recommendations for Vancouver BC pub or bar

[cruise kitty]

Hi, looking for recommendations for a bar or pub for a casual roll call get together the night before our cruise,  hopefully somewhere near water or with a view, not too upscale (we'll all be dressed casually) 

 

thanks in advance

[martincath]

Well, the good news is that there's no such thing as a dress code in Vancouver except at private clubs. Even the fanciest, priciest of our restos welcomes folks in very casual clothes - so any pub/bar you'll have zero problems on that front.

 

The bad news is that getting a reso for a large group in downtown Vancouver can be a nightmare unless you pick a private room (with a corresponding up-front payment and minimum spend) or buy out an entire resto (even pricier). No bar I'm aware of lets you reserve seats on patios - even ones which take resos in general have a 'first come, first served' policy on patio seating.

 

If it's a dozen people or less or it's a Monday through Wednesday, you'll find it much easier - but with further criteria that you want a view you're almost certainly back into potentially-pricey, sign-a-contract-and-fork-over-a-hefty-deposit territory. I used to make resos for Meetup groups, and as soon as we got into double-digits of attendees we had to change Meetup nights to early in the week and choose places outside the core - and even then we'd have trouble in summer.

 

Now I've lowered your expectations, some hopefully-useful suggestions on where to try reaching out to:

If you actually want to make a reso for a big group without having to fork over a deposit, I'd say that your best bet is for whoever in the group is booked into some of the larger hotels with multiple restos to ask them about getting a space - the larger places like the Pan Pacific and Fairmonts have several different public areas which vary in business at different times, e.g. if there's a more casual cafe that's used for breakfast it may be quiet in the evening. Guaranteeing that a couple of dozen folks will show up to buy a few drinks and nibbles is easily worth assigning a bartender/waiter to somewhere that doesn't normally make cash for them. Even some smaller hotels may be happy to set aside a section of an in-house resto space on quieter nights - I know that the St Regis has done this for cruisers before for example.

 

The only independent boozing venues I can think of that might be feasible would be the larger local chains, like:

Tap & Barrel (all of their sites have patios, including the biggest one in the city at the convention centre so if you want to leave it entirely casual instead of asking folks to formally RSVP and actually booking a space this could work, though everyone getting tables next to each other would be challenging!) The old Steel Toad space that T&B bought up, now called the Brewhall,  is absolutely huge, with outdoor seating and a separate mezzanine part above the enormous main beer hall - no views since they're tucked away on 2nd Ave but everything else about the place is ideal for big groups, even most of the tables are long communal ones, and while I have not tried to make a group reso here myself I know they do accept groups of 30+ I just don't know their critera re: minimum spend etc.);

the Donnelly pub chain is a soulless, boring, corporate machine that is hated by all local beer lovers with a burning passion - but they do have a lot of venues with various nooks and crannies that are easily taken over by a group, they do quite a few events, and they have a single point of contact for all 19 of their venues so one email will be able to check if any of them would fit your needs on your date;

Yaletown Brewing is another very large spot, with two separately-licensed areas in the same building which both have an outdoor space - they're also big into sports sponsorship deals, so if your precruise get together falls on a game night they could be an excellent choice as they actually run shuttles to the stadia in town. This means they are one of the very few bars which actually get quieter on game nights as a bunch of fans in for dinner and pre-drinking all jump on buses as kickoff approaches. The bar area (on the left as you walk in) especially empties out in droves, and since it's 'no kids allowed' at any time a lot of the customers on the restaurant side cannot just move over to snag the now-empty patio seats when this happens - so just telling folks to meet there means a great chance of being able to jump onto vacated patio tables en masse about 7pm.

 

[scottbee]

Other places to consider (but will likely be fairly crowded), and leaning more toward pub vs restaurant

Steamworks

Mahony's

If the view isn't important (as it's underground), but good pub grub and beer is, my go to spot is "Moose's Down Under", which is a low-key aussie pub, with decent (and not expensive) grub

 

 

[martincath]

^Good call on Moose's Scott - I've attended a few large group things there and should have thought to mention it myself; nice folks who run it, a decent-size space, and unusual nibbles (or familiar nibbles for any Aussies!)

 

[cruise kitty]

thanks guys!  Martincath, are you an event planner in another life?   Definitely going to be non rsvp, just a walk up get together,   our roll call is a bit small.  Our cruise leaves on Thursday, May 21st, so this would be for a Wednesday evening.    Steamworks is looking nice, seems to be centrally located to where most of us are staying so far.  

 

Thanks again, & happy sailing :)

[habsfan4ever]

Strongly suggest Cardero’s restaurant in Coal Harbour one block from cruise port, usually a guitarist. Right on the water, great food. 

[martincath]

4 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

thanks guys!  Martincath, are you an event planner in another life?   Definitely going to be non rsvp, just a walk up get together,   our roll call is a bit small.  Our cruise leaves on Thursday, May 21st, so this would be for a Wednesday evening.    Steamworks is looking nice, seems to be centrally located to where most of us are staying so far.  

