, sweet peas and a shellfish broth. It was ok... and I realized three things from this dish: 1) it comes with baby tiger prawns, 2) peas mixed in a pasta (or even a rice) doesn't mesh and 3) I don't like shellfish. This was the only risotto dish so you have to take what can but I think I'd try another dish next time.

Ravioli - ravioli with butternut squash, cheese and truffle oil. It was a dinner special and I can't remember the details but it was more pricier than the other pastas. Portion-wise, it was the smallest of the three but my friend really enjoyed it.

Penne a l'arrabiata ~ $17.88 - pancetta with mushrooms in a spicy tomato sauce. It was alright although the sauce had a much stronger kick than I had originally anticipated.

Torta d'amore - I forgot the dessert prices but I believe each was around $8 or so. This is essentially molten lava cake with vanilla bean gelato. It's good but you'd get better value at Joey's which I believe has the best lava cake dessert.

La creazione - white chocolate cheesecake wrapped in a pastry shell with sour cherries. I liked this one more than the other dessert.

Overall rating: 7/10 - the decor and atmosphere were incredible and that was probably the best part of the restaurant for me. For an Italian restaurant, their pasta selection was limited so that was a little disappointing. Personally, I enjoyed the appetizers more than the entrees but I would definitely be willing to go back and try out different dishes.




La Terrazza

1088 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 6J5

Tel: 604-899-4449

Society Restaurant & Lounge

Meal time: Thursday 1:30 PM

This is a brand new restaurant opening up in Yaletown and I had a promotional coupon so we decided to check it out. It's also conveniently located about near the Yaletown skytrain and it's about a 2 minute walk. If you plan to drive, there is parking in front of Hamilton but you know what it's like to park in Yaletown.

We went at 1:30 to avoid the lunch time rush and because I had to return to work soon after. We were nicely greeted by the hostess and they had a nice, quiet outdoor seating area with heating lamps but it was full so they took us inside.

They had great music and I liked the decor. They also had two big pink chandeliers on the ceiling. The crowd was mostly that of the younger crowd. The servers also catered to young children as next to us were two moms with their kids and the servers brought them crayons, coloring books and biscuits. The inside is kind of small so I don't think you could host a party of more than 15 unless you book the place and even then you won't all be sitting with each other.

On one end, there was a soft sofa to sit while the other side were stiff yet comfy chairs. The table was covered with paper for easy clean-up. We were greeted by our friendly waiter Jess who gave us the menu. The menu was a page and they had another menu for smaller dishes. It's a fair mix of comfort food like burgers, pastas and pizzas. We decided to share the following appetizers: the calamari, smoked salmon and nachos.

Calamari ($10)- probably the size of two tater tots but these were really tasty! This was probably the best appetizer dish we had.

Nachos ($8) - the menu said it came with the works... if works means few jalapeno peppers, some onions, green peppers and bean paste, then it's the works. It also came with small dips of sour cream, salsa and guacamole. Chips were too salty for my liking.

Smoked salmon ($10) - it came with red onions, capers, ricotta cheese, cream cheese and mini bagels. Salmon was good but it wasn't anything spectacular.

Lobster spaghetti ($18) - A special order since my friend didn't want the gnocchi. The dish was a little small even though it came in a huge plate. This dish was very flavorful but didn't warrant the price tag even though it came with a slice of garlic bread. Also, the pasta was not cooked al dente which my friend preferred.

Lobster gnocchi ($18) - It's a good thing we had lots of appies cause this was another relatively small dish. I didn't find it as tasty cause I guess the potatoes subdue a lot of the flavor.

All American steak and fries ($24) - It came with a small salad with balsamic vinaigrette and very salty steak fries. The steak was quite juicy and tender but for the price, I think I'd get more value from the Keg. Meanwhile, the salt from the fries was still lingering on my lips hours after we left.

3 appies and 3 mains came out to be $34/person. It's quite pricey for food that I think I could get at Denny's but I had a 50% coupon so no complaints about that. Service was good as they constantly filled out waters although our server catered more to the young kids.

I wouldn't mind going for just tapas and drinks but it probably wouldn't be my first choice for mains with all the other restaurants nearby. Nonetheless, it's a pretty hip place and I'd certainly be open to checking it out again just to chill.

P.S. Here is the coupon voucher which gives 50% off for lunch during the month of November on weekdays. Definitely try it out before it expires at the end of November.

EDIT: 11/22 -I've removed the rating part of my review as I would just like to share my experience at the time and not give restaurants an arbitrary number to rate a one-time meal.

Society Restaurant & Lounge
1257 Hamilton St
Vancouver, BC V6B 6K3
Tel: 604-629-8800
http://www.society-grg.ca/