Whole Wheat & Honey Cafe

My first impression of this place is good. I’m talking about their hot, new location—all newly designed and freshly painted and tastefully decorated. Very new age. The high ceilings, warm colors and hippy vibe all contribute to my journey to what I affectionately call my ‘restaurant happy place.’

The positives:

Ample space and diversity in seating. Sit by the south windows. Chill by the stage. People watch while facing 100 Street. Hang out in center of the place, cafeteria style. Breathe in the clean, fresh, crisp décor. I felt like Hippy was my religion while eating there. I wanted to order some herbal tea, pop in an advertised Dana Manning CD and braid my hair.

Nice-looking employees. After a few minutes of conversation, I didn’t mind the extremely severed bangs combined with a ‘natural’ look.

Great ordering set up. Huge menu board that’s easy to read; knowledge, chill staff. Very open feel—didn’t feel claustrophobic or pressured to hurry my decision-making process.

Loved the live music idea. I feel like it’s a place where I could pick up my guitar, book a slot and leave my case open for coinage. Actually, strike the case idea—that’s tacky. Never been to a show here, but I plan on it ‘cause it looks cool. And I want to be cool.

Finally figured out when they were open (anyone remember than Texas BBQ place that just couldn’t quite figure out if they were doing construction or serving brisket?) and went exclusively to breakfast/lunch. WW&HC had a similar problem during the first few months in their new place.

Loved the idea of homemade muffins and those extra large beverage mugs. Although, it’s sort of weird to have the muffins individually wrapped in plastic wrap--kind of low budget. The mugs remind of Central Perk in Friends. Which also reminds me: Isn’t it somewhat against a law somewhere to ‘borrow’ another’s idea? Anyone remember their old location and signage? Totally Friends… I’m just sayin’.


Areas of improvement:

Sometimes open late for special events. This is sad to me. I would love to see this establishment rock it all day long. Despite it being in a high traffic location and catering to workday foot traffic, this place has great potential for tapping into the night crowd. Not everyone wants to frequent a pub, you know.

The food was not so memorable. After the first few bites, I came down from my giddiness in finding a donair in FSJ (-skimpy on the tasty tzatziki, meat on the bland side, but, bread was soft and chewy.) It was okay. The side salad, accompanied with a too-oily vinaigrette, was just weird. All the veggies were cut too large. I can’t even say they were chopped because that would mean the pieces were smaller than they were. Couldn’t decide if the fork and knife were needed or to just pick it up with my hands.

A tad warmer in the chillier months. Nothing like a good teeth chatter while eating a salad.

Overall, I would go back. WW&HC has so many good things going for it to be ignored. To be honest, if this place were open at night I might get there more often.

GRADE: B+ Step up the food and make my mouth water, please. If I think “Quizno’s” before you, that’s a problem.

Whole Wheat & Honey Cafe
10003 110 St
250.787.9866

From the Tip Jar

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From RestaurantOwner.com - October 20, 2009
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Weekly Planning Will Improve Your Managers' Effectiveness

A common characteristic of many successful independent
restaurants is the owner's practice of pausing at the
end of each week with their management team. They
review how the restaurant is performing and decide
what to focus on in the coming seven days.

Having a weekly review and planning discipline helps
managers clearly understand what their priorities are
and what they need to do to accomplish specific, short
term goals and objectives.

The cornerstone of this approach is having a brief,
well-organized weekly management meeting in which
the owner and all managers participate.

Effective weekly meetings generally include a review
and discussion of the following items:

- prior week's key numbers including sales, guest
counts and prime costs

- daily tasks such as ordering and scheduling

- weekly goals such as anticipated sales and cost
goals, repair  and maintenance projects, upcoming
marketing promotions, scheduled banquets or catering
 events, and special events that are going on in
the community

Weekly meetings improve the odds that your managers
are organized, goal-oriented and clearly understand 
your priorities. They are also more likely to feel 
like they are an integral and important part of your
restaurant too.

If your management team is lacking direction and
cohesiveness, start meeting at the same time each
week to discuss how the restaurant is doing and
specific goals for making it better.

With everyone's input and your guidance
you'll probably see a more effective
management team and better performing
restaurant.

Ming's Kitchen (Takeout Service)

First time visit because of word-of-mouth. Took me two years to get there, but the point is that I did.

You see, despite what restaurant owners may decide to believe, customers really have the power if a place succeeds or fails. Owners don't want us to band together to bring them to their knees. They would prefer we remain in the dark and keep coming in the door regardless of poor service, high margins and low food quality.

(Enter the FSJ Food Critic.)

Back to the review.

Ordered takeout and smiled to myself that I could have my order delivered if I exceed the $15 requirement. Easy peezie. Family dinnertime is always more than $15 and what a great tactic to encourage customers to come often. It's tricky, but it works. You think "Hey, I could get Ming's for only $15 bucks and I don't have to leave the house." And you always end up ordering more.

