Negril

Date Visited: Lunch on Friday Mar 13, 2015

Company: Take-out for myself

A co-worker of mine who lived in Jamaica for a few years always mentioned the take-out place near our work where she always gets Chicken Sandwiches. I decided to check it out myself one day when I was leaving the office around lunch time and was heading downtown to work from Will's the rest of the day. It's a really small hole-in-the-wall spot in a plaza beside KFC and can only fit about 5 people to line up in before gets too tight. You order through a window to the kitchen where the guys are prepping the food for you. And for the month of March, they had a Small Jerk Chicken Dinner on special for $5. :)

I put in my order and stood back a bit to the window while the other people in line ordered. It got a bit busy around noon and it seems like there were a lot of regulars who knew what they wanted. Their soup was asked about but the guy was not down after he heard it was Goat Head... There were only two people behind in the kitchen, one taking the orders and the other making the food. It took about 10 minutes to get my order and I was quickly out of the packed room to head downtown.

The meal was still decently hot after the 30 minute drive to Will's. The chicken was very tender but didn't have as much kick as I thought jerk chicken would. The sauce wasn't powdery but rather moist and juicy. The rice was a bit bland and dry, it just had some beans in it and no sauce. I got a lot of rice compared to everything else. Even the coleslaw was minimal. The flavour was there but needed just a but more sourness to it. Overall, I can't really complain for $5, it was really worth it. It didn't have the authentic Jamaican flavours I was expecting but seemed they had a loyal following of regulars who enjoy the food.

Food: 2.5/5 - Good value but not an outstanding meal.

Decor: 1.5/5 - Small, white room but does the job.

Service: 3.5/5 - Quick and easy.

Willingness to go back: 2/5 - I wouldn't order that again but I'd return if I was feeling for something different then I usually eat.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: none

Nguyen Huong

Date Visited: Lunch on Tuesday Jan 27, 2015

Company: Myself

After talking about Vietnamese Sandwiches at pho dinner last week, I was craving one ever since. Luckily, there is a shop right by my work that my aunt told me about. She brought some banh mi over to my house for lunch last year and I forgot how good they were as I hadn't had them since I was a kid. I decided to check the place out during my lunch break and grab a sandwich to eat at the office. 

The location is in a huge plaza beside the T&T Supermarket and among all the Asian stores, it's easy to miss unless you knew it was there. I walked in and it was half groceries half sandwich/made-to-order with lots of ladies were there making fresh sandwiches in front of you. I ordered a Spicy Vietnamese Assorted Sandwich for just $2.25 and they had it there in hand immediately. They had a lot of different options of sandwiches so I'd try something else next time but I wanted to just go for the classic.

I headed back to the office to eat and enjoyed how compact everything was inside the fresh bun and not falling apart. The size was good for me but I'm sure some people could easily eat two. The Spicy part of the sandwich is just adding some jalapenos inside which I probably won't do in the future. Everything tasted as it should otherwise but the bread was definitely my favourite part. When I saw them making it, the only sketchy part was the mayo which looked like it was out in the air for a while and starting to harden. All the other ingredients tasted fresh.

Food: 4/5 - What a deal for $2.25, classic Vietnamese Sandwiches, nothing else.

Decor: 3/5 - Bigger than I thought it would be, lots of things to buy also.

Service: 4.5/5 - So fast, no nonsense.

Willing to go back: 5/5 - Will be a go-to spot for lunch when I'm in the office now.

Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.nguyenhuong.ca/

Memphis BBQ & Wicked Wings

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Dec 20, 2014

Company: Take-out for 8

For our Annual University Secret Santa gift exchange this year, we decided to hold it at +Kelvin's parents new house rather than our typical restaurant only outing. I still needed to find a place for lunch in the Woodbridge area though as a potluck wasn't happening with our group. I happened to find Memphis BBQ which is practically in Kelvin's backyard on a BlogTO list for one of the Best BBQ Restaurants in Toronto, lucky us! We decided to do take-out there since the photos didn't show it was very large and may have been a hassle to find a seating for 7.

