WATER ST. CAFE: HAPPY HOUR

Across the street from the famous Gastown Steam Clock (literally) and in the heart of Gastown, Downtown Vancouver situates a west coast cuisine restaurant Water St. Cafe. The restaurant has an Italian influence as well and offers pasta made from scratch. However, we were here to take advantage of their happy hour menu and to try as many plates as we could! Happy hour at Water St. Cafe runs 7 days a week (yes, including weekends!) from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.

The atmosphere at Water St. Cafe is very bright and inviting. Outdoor seating is available now that patio season has arrived and there are private rooms upstairs for larger parties.

Arc Restaurant : Fairmont Waterfront

It is quite rare for me to find more than three dishes that I truly want to try at a non-Asian restaurant so when I took a peak at Arc's menu at Fairmont Waterfront, I was quite excited! Chowder, tartare, bone marrow and foie gras all sounded good to me.

The atmosphere was fairly loud as there was live music playing at the bar and it did not really give off a fine dining vibe as the music was neither relaxing nor soft. We did not mind however since we were not here to celebrate a special occasion.

Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot Restaurant

After a few unsuccessful Japanese restaurants at this particular location on Robson Street, I hope Liu Yi Shou Hot Pot is here to stay! Chongqing Liu Yi Shou is a popular chain in China and the establishment highly focuses on quality. The first Chongqing Liu Yu Shou chain to open in B.C is Thumbs Hot Pot restaurant in Richmond, which I have not visited yet and would not be opposed to now. The restaurant is also a la carte rather than all you can eat.

And of course previously renovated to suit a barbecue restaurant, it is well ventilated and there are plenty of spacious booth table seating arrangements.

To top it off, there is an amazing sauce bar for only $2.50!


And a large selection of garnishes.


Yes, and even WATERMELON!

Soup bases run from $9.95 - $13.95 and specialities from $21.95 - 35.95. For those who are new to hot pot or cooking, the restaurant provides a list of how long it takes to cook the ingredients too (a first for me to see in Vancouver).

Provence Marinaside

Restaurants with a view are not my first choice of establishments to visit anymore when it comes to dining out because I am biased and believe the food may not be great, such as the Boathouse chain, Top of Vancouver, Fraiche, Seasons in the Park, Sandbar and Horizons. So when my friend wanted to try Provence Marinaside located in Yaletown and with a view of False Creek, my initial reaction was meh... Well, it was more like could we try Bella Gelateria next door instead? Okay fine, it was more like a beg instead of a suggestion!

Trying to be selfless however, Provence Marinaside was fine and we came here for lunch. When we entered the restaurant, we were a bit put off because the hostess kept her back facing towards us and seemed very indifferent. No worries though since all the servers we encountered including the manager was very personable and friendly. Given the option of patio or indoor, we chose the latter since it was chilly out. The atmosphere at Provence Marinaside is casual, laid back and inviting. 

Coast Restaurant : Cocktail Hour

Coast is my favourite Glowbal Collection restaurant and the reason as to why will sound pretty silly. It is my favourite restaurant out of the collection because the hostesses are very well trained! Every time I pass by Coast or before entering, the hostesses always smile and say hello every single time. Every. Singe. Time. Including whenever I am only passing by and have no intention of dining at the restaurant. Yet I can never say the same for Black + Blue or Italian Kitchen, including when I have plans to dine at those restaurants! Weird right? I honestly love the hostesses at Coast.

Another reason as to why I prefer Coast is because of the atmosphere, which has a lot of potential to be more extravagant. Coast has a private dining area, lounge, seafood bar at the centre of the restaurant, heated patio seats and two floors. The dark blue tiffany seats allure me the most and I feel like it adds a feminine touch making it a great restaurant choice for a girls night out. My sister and I dropped by after work to try Coast's Cocktail Hour however, which offers a selection of food at 50% off.

Shirakawa by Itoh Dining

RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED

It is pretty evident that I fell off the blogging world for a while and writing about older restaurant experiences do not always work out, especially in this case because Shirakawa closed their doors. Shirakawa was a Japanese restaurant located in Gastown, Downtown Vancouver that offered modern and traditional cuisine. And of course the authenticity of the restaurant appeared to be a wow factor as well.

Floor to ceiling glass windows, an open kitchen and the irezumi mural were my biggest eye catchers when I walked in to the restaurant. The atmosphere also makes Shirakawa one of those Japanese restaurants that are not on the top of my list to visit because I worry the quality is not there or the quality does not match the higher prices, but I decided to make a visit for lunch. You never know until you try right?

Buckstop

For the longest time I have been contemplating between Buckstop on Denman street or Devil's Elbow Ale and Smoke House in Gastown, and decided to go with Buckstop because they have been on my list ever since the restaurant opened their doors. Buckstop is a small and cozy barbecue restaurant that focuses on locally sourced food and made from scratch ingredients, such as making their own ketchup! So after polishing off a medium size bag of chips at Whole Foods because my friend was running AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE, we finally entered the restaurant. To be fair though, she did suggest for me to order some appetizers first... but knowing myself I would have ordered everything and have her finish what was left LOL.

When we arrived, the restaurant was almost full and we were offered a six person table after the staff discussed where to seat us for a while. We were also warned that those coming in later would be squeezed next to us and I really appreciate the staff giving us a chance to have an actual table rather than shoving us at the bar (which many restaurants surprisingly do not do). The atmosphere at Buckstop is very casual, loud and non-rushed, making it ideal for a great hang out place. Many of the tables were finished their dinner and just kicked back to relax.

Miku

Located in Downtown Vancouver and near Canada Place lies Miku, a Japanese restaurant with a waterfront view that specializes in fusion and Aburi cuisine. Or, simply known as a must visit restaurant in Vancouver. Aburi cuisine is sushi or sashimi that is partially seared, which provides that smokiness and richness with the addition of sauces.

Miku is also considered a fine dining restaurant and with the higher prices, location and atmosphere it is certainly a restaurant where I would take out of town guests or go with a large group of friends. With that said however, I would never come here just for the food because I find the restaurant very inconsistent along with the service and nothing special.

My guest and I arrived on a weekend for dinner and we were offered a seat on the patio, which has an amazing view of course. We were told the patio is heated all year round and would not be cold at all, but man… we were freezing!

The "heated" patio was practically on the lowest setting and I could not help but think how Black + Blue or Coast Restaurant's heated patio are actually heated, heated to the point where the you feel warmth just by past the restaurants! To be fair though, Miku provides blankets but I am too OCD to use them (I rather not  have to wrap myself in a blanket when I am at a restaurant too). On top of that, it was more disappointing when despite that other tables were cold as well, the management could not change heat setting.

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar : Coal Harbour Location

Chewies Steam & Oyster Bar is a New Orleans inspired restaurant serving Cajun and Creole dishes such as gumbo, jambalaya and fried chicken. The first Chewies opened in Kitsilano and the second location is located at Coal Harbour in Downtown Vancouver. At the Coal Harbour location, Chewie's happy hours run from 3:00pm to 6:00pm and I believe some appetizers are 50% off and oysters are $1.00 to $2.00.

We arrived around 2:30pm and were too hungry to wait thirty minutes for a cheaper deal, but a couple of tables waited and the staff had no problems with it. The atmosphere at Chewies is fun, casual and laid back, where none of the staff looked miserable. Our server was also professional, friendly and polite, but not very attentive. A few of our dishes sat at the counter for a while before they were delivered and we constantly kept hearing "service please" from the kitchen.

But meh, he was friendly. He did not have any problems when we asked to have three courses instead of having all the dishes arrive at once because of the small table issue. As for the interior, the restaurant is fairly spacious (excluding the area with half booth seats) and Chewies has a patio too.

