Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House on Robson and Thurlow, Vancouver
I just gotta get a few more old posts out of the way before I start on the Spain series. Suanne reminded to do it because she knows that if I don’t blog about it now, I will never get down to doing it.
This is a follow-on post from the Lets Go For Dinner post I made previously. With the $50 dinner certificate, I invited chowtimes readers to join Suanne and I to share the famed Seafood Tower on Ice in Joe Fortes. The plan was to get the $150 THREE-TIER Seafood Tower on Ice and have nothing else but that.
Joe Fortes is located at the busy intersection of Robson and Thurlow. Suanne and I decided to park all the way on Granville St (free street parking!) and walk all the way.
That got us there a bit late. We should have taken the Joe Fortes taxi. LOL! There was this bright yellow taxi parked in front of the restaurant. I was wondering if it is just for show or if it is an actually running taxi operated by the restaurant.
There were five of us who went to Joe Fortes. Jenny (My Secret Eden), Ricky and Anita joined us.
Some of you who are well versed with Vancouver’s history would have heard of Joe Fortes and his contribution to the city (see above). There is a Joe Fortes drinking fountain memorial at the West End’s Alexandra Park.
Now, lets get this clear … Joe Fortes did NOT open nor owned this restaurant. The restaurant just adopted his name. Now you know.
To me, Joe Fortes is a touristy restaurant. I can see lots of tourists eating here.
I had always heard that there are two levels in Joe Fortes. Rumour has it that if you dressed nicely and formally, you get seated upstairs. If you dress in jeans, you are banished to the busy ground floor. To my dismay when we got there, our guests were already seated at the ground floor … not just any table at the ground floor but the WORST table. It was located just at the entrance to the kitchen.
So I had to tell our waiter that I simply cannot enjoy my meal with people rushing behind me every five minutes. They promptly moved us … UPSTAIRS and the best table upstairs too! We had nice bright spot at the corner with a sweeping view of the restaurant. We were quite pleased.
Anyway, the rumour about Joe Fortes seating customers based on how they dressed is not true because we were casually dressed in jeans and Ts. Many customers upstairs are similarly attired.
Service was top notch … very polite and cheerful. The waiters were all decked in short white jacket. Table setting was nice and formal. Things were looking up and I was eagerly anticipating the seafood feast.
Then they gave us warm wet towels. I can’t remember now if they gave this to us at the start or at the end of the dinner. But anyway, I like it.
However, one thing I want to ask all of you for your opinion. You see, when I get this in a dinner with the family, I would take it and wipe my FACE. Ohhhh … it’s so refreshing doing that. However, with friends I just used that to wipe my hands, lest people think I am a hobo (not that I am not one … LOL!).
Is it bad etiquette to wipe the face? Would you use it to wipe your face … have you?
I did not even bother to look at the menu. I just told them we’re there for the Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice … and emphasizing on THREE TIER!
Our waiter jokingly told us that if we order this he will refuse to allow us to order anything else. The way he said it was convincing us that we had made the right order.
Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice are available in 1-tier ($49), 2-tiers ($99) and 3-tiers ($145).
Bread was served with soft butter. No complains … good bread.
And there it is … the Joe’s Seafood Tower on Ice. At a glance, it was a sight to behold. It looked so busy with so many goodies in it all at once that you don’t know what you are looking at. Needless to say, everyone was delighted to see it.
We took lots of pictures … standing up. That’s the only way to take the pictures of this towering presentation.
However to my dismay, … (more…)