I had granted the task of picking a foodplace for dinner to booboo who had the day off, 6 hours later, she had compiled a list of restaurants for me to choose from; booboo can't decide :( I was sold on $1 oysters=value. I asked her if we should get reservations since I'd read that it gets really busy, she said we didn't have to, and surprisingly, we were seated right away on the 2nd floor patio.
My girlfriend had only had raw oysters once before and was neutral about them so we decided to only start with 10 Malpeques, we also ordered the Korean style beef tartar, tuna sashimi, Japa burgers and the spinach and cheese baked oysters, all of which were around $10 each.
The food arrived quickly, we got the raw items first within 10 minutes and then the cooked ones afterwards. The service was perfectly average, and the patio was great as it was later in the evening as the sun set, the chairs and tables were very clean whereas I usually find patios have a varying standard of cleanliness.
The Malpeque oysters were fresh, they erred on the smaller size but the condiments made up for the value. They give you a sauce platter that includes cocktail sauce, tabasco, onion/olive oil dressing, pesto, ponzu, horseradish and their house sauce which is spicy. The house sauce and ponzu complimented the oysters the best with the onion and olive dressing being 3rd, but the pesto was just such a weird flavor combination.
My favourite was the beef tar tar, it felt like a very generous portion because of the chip to meat ratio, and the meat had a Korean bbq sauce flavor infused into it, combining with the raw egg yolk to add another unctuous level. It wasn't too salty and the quality of beef made the chunks shine like little rubies. It would've been nice if they had some pickled veg or slaw to cut the richness.
The tuna sashimi was my gfs choice, she wanted to compare it to the one we had at Guu, the portion size is much smaller, the pieces of fish were the size of a middle-aged Asian man's thumb. As with every dish, the fish was fresh and it had a textural complexity with fried onions, a tapenade and some greens. It enjoyed this dish but I can't get behind the price for the small portion.
The baked oysters were also a comparison choice to Guu, I figured 4 oysters for $10 was good value compared to Guu's 1 for $7 I think it was, but the oysters were much smaller, about 2 middle-aged Asian man thumbs big. They were drenched in butter which my gf loved, but it was a little much for me. Again, the value wasn't there for this one but this turned out to be my gf's favourite.
Lastly, the Japa burgers didn't look very exciting, just a regular slider with the regular veg and sauce, the patty to bun ratio looked all off to me but after taking a bite, my brain wtf'd a little. The meat is incredibly flavourful, similarly to the tar tar, it was infused with kbbq sauce. and the proportions of ingredients were on fleek AF. My gf didn't think much of it, but I was surprised how good it tasted, rightfully so for one of their most popular dishes. Given the price, I probably wouldn't order again unless I have a strong craving.
The dishes like most izakayas are not substantial so we went for 10 Fanny bay oysters at $12, they were mostly quite large, very fresh and creamy, and in my opinion a better deal than the Malpeques.
I feel I'm going to break my personal rule of going to the same restaurant within 3 months because of the oyster deal and the tar tar. Although I'm not a huge drinker, I'd come again to try their cocktails. As an aside, we had massive oyster breath all night, every burp was a reminder, so if you're planning on getting hot and heavy, bring some breaf mints.