Joey - Burnaby

Hungry after an evening of skating at Killarney ice rink with some friends, we all decided to go out for dinner.  No one was really in the mood for Asian food, so we headed over to Joey's on Lougheed.  I haven't been to Joey's in awhile, as I typically prefer Milestones, so I was looking forward to giving it another shot.  When we arrived we were told there would be a 45 minute wait, which I wasn't too surprised about as it was Saturday night and there were 7 of us.  However I guess some party wasn't using one of the tables allocated to them so we actually were seated within 5 minutes of arrival.  The decor was very modern, but very typical of these types of restaurants.

Flowerbunny and I decided to split a Green Salad starter.  This had feta, almonds, and sundried cranberries and was pretty good.  The saltiness of the feta combined well with the sweetness of the cranberries.

One of our friends had the wings, though she asked for them without sauce, just salt and pepper.  I didn't try these but she seemed to like them.

Flowerbunny had the Ahi Tuna Club for her entree. She really liked this, especially with the onion rings on top.  The tuna was nicely cooked.

I initially ordered the Lunch Rotisserie Chicken for my entree, but the waitress returned about 5 minutes after I'd ordered to let me know that they were actually out of the chicken.  So instead I went with their Bacon Cheddar Burger. 

I'll be honest - this burger was ok, but nothing special, and it falls far short when compared to Milestones.  The meat patty kind of tasteless, with most of the flavour coming from the bacon.  The best thing on the plate was actually the yam fries which came with what I think was a garlic aioli.  The dipping sauce was nice and flavourful and complemented the yam fries nicely.

One of our friends also ordered the rotisserie chicken and when informed they were out, decided to have their Viva Salad.  This had a deep fried tortilla that held the entire salad which was pretty cool presentation.  Our friend seemed to enjoy her salad but didn't really eat the tortilla.

For dessert, each of the couples split a Molten Lava Chocolate Souffle which came with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream.

This was a really tasty dessert, although I'd call it more of a lava cake rather than a souffle.  The chocolate itself was pretty good although I'd say it falls a bit short of Ensemble's version.  The vanilla ice cream wasn't very good however, and kind of tasted a bit chemical-y, like the crappy ice cream you get in those giant tubs at the grocery store.

Overall Impressions: Joey's is a decent option but nothing that I'll ever go out of my way to eat.  The ingredients seem fresh, but there's nothing really noteworthy about their food.  As I've said before, for this type of restaurant, Milestones is definitely better.

Joey Burnaby

109 - 1899 Rosser Ave.

Burnaby, BC

604.564.5639

http://www.joeyrestaurants.com/