Grand Villa Casino is located in Burnaby and features 7 places to dine. One of these places include Personas – it’s recently revamped patio restaurant and lounge. While our summer days may be dwindling in numbers, it still boasts a lively interior with huge screens – perfect for UFC and hockey games!
They also have great drink specials and offer Double Happy Hour from 4-6pm then again from 10:30-11:30 every day of the week.
Brian and I started off with a couple of drinks. I ordered the Green Tea Mojito made with green tea, Captain Morgan, lime, club soda, sugar and mint. Quite strong but still very refreshing.
Brian ordered the Watermelon made with watermelon juice, Ketel One vodka, club soda and mint. I think I liked his drink better as it was very refreshing, light and slightly sweet.
Our first appetizer was the Ebi Mayo ($10). Definitely different than what I was expecting – it’s not too heavily breaded. The prawns are fresh and cooked perfectly.
Our next appetizer is the California Sushi Tacos ($12). While this isn’t a new concept, I’ve never had it with california roll in the sushi taco. It’s packed with crab meat and a little bit of rice. It has an excellent kick with the wasabi. I loved the crunch and the mix of the cultural food.
For our mains, we ordered the Prawn Scallops Linguine and Braised Short Rib.
The Braised Short Rib ($20) is slow braised, served with mac and cheese. I liked the sweet and smokey sauce, they applied a perfect amount so that the rib was not drowning in the sauce. The meat was very tender.
The mac and cheese was a good, heavy accompaniment.
The Prawn Scallops Linguine ($20) is made with a white wine cream sauce. The scallops are nicely grilled and not too chewy. The sauce is neither too thick or watery but perfect and creamy. The prawns which were the main protein on the dish really filled this dish out. The pasta was cooked al dente.
I need to get back here and try their Chicken and Waffle Sandwich and Pretentious Corn Dogs – as those two stood out in my mind as well but decided not to order so many things!
To get prepared for dessert, I had a Black Tea & Pomegranate Martini ($8) composed of Smirnoff Vodka, Cointreau, black tea, Pomegranate liqueur and lime. I enjoyed this martini a lot, it went down easy and could be very dangerous in large amounts!
We finished off the evening with dessert. More specifically, Chocolate High5 Cake and Deep Fried Oreos.
The Chocolate High5 Cake ($8) is fudgy and chocolately without being too sweet.
But the dish that stole the show this evening was definitely their Deep Fried Oreos ($6). It features 5 battered deep fried Oreo cookies dusted with powdered sugar. I don’t know how to describe how happy it makes me to have sweets and deep fried goodness all in one dish, but I don’t think I’ll ever look at an Oreo the same way again. Yes, you can get these at PNE – but you can get them here at Personas all year round.
I was trying to think about who are the types of people who would come to Personas – and I would think they would be the same type of people who would go to a Joey’s or Browns restaurant. It’s not only for the tourists but good for groups and getting the weekend started right – or catching up with your girlfriends over sweet treats and drinks. Their prices are on point to the local chains but their Happy Hour and Daily Specials make it more worth going to Personas than their competitors nearby. You can’t beat free parking and the chance of winning your dinner back just steps outside the restaurant!
For more info and for their menus, check out their website here.
Please note that I was invited to review Personas and my meal was paid for. However, all opinions are my own.
