Sherman's Food Adventures: Sockeye City Grill

Sockeye City Grill

While at my niece's birthday party, Shenanigans queried whether I would join him and some friends for dinner at Sockeye City Grill.  Sure, why not?  I hardly pass up an eating opportunity. Wait...  Isn't it located in Richmond?  And all the way out in Steveston too?  Geez, the distances I travel for food.  At the very least, for a weekday evening, there would be little in the way of traffic.  Therefore, the risk to my car's health was at an all-time low for Richmond.  I think my car was smiling inside.

With 5 other diners, we were ensured to have a good variety of dishes.  Furthermore, all them insisted to share their food with me...  Looks like I'm gonna eat with them more often!  To start things off, Kikidee had the Prawn Caesar which looked pretty standard as it hit the table. In reality, it was pretty typical, but wasn't overdressed.  As for the shrimp, they were well-seasoned with spice and exhibited as shrimpiness and snap.  For myself, I had the Albacore Tuna encrusted with 2 kinds of sesame seeds.  I liked how it was nicely rare inside, yet the pieces were sliced far too thick.  Hence, it was too dense and took away from the fish.  As for the dressing, it was too soy (salty) tasting.

Rex had the Dungeness Crab Cake which was pretty large.  The exterior was nicely browned, but the crab was dried out and chewy. Due to its large size, it was rather dense as well. On the positive side, there was a nice crunch accented by a good amount of acidity. The roasted red pepper aioli was pretty nice, but we could've done with more of it.  Yuchiro ended up with the Mussels and despite the plethora of fennel, we didn't get a whole lot of it in the broth.  Rather, it was predominately light tomato with very little acidity and the aforementioned fennel.  The smallish mussels (which meant there was not much to eat) were properly cooked though being buttery and soft.

After the mussel appetizer, she had the Steak Neptune.  Although the steak was prepared a nice medium-rare, it was rather chewy and somewhat bland.  That was partially alleviated by the buttery bearnaise with crab.  Once again, the crab was not as fluffy as we would've liked.  The sides were okay though where the veggies were still vibrant.  Travelgirl had the Fish n' Chips and I found it okay.  The batter was crispy while the inside was somewhat flaky, however, it was dry in spots.  Furthermore, I found it a bit fishy tasting.  The addition of raisins in the coleslaw added a nice sweetness.

Kikidee had the Salmon with roasted red pepper relish and creamy mushroom & herb risotto.  The fish itself was seared nicely with a peppery, well-seasoned crust.  The fish was a bit dry, but not terribly so.  As for the risotto, it was like plain rice with very little creamy and chessiness.  It was chewy though with nice Earthy mushrooms.  Shenanigans and I ended up sharing the Paella for 2.  It was a pretty large portion with nicely textured rice, but the flavours were not developed.  Rather it more like tomato rice with a good amount of seafood.  Despite seeing the chorizo, it didn't come through in the rice nor did we get any saffron.  Yet, in the end, it was an acceptable plate of food considering this was not a Spanish restaurant.

As part of her their 3-course meals, Yuchiro and Kikidee were served a small Chocolate Pate with raspberry coulis.  It was more like a chocolate mousse as it was light and semi-sweet.  The coulis added some sweetness and tartness.  Overall, I found the food at Sockeye City to be average.  Nothing particularly I am aching to do a return visit anytime soon.  However, the food is still serviceable, so combined with its killer location (by the water), there will be still a steady stream of customers.

The Good:
- Great by-the-water location
- Comfy, spacious dining room
- Service was pretty good

The Bad:
- Food is pretty average
- Pricey

2 comments:

Rob F said...

Agree with your summary, there are things they can do better. Surprised you didn't bring up the fact that they use brought-in frozen fries for their fish and chips. That is becoming a deal breaker for me when I'm eating out.

Sherman Chan said...

@Rob Yah, the fries were so generic, there was not much to say. I really hate restaurants using Sysco/GFS fries. I can just buy them and cooked them myself! Why do I need to go to a restaurant for them?

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