Bistro Chi-Q — Restaurant in Saanich

TL;DR - taste was okay, but not the experience. The high ratings of this restaurant is honestly questionable. Only reason I gave two stars instead of one was because the food wasn't bad.

I came in with a few friends last week and first thing we did was order drinks. Out of all the beers they listed on their menu, they didn't even have half of them available. Sapporo.. Nope. Tsingdao... Nope. Kloud... Nope. And when we finally were able to pick a beer that was available (fourth option) and we asked for five beers and they didn't even have enough. Then when it came to ordering food, we ordered three different soups, LA Galbi BBQ and half order of fried chicken. When the food was served, first, all three soup bowls were different sizes (What?)- we had a small, medium and large bowl of soup that all costs closely the same. Second, the Galbi portion was definitely not worth $30 (MAYBE $20) - and yes, including the sides. The taste of the food was pretty good, but just everything else was questionable. But tbh, Chimac and Chicken649 will give you the same quality for a lower price. And lastly, when it was time to pay, because a payment did not go through the first time, when the waitress put in the number again, the number was different than the first time she put in - common mistake but understandable. But when my boyfriend asked her if the number was before or after the tips he had put in, the waitress said it was before tips... Took few seconds to realize that the number was actually the amount plus tips from the initial payment attempt. Under normal circumstances, this would just be a small unimportant detail but given the entire experience, it was honestly the last straw. The reason why I wrote so much for this review - and this is the first time I've ever written a review - is because the entire experience was so unpleasant, it was funny that I needed to share this. Maybe I had my hopes up too high because of the high...

If I could give zero stars I would. Honestly my friends and I use to come here all the time and had great experiences and have been always super kind and respectful to the workers and the owner. Until one night my friends who are of age tried to order a drink, but the manager wouldn’t serve them because everyone at the table had to be of age (people who weren’t of age were obviously not trying to order a drink regardless and had no intentions of “sneaking” a drink if that’s what the manager was thinking). The manager stated “ it’s the law” but we all had never heard of this “law” until this night. EVERY restaurant I have been too has served alcohol to people of the age of 19 regardless of the ages of the other people who didn’t order a alcoholic beverage. A simple example, going out with your parents or family member and they order a drink. It seemed like the manager had something against us as we have ordered drinks BEFORE with other friends who are UNDER AGE at our table at their restaurant before. Don’t know if it’s because she was discriminating how we looked or dressed, I have no idea but we are all just university students trying to get a bite to eat. So we were all a bit confused and frustrated, as she said kept saying it was the LAW but it wasn’t applied for any other time we came here lol. I myself work in the restaurant industry and have never heard of this law. We would be 100% more understanding if she said it was rule for their restaurant ( only if she wasn’t so rude about it) instead of stating it’s the law everywhere. The Manager continued to make a scene, by leaning and putting her hands on our table and yelling at all of us, it was very uncomfortable for not only us but other customers in their restaurant, In general she was rude and very unprofessional. A grown women acting like a child, so ridiculous. You would think restaurants would want as much business as possible after 2 years of restrictions and...

My work colleague reserved a spot for this place and it was nice and empty when we arrived at 5pm but jammed packed and crazy around 7pm ish.

I didn't order all the food I wanted to try due to spending more time connecting and laughing but this is what I noted:

Trying to figure out the tteok-bokki as it is my first time having it ever. I've seen how the dish is normally served and I think this restaurant is trying to serve 국물떡볶이 but as you can see it's not very soupy, the eggs looked a bit overcooked, and I find it's made a bit too sweet and texture is more gummy than chewy; won't be ordering this dish going forward here. The mandu is tasty and the Haemul is alright in the more crispy category.

My colleague shared the garlic soy Korean fried chicken and it's okay. I don't find their version tasting better than the other establishments in the city however but my other friend who I visited much later devoured the takeout and he absolutely loved it. Next visit I will try the Cheese Snow Chicken and Gam Ja Tang that I didn't have time for. 🙂

Soju is ridiculously overpriced in this establishment! I'm sorry, that was a huge dealbreaker. 💔 Stick to water and spend the equivalent monetary value on dessert or an appetizer instead. Service is okay but as it got busy, they never proactively brought the bill and when we flagged them down and returned with the bill, they never came back to bring the POS. Why don't you just tell us to go straight to the till to pay if you're too busy and not bother to accept payment on spot?

I will come back but first visit is not exactly 5 stars in my book. However this could change and for the most part the staff are pleasant and attentive clearing dishes, asking how the food was, and checking if we needed...