Chewies Steam Oyster Bar

About a week ago, Brian and I decided to ‘celebrate’ our 10 years being together as a couple. As most of our friends know, he and I like to keep it fairly low key. Originally, we were planning on going to the restaurant we went on our first date, however we looked at the menu and saw it had changed and not for the better. Brian had a craving for oysters and so I suggested we go to Chewies.

When we arrived, they were packed. We managed to get a seat right away though, right at the door. It was fairly loud and it was probably because of the Canucks game that was going on that evening. Nevertheless, we knew what we were in for, so we didn’t mind. We ordered a dozen fresh oysters to start and our meal. I apologize for the dark, grainy photos – I wasn’t planning on reviewing Chewies again but changed my mind after I left my camera at home.

It took about 25 minutes for our oysters to arrive, but they were great. Fresh and meaty, Brian enjoyed them as much as I did.

Our mains however took much longer. How much longer? At the time, we weren’t counting, we just knew it was taking a really long time for our meal to come. When I got home, I checked the time stamp on my photos (thanks iPhone) – and we waited 40 minutes!

Anyway more on this later.

Brian ordered the Creole Prawns and Scallop Pasta ($18) that had a couple of each prawn and scallop. He enjoyed his pasta, the pasta was cooked perfectly and the sauce was nice and thick.

I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken ($18), mostly because I wanted Brian to try the chicken because I enjoyed it on my previous experience at Chewies during brunch. The chicken was tender and had Cajun honey butter drizzled on top, it was served with some mashed potatoes and beans on the side.

Finally, someone came around and Brian asked for the bill. I think it might’ve been one of the managers, as we were paying, we had a quick chat with him. I asked him if they were always this busy during the evening and he said that they were slightly busier than they expected this evening. We made a bit of small talk and I felt more understandable that we had waited a while for our food. Again, service is so important to restaurants and in situations like these, if there is some sort of explanation, then it can change a perspective of a customer.

I have to admit that I did not complain about the time we waited for our food to him, I had thought about it but really what would that accomplish? Our meal was already done. I don’t generally enjoy being a complainer anyway.

In any case, I’m brushing this off as a one-off in service and would be back again for brunch and oysters.

Food: