Carthage Cafe

Carthage Cafe

1851 Commercial Drive

Vancouver, BC

After eating no solids for two weeks following having my wisdom teeth removed I was finally ready to take the plunge back into normal food. Lucky for me Vancouver is in the middle of "Dine Out Vancouver". Which is a celebration of BC food and wine in which you can go to many restaurants within Vancouver and other areas of B.C. and pay a set price (either $18, $28 or $38) for a 3 course dinner.

I was told about the Carthage Cafe by my roommate and her girlfriend. They love the place because it offers great vegetarian options as well as interesting meat plates. When I saw Carthage Cafe on the list of restaurants offering this deal I emailed my roommate and her girlfriend and we all decided to meet there for supper. It was recommended to make reservations, so with those made we headed over at 6:30.

We arrived at supper time and the place had a few people but filled up quickly. The bright red table cloths made the place bright and inviting. The size is perfect for a cafe and allowed it to feel cozy. The waitstaff was friendly but after being checked on about 9 times during our meal it became a little overbearing and we were hoping for a little less attention. I chose from the Dine out vancouver menu while my friends chose from the every day menu.

My Meal choice:

Doigt de Fatima $8.95
(Mix of cheese, beans, tuna & eggs in spring roll
pastry - served with salad)

Chicken Tagine $18.50

Tart of the day: Date

The Meal was brought up in perfect timing, there was no long waits between dishes. The glasses were constantly filled and I never felt like I was waiting for anything. Now, the food. I really want to say it blew me away but I found it to be ho hum... the Doigt de Fatima was very tasteless. I couldnt taste any spice or flavour in the spring roll, the salad with the spring roll was more flavourful and enjoyable. I found the Chicken Tagine very salty rather than spicey and couldnt really taste the saffron and lemon that I was hoping to. The Chicken was very tender though, which was the one redeeming part of the dish. The date square was a little too hard for my jaw to handle so it was passed off to the other guests at the table, who seemed to enjoy it. The stand out of the night was the tunisian coffee. It was this wonderful combination of flavours of strong dark coffee and rose water. It was a spectacular taste and was sweet and amazing. I would go back just to drink that wonderful coffee.

I did enjoy going to the Carthage Cafe because I like the atmosphere and my friends swear by their couscous. The staff there is really friendly but I did not think the food was anything spectacular. The flavours were lacking and the seasoning was off. If you are a vegetarian and in East Van, this may be the place to go but for a night out where you are spending your hard earned money you may want to pass and keep heading down the Drive.