When we arrived, the place was very dive-y, located just beside a convenient store with nothing else around. The place was hustling when we entered with the cooks just a few feet away and tons of steam coming from the meat, it smelled heavenly. It was a bit crowded when we were all standing there looking at what to order on their take-out menu, but we just decided to get one of their Party Packs listed on the wall. Split between 8 of us, it came out to be $12 each. There was quite a bit of seating as well in the next week if we really wanted to eat here, it wasn't too busy in the late lunch hours on the Saturday. The Party Pack we ordered came with 3 racks of Ribs, 2 lbs of Wings (Honey Garlic & Spicy BBQ), 2 lbs of Pulled Pork, Beans, Coleslaw, Cornbread and Fries. We waited outside for about 15-20 minutes and they called us in to grab our food to go.

When we arrived back at Kelvin's, we had a table for all the food to be laid out and where we could fill up our plates. It was a bit of chaos at first but we all divided the food evenly and sat down to enjoy the meal together. The main part of the meal was were the Ribs since we had 3 racks and the most leftovers of that. The meat was very tender and fell off the bone with a smoky, sweet flavour. I really wish I could have had some more of that but knew I needed room for the rest! We all had 1 wing of each flavour and I preferred the Spicy BBQ as it had a nice kick to it. The Honey Garlic was a bit plain and bland. The Pulled Pork was also very delicious, full of tangy flavour and easy to eat. Some people complained that they had large chunks of un-pulled pork in theirs though. The Beans and Coleslaw were a nice addition, the beans had a ton of flavour and the coleslaw added some vegetables and acidity to the meaty meal. The Fries were nothing special, as with the Cornbread, it didn't taste like much.

The amount of food was perfect for our group size, we had a bit leftover but everyone was happily full. Memphis BBQ did a great job on their meats and definitely worth a visit here if you're in the area.

Food: 4/5 - Great authentic BBQ!

Decor: 2/5 - Pretty sketchy but roomier than I thought it would be on the inside.

Service: 4/5 - Very friendly and decent wait time for the amount of food.

Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Worth it!

Overall: 3.5/5 

Website: http://www.bigbonebbq.ca/woodbridge/

Sinatra's Italian Sandwiches

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Oct 18, 2013
Company: Quick meal with +Will after work before heading to Toronto for the weekend

+Will had been telling me about Sinatra's ever since his team started ordering from there while working for a client in Oshawa. It's advertised to have 'the best veal sandwiches in town' and serves authentic Italian comfort food. I got to finally check it out when we were looking for a semi-quick meal on Friday before leaving Oshawa for the weekend. It's conveniently located about 5 minutes from my place but I never really noticed it until I met a friend who lives right beside it and mentioned it. It's a fair sized building located right on Simcoe St N with a huge yellow sign that's hard to miss. There's some abandoned buildings beside it, but otherwise looks like an average building in Oshawa you always pass by but never visit. Upon entering, the feeling is very diner-esque with booths along the front windows and a long counter for ordering with some visibility to the back kitchen. 


Checking out the menu, they have a couple of different options for sandwiches and a few toppings you can add for about a dollar more. I decided to go for the classic Veal Cutlet Sandwich with Provolone Cheese. After we ordered at the counter we grabbed a booth to wait for the order. The decor of the place is nothing too special, the booths were a bit uncomfortable and the decor seems extremely old. They do have a homey feel to the place though. They seem to get a lot of catering deals as there were a few people waiting for large pickup orders. Our food didn't take very long despite this factor.

Our sandwiches were wrapped with paper lined with tinfoil to keep the heat in and unwrapping it all to see the sandwich underneath was quite exciting. This thing was huge, there were about 4 layers of thin veal on the bun and topped with lots of sauce. You could even get free extra sauce on it! The sandwich was so delicious and fresh. The breading of the veal was crispy but the veal was still soft. The sauce was fantastic and had so much flavour, you could really tell it was homemade and authentic. The kaiser bun did a great job containing everything but the bottom did get soggy after a while.

I could only finish about half the sandwich and kept the rest for the next day... but it definitely wasn't the same as when it was just prepared. I have been craving for Sinatra's since this visit and can't wait to go back!

Food: 4.5/5 - Amazing and well worth the price.
Service: 3/5 - Nothing to spectacular but decent waiting time. 
Decor: 2/5 - Old-fashioned but doesn't really need to look fancy.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - But the dilemma is... getting the same thing vs. something new! Either way I'm sure it'll be good!
Overall: 3.5/5
Website: http://www.sinatras.ca/