Middle EasternRating: 2/5

East is East (Main)- Night Of The 1 1/2 Hr Wait and Vacuum Packed Seating

Yoshi is a major foodie and he often raved about how great the
restaurant ‘East is East’ is (wow, tongue twister!). I had no clue what this
restaurant was about so I was eager to try it out.  We went with a bunch of other friends and had
a total of about 7 people. BAD IDEA.

East is East is located on Main Street and this is one of
two locations. The other location is in Kitsilano and from what I hear, the
other location is bigger.

When we arrived, the place was packed and there was already
a line up to the door. We were told that it would be an hour wait since we had
a large party and we reluctantly agreed. After an hour of walking down the
streets and chatting with each other, we went back and we were told that it
would be an additional hour wait!! WHAT?! We were all visibly frustrated and pretty fed up. We wanted to go somewhere else along Main Street but the other
restaurants were full as well. We had no choice but to continue waiting… besides,
if we left, I would have felt like we wasted all that time waiting.

To be fair, the hostesses did try and make us feel better by
offering some samples of their famous chai and stuffed naan.
 We all appreciated that. After an hour and a
half wait, we finally got a table. A very small, squishy 4 person table… All 7 of us were basically shoulder to shoulder and I can honestly say it was the most uncomfortable
dining experience I have ever had in my life.

Now that I have finished ranting about the wait and
uncomfortable seating, I’ll move on to the food. The majority of us opted for the
Silk Route Feast ($21 per person) because
you get the most bang for your buck. The feast includes a dhal soup, organic
salad, boulani, roti, garlic pickles, afghan and basmati rice, as well as two
dishes of your choice (from the list)
. When you are done your first round, you
can continue getting more of anything you want and choosing other dishes to try
from the list, so it’s pretty much like all-you-can-eat.

You HAVE to try their yogurt lassies!! It’s divine!

Trixie and I shared a large
Kashmiri Sunset ($7.00)
which was pretty much a Mango Lassie. But it was no ordinary lassie, it was
by far the best mango lassie we have ever tasted!!! I want to go back just to
order this again. This drink had so many dimensions of flavour. The mango, the
rosewater, the cardamom… honestly, it was the bomb.

This was my Silk Route Feast and I chose the Mango Butternut Squash and the Chicken Masala as my two dishes. (Side note: I don’t know if you can see but the tray is half off the table because there was no room =.=)

The mango butternut squash was really delicious and
definitely very interesting. That was one of my favourite dishes of the night.

The Dhal Soup was
quite good and hearty. It fills you up quick though. 

I really enjoyed the Afgan
and basmati rice
because it tasted so different from the regular Chinese
short grain rice I’m used to eating. The Afgan rice had carrots, cinnamon, raisins,
and a bunch of different spices. It was great to eat on its own!

The chicken masala was only alright because I found the
chicken to be a bit tough. 

I didn’t enjoy the garlic pickles but that is just my
personal preference. The
yogurt-mint sauce on the right was very tasty.

Rae was the only
person who did not order the Silk Route Feast. She instead got
The Gypsy (~$11.50) which came with a
roti wrap of baked eggplant, mango butternut squash, with brown lentil rice. It
was served with a side salad and dhal soup. She enjoyed the wrap but disliked
how it was put together. She said all the butternut squash and eggplant was on
the top of the wrap, and all the rice was on the bottom. Thus, when she
finished the top part of the wrap, all that was left was the plain rice. 

Honestly, if it weren’t for the service (they forgot Rae’s order too), the incredibly long wait, and being seated at a tiny table with absolutely no space to move my hands, I would have really enjoyed this restaurant because the food was actually pretty good. However, based on this one time experience, it was a complete doozy. 

Based on these reasons:
  • food is unique and interesting, Mango Lassie is a must get item!
  • don’t ever come to this location with a large group without reservations (we were dumb and didn’t make any =.=)
  • service is alright
  • they sometimes have a live band playing so it is pretty cool
Service Rating: 2/5
Food Rating: 3/5
Price: $$-$$$$

Overall Rating: 2/5

Happy Eating!

East Is East (Main) on Urbanspoon

4 thoughts on “East is East (Main)- Night Of The 1 1/2 Hr Wait and Vacuum Packed Seating

  • Omg… the smoothies are totally awesome! I went for lunch on a weekday and it was pretty quiet there. I think only 1-2 other tables occupied. We got free samples for the smoothies and a hot chai tea as well, so that was great. I don't remember the price for the all-you-can-eat lunch, but I remember it being quite a deal.

    Reply
  • Oh my gosh they did! That's great!! Is it cheaper to go for lunch? If that's the case I would totally go back and check it out 🙂

    Reply
  • No fair… I don't have it on my blog. Maybe because I used my own template… now I have to try to figure out how to add it back in. Or just leave it since I'm lazy 😛

    Hmm.. I believe lunch was around… $15? But then the price is probably way higher now since I went like… 2-3 years ago hahaha.

    Reply

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