Restaurants near Georgian Ct.on Beatty

[cruisesusie]

We're staying at the Georgian Court on Beatty and would like restaurant recommendations. We prefer casual & near the hotel, but not unwilling to take a cab. We like steak and seafood. I tried checking, but the number of choices is overwhelming. Thanks for any help.

 

Susan

[martincath]

If by casual you mean on the lower end price-wise rather than just the decor/ease of getting a table, Steak/Seafood are *mostly* incompatable terms, especially in Vancouver - you'll be paying more than you're used to across the board compared to New Jersey (and while the tax on food dropped back to just 5%, the booze tax went up to 15%...).

 

But, there are some options - especially depending on how many $ a casual meal means to you.

 

The Hamilton Street Grill always scores highly (usually third best in town) in local restaurant awards and is very reasonable compared to most steakhouses (a couple of NY Strips < $30, $35 for a good ribeye with sides).

 

The Keg, a Canadian chain of steakhouses, offers several steak options and even a couple of complete dinners for under $30. Decent steaks and 'customer goes away 100% happy or we fix it' is their mantra - I've had a bottle of wine comped for one steak at a table of four being overcooked (Med-Rare vs Rare) and friends had an entire dinner for four comped when they ran out of the signature Prime Rib.

 

Hands-down the cheapest steak in town (and one of the best classic burgers) is at Save On Meats diner. Actually, slight revision after checking the menu right now - while they still offer a 5oz Striploin for $13.95 it's now only until 2pm (though there is a chicken-fried NY steak of unspecified size on the all-day menu for $14.95 - I'll have to go try that!) Location is on not-quite-the-worst-block of one of our worst streets, so while it's only 10 mins walk you might want to cab it unless you're comfortable in somewhat sketchy urban environments.

 

Cheap and Seafood is a rarer beast unless you're talking Fish & Chips or Sushi - Search for those and you'll find several exchanges this summer, but my reco. would be The Fish Shack on Granville for the widest range of fish (and they do have some daily deals which can bring oysters, lobster and crab well into the realms of cheap) or Shuraku also on Granville for sushi. The former is about 15 mins walk, the latter just 10. There are lots of All You Can Eat sushi places around - if you can eat plenty those places can be ridiculously good value, but I've yet to find one I'd personally recommend.

 

If it's more of a casual ambience than price you mean, Rodney's Oyster House should fit the bill nicely.

 

Non-steak-and-seafood but good and close to your hotel include (in approximate order of distance on foot):

 

Ramen Jinya, my fave ramen in town, is just a couple of blocks up Robson from you. Try the premium pork broth, it's outstandingly porky. Unless you hate pork of course;)

 

Straight up Beatty Street 5 mins brings you to Medina and their big daddy Chambar. I wouldn't call Chambar cheap, but the bar menu is not bad value-wise, and Medina does offer a tremendous breakfast/brunch well worth spending $12-15 a person on the main dishes. Splurge on a waffle between you, or have one each with a protein on the side as breakfast (they're big and *real* belgian style, calorifically-so!)

 

Subeez is always a good value proposition, although their DJ gets annoyingly loud if you're in there later in the evening. Only 500 metres from your hotel.

 

Japadog is the same distance as Subeez, but right on Robson so even easier to find. It's a very uniquely Vancouver thing - they just opened a NYC branch so if you love it you won't have to travel so far for a fix! The sit-down resto offers a wider range than their foodcarts, but fundamentally it's all 'weird hotdogs with a Japanese theme.' Basically started the local food cart scene, and well worth trying. If you just want to sample, get one dog between you - the Kurobuta Terimayo (or the beef version if you're pork-haters). There's often a food cart from these guys right on the corner of Dunsmuir & Beatty, so you'd walk past them en route to Medina above.

 

Another rarely-found-in-North-America thing we have a lot of is the Izakaya, a Japanese pub. There are two successful local chains, Guu and Hapa, who both have branches within 15 mins walk as well as several independents like my fave, Alpha. All offer some sushi, ramen and other Japanese staples alongside items that would be quite normal in any western bar - chicken wings, pork chops, sausages and the like.

 

Milestones and Earls both have Yaletown branches, approx. 10 mins walk from your hotel. They offer a similarly eclectic menu, pub grub plus if you will, and if you check their sites for deals you can often find a good deal like dinner for two for $50.

 

Yaletown Brewing (also 10 mins away) has some excellent pizzas, which on Sundays are heavily discounted. The menu is a little on the pricey side the rest of the week for what you get, but is usually well-prepared and the beer is excellent. They just opened a Distillery next door with a totally different menu - I've yet to try the food but the menu is Generic Italian.

 

I could go on - and on, and on - so let me know if this is enough or if I'm not hitting the kind of spots you're after. If the latter, more details would be appreciated (especially a $ price range).

[p_mori7]

For those that might bea able to contribute, the OP is talking about Vancouver, BC.

[cruisesusie]

Martincath,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest all the restaurants. I've been checking the menus and there will be more than enough choices for our 3 nights there. One other quick question, can you suggest the best ice cream place either in the area where we're staying or, if necessary, we can take a cab.

 

Thanks,

Susan

[scottbee]

Martincath,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest all the restaurants. I've been checking the menus and there will be more than enough choices for our 3 nights there. One other quick question, can you suggest the best ice cream place either in the area where we're staying or, if necessary, we can take a cab.

 

 

That's a no brainer, but you'll need to take a bus or taxi (it's a couple of miles from downtown). Casa Gelato on Venables http://www.lacasagelato.com/ At any given time they have 218 flavours available.

[martincath]

Martincath,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest all the restaurants. I've been checking the menus and there will be more than enough choices for our 3 nights there. One other quick question, can you suggest the best ice cream place either in the area where we're staying or, if necessary, we can take a cab.

 

Thanks,

Susan

I'm more into savoury than sweet foods so take these recos with a pinch of salt:

Bella Gelateria

Mario's Gelati Cafe

Yaletown Gelato

[cruisesusie]

Thanks for the ice cream recommendations - maybe we'll try them all !!

 

Susan