It took us over a year to finally check out X-Site. We first came to be aware of X-Site when we posted our visit to the LA Grill in Richmond. Back then our readers were pointing out to us that LA Grill has the same concept with X-Site. So X-Site had been on our to-try list for a long time already but it has been so long that it dropped way down to the bottom of the priorities.
We had pretty much forgotten about X-Site until Novi left a note for us and reminded us of this place which serves $4.95 Lunch Specials.
Like Richmond’s LA Grill, X-Site is a gem of a place which everyone should take note of.
X-Site is located on Hastings in Burnaby. That is the thing — it is so far away from home otherwise we would have visited this place earlier.
Suanne and I went to X-Site for our Friday dinner date. You know, I really enjoy dinners like this to cap off the week … slow, unrushed and put work behind for the week.
Look at the interior above. You would not have guessed that they serve $5.95 Dinner Specials here. Where else could you get a $5.95 with choices like Top Sirloin Steak, Gourmet Burger, Chicken Souvlaki or Grilled Salmon? It is amazing to think how they can even make money at all.
But they had been doing this for many years already and that is why this place is so close to the hearts of many people.
The dining area is large and spacious. We expected X-Site to be very much like LA Grill but this is definitely much better and conducive for a nice dinner. The place is dim with the section at the back so dark I wonder how people are going to eat in that kind of condition.
We observed that the kitchen, bar and till was manned by Asians but all the servers are young pretty Caucasians. That stood out because it was exactly the same thing that was glaring when we were at LA Grill. No, no … it’s not a problem. It was just an observation which makes me think that beside the facade one could be very surprised who the people are behind the restaurant. Does any of our readers know if LA Grill and X-Site are run by Asians? Who are they?
Service was excellent. There is no difference from any other more expensive restaurants.
We meant to take our time for the dinner. You know, we wanted to order drinks and appy first before we decide what we want for mains and such. For a place that serves $5.95 dinners, I would somewhat understand if they want to turn the table as quickly as they can but we did not have such pressure at all.
Our waitress was perfectly fine and even asked if we wanted to just start with the drinks and appy first and decide on the rest of the meal later. We were impressed.
I ordered a 2 oz Martini called X-Site Perfect. Between Finlandia (vodkha) and Tangueray (gin), I asked for the gin. This is $5.50.
It was very strong. It was like drinking jet fuel. No, I did not like it at all.
For appetizers, we shared a plate of Garlic Prawns which is $6.95.
We were kind of dismayed with the size of the prawns but otherwise, this is great. The garlic bread is fragrant that you could smell the moment they brought it to the table. It was excellent and particularly good when we wipe that bread on the garlic butter and white wine sauce from the plate of the prawns.
Like I said, the size of the prawns was a disappointment but this was a very nice appetizer for us. Enjoyed this.
We did not get the $5.95 Dinner Specials because they are only available for Monday through Thursdays.
We decided to get a steak which costs $9.95. There were two choices: the NY Peppercorn Steak or the NY Teriyaki Steak. We thought that we try the Teriyaki Steak because Peppercorn sounded so common.
The New York Teriyaki Steak sauce is made with a blend of Japanese soya sauce, … pineapple juice, honey, wine and ginger. That sounded so good, doesn’t it? The sauce had a very interesting flavour.
The mega sized plate included rice pilaf, roasted potatoes, green salad and the same garlic bread we had earlier. We were glad to see that bread because we like it so much.
The pilaf rice, well, it was cold and dry. No, it was not terrible at all but it is far from perfect. Anyway, I don’t really care at all because it is only $10.
The steak is small. Maybe like 6 oz. Certainly not premium beef. As expected, the meat is not tender, moist or all the attributes you would associate with a great steak. Put things into perspective, folks. It is respectfully good and a good deal for the price.
The second main we ordered was from the X-Site’s Gourmet Burgers section of the menu. They have 10 different types of burger ranging in prices from $5.95 to $7.95. A lot of them were interesting to us — took a long time for us to decide. I know it is burgers but we are such indecisive people.
For me, I wanted the blue cheese burger but it come with chicken (burgers MUST be made with beef, never chicken!) and Suanne hates blue cheese. Suanne wanted to try the Salmon burger but I just hated the thought of eating salmon burgers. Then we thought that the Cali Burger sounded interesting because it has crisp bacon and avocado but that also came with chicken meat.
We finally opted for the Harvati Burger ($6.95) — Harvati cheese and crisp bacon. Harvati is our favourite cheese and we like the sharp and buttery taste. But the cheese here was just so-so — not as pronounced as we expect it to be.