The Fish Shack : Happy Hour

Man… I used to complain all the time whenever I have to eat around 4:00-5:00pm because it is not the "proper" dinner time and I never know which restaurants to go to. Then some friends would mention happy hours and I am like meh, I rarely drink and the food probably sucks. But lately I have been in the mood for happy hours because I think it is a great way to see if the restaurant is worth revisiting for dinner. Well, not really because the food is different, but it is a good way for me to think like that while cutting down on costs.

So when my friend from Toronto landed in Vancouver and settled down, I decided to take her to The Fish Shack for some snacks. I wish I could say that it is because The Fish Shack is a very popular and well known restaurant in Vancouver, but it is more because of my own curiosity to try out the place LOL. The Fish Shack is a part of the Glowbal Group of restaurants and is located on Granville Street. The atmosphere is very casual and there is an enormous chalkboard with information of a variety of fish.

Nicli Antica Pizzeria

A friend from Toronto was visiting and she loves Neapolitan pizza, LOVES. Her favourite Neapolitan pizzeria in Toronto is Pizzeria Libretto. So when she asked me to take her somewhere good, Nicli Antica is the first place that came to my mind. The reason is because Nicli is the first pizzeria in Vancouver to be certified by the Verace Pizza Napolenta. Although to be honest I was skeptical about taking her here because when I skimmed through some photos online, surprisingly a lot of their pizza lacked that nice charred leoparding! Moreover, even some photos on their official Instagram account lacked that beautiful blistering!

Nicli is located on East Cardova in Gastown, next to sibling restaurant Nicli's Next Door. The layout of the restaurant is long, but neither narrow nor cramped. The seating arrangements are fairly comfortable and the restaurant has a nice atmosphere. There is a spacious bar, a high ceiling, and a clean modern look. We arrived right at opening (11:30am) and the staff were friendly and welcoming. The restaurant filled up fairly quick too.

Next Noodle Bar 裕小館

You know that feeling when you are starving but have dinner plans in literally a couple of hours? I despise that because whenever I try to have a snack, I end up going for a small meal and spoil my appetite for dinner. Sometimes I am fine with spoiling my appetite but it sucks because I end up stuffing myself full during dinner, overeat until I cannot breathe and walk out with a food baby. So this was the case when I waited an hour for my sister to get off work so we could have dinner together, and I ended up trying Next Noodle Bar with a friend.

Next Noodle Bar is located on Robson Street in Downtown Vancouver and has been around for almost a decade. The restaurant is fairly large, there are booth seats along with spacious seating arrangements, a high ceiling and the staff are friendly. Every table is provided with a large plate and a fork, but chopsticks are available on the side.

Francesco's Ristorante Italia

A friend from Seattle was spending a week in Vancouver for his birthday and since he was staying at the Sutton Place, it made sense to have lunch at Francesco's Ristorante Italia. Francesco's is one of Vancouver's oldest restaurants, focusing on Sicilian cuisine with West Coast influences. The restaurant is located on Burrard Street and their patio is always full during the summer.

The atmosphere is bright and inviting with plenty of natural lighting, but the restaurant is dim and romantic during dinner services. The restaurant is a fairly good size too and there are plenty of tables which are nicely spaced out and not cramped one bit. Moreover, there are a couple of dining areas that can accommodate larger groups and special celebrations.

Since we arrived for lunch, the service is pretty casual. None of the staff ask how the food is, we arrange the dishes on the table ourselves and wave down a server to remove a finished plate, when the restaurant had less than three tables… For those who are regulars however, are welcomed like royalty and provided with impeccable service. Did I care? Na, it was not my birthday LOL and we were here for lunch instead of dinner. Plus, it saves me gratuities since we left only a 15% tip.

La Casita : Gastown Location

After rescheduling a few many times with FoodinYVR and asking her for restaurant suggestions only to decline them all… I settled on La Casita. La Casita is located in Gastown on the corner of Abott and Cardova, and appears to be a very busy restaurant. I say very busy because on a Thursday late afternoon, we were the first to arrive at the empty restaurant but within thirty minutes, La Casita was packed! The restaurant had a full house by 5:00pm.

