The Rumpus Room - Vancouver, BC

As soon as we heard there were deep-fried pickles, burgers and Mars bars served at the Rumpus Room, Mr. Piglet and I immediately made plans to go take a look.  We came, we saw, we ate...  How was it?

Rumpus Room boasts of 70's inspired dishes served in a 70's inspired cozy space.  The dishes harken back to an age that I sadly (or not?) missed but the spirit is available here with the dips, sauces and dressings made in-house from scratch, the meats are hormone free and the ingredients are fresh.  Hm, the food culture of the 70's doesn't sound so bad.  The restaurant itself is a mish-mash of 70's stuff - on one side of the restaurant, you have couches and living furniture where you can eat and play boardgames.  The opposite side is a long bar decorated in various photos and 70's decor.  As you walk in, there's an old arcade machine where Pacman is available for play.  Hee!

They advertise this place as being "cozy", by cozy I think they mean cramped and tiny.  In fact, we're seated exactly 1 inch away from our fellow diners.  Their orders are being passed across our table to get to their table, that's how cramped and inaccessible all the tables are.  There's a lot of nudging, bumping and I'm basically involved in the next table's conversation despite not being involved in the conversation.  Oh, and this is hipster central.  If you're of this posse, you need to go to the Rumpus Room - I've never seen so many squished into such a small space before.

Deep-Fried Pickles - $6

Served with our homemade tartar sauce

I have nothing but praise for these deep-fried delights!  If you're a lover of pickled things, these are a must try.  The pickles are deep-fried in a dill-based batter and then served with a side of what tasted like ranch sauce (despite it being tartar), which is a nice balance to the dill/brine taste.  Crunchy but soft, pickley but dilly, hot but cold - excellent!

Fried Chicken and Waffles - $12

A Southern favorite. Boneless chicken marinated in our secret recipe and then deep-fried to a crispy delicious perfection. Served on top of a fresh made waffle and served with real Canadian maple syrup and butter.

This classic combo immediately caught my eye and I knew I must have it.  It arrives on a 70's ugly plate, looks nothing like the presentation on the website and is a nice consistent color of beige.  I need to have salad for the next few days to make up for this meal.  The gravy is good - you can tell it's not from a packet and it's a bit lighter in taste but still savory.

The chicken is the star of the show, although there's only 1 piece on the plate.  Sad.  If the chicken is meant to be eaten with the waffles, the serving doesn't make sense since there's way too much waffle to chicken.  The chicken itself is super crunchy on the outside while moist and tender on the inside.  They know how to fry chicken here, that's for sure.

Waffles were on the chewier side than crispy and I was surprised to find that it contained chunks of sugar throughout, which I thought was unnecessary as the waffles are served with syrup.  Now to make the ultimate bite - a piece of chicken dunked in gravy with a piece of waffle topped with syrup and a bit of butter.  Love the combination of sweet and savory!  The chicken needs a tad more seasoning as it takes a backseat to the gravy and sweet waffle but other than that, it's a pretty good dish at that price point.  Speaking of cozy, the two hipsters beside me are talking about the work they do (of course they work in bike shops - hipsters are either photographers or work in some kind of environmentally-friendly company).

The Mac and Cheese Bacon Burger - $15 (side of poutine add $3)

Macaroni noodles, broccoli and lots and lots of cheddar and Swiss cheese

Let's start with the poutine.  The poutine had it's good and it's bad - the gravy was of course delicious and the cheese was that nice stringy stuff that should be used in all poutine but the fries...  oh the fries...  they were slaughtered.  The poor fries were soft and mushy and swimming in the gravy.  So sad.  Another poutine left to die....

Mr. Piglet sure does love his M&C as he orders the burger which includes the topping of M&C.  The meat tastes great - nice crust on it - and the bacon is bacon (it's always good). The only part of the burger that was a bit disappointing was the actual mac and cheese.  It wasn't as much mac and cheese as it was macaroni topped with cheese on a burger.  It wasn't creamy and when you bit into it, you could see the separation between the cheese and noodles.  Mr. Piglet was a little disappointed in that but he still liked the other components of the burger. 

Deep-Fried Mars Bar - $4

It looks like a log of poo on a plate.  There is no way this camera, my amateur photographing skills and all of the lighting in the world could make this thing look pretty.  Hopefully it tastes better than it looks.

Verdict?  It's a Mars bar deep-fried with coconut flakes - it looks like poo on the inside as well but it tastes pretty good.  The crust could have been crunchier as it was more chewy but other than that the combination of melted chocolate, coconut, caramel and melty nougat is super delicious.  The kicker here is the three blobs of cream on the side that cut the rich chocolate bar.  I think ice cream would have been a better side but that's neither here nor there - this thing is still super good.

We got some Dubble Bubble with our bill - cute!  But the gum turns into tasteless plastic after 5 min of chewing and we both quickly spit it out.  


Overall, the Piglets were overall happy with the meal - there were more good components than bad but there are a few things about this place that might bug you.  Food took a a good half hour to show up (including appies), some food items are really good whereas some are disappointing and having food served over your table to another was a bit excessive.  However, the Rumpus Room has the kitschy decor, board games and some interesting dishes that one should try (deep-fried burger!).  Just don't go into the meal with high expectations and you'll be fine.  Bon appetite!


Pros:

• Friendly service
• Moderately-priced food
• Food was ok to good
• Take-out available

Cons:

• Limited parking (only 2 spots out front)
• Limited seating
• Crowded
• Slow service