The burger is served with a side of green salad and potatoes. The green salad (also given as a side with the steak) is drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette.
We like the burger a lot. The bun is great and crisp on the outside and it was moist all round. For just $7 and all that we had, it was really satisfying for us.
That was a lot of food that we had.
But despite all the food, we also ordered a dessert. They don’t have the dessert on the menu but if you asked, they will tell you what they have for the day.
We got the Key Lime Cheesecake. It is served with some chocolate and fruity sauce. Suanne as you know is quite a critic for cheesecake. She did not like it. She said it has a powdery texture to it and it is not smooth. I thought it was quite OK but I’ll go with the expert’s opinion.
X-Site is not a place for the food snob. Such restaurants has a place in the community. It is more than a decent place. As a matter of fact, I find X-Site pretty good. They had managed to keep their prices so low after all these years.
I just checked the menu from LA Grill from back in 2008 with X-Site’s and the prices are the still the same. Look at the menu too, both X-Site and LA Grill are identical … not only the menu items are the same, even the printing and the paper color is exactly the same. I am 101% sure they are operated by the same people.
Good restaurant. We will be back.
Here is the menu … please click for larger image:
I’d like to, but can’t seem to be able to, feel “X-Sited” about this place by looking at the food you had and their seemingly-low prices.
If you happen to be on Main St in Vancouver, may I suggest The Purple Crab (just south of Sun Sui Wah Restaurant). It’s a no-frills, humble joint best for beers and burgers while listening to their live entertainment (changes nightly). BUT their menu is broadening, with some surprisingly sophisticated (and well-executed) dishes that we have enjoyed:
http://www.purplecrab.ca/e107/page.php?2
A couple dishes that really stuck in my mind are the green papaya salad (not on menu) and the grilled squid (not fried) which is amazingly tender and juicy, rivaling those I ate *in* Greece. And the burgers we’ve had so far were juicy, meaty and generous, all homemade.
I should note the hostess/server is particularly friendly and trustworthy of making sound recommendations of what to (or not) are the best offerings for the night.
Sorry to hijack the thread.
Hi Ben, Suanne, I’m so glad you guys visited X-Site! Fair to say everyone is entitled to their opinion. I was wondering what you guys would order, we used to live near there so we had a chance to try a few things. My husband likes the beef burgers, I like the Cali burger but we often get appetizers as dinner with calamari, blue chip nachos and caesar or green salad. Lately we got lunch special chicken tenders (fried) with caesar salad and garlic bread, we like the honey mustard dip that comes with it. We don’t think steaks are their strong point and did not know they have dessert, we rarely order sweets.
The owners of X-Site has changed, before was owned by a Chinese guy named Lyon who retired, he was there a few years. I think the new owners are also Chinese, I don’t know their names. On days we’re there she’s behind the bar mixing drinks, there are also young Asian servers. When the place changed hands the menu was kept the same, we think the food tastes similar, if not the same. We really like going there for the price, service and freshly made food. We like the fact they have a wide clientele, young and old, students, families, they’e very busy on Hockey nights. Now that we moved away we still visit them once in a while.
I’m not usually big on commenting about food, just sharing a few things that may be of interest. I thank both of you for mentioning me, thank you so much for linking to my site. Have a wonderful weekend, Novi
I can’t help but to say it again. Ben bring Suanne to Cheesecake Etc.!!!
Not to sound mean or anything like that, if any of your meal is cold, just let the waiter/waitress know and it should be fixed right away eg getting another portion, heated up. Of course, make the comment nicely, never rudely(not that you ever would!).
Also, any burger that you see made on chicken could also be made on beef. Any burger place should do this for you. Restaurants sometimes charge a bit more for chicken than beef, like a dollar or dollar fifty.
I’ve enjoyed this spot for quite awhile…usually take-out, though. Finally, I’ve gotten around to putting together a post. Thanks for the reminder!
Found hair in my steak dinner and the cheap management didn’t want to replace my food and made me pay for it!!! Never going here again!
Small and obviously way overcooked prawns? Cheap cut tough and dry steak, cold rice? Lousy tasting and horribly garnished cheesecake?
I can’t imagine why you would accept any if all of those qualities in a restaurant and seemingly with good review. I think you might want to re-read your post and think again about it being a good deal.
Cheap is only a positive if the product is actually palatable.
I don’t think this makes me a food snob.
@Snob?
