Sherman's Food Adventures: Gilmore Restaurant

Gilmore Restaurant

*Note - current owners have retired, place may not be open anymore*

In general, it is pretty hard to find a sub-$10.00 steak dinner these days, especially with The Brave Bull closing its doors. Other than either grilling it up yourself or dining on a baking-soda marinated "steak" in a Hong Kong-style cafe, you'd be hard pressed to spend less than a purple note. Thus, I developed a fascination with the big banner outside Gilmore Restaurant in Burnaby. For $8.95, one could dine on a 10 oz. sirloin steak dinner. Wow, how could I resist? Well, Viv wasn't that convinced. She loves bargains as much as the next person, but she was super skeptical. In fact, so much so, she really didn't want to go. I appealed to her cheap Asian side and she reluctantly agreed. What awaited us when we walked into the place was totally surreal experience. Right in front of our faces was the ghost of diners-past - old carpeting, ripped vinyl booth seats and mood-lighting from the 70's.

But wait. The prices were completely reasonable and almost unbelievable. With barely anything over 10 bux as well as kid's meals falling below $5.00, my credit card could take a breather. I started with a Beef Barley Soup (included with my dinner) which arrived in an unattractive shade of pale brown. The starch-thickened soup was neither hot nor flavourful. It reminded me of oatmeal. And voila, my $8.95 10 oz Sirloin Steak Dinner with mash potatoes and corn. Before I dug into the steak, I was curious about what lurked underneath the pale and unappetizing gravy... Aiya! It was "mashed" hashbrowns! It was greasy, pasty and clumpy. Yuck. This was mash potatoes that Ron Jeremy would be proud of... Okay, let's focus on the steak then... Hey, it was a pretty big piece of meat which was prepared somewhat medium-rare. It was not very tender as expected (for $8.95, what did I hope for?), yet it was edible. My jaw got a workout though.

Viv went for something more safe in the Burger with fries. The thing was huge consisting of a large beef patty, mushrooms, onions, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato. For what it's worth, the burger was decent considering the cost. The whole thing was hard to eat and fell apart though. We were a bit confused with the fries though. They looked crispy, but were actually luke warm and starchy. As for the kiddies, my daughter had the Fish & Chips. The tempura-battered pollack was quite greasy, yet crunchy. The fish was thick and cooked nicely being moist and flaky. We didn't like the tartar sauce though as it tasted like yellow mustard and mayo with some pickles. The fries were the same as the previous dish.

Okay, and cue the drumroll... My son had the... Grilled Cheese. Yah, boring. And it was a grilled cheese. Fries suck much like the other plates. Okay, I realize that Gilmore Restaurant is not a place to look for great eats. Rather, it is a mom n' pop operation that serves up food at a very reasonable price. However, I would personally spend more money on better food.

The Good:
- Cheap
- Friendly mom n' pop operation

The Bad:
- Food is not that great
- Place is run down and dirty

Gilmore Restaurant on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

LotusRapper said...

I was just there for lunch about three weeks ago, when I discovered my fave (Paul's Restaurant just east of willingdon was closed to my dismay). Food at Gilmore used to be better, but this time around it was very lackluster to be kind. Service was lacking overall in attention even though there were maybe 6 customers including me. I felt bad that this may be another honest Mom & Pop operation that will soon see its demise due to a lack of patronage and higher operating costs.

Krunc said...

On another note here's some interesting news, I just learned that a new place called "Glenburn Soda Fountain & Confectionary" is opening up at where Gilmore Restaurant used to be. Will be glad to see this new place open b/c it's different from all the other restaurants in the neighborhood. I've always thought the inside of Gilmore Restaurant looked so retro it could be a hipster themed restaurant hahaa.

LotusRapper said...

@ Krunc:

Interesting concept. My kind of place !

FYI, Glenburn's website states their address is 4090 Hastings. Gilmore Restaurant is located at 4015 Hastings, which is at the opposite end of the block. So not the same space.

Krunc said...

Aww my bad

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