Good Restaurants for Dinner in Downtown Vancouver?
 

So, I have some relatives coming up from the States soon, and from what they told me, they want to find a place to eat downtown. While I only know of Ebisu (which I've heard is good) I have no real knowledge of the eats out there (I'm in Surrey)

What they're looking for is a place with good food. EDIT: was just told cost isn't as much of an issue anymore, something about a fat tax return or something. Cuisine does not really matter much, they just want a nice place to eat some dinner out there.

Thanks for the help!

For the price range you listed, I would reccomend the downtown cactus club on dunsmuir.
It is inexpensive, and looks fancier than it actually is. Good way to impress relatives on a budget.
There are quite a few GOOD resturants downtown, but pricing is usually quite a bit higher. Like Joe Fortes, Hy's, Gothams, Cin Cin's etc.
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urbanspoon.com >> find some restaurants and search for reviews on rs. best way!

So you're looking at around 23 per person..kinda hard to do depending on what "good" means to you. If you want good price, you might get mediocre food. If you want good food, you might have to spend a little bit more. Joe Forte's is great for seafood but is more like 100-150 between 2 people. Cactus/Earls is decent on the wallet but even then for 6 I'd suspect itd be around the 200 range (depending what you get) and the food is just average.

What kind of cuisine are you looking at?
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Good isn't necessarily expensive. Are they big eaters?

Also, why downtown? There's plenty of good food elsewhere in the city.

@ miss_crayon- They're willing to go over a bit, just has to be worth it. They're Filipino so they'll eat just about anything, as long as its good food.

@Culverin- Not exactly big eaters, but as long as they arent fine dining portions (ie. an entree that someone can eat in 2 bites) they're ok with it. They also want to eat downtown because it's a daytrip sort of thing where we'll be walking around the city for a while, then we eat out there.

If anyone knows if there's good food elsewhere thats Skytrain/transit/walking accessible within the area, shoot some suggestions out!

Le Crocodile

Went there last night and it was AMAZING! Just google the name to grab the website, they have menu and pricing on there.....ENJOY!

Milestone sounds like the right choice for you .

1109 Hamilton Street, Vancouver

Been there, different location though. Last time they were here they went to Moxies out in Surrey, same thing.

grubb, yaletown

Market at Shangri La

What type of ethnic food are you looking for? Any specific tastes?
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^ Well, being Filipino, I guess I do have a preference to Asian cuisine, but I'm open to taking them to just about anywhere.

Asian food downtown is extremely expensive. Majority of them are on broadway or kingsway
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dude 150 bucks for 6 people as crayon was saying, that's NOTHING. you won't even be able to eat a decent meal for 3 at cactus club with 150. 150, heck you can't even eat that in a Chinese restaurant on a good night.

Not trying to bash but 150 is pretty limited.
say 200 bucks for 6 people. i would say Thai food is surely do-able, you can go to yaletown brewery and get pizza and stuff and be good. eating at a fine diving place is totally out of the issue.

Try some of the fancy bar/bistro places in gastown. Something like Greedy Pig or Chill Winston is going to do you just fine for the food, quality made (unlike some of the chains), and will be within skytrain walking distance.

If you are worried about budget, I'd say splurge on the lunch meal, then save on dinner.

I'll never understand revscene's obsession with ebisu.

Restaurants:

Boneta, Shore Club, Bistro Pastis, Grub

$150 for 6 people is nothing in downtown if you want decent food. Only solution I could think of is to buy some kind of groupon if one happens to pop up.
http://www.dealradar.com/vancouver

Also consider discount gift cards. I know Costco sells 2x$50 Glowbal gift cards for $85 or something. Not sure if they can be used all at one time though.

C'mon man. It's got to be the bestest evar! :fullofwin: :troll: :whistle:

It's not downtown but here's a good place to eat . 8542 Granville . When you come there , eat from the Sushi menu . The western food is not quite at par but the Sushi is AWESOME !

Sala Thai for Thai food
On burrard near smithe
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shitty food + expensive as f-town.. but the hot chicks there make up for it i guess???.. (note iv only been there about 2-3 times.. lets say I gave it a chance but No more :/ )



On topic

Restaurants - Guu with Garlic, Zakkushi

I'm just curious to know what you ate at Ebisu to incur the "shitty food" label so I can work it over with my chefs and improve them, but I know it's impossible to please everyone, least I can do is try to meet the refined standards of fellow Revsceners such as yourself. :)
Prices are very competitive and pretty standard for a Robson area downtown location with expensive rent. Definitely better value then places like Hapa which cost roughly the same at half the portions.
Across the street Moxies and Earls sell:
Edamame Beans for 6 or 7 bucks compared to $3.95
Wings $10 < Ebisu $6 (or 39 cents at Happy Hour)
All our specialty rolls are under $10, the standard California roll clocks in at an average $4.50, what do you expect in the heart of Vancouver downtown? If we were located in Coquitlam or Surrey it would be a different story.

So if Ebisu is f-town expensive then Earl's must be "Balling out of control" expensive? :confused:

Back on topic:
I am very honest and non-biased about other restaurants.

Guu Thurlow is the best Guu and by far has the best food of all izakaya's in downtown, I was actually just there last night with my friend... but I do get tired of the constant yelling in my ear from the staff, I could barely hold a conversation with my buddy. The wooden picnic benches aren't too kind to my rear either lol... but I'm friends with most of the staff there cuz I frequent them so often.

Zakkushi I haven't been to for a while but there's a reason for that, last time I went was around the Fireworks time (Celebration of Light) last year. It was totally underwhelming, food was bland and overcooked a lot of my skewers. The special Yakitori-don + egg is great though!

If cost isn't an issue anymore then I would suggest a steakhouse like Hy's or Gotham.
Seafood - Coast is a solid choice, the Lobster Mashed potato is freakin' awesome!

It's actually really difficult to pinpoint a restaurant without