I think you need to re-read the actual review first. Ben & Suanne indicated disappointment with the small prawns but never said anything about them being overcooked. That’s your word, not theirs.
As for their opinions of the steak & rice, they did qualify by saying:
“The pilaf rice, well, it was cold and dry. No, it was not terrible at all but it is far from perfect. Anyway, I don’t really care at all because it is only $10.” …… AND ……. “The steak is small. Maybe like 6 oz. Certainly not premium beef. As expected, the meat is not tender, moist or all the attributes you would associate with a great steak. Put things into perspective, folks. It is respectfully good and a good deal for the price.”
As for the cheesecake, it was only noted that “it had a powdery texture to it and it is not smooth.” with no mentioning of lousy taste or it being horribly garnished. Again those are your words, not theirs.
Thanks, LotusRapper for stepping in. 🙂 I could have deleted that comment but decided to let it through. People can see through this sort of mean comments and “snob?” is just one of these people whose life will not add up to much. If “snob?” leaves such false accusation here, he/she will do it somewhere else too. Sad life actually. Glad Suanne and I are not like that kind of people. So “snob?”, go collect your marbles and play somewhere else, OK? 🙂
I’m not sure why my post was so offensive to you and your loyal followers.
I never claimed to be quoting you, but my comments were honestly based on your words and photos. No, you didn’t say the prawns were overcooked or the cake poorly garnished, but your photos did.
I certainly did read and re-read your review more than once, which is why I was confused by your “like” of this restaurant and prompted to reply as I did. This is a public forum you choose to post upon, don’t be surprised if not everyone agrees with you. Mine was certainly not a personal insult to you, just a comment and different opinion.
As far as my life and the kind of person I am goes? That was just insulting. Thank you for being such an open minded blogger! I imagine you’ll just delete this post, as it does not bow down to you.
Carry on.
Snob? —- this is not a public forum, it’s Chowtimes’ own blog forum and the blog owners can say anything they want, it’s their opinions and views. No one is expecting everyone to agree with their views, and they certainly don’t. If they like this restaurant, so be it. They didn’t say the LOVE it, and dutifully pointed out the flaws as they saw them, but also by qualifying those flaws with the fact that they think for the prices, the food and experience was acceptable. So let it be. Not sure why you have to react so strongly to their liking of the restaurant in the first place.
I’m a “loyal” follower of this forum and its owners for very good reasons, they are definitely two of the nicest, kindest people I know. I don’t agree with all their reviews but hey, everyone has different opinions right ?
Chill out. It’s a sunny Friday. Enjoy it. Peace.
Kindly read my words without the nasty tone you seem to have imposed on them. Nothing I have said is offensive and the only reason I chose to respond was because of the unkindness directed toward me and the assumption of who I am and how my life is.
I assure you, kind blogpeople, that I am very chill and this fine sunny day only amplifies it.
Peace, right back atcha!
I think everyone has been unfairly jumping all over Snob? After reading his/her post, I found nothing offensive about it. And @LotusRapper, it’s pretty inaccurate to say that Snob? “reacted strongly” to Ben and Suanne liking the restaurant. This is the internet – if people are going to post their opinions for the whole world to read, it’s fair game for others to comment on those opinions so long as it’s done in a civil manner, which I think it was in this case. Ben, I’ve read this blog for a long time. Your comments about Snob?’s “mean comments” and “sad life” were completely uncalled for; instead, they came across as extremely defensive and mean-spirited which I find very disappointing.
I agree with LongTimeReader and Snob? It’s a freaking blog with comments enabled, so it’s public in my books and subject to varying opinions. However, to take it to another level and personally insult a reader because he/she detailed some criticisms on the review, that’s low and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I just recently ate there. For the price, nothing fancy, but good enough to eat there.
I live in this area and this place is great to go if you want a quick, cheap dinner (meaning taking advantage of the Monday to Thursday specials). They are pretty good about rectifying any issues; so don’t be afraid to speak up. I also like that they have daily drink specials!! It is a great way to cap off a week on a Thursday; makes you a little happier going to work on Fridays, imo. 😛
The salmon special on Thursdays is pretty decent. The portion size of the salmon is about 4-5″ long by 2 inches. Great value for $5! 😛
Big fan of this website and particular restaurant. But Ben, why so offended by “Snob?” comments? He wasn’t being rude or disrespectful. But you would delete his comment just because it doesn’t agree with your opinions? And make person attacks against his character? This is the Internet man, don’t take things so seriously!