[Begin conversation]
Joe: So you didn't like Red Wagon at all?
Matt: It was ok.Nothing special.
Joe: It reminded me of places we used to go to in Calgary.
The mismatched plates, furniture...It's odd because, on one hand, it seems like they don't care. But on the other hand, it takes a lot of conscious effort to purposely find mismatched plates, etc
Matt: It felt like a Chinese diner.
Joe: Was the pork belly good?
Matt: It was ok, part of it was really fatty, like 3/4 fat.
Actually it was decent.
Lots of fat but tender, and a little crispy.
Potatoes werent too flavourful nor was the soup.
Joe: What soup was that?
Matt: Borsht.
Joe: I had the pulled pork benny. The eggs were well-cooked, but I suppose you're supposed to assume that people will poach eggs properly. The pork was alright, definitely slow-cooked for a long time, but not nearly as good as Re Up's.
Same with the smoked salmon benny. You don't really ever expect people to mess that up, and they didn't. But the potatoes were bland.
Matt: Potatoes were bland.
My pork belly was ok.
Joe: Did you have problems with the server?
Matt: Service was great.
Joe: When we went, at the end the server asked if we wanted to break any bills for change...like, for her tip.
Matt: Our server kept us in the loop when tables were becoming available and was very informative.
I liked her.
Joe: So, overall it sounds like you didn't have many problems with Red Wagon, but you still wouldn't go back?
Matt: The food was not good enough to make me return.
I love my potatoes and they were bland
It was an ok experience, just not fantastic as I was hoping
Joe: Yeah, it was pretty meh for me.
I was expecting to be blown out of my mind after all that hype.
Matt: I was hoping it would be good, it was just all right.
[End conversation]
Red Wagon Cafe
2296 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 568-4565
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24 comments
I wasn't very impressed at all. I agree with the bland potatoes. How boring.
Love this place, best damn diner. I keep going back! I recommend trying places three times before writing reviews!
Anonymous, I think twice is enough to get a good feel for the place. Since they both went separately, it counts as 2x.
Twice, three times: this place feels like the samsara of diners, an endless flow of similar reiterations many times over. An additional visit would be a mere blip into its vast infinity of averageness.
I am anonymous from above with the positive comment. I did not grasp that you each went twice, that is fair enough for a review.
Perhaps I have been really lucky then? I live up the street and have really enjoyed having the wagon in the neighborhood. I guess it's matter of personal preference and opinion, I find some of your recommendations to be poor, and some of the other ones are so great, like Tenhatchi - that place is a gold find.
Either way I love reading your site
- Lisa
Yes we have lots of inexpensive choices in the hood from a consumer's point of view, some better, some worse. I agree there's room for improvement on some things, but some things are great the way they are. I respect the fact that someone is enriching my hood by pouring his heart and soul (not to mention the long hours and headaches that go with package) into a prime retail space that could have been easily turned into something else that I rather not have down the street from me. I would go there regularly.
I enjoyed the variety of the menu. Pork belly for breakfast is a great idea and the eggs were cooked perfectly. If they stepped up their potato game I would go back.
I guess that is the problem with blogs and reviewers by the nature of what we do we come off as haters. Its sad, we try to be as objective as possible but we can't love everything.
The meal was only decent to me but a I have a huge amount of respect for all people that venture out on their own to start their business and wish them success.
Matt
Seems kinda pointless to bag on the subjectivity of reviews. That's kind of a given, isn't it?
The previous tenants ran a Chinese diner.
I preferred king's.
B - You would retract your statement if you saw the state of King's kitchen. It was disgusting!
hi guys. brad at the red wagon here. thanks for your comments as it gives us insight into what we are doing right and, obviously wrong. i was amazed by our initial response and a little overwhelmed to be honest. we will continue to make adjustments thanks to comments like yours and everyone`s. if you do experience something you are not enjoying, tell me. i will be more than happy to correct it. thanks
i appreciate brad dropping in here and being open to criticism - i actually really enjoyed the breakfast i had there and look forward to Red Wagon sticking around!
I am a Vancouver realtor and enjoy really enjoy reading your blog!
I actually thought that the Pork Belly was pretty darn tasty. The coffee was tasty too!!!! I will be back to try more.
I don't understand why your review was written in dialogue format when all your other reviews are done in proper paragraph format. It doesn't seem like you did very much research before hand. And to be quite honest i find it semi ridiculous that someone who admits to having cooked less than 10 meals is critiquing and reviewing restaurants and food. I've been into the Red Wagon numerous times now, I love it! The pork belly I had was phenomenal... by definition pork belly is a fatty meat. In my opinion you seem a little confused and slightly uninformed in the area that you choose to advise people in.
at least it is only semi ridiculous.
oh and about the pork belly. Yes it is a fatty piece by definition. Unfortunately I did not take a photo but part of piece that I received was really fatty (80% fat and 20% muscle) and should have been culled before plating, especially considering pork belly is a usually a cheaper meat (it is odd that the prices of pork belly are rising).
Oh well, I am glad you enjoyed the meal.
Oh and I really like the signage, very Saul Bass esque.
Me: Did you see that anonymous comment about the Q&A format of this review?
Other Me: Yeah. I suppose full sentences impart more of a 'researched' feel, irrespective of the content.
Me: I didn't think much of Red Wagon either, in that I didn't think about it all. It's kinda good, kinda whatever, but that pulled pork is better than they said.
Other Me: Fuck off.
you guys should just stick to making shitty aprons for housewife hipsters.
Just like you should stick to being a douchebag, anon.
Yeah, I too thought the conversation was rather lame!!!!!!! I just went there for brunch and the best pulled pork pancakes ever!!!!! I like that it is not perfect inside.
I was just about to email you about this joint.. searched and found your sub-par review. I enjoyed it and thought you would too, very suspect to read this as I have been back four times with great dishes eat time, as well as all my friends, not one negative yet. Go back, get the burger!
Well after emailing days ahead and asking if they could accommodate a table of 8-10 I was told YES they could but no reservations.
No problem I have waited for food before and try and support local as often as I can. Well we showed up at 10:30 today and there was a line up. NO Problem gave our name and waited our turn (OVER an Hour) as numerous tables turned over, a few groups of 6 a number of smaller groups . 2 groups of 4 that showed up after us and got seated first, only to have a staff member come out and tell us the could give our group 2 tables but they were on opposite sides of the restaurant because they had just seated people.
Why wouldn't you hold back one of the smaller tables and instead of seating us apart seat the other groups in these locations.
BUT she said if we wanted to wait another 30-45 minutes we could get a seat.
Food maybe good . I'll never know because customer service is HUGE for me and I will NOT go back after this.
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