Thursday 8 February 2018

Not the Food Court 1 (C-Lovers Burquitlam)

Location: C-Lover Fish and Chips is located at 555 Clarke Road Coquitlam, right across from the Burquitlam Skytrain station on the Evergreen Line. There is a crosswalk nearby with curb cuts on both sides of the road, so getting to the restaurant is pretty easy for anyone in a wheelchair. There are curb cut/ramps onto the sidewalk, one located right in front C-Lovers itself. Unfortunately, that ramp is right in the middle of the only wheelchair parking space in the lot so it might take a little maneuvering to use both at the same time. But overall, it’s still pretty easy to get to, either by transit of vehicle.

The Physical Plant: Unfortunately, C-Lovers’ door is not automatic but it does open easily and can be easily kept open by an attendant to allow someone in a wheelchair to enter. Once inside the customer is greeted by the smell of battered and cooking fish from the kitchen. An open space design; the food prep area is only separated from the dining room by a counter. The dining room is quite large and there is sufficient room between tables for people to get in and out of with canes or walkers. Several larger table also exist for larger groups and the staff had no problem ‘adjusting’ the future to accommodate my wheelchair. Befitting a fish and chips restaurant the walls are covered with items and pictures of a nautical theme along with some copies of archival photographs of early Vancouver. A fish tank containing several large gold fish complete the dinning room.

The only real drawback to the restaurant are the cramp rest rooms. In theory they are both wheelchair accessible and there is enough room next to the toilet for a wheelchair and to do a transfer, however this has been done by sacrificing the size of the washing space. Still for an older building I’ve seen worst examples.

The Food: The food is in short: excellent. As been said above C-Lovers specializes in Fish and Chips. Along with a choice of several types of fish there are chicken strips and corn dogs for those who don’t want a marine dinner. Along with very good french fries their sides include: onion rings, battered mushrooms, prawns, coleslaw and other battered veggies are also available. The fish is lightly battered and comes to the table fresh from the fryer. Personally, I prefer the smaller pieces of cod that comes with the all you can eat special (more on that below), but everything I’ve had there has been top notch. However, a note caution for those who are being fed. The fish and chips almost always comes to the table piping HOT; best to have your staff cut up a couple of pieces and wait a few minutes before you start to eat to avoid burning your mouth.

There is a full selection of fish options (including burgers and seafood chowder) all at reasonable price. You can easily get away with dinner and a drink for between $15-$20; though more expensive choices are available. However, at $14.99 by far the best value for the money is the all you can eat cod fish and chips. Unlike many other all you can eat deals, you can ask for just more pieces of fish without having to get more chips and the fish is the exact same quality as who you would get from a more expensive platter.

Overall: The Burquitlam C-Lovers gets so much right as a restaurant both for disabled and abled alike. Easy to get to, a nice atmosphere which welcomes people with disabilities to stay as long as they like. The food is excellent all around and well worth the price. Definitely worth checking out.

One final note they also use bendy straws in their drinks. A small thing I know but a nice feature for anyone with mobility issues. 




Monday 29 January 2018

Not the Food Court

This series of reviews is for people with disabilities and for those that support them.  The goal is to highlight restaurants (chains and local owned) who are providing a dining experience that people with a wide variety of disabilities can partake in.  I do not expect any of the places we plan to review will be suitable or accessible for everyone, but I honestly believe that this is impossible goal.  However, I will try and cover as many accessibly issues as possible and through that I hope that readers will get a reasonably good idea if the restaurant in question would be a reasonable fit for their or their loved one’s disability.

Criteria

Location: As least for the foreseeable future I will only be looking at restaurants and other eateries that are within reasonable walking distance of a Skytrain or Canada Line stop. For me the largest fundamental of accessibility is: can you actually get to the place in a reasonable amount of time and connivance.  

Entrance: This is also important especially for people with mobility issues. Are their nearby cuts to get to the restaurant’s door? Does the door have an automatic opener? Can a reasonable large chair get through to a table?

Interior: How cramp is the seating? How willing are the staff to accommodate changing seating for people in wheelchairs? How loud is the place, neither with background music or chatter?

The Food: The most important part. Is the food any good? How messy is it to eat? How easy is it to feed someone? Are their options for people with swallowing issues? Is it worth the money?


Odd and Ends: How accessible are the bathrooms? Do they deliver? Do they cater? And any other thing that I consider important or interesting.

Monday 20 April 2015

Community - Is it working or not?

In my experience with community, back in the day - there was lots to do.  There were people wanting to do things with me and actually - ASKING ME !   What a novel idea !  Anybody out there who feels like they've lost community or is it just me sitting here wondering about it all the time?  Or am I just in the wrong place at the wrong time?  Or am I in the right place with the right idea and we are all feeling isolated which in a sense - means we are in community.  That could be sad or could be an opening something big.  Anybody willing to explore this with me and my sister Thora?  Any takers?

We had a meeting in New Westminster called "Brainstorming" which in my opinion and my sister's seemed to go well and had great potential for everyone in my opinion.   We would love to do it again and look forward to hearing that some of you are also interested.  Just so you know, BRAINSTORMING in our case meant discussing all and any issues near and dear to our hearts - particularly, homecare (meals and house cleaning need to come back), CLBC cuts, etc.  Pretty much anything you could think of .  

Community would make a great discussion.  In this particular case, we could perhaps work together to help each other which in turn is community.  We both love to do that.  We all need to help each other more.  This, by it's simplicity could go far to make major changes in the world.


Thursday 15 January 2015

PEOPLE....ARE YOU READY? GET ON BOARD THE CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIN

DO WE HAVE CIVIL RIGHTS IN CANADA?

You would think so; however,  persons with disabilities and our seniors are not able to exercise those rights.  They are being mis-treated and cannot make the person(s) responsible held accountable.      THEY ARE HELPLESS !

PEOPLE……..ARE YOU READY?

“GET ON BOARD” THE CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIN

DESTINATION -  TO BE ANNOUNCED

DATE:  END OF SEPTEMBER 2015 (DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED)


LET’S ALL STAND TOGETHER AND FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS !


PEOPLE GET READY, CHANGE HAS TO HAPPEN
THE TIMES ARE CHANGIN’, IT CAN’T BE IGNORED!
SO COME STAND TOGETHER, LET’S FIND A SOLUTION
  FIGHT TO BE EQUAL, LET’S ALL GET ON BOARD