La Casita is a Mexican cuisine restaurant that offers a very extensive menu, from ceviche to tostadas, taquitos, fajitas, enchiladas, flautas, tacos, quesadillas, chimichangas and burritos. But how is the quality of food? With regards to the interior, La Casita is a very large restaurant and the seating arrangements are not too cramped. There are also plenty of staff and our server was friendly.

Dae Bak Bon Ga

Dae Bak Bon Ga has been around for ten years, a whole decade. The restaurant is huge and occupies the second floor of Robson Plaza, serving traditional Korean food, offering all you can eat barbecue, and providing karaoke rooms. Dae Bak's AYCE Korean barbecue is different than other restaurants too because they serve meat in unique marinades such as curry or matcha.

After having lunch at Damso and being disappointed that the restaurant no longer serves bossam, I had major cravings for Korean style steamed pork belly and had to try Dae Bak on the following day! Every time I pass Dae Bak, I find the prices fairly high for their all you can eat menu. I personally only enjoy galbi (not LA cut ribs) and pork belly when having Korean barbecue, but Dae Bak only offers galbi on their priciest AYCE menu which is $45.00/person (actually, it may even only include LA cut ribs).

$45.00 is pricey in my opinion because a whole strip and a half of galbi is good enough for me and usually it costs $30.00 for an order at most Korean restaurants, which includes a couple of strips. Other than Dae Bak's all you can eat menu, their lunch specials catch my attention too. $13.00 for a plate of bossam? Yes please! The bossam looks really well seasoned, tender and fatty in the photo too.

During the lunch rush on a weekday, the restaurant was not very busy so there was only one server at the front. She was really friendly, but it was hard to find her because for some reason we were seated in a hidden corner. The seating arrangements at the restaurant are pretty private depending on where you sit because there are plenty of divider walls. But towards the middle end of the restaurant, it is all open space.

The Boathouse Restaurant : English Bay Location

The Boathouse Restaurant is one of Vancouver's own chains and there are seven waterfront locations (English Bay, Horseshoe Bay, Kitsilano, White Rock, Richmond, New Westminster and Port Moody). I remember coming to The Boathouse quite often with my family when I was in elementary school, but it sort of stopped when I started attending high school. Our Family liked The Keg more and Cactcus Club or Joey were the preferred choices in my teen years. Then I guess after a few mediocre visits to The Boathouse in my university years, I started disliking the restaurant chain. But recently, a friend mentioned he went on a date to The Boathouse and the food was decent so I started questioning why I disliked the chain to begin with.

Arriving for a late lunch but before Happy Hours on a Friday, we waited at the front for around five minutes and none of the staff or hostess were on site. I further peaked into the bar area and did not see any of the staff, but there was one seated table. As we continued waiting, my guest sneezed twice and super loud which echoed. I was thinking FML how embarrassing, but the hostess was still no where to be seen! So after waiting, I was pretty pissed because The Boathouse is a chain restaurant and most restaurant chains take pride in providing well above average service. Restaurants in Downtown Vancouver usually provide better than usual service to cater to the business clientele too.

So the last straw was when the telephone started ringing, the hostess was still no where to be seen and I decided to leave the restaurant. We scanned the area and Cactus Club or Milestones across the street from The Boathouse would have been a better choice and both restaurants looked fairly busy. However, I decided to give The Boathouse another chance because I made reservations through OpenTable and already had my mind set on visiting (for a few days too lol). When we re-entered the restaurant, the hostess was on the phone and greeted us when she ended her telephone call.

The hostess led us up the staircase to the dining room, dropped off the menus and walked away. As I sat at the window seat, I could not help but think that Cactus Club across the street has a full house because their service is pretty top notch.

The large dining room has spacious seating arrangements, but the interior is outdated and not the cleanest. The table was not clean and the cutlery were literally filthy. Who is the dishwasher? When our server arrived after a while, I asked if she could change my cutlery and she did not seem to understand why. Well trained staff would also ask my guest if his cutlery needed to be changed as well, but he used his white napkin and the glass of water provided to clean them. On top of that, I wanted to order a drink but as soon as I touched the drink menu, there was literally a cloud of dust. What the hell?

