Hubbs & I have been bad. We've been eating out ... a lot. One of the places we tried recently is a cute little restaurant on the "wharf" in Steveston, called Shady Island. We decided to give this place a try after gawking at the menu, which featured a steamed seafood platter for two. Guess what we had? ;)
Of course, we weren't smart enough to check the reviews on the place before getting seated, so when we did finally read up, we were a bit worried. Food, it seems, is mediocre, and service is apparently appalling. We braced ourselves for the worst. However, our server came promptly, and took our orders (drinks & food) at once. We waited a bit for our grub to arrive, but it wasn't a super long wait. When it came out, our food was an impressive display stacked on a two-tiered rack.
Thankfully, we were hungry. Famished, in fact. Hubbs immediately got down to business with the lobster (an entire one) and the crab (an entire one). Meanwhile, I aimed my appetite at the delicious mussels, scallops, clams, shrimp, and oysters on the bottom tier. I could honestly have eaten the entire bottom plate, but held back and saved some for Hubbs. I even helped him with cracking through all those claws; I'm quite adept at it now. :)
It was unfortunate that I couldn't try the two items on the top, but I had to make sure my stomach didn't go into convulsions afterwards and abstinence is the best policy when it comes to me and crab and lobster. Hubbs tells me they were good. The oysters were killer awesome - fresh and flavourful - and I really loved the clams as well. The garlic toast that came with the meal was not quite crispy enough, but since I was sopping up garlic butter anyway, I didn't mind so much.
The meal set us back a pretty penny, but definitely was more affordable than Blue Water and good value considering how much we were getting. Service wasn't nearly as horrible as others have said, but I have a feeling that the place is probably hit-and-miss most of the time, and we just happened to catch them on a hit day.
Don't come here dressed in your Sunday best; seafood can be a messy affair. Also, don't come for super fancy dining; with a name like Shady Island, it's not something you should expect. Do come for a nice view from the patio, and for some yummy seafood prepared the most basic way possible (which is great for a food purist like me).
Will we be back? Likely, though we'll probably give ourselves more time next time, in case we do get poor service.
Food: 4 out of 5
Service: 3.5 out of 5
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