Kimshaker Resto: Modern Filipino Cuisine — Restaurant in Burnaby

(TLDR) Came here with my partner for dinner on Monday, September 23rd due the buzz on social media and because the food genuinely looked amazing. However, we didn’t expect to the be waiting 2.5 hours for our meal (fried squid, kwek kwek, bbq pork, and chicken inasal). I understand this restaurant opened recently but management should have forecasted and/or prepared for an extremely busy couple of months and ensured enough staff.

When we first arrived, we could already see it was somewhat busy (tables were all occupied, and people looked like they were already waiting a while for their food). We were greeted politely by the hostess, who was also the dish runner, person who took orders, and cleaned tables. There were three wait staff in total and kitchen staff.

We were seated right away, but at our first attempt to order, some of the popular items were already sold out (e.g: pares, crispy Kare kare, and lechon kawali). After our server informed us these items were indeed sold out, we waited another 15 minutes to place an order, this time with in stock items. After waiting 20 minute for our server (and to be given water) we decided to line up and order at the register. At this time we had been at the restaurant for 30 minutes.

More than 1 hour later, we finally got the fried squid (which was delicious actually, or maybe it was the hunger setting in). Another 15-20 minutes passed, and a few more follow ups about our order, and our food had finally arrived. Their food was VERY tasty, nonetheless and we were pleasantly surprised! It almost made waiting worth it. The staff continued to apologize for the inconvenience and thanked us for waiting.

My pork bbq skewers were cooked well and everything on my plate was delicious. Unfortunately, I cant say the same about my partner’s dish as the chicken was still raw inside. Although we were nervous to bring this issue up and anxious we’d be waiting another 30 minutes for properly cooked chicken, his issue was brought up. Our checked in with the kitchen, came back and the server apologized. Lastly, they informed us it was “cooked blood.” Truthfully, I’d never heard of this before, but a recourse was offered. And, although their kitchen was closed they offered to cook the piece of chicken more thoroughly.

Overall and regardless of the wait times (if you can get over that sort of thing), their food is delicious. Spent a total of $60+. Price-wise, it’s slightly steep but accounting for inflation, I would say it’s priced somewhat fairly. Service? They did the best they could, even though they were clearly understaffed.

If you are planning on visiting, eat a snack before coming in and be prepared to wait for your food. Who knows, wait times might level off after a few...

I saw this new filipino restaurant on instagram and was intrigue because of the street food and silog menu.

The atmosphere was cozy and feel like a friendly place. Service was horrible, yes i understand it’s a small business but it was hard to get a server attention. I had to ask for water even though Kuya saw me with no water when he deliver water to another table. You will have to wait 5 to 10 minutes just to get a server attention. Our food took a long time, and didn’t came at the same time.

So like I said I was intrigued because of the street food and Silog menu but then I realize the street food wasn’t a good value for your buck. I saw someone ordered kikiam and it was literally 8-10 pieces of kikiam for 10 dollars. I believe you can get kikiam 20dollars per kilo. The only thing I saw value was the butterfly fried squid for 14 dollars. But that was a disappointment, it was so hard to pull the meat out of the skewer that I asked them to chop it for me. As you can see, it’s mostly batter and the squid was so chewy and taste like the oil is not fresh.

My friend had “sisig” with rice which was also a disappointment. It’s not really sisig of what we are used to, for her it taste more like a meat with bbq sauce.

I had the “sisig” burger which is also disappointing. I had a vision that it will be form like a sisig Pattie but it was just a bbq meat in a bun.

We also had lomi which we enjoy very much. Flavour taste really good and fulfilling. Good value for your buck. I also had the sago gulamang which is quite good.

Overall my experience is mediocre, would I come back? Yes if I was in the area and I want a Filipino food but It’s will never be a go to restaurant for me. If you looking for a great Filipino restaurant, I would rather go to pin pin or pampanga cuisine’s in...

I really liked the street food options from Kimshaker's Food Hub at New West so I was excited to hear that they opened a restaurant in Burnaby but I was greatly disappointed.

We ordered the following: Tapsilog = ⭐⭐ Tapa was alright. Garlic rice could use more garlic. Eggs was done right but $18.99 for a silog is too expensive. Kwek-Kwek = ⭐⭐ Batter has no flavor Siomai = ⭐⭐ Bland. I get that it's the street food version of siomai but the food hub branch has better siomai which surprised me because you'd think they'd have the same recipe Fishball = ⭐⭐⭐ it's what you'd expect from a fishball. The sweet sauce was good tho. Isaw Baboy = ⭐⭐⭐ I think this one stood out the most for me..it had the right flavor even with a little bit of after taste (which I know it's hard to remove) Lumpia = ⭐⭐ too salty and our lumpia was overcooked and burnt. Ube Milky Drink = ZERO. It tasted very artificial, the ube extract was overpowering so it left a bad taste in the mouth and it stained our lips, teeth and tongue. The drink was deep purple -- like you know there's a lot of food colouring. It shouldn't even be called a milky since it has more ube than actual milk.

Honest Review: 2 stars out of 5

We left the restaurant with regret. There were so many items on their menu and I think they should scale it down and focus on the flavour instead.

I only have a photo of the lumpia because we ordered it...