View from our window seat.

From looking for the unenthusiastic hostess to the poor first impression from our server, the service did not start off good. But as we started ordering and asking a few questions, our server opened up a bit to us. It was a bit awkward because when we inquired about the ingredients in the Whiskey Crab Soup, our server responded "uhh... crab". Umm okay. Our server was not rude or unfriendly at all, she just seemed a bit  lazy. It is like she knew the answers, but it took her a while to provide more useful responses. I like how she warned us the Crispy Fish Tacos are already considered a meal and going for the Ahi Tuna Tacos would be a better choice as an appetizer though when we asked for a recommendation.

Damso Modern Cuisine : Denman Location

Whenever I pass Damso Modern Cuisine on either their Bute or Denman Street location, I always think "meh". But at the same time, I always look back because of their advertised $9.99 gamjatang. The gamjatang in the photo looks pretty good too, showing a large chunk of potato and plenty of perilla seeds. So I decided to make a visit with a friend on her lunch break and made sure to check out their menu online beforehand.

Damso on Denman Street is a three men operated restaurant, where there are two in the kitchen and one at the front. The man at the front was friendly and a professional. Since the tables are fairly small at Damso, we asked if the food can come out slower and not all once, and he brought over new plates when we moved onto the next dish. He was also patient when answering questions and it turns out the menu I found was from a couple of years ago, so the bossam along with the galbi steak I was looking forward to having were no longer available :(.

The restaurant is small so there are only ten tables, but the seating arrangements are properly maximized. The high ceiling promotes a better air circulation and the restaurant is fairly clean too.

Nor Boo Korean

With no shortage of Korean restaurants in Downtown Vancouver, how do you decide which one to visit? By word of mouth? Choosing a restaurant based on the decor or menu? I have never heard much about Nor Boo and looking at the exterior, the restaurant does not scream out "must visit" to me. But at the same time, I thought perhaps Nor Boo might be an underrated homestyle restaurant. My friend and I  were craving for some soup for lunch too!

The interior is outdated and there is not much to look at, except for a television tuned to a Korean channel. There are booth seating arrangements along one side of the wall and plenty of large tables throughout the restaurant. The seating arrangements are properly maximized and the interior is not too cramped as well.

The Keg Steakhouse + Bar : Alberni Street Location

I am a fairly picky and an indecisive individual, and there is only one other person that I know of who is pickier and more indecisive than me. It was also her birthday which meant that she had ever right to be pickier than usual! Her birthday evening was already all set (literally planned half a year in advance…) and we were not going to have a celebratory lunch, but we decided to grab a bite after finishing a run on the seawall.

Like every The Keg establishment, the restaurant has a modern atmosphere and features a high ceiling, luxurious velour and/or leather booth seating arrangements, and dim lighting. Out of countless visits to The Keg ever since I was a child however, this is the first time the hostess opened the door for me! Perhaps because we visited for lunch, no one else was at the front of the restaurant, or the staff is well trained at the Alberni Street location.

Stepho's Souvlaki Greek Taverna : Robson Location

Back in high school, my sister raved about a restaurant on Davie Street and dragged my parents and I out there. My sister could not stop yapping about Dad's Root Beer and the large portions of food at Stepho's Souvlaki Greek Taverna. I do not remember much about that dinner other than my father being mad because he received a chipped plate along with dirty cutlery, and everyone excluding my sister found the food mediocre. But Stepho's must be doing something right because they have opened a second location on Robson Street.

The layout of the restaurant resembles a home and there are different rooms to be seated in. I do not understand why we were seated along the wall in a busy hallway though, despite that there were window seats available. I also do not understand how considering the gorgeous sunny and warm weather, why none of the windows were open. The restaurant was poorly ventilated and stuffy. What I do enjoy however, is the plentiful amount of natural lighting during our lunch.