It's called a hook. And it's a good one.

Phone girl could have been a little more in tune with the food. It's called product knowledge. Say it with me: PRAH DUCKT NAHLLLEGE. I literally heard every ingredient twice concerning the egg roll. Once from cook person and another from phone girl. Quite unprofessional.

Let's talk food. Hunger was in the air. I ordered the SS Chicken Balls, Beef & Broccoli and Mushroom Foo Yong. I'll be honest, I was expecting those cutesy, classic Chinese takeout containers with the little metal handles. Instead, just a random assortment of metal, styrofoam and cardboard. Weird. Where were the chopsticks? I know they're a little strange to use at first, but it is definitely part of the experience.

First tastes of all respective dishes were positive. Perhaps being very hungry skewed my perception-because then I started seeing flaws.

Pretty scanty portions for the price. I was expecting at least 20 lbs of food for my $29. I mean, really, I know how much the typical Asian ingredient cost the local consumer.

The beef was pretty much MIA in the broccoli ensemble. I had to search for it and the flavour. Somewhat bland.

Mushroom Foo Yong is the Asian version of the omelette only loaded with bean sprouts and other goodies and slopped with a gravy mixture. Kind of tasty. Kind of earthy. MFY did not disappoint. Keeper.

Chicken balls (couldn't they have picked another name that didn't jive with current slang??) were actually a little too greasy and dry. I'm not sure what happened here but the box was soaked through and some morsels were just too hard to bite through. Should have opted for a different chicken dish. The complementing sauce was nice. Perhaps a layer of white paper in between the chicken and cardboard box to stifle the grease stains. It would look much better. Plus, I'm not sure if the hamburger and fries cartoons lend anything positive to experience.


GRADE: C- Because I seriously don't know if Ming's would come to mind the next time I want Chinese takeout.

Mr. Mike's Steakhouse & Bar

This place is so different than the previous Little Italy wannabe. Fresh flower baskets adorn the outdoor patio during the warm months. Warm, woodsy colors are splashed inside from the bar area to the spacious dining room. The tag line is something about West Coast, but with only one picture of the ocean up on the corner wall, I'm not sure if I feel that vibe.

Watch the threshold at the first set of doors, a nicely twisted ankle awaits you. But no hostess! And a very weird set up of the greeting area. I feel like I'm strangely observing parts of the hostess stand that I should not. Let me say that this area should be welcoming and not a chorus of wiring and silverware tubs. This is one of the first impression areas and should probably reflect awesomeness.

The restaurant was nearing capacity. Great sign. Nobody likes to walk into a place on a weekend night and see very few people. Sends a bad vibe about the restaurant.

Some girl dress in cheap black (like everyone else) approached us in a friendly manner and asked where we'd like to sit. I replied, "Where ever." This confused her. She then offered us three different selections to which I replied the same again. After a few blank stares, she finally took charge and led my small party to a cozy table with some very snug chairs. I liked them, but if I was a fatty it wouldn't have worked.

We had to be in and out within 40 minutes and we had our doubts. Server girl was pretty good throughout the entire experience. We ordered the Steak Sandwich and Chicken Creole. But we also did a few substitutions. Let's start with the sandwich.

I don't really enjoy biting into a steak sandwich unless the steak is sliced super thin. I've had a few weird combinations around FSJ like that. What. Are my teeth supposed to be like the wildlife around the area?? Sorry, but slapping on a 5 oz cut to a piece of bread is NOT a steak sandwich for people. Taste wise it was okay. The steak was aged and flavoured. The bread was screaming of blandness although the menu claimed a garlic presence. Decent onion rings and crispy, hot fries. Another issue was the lack of green. The dish wasn't eye candy. Presentation was truck-stop average. Thought I was at Mr Mikes-one of the 'nicer' places in town.

Moving on to the Chicken Creole dish. I don't like restaurant rice. Ever. Always, always substitute it for some pasta or vegetables. Nobody seems to be able to touch the rice. Scallops were small, but quite tender. Shrimp was mediocre. I was picturing a nicely seared, creole-spiced viddle. Chicken was the prob. Sorry, but the food paint does not fool me. I can see a and taste the difference between grilled and microwave chicken. Stop buying chicken with grill marks painted on it! One competitor of mine started doing this and business sank. The place was never full. I'm sure it was one of the many reasons the restaurant started to fail.

To the kitchen's credit, the substitutions were done as asked. That was nice. Especially since the server said she put a rush on our ticket. We were out of the place ahead of schedule. Very nice.

GRADE: C Because the food is average. Step it up a handful of notches and tap into the 'West Coast Thing' and Mr Mikes could be among my favorites......Make me feel like I'm walking into the west coast. Not some random pub.

Mr Mike's Steakhouse & Bar
9324 Alaska Road
250.262.4151