 

Thanks again, & happy sailing 🙂

Nope, but a friend here in Vancouver is a professional event planner so I do have some inside track info on this kind of stuff over & above my own Meetup arranging. For a small roll call on a 'show up or not' basis, Steamworks is a solid pick and very easily-found even for first-timers - but as Scott warned, it's VERY popular so can be difficult getting seats.

 

If it's too busy, try literally crossing the car park right outside and going into Waterfront Station - there's a Rogue pub in there which is owned by the same folks, with a near-identical menu, an even wider range of beers (none of their own brews like SW, but a lot of Craft product from across the PNW), and a few different rooms on 2 levels. They even have a tiny beer garden - but it's right on Cordova so no views, lots of traffic, and expect local street people to hit you up for cash from the other side of the railing.

 

I'd definitely share cellphone numbers so you can find each other as you may end up tucked away around a corner and be hard to find - try connecting to the free city WiFi network, broadcasting all over as #VanWiFi, so you can use Whatsapp etc. without roaming fees.

[cruise kitty]

12 minutes ago, martincath said:

Nope, but a friend here in Vancouver is a professional event planner so I do have some inside track info on this kind of stuff over & above my own Meetup arranging. For a small roll call on a 'show up or not' basis, Steamworks is a solid pick and very easily-found even for first-timers - but as Scott warned, it's VERY popular so can be difficult getting seats.

 

If it's too busy, try literally crossing the car park right outside and going into Waterfront Station - there's a Rogue pub in there which is owned by the same folks, with a near-identical menu, an even wider range of beers (none of their own brews like SW, but a lot of Craft product from across the PNW), and a few different rooms on 2 levels. They even have a tiny beer garden - but it's right on Cordova so no views, lots of traffic, and expect local street people to hit you up for cash from the other side of the railing.

 

I'd definitely share cellphone numbers so you can find each other as you may end up tucked away around a corner and be hard to find - try connecting to the free city WiFi network, broadcasting all over as #VanWiFi, so you can use Whatsapp etc. without roaming fees.

 

Thank you Martin!

[tutuwahineLV]

On 1/18/2020 at 10:15 AM, scottbee said:

Other places to consider (but will likely be fairly crowded), and leaning more toward pub vs restaurant

Steamworks

Mahony's

If the view isn't important (as it's underground), but good pub grub and beer is, my go to spot is "Moose's Down Under", which is a low-key aussie pub, with decent (and not expensive) grub

 

 

    The menu looks great, and they're right around the corner from our hotel.  Will definitely keep them on the short list while we're there.   Thanks for the info

Edited January 20, 2020 by tutuwahineLV
found the answer....

[Northern Aurora]

While we frequently dine in Steamworks when we are in Vancouver pre- or post-cruise, two years ago we were at the Lion's Pub (W. Cordova Street) and there was a group in there which certainly had that "pre-cruise roll call gathering" appearance.  While it couldn't have been a group from our particular cruise since we were departing two days later, once you have seen a pre-cruise roll call gathering you can just "smell" another one.  Just that look -- folks who don't recognize others by appearance and those adhesive name tags.  It was a large group, and while they were not in a specific walled room a space for them was cordoned off with barriers.

[scottbee]

14 hours ago, tutuwahineLV said:

    The menu looks great, and they're right around the corner from our hotel.  Will definitely keep them on the short list while we're there.   Thanks for the info

 

I see you say you found the answer.  There's an elevator if my memory serves me correctly, but the best thing to do is email them, they're VERY good at responding quickly (we've had a couple of 10+ gatherings there, and they were good with putting aside a table etc etc)

 

[martincath]

10 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

While we frequently dine in Steamworks when we are in Vancouver pre- or post-cruise, two years ago we were at the Lion's Pub (W. Cordova Street) and there was a group in there which certainly had that "pre-cruise roll call gathering" appearance.  While it couldn't have been a group from our particular cruise since we were departing two days later, once you have seen a pre-cruise roll call gathering you can just "smell" another one.  Just that look -- folks who don't recognize others by appearance and those adhesive name tags.  It was a large group, and while they were not in a specific walled room a space for them was cordoned off with barriers.

That's likely because the Lions pub is part of both a private club (Terminal City) and a 'hotel resto' for the Auberge hotel (which is itself part of the club - was actually called the Terminal City Hotel until just a few years ago), giving a real sweet-spot in 'bend over backwards for your patrons' customer service as everyone involved in managing the pub has to be able to handle that most demanding and pedantic of clientele, the private club member, over and above the regular demands of swanky hotel customers. Definitely a good candidate for anyone staying there, whether as a club affiliate or just a hotel patron, to ask about getting a table put aside in.

[ceilidh1]

I see Martincath mentioned Tap and Barrel at the Convention Centre. They have a private room at the front that overlooks the water - not sure what they charge now but back when they first opened it was a minimum food/drink amount per number of people but the room itself didn't cost. Might be worth checking out since the view is amazing!

 

http://tapandbarrel.com/private-dining/