RENS Cafe & Bistro Thai Contemporary — Restaurant in Burnaby

Let’s be real and honest…

First of all, we don’t have a huge selection of Thai restaurants in the lower mainland. Even with the ones we have, they are either fusion or subpar at best except for one or two that are decently okay.

Secondly, all these unrealistic 4-5 star reviews are great on the screen but in reality it will destroy a new business within a year when it’s not getting honest feedbacks from customers on the areas it needs to improve on for it acquire and retain repeat customers.

Anyways, saw this place took over a Greek restaurant and decided to give it a try. There are free street parkings through the surrounding area. Arrived and got seated inside (outside patio seatings are available). Toward one side, there was a dedicated spot for its robot coffee barrister, but didn’t see it being functional. Otherwise the place has a modern contemporary decor with robots bringing out the food.

Here were the food I ordered;

Creamy Tom yum seafood soup. The taste was okay, but definitely lack a bit of substance and that nice rich tom yum flavour. Signature rib eye steak salad. Okay if you cooked the steak well done (why though?!?), sliced and soaked it in a very citrusy and vinegary sauce… the meat texture will become powdery. Meat lover platter. The beef was a bit dry and over marinated, the chicken and shrimp skewers were okay, the chicken wings were pretty dry, and the squid tentacles needed a lesson from the Asian night market. (More of a surf & turf platter than a meat platter). Yellow curry soft shell crab. The mountainous layer of thick yellow curry over powered and killed the existence of the crab. (P.S. what’s with Thai restaurants having such a high price tag on soft shell crabs nowadays?) Giant pineapple seafood fried rice. The fried rice was lacking in most categories; no wok hay, rice was mushy, seafood was rubbery (seems like using a frozen bag of assorted seafood from T&T), pineapple was sour. And I didn’t get no giant pineapple, however I did got a tiny half sour pineapple. (But sizes are subjective, a midget can call a cat a tiger so I guess it depends on who was writing the description).

The restaurant is conveniently located on Hastings close to Boundary Road in Burnaby with a decent amount of both free and paid street parking. Inside is decorated with a casual fun atmosphere and a nice patio for those who prefer the outdoors.

The service was decent, all the servers tried their best to be attentive to all customers; however, one of the serving robot came crashing itself into our table, luckily it speared itself into the corner of the table and not us (robots have mental health too?!?).

As for the food, I was really excited and somewhat had hope because of all the 4-5 star reviews but reality kicked in; I was quite disappointed and bagged a majority of them home. It’s either I walked into the wrong restaurant, the chef had a bad day, or some people’s standards are as that.

Anyways, just keeping it real and consider it as positive criticism. I hope it gets better and give it another...

Went there with my family of 4. Hostess / waitress was not welcoming right from the entrance. Took us to a table near the window which seats 4 but had a reserved sign on it, but the waitress decided to turned us another way saying "this table does not seat 4" - we later see that of course that table seated a party of 4 people afterwards. If she would have just been honest and said the table was reserved instead of a lie, I would have been understanding.

Took us to a back corner table in the other dining area with very dim lights despite not being busy and many empty tables (not reserved) around us. Inquired about being seated at another table but was quickly dismissed by saying they are all reserved even though only some tables had the reserve sign on it.

Service continued to be unwelcoming.

Ordered the stir fried clams. Tastes was actually fine, but came out lukewarm.

Ordered the Beef Stew Noodle Soup. Tastes normal, but came with a needlessly heavy bowl. Had some fried garlic on top which looked a little like nuts. My kid is allergic to certain types of nuts but can still have small amounts, so I inquired what they were and if there were any nuts in this. The waitress did not know the answer and did not attempt to find out from the kitchen, her colleague came in and answered that its just fried garlic.

In fact, all the other orders came with an exceptionally large plate with a small serving size, which would be fine if they had larger tables. But the opposite is true - For a family of 4, we could barely fit 2 mains and an appetizer on to the table. The only gimmick of having the robots carrying the plates is probably because those plates and bowls are too heavy.

Understand that some restaurants are not too fond of children, they are a nuisance and messy sometimes, and seating us elsewhere to not disturb other patrons may be understandable sometimes. But please do so in a more customer friendly way. I would be a shame to have a restaurant's reputation tarnished by an inexperienced server.

Food was forgettable and service was poor. There will be no second visit. Will not recommend...

Rens Club Café in Burnaby Heights is an enjoyable oddity. Think R2-D2 meets Pad Thai. Apparently the owner decided to merge his success in building robots with his passion for Asian fusion food. The result is new restaurant where classic Thai and Vietnamese dishes are served by travelling, interactive robots. My first visit was on a quiet weekday evening. The robots were not on duty. But at busier times, your meal can be delivered, dishes removed, and coffee brewed by friendly, white, high-tech androids. In their absence, we had Ken. Previously a manager at a Michelin-star restaurant in Vancouver, he was recruited by Rens to oversee their opening on Hastings, just east of Boundary. I doubt the resident cyborgs can match his personal and attentive service. Despite an enormous robotic coffee machine resting a few meters away, Ken immediately made us feel at home. Indeed, apart from the few bionic machines parked around the dining room, the ambiance was reassuring normal for a Thai restaurant: bamboo and greenery, broad skylights, wicker furniture, and elegant gold-trimmed chopsticks. Despite the full view of Hastings Street, the dining room was soothingly quiet, with some mellow John Coltrane blanketing the soundscape. The menu isn’t particularly exotic for Asian fusion but covers the bases well, with plenty of gluten free and vegetarian options as well as fancy cocktails. We started with a rib-eye steak salad featuring thin, tender slices of perfectly cooked beef on a nest of greens, peppers, onions, and mint leaves. Delectable. We tried a pair of mains. First, a tasty Pad Thai with chicken, noodles, peanuts, tofu, and tasty tamarind sauce. Conventional yet artfully served. Then a Crispy Chicken Cashew stir-fry with lots of peppers and tangy spices. For dessert, home-make coconut milk ice cream. Cool and refreshing, without being cloyingly sweet. All in all, for a place that’s promoting itself with weird robots the meal was very agreeable and tastefully presented. The service was a bit slow and the prices a tad high, but otherwise it’s a welcome addition to North Burnaby’s...