Sammy J's Grill & Bar

1075 Lougheed Highway
Coquitlam, BC

My dad received a gift card for Sammy J's a long time ago (back when "Pepper" was still a part of its name!). He thought it was lost but then accidentally found it again not so long ago! Since the gift card was, thankfully, still valid, we went out to the Coquitlam location for dinner.
For the appy, we shared the Jacked Up Skins (fried russet potato skins topped with aged white cheddar and havarti cheese, bacon, scallions and served with a ranchero yogurt dip). Unfortunately, I was too busy digging into these to take a photo. The potato skins were alright. It was a tad dry since the melted cheese did not fully cover the whole potato skin. I guess that's what the dip is for!

Honey Bourbon BBQ Ribs

Full pound of fall-off-the-bone slow roasted ribs basted in honey bourbon BBQ. Served with seasonal veggies and white cheddar mashed potato.

I ordered the ribs as my main. The meat definitely did fall off the bone. A slight prod with the knife and fork and the meat slipped off the bone. However, it seemed like the ratio of fat seemed more than the meat. As much as it makes food more tasty, I wasn't very keen on eating bites of pork fat... The BBQ sauce, as the name suggested, was on the sweeter side but I still enjoyed it. Loved the green beans as the veggie side though. They were lightly blanched and tossed with salt and pepper so they still retained a nice crunch. The mashed potatos were ok, nothing to shout out about.

Classic Cut 7oz Sirloin

Served with baked potato and seasonal veggies

The steak was my dad's choice. The sirloin was grilled to a rare doneness and came with a baked potato and green beans as well. I tried a bite of the steak and it was quite tender and juicy. Sometimes a sirloin can be chewy and tough to eat despite it being rare. Their cut of beef was not bad. My dad didn't like the baked potato though. He found the texture of the potato kind of weird.

The Lobster Grilled Cheese

Atlantic lobster, scallions, 4 cheese mornay sauce and havarti pressed between artisan Romano loaf.

My mom opted for a sandwich for her meal and decided on the lobster grilled cheese. Since I wanted to eat yam fries, she substituted her regular fries for yam fries, which came with a sweet chipotle dip. There were ample amounts of lobster meat in the sandwich but I thought it wasn't cheesy enough. Perhaps that's what the mornay sauce is for but somehow, dipping a sandwich into a rich, creamy sauce wasn't my thing. I like grilled cheese sandwiches to be ooey and cheesy in the inside. The bread was also crusty and a little hard (hard as in it would scratch the roof of your mouth when biting into it) so that also turned me off. As for the yam fries, they were ok. There are places that have better yam fries.

In terms of food, it wasn't too bad yet nothing really wowed me; though the service was adequate and the dining room was clean, bright and spacious. As a chain restaurant that seems like it's going for similar food and ambiance as other popular chain restaurants (Joey's, Cactus Club, Milestones) I'd have to say that Sammy J's would not be on the top of my list.