Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Society Restaurant & Lounge

So...sigh...ity

(btw, the tagline was supposed to be a "play on words" with the name of the resto - "Society", lol)


Location: Vancouver (Yaletown)


As the latest newcomer to the Glowbal Group family, I must say that Society has done a pretty solid job in the marketing department.  For the past few weeks, I've come across numerous reviews about it (most were positive) and recently, it has given me an even better reason to pay it a visit.  For the month of November, they were offering lunch entrees & appies at half price (!) and complimentary "junk food platters" during dinner time.  Luckily, I was able to take advantage of this amazing offer on the very last eligible day.

Food:


Society brands itself as offering upscale comfort food ...otherwise known as, "comfort food with a twist" (think Lobster Sheperd's Pie and Mac'n'Cheese Balls).  We opted for the latter as one of our appies, in addition to the Smoked Salmon.  The mac'n'cheese balls were essentially, little round spheres of nicely-packed macaroni and cheese (with a touch of jalapeno!), coated with batter, and deep fried. They were tasty, with my only complaint about them being a bit too greasy.  (Side note: Cheesecake Factory (in the U.S) has a lovelier version of this...or so I've heard (and believe!)  The subsequent smoked salmon appy was a nice balance to our meal (after the indulgement of the previously-mentioned calorie-laden mac'n' cheese balls).  There were 3 generous pieces of smoked salmon with accompanying toasted mini bagels, capers and cream cheese.


For my entree, I had the Loaded Prime Rib Burger - with bacon, sun-dried tomato aioli, caramelized onions and a side (green) salad.  The salad was nothing special, although I liked the fact that it wasn't overly-drenched in dressing.  The burger was juicy - beef was perfectly cooked (about medium-rare), with ample toppings and sauce.  It was enjoyable but I would've likely savoured it a lot more had it not been for...

(...the service!)

** I also sampled the Lobster Gnocchi (delish!) as well as the Italian Pizza (nice, crispy crust, ample toppings, a bit too greasy)

Service:
Service was shockingly atrocious (I could be overstating it, but read on and you'll see why).  Perhaps I had been expecting a lot more given: how bustling the place was, how much press it had received and just overall, the recent spurt in the popularity of the place.  But I should have known that, as with most of the other Glowbal-chained restos, emphasis is usually placed on ambience (and food)...and less so on service. 

There were several whammies that occured during our entire meal. I won't go into detail but basically, our server really seemed like he didn't want to be there (even admitted to us that it was his "Friday" (we came in on the Monday), forgotten our drink refills, mixed up my drink, forgotten or didn't even bother to include the (untouched) garlic bread into my dining companion's to-go leftovers and was basically m.i.a half the time.

Value:

As mentioned above, we had our appies & entrees at 50% of the cost.  At regular price, value doesn't seem too bad (although had I paid regular price, I would have a different perception of the value and worth)

Ambience:

Pretty.  I had made reservations prior to arriving and was thankful to have been given a booth. 

Overall: 7.5/10

Yay: Come for what they excel at: offering home-style food..."with a twist". Here you'll find lobster with your gnocchi, truffles in your mac'n'cheese...and so on and so forth.

Nay: The service. Don't expect spectacular....and location (it's in Yaletown)

Interesting Fact: It's situated in the ex-Coast location, and also a sibling (precisely, a baby!) restaurant to Trattoria, Italian Kitchen, Glowbal and Sanafir.



Posted by: J

7 comments:

Unknown said...

mmm the Lobster Gnocci was superb i must say! it was delicious! But never ever get that to go cuz they will NOT pack your garlic bread for you.... Im not a fan at all of the service that Global gives ppl... horrible! But food is sooo yum

Unknown said...

So...sigh...ity

hahahaha that is the bestest blog title ive ever read! LOVE it! hehehe i give it a 10/10 on awesomeness!

naomi said...

Yum Yum!! I went there a few weeks ago and I had the truffle mac and cheese as well as the mac n cheese balls. It was basically a carbfest and so yummy!

Did you get the Collins Avenue drink as well? It comes with a tuft of cotton candy.

Irene said...

Hey Jean,

Thanks for the awesome post on Society - I really want to try it in the next few weeks and am sad to say that I missed their awesome deals in November!! I for one, LOVE the deep fried mac n cheese from Cheesecake Factory and am BAFFLED that you haven't tried them yet - a must, I tell ya!

foodmatik said...

Naomi, I only ordered a diet Coke, which was mistaken for a milkshake. My pop took years to arrive, while the refill took even longer. *Sigh...good thing we can control how much tip to give! lol

Irene, I KNOW. I haven't been to CF is AGES. I've seen pix of the darn things and they look FANTASTIC.

JB said...

wow can't believe the service was that bad...both times I've been there I thought it was quite good actually.

Tried to go back there just last friday and was already salivating about having the mac & cheese balls again, but apparently some company bought out the restaurant for the night!!

Tiffany Sek said...

We had attended Society during the Olympics and I had the Lobster Gnocchi and my BF had the prime rib burger. They were both excellent as you had mentioned but I have to disagree on the service. We received excellent service (although it was a bit slow to get started). The burger bun was burnt so we sent it back. It came back done perfectly, the server apologized, the GM came by and apologized, and they took care of the bill for the burger! We received many apologies and updates so we were pretty happy. I guess it depends on who is serving. Just thought I'd give my thoughts on my experience ;)