John's Prime Rib & Steakhouse

401 21st Street East, Saskatoon

(306) 244-6384

A few months ago we were treated to supper by my company's law firm. Over the years they've taken us to various places, last year was Amigo's, this year was John's. You must visit this place! Go now, click on the link, the steak you see on the website will taste as good as it looks. This is FINE DINING!

I'm the type of girl that you can dress up but can't take out. I can pretend for a few hours to be prim and proper and I can usually manage but I'm far more comfortable in a casual atmosphere in jeans, or better yet sweat pants. But everyone once in a while it's nice to play dress up and go somewhere special. If you're celebrating a special occasion this is the place to do - or even if you just want a steak cooked the way YOU want it.

There were fourteen of us, my co-workers and four or five lawyers. We were all dressed up and on our best behaviour. I was very proud of our group for behaving and trying new things on the menu and not spilling the wine.

First we were treated to drinks. I haven't had a Caesar taste so good! I wanted to keep my drink intake to a minimum and not abuse the fact that I wasn't paying for supper, but the Caesars were so delicious I couldn't help myself. Then a few trays of appetizers appeared on our table; stuffed mushrooms, dry ribs with the bone in (my favourite), bacon wrapped scallops and jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven right there. We hadn't even ordered yet.

The menu selection is on the smaller side, maybe eight to ten items. I'm skeptical of restaurants who have large menus, there's no way they can control the quality on fifty different dishes and keep it consistent. A co-worker of mine ordered a seafood bake which looked amazing, another ordered the prime rib which almost made me want to change my mind on what I ordered, and I had the 6oz Filet Mignon with a lobster tail. My favourite part of the meal was when my steak came and it was cooked exactly how I liked it. It's not very often that a steak is cooked to perfection. Maybe I'm just going to the wrong restaurants. My meal came with a choice of soup or salad, the soup of the day was a lobster bisque. Who can turn down a lobster bisque? It was sinfully delicious. I would go back and have four cups of this just as a meal!

They do have a table side Caesar salad that looked (and smelled) amazing. I know JRK is huge fan of Caesar salad, I'd really like to go back and give it a taste.

John's has an elegant feel, soft subtle lighting, rich coloured fabrics and luxurious textures. Casual dress is accepted, however hats and athletic wear are not allowed in the dining room. Reservations are welcome but not required (I think, you may want to call ahead to be sure.) As it is fine dining the prices reflect quality, it's gonna cost a bit more than a happy meal at McDonald's but I assure you well worth it! I couldn't find a thing to complain about!

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5 Forks out of 5!

The Diplomat ~ Regina, SK

2032 Broad Street, Regina, SK

Phone: (306) 359.3366

"Wine and steak - it's what we do." I love that slogan. And they're right - they do a damn fine steak!

We happened to drive by this place while we were in Regina for a weekend for a wedding. JRK and I had decided to spend an extra day in Regina to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We wanted to go for supper and maybe a movie. Not knowing the city that well we were driving around looking for a wine store and happened to pass this restaurant. A steak sounded good, so we decided to try it out. We had no idea what we were getting into.

When we walked in I started to get nervous. It had a bit of a John's feel to it. Reservations weren't required but they were preferred. I wasn't sure we could afford to get into what we were about to get into. But I knew we were guaranteed to have a fantastic meal.

The wine list was HUGE. You name it they had it, from $25 - $2500 a bottle! We didn't have a bottle of wine with our meal, we were both into the Caesars again - which were quite delicious. JRK was mentioning to me the other day that we should go there again and try the table side Caesar Salad and budget for a bottle of wine as well. Table side service seems to be a popular item on their menu, they have a variety of table side items, salads, steaks, dessert... Check out the menu!

We started our evening with the Baked Feta. I was expecting some kind of mixed dip with chips. It was actual slices of feta, baked with peppers, tomatoes and onions, and spiced with peppercorns, oregano and maybe basil. It was fantastic! JRK and I both were very impressed.

JRK ordered the 18oz T-Bone with lemon roast potatoes. I ordered the Steak Maitre D' ("A
juicy 10oz N.Y. Steak broiled with three butterflied Shrimps, sautéed in a savoury garlic white wine sauce.") I like a topping and a sauce with my steak - I also had the stuffed potato. We each had a clam chowder soup to start. I was a little disappointed with the chowder, it was more of a cream of everything-left-in-the- fridge soup than a clam chowder. But when the entrees arrived they more than made up for the soup. My steak was cook exactly the way I wanted, medium, pink but not rare and juicy and flavourful. When I order "medium" I never get "medium", I get over cooked or rare, this was perfect. They cut their own steaks there, that impressed me. The stuffed potato was the best I've ever had - fluffy and cheesy, not dried out and overdone.

By the end of our meals we were too full to try dessert but promised to come back again!

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4 Forks Out of 5

Bar King Fish

154 2nd Avenue South, Saskatoon
Phone: (306) 665-2220

I don't know if it's Bar King Fish or Barking Fish. I like Barking Fish better, but if I recall at the top of their menu are the initials B.K.F. I dunno? I don't think there's a website for this place which is too bad because I can't even share the menu items with you.

It's a tapas lounge in downtown Saskatoon. It used to be called the Black Duck, a sort of English Pub type. But now the space has been sold (?) renovated and updated - it's quite modern but small and intimate. They feature smaller portions (tapas style) so you can try a bunch of things - great for sharing.

We went with another couple for a bite to eat before the Wine Premiere (another festival in Saskatoon) We ordered the ginger beef, tempura shrimp cocktail and a crab and spinach dip. As much as I love the concept behind this restaurant I found the flavours to be flat. The ginger beef was okay but I was lacking some spice, the tempura shrimp cocktail was nice, great presentation in a martini glass, but to me guacamole doesn't go with a battered shrimp. I loved the crostini that came with the crab dip but the dip itself had no flavour, it needed a sharper cheese or a half pound of garlic or something!

The atmosphere is cozy and intimate, soft lighting and warm colours invite you in. It's not too loud, you can have a conversation with your group, there doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house.

The service we had was excellent. The previous time I visited it seemed a little disorganized. I thought it was a lounge where you just sat yourself, but it looked more like a restaurant only there was no host/hostess waiting to greet you and seat you. We ended up seating ourselves and I don't think anyone knew we were there, a waitress didn't come around for twenty minutes. These quirks seemingly have been rectified. We were greeted when we walked in and formally shown to our seats. Drink orders were taken right away.

It may have been the excitement of the night or the great company we shared, but I had the best Long Island Iced Tea I've had in a while. At least the first one was really great. When the second round of drinks came my friend pointed out there was a fly in my drink. Ew! And it was no small fruit fly, this sucker was at least the size of a dime, doing the backstroke in my beverage! A gentleman at our table took my drink to the bar and within seconds another iced tea was brought to our table. It was just an iced tea but it tasted pretty good so I didn't notice until the bartender came to our table to apologize.

The bartender thought we were complaining about a fruit fly but when he actually took a look in the drink and saw the fly that was big enough to be stuffed and mounted on your wall, he was very apologetic. He brought me another Long Island Iced Tea on the house and comped my meal. It is because of this service that I will return. Shit happens, it's how you deal with it that matters.

There are a few other items on the menu I'd like to try. And I really enjoyed the downtown atmosphere.

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3.25 Forks Out of 5

Doc Hollandaise

6-705 Central Avenue, Saskatoon

Phone: 651-5115

We went out for supper the other night, it was Friday, I didn't feel like cooking. JRK suggested Doc Hollandaise. It's close, it's a newer restaurant, locally owned. We'd had their ribs at the Taste of Saskatchewan and they were AMAZING so we decided to try out the rest of the menu.

This location has had a few different restaurants over the years, it's kind of game I play to go in and see what the new owners have added or taken away from the previous place. Doc Hollandaise has changed it quite a bit, a lot of new booths have been added and there's new carpet I think - not really the color scheme I would have chosen, but it's not my restaurant.

This is where the confusion started. It's a nice enough place when you walk in, I don't know really what kind of restaurant you would say it was in term of Italian or Greek, etc. It's a family restaurant, the owner even proclaims this on this website and menu. But there's a lot of things that just don't work. I'll start with the Latin music playing in the background, it just didn't go with the rest of the decor and the menu. And when our meals came I wasn't a huge fan of the more Greek style, mosaic tile style pattern on plastic, not glass. For a Friday night at supper time, the place was dead. That's almost unheard of in Saskatoon on a weekend. Something just didn't feel right, like there was trouble behind the scenes.

The website boasts an "extensive menu" and the menu on the website is HUGE, but that wasn't the same menu I was given in the restaurant. I looked through the choices and there wasn't one thing that caught my eye. Usually I can come up with two or three choices that sound good and I narrow it down from there. I looked through their signature dishes - they had a grey box around them, I like that idea, it let's you know what they're good at. There were two signature dishes, a bleu cheese burger and their ribs. Well I can make a burger at home and JRK was ordering the ribs. I settled on a Doc's Chicken Neptune: "Charbroiled chicken breast topped with crab and shrimp, asparagus spears and Hollandaise sauce." JRK ordered the Steak and Rib Combo, medium rare and Sweet Chili ribs.

I received a small grilled chicken breast topped with two overcooked asparagus spears, cocktail shrimp from a can, crab flakes from a can covered with what appeared to be Hollandaise sauce from a package. The baked potato was overdone yesterday and the steamed vegetables were soggy and not seasoned. I was so disappointed. I wanted to like this place. I wanted to support local. I looked over at JRK's plate and could tell the steak was well done and the boiled ribs had just been drizzled with the Thai Sweet Chili sauce from a bottle, he had the same soggy steamed veggies. I couldn't even finish my meal. It was awful. I felt guilty. I couldn't even complain. I couldn't help but feel that this restaurant was struggling. Maybe I just watch too much tv and Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares are getting to me.

The waitress was awesome - she was quite quiet, but prompt with service and dressed nicely - it appeared there was a dress code in effect, good choice by the owner. But despite the good service I just can't go back to endure another meal there.

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Sadly this restaurant only gets 2 Forks out of 5.

Harley Davidson Cafe ~ Las Vegas

Restaurant Review - Las Vegas Edition - Part 2 of 2

The Harley Davidson Cafe, I don't know what to say. It wasn't really my thing - and I think because of this my review may be a bit tainted.

The restaurant itself was kinda cool, I think we counted about 10 actual bikes parked throughout, chains and motorcycle stuff everywhere, I guess that's par for the course.

Our waitress was very friendly and had a lot of patience with us. I think this was the first place we sat down in after we got off the plane, so the three of us girls were a bit chatty and not able to concentrate on our task at hand - choosing what we wanted off the menu. I think about the third time she came to the table we'd actually settled on what drink we wanted.

The menu was fairly basic, burgers and sandwiches, steaks and chicken - the usual, quite a few different choices though. I ended up ordering some kind of pasta - it was good, but not really what I had expected, but I was staving and inhaled it quite quickly.

We were able to take our drinks to go - in our collectible Harley Davidson glasses (real glass and everything)- that's got the be the coolest thing about Vegas, if you're not done with your drink you just take it along! The waitress even sent us on our way with gift bags and tissue paper to wrap our glasses in when we were done.

I don't think I need to go back, kind of a been there, done that sorta thing. But if you're a big Harley fan you might wanna go and check it out.

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3.25 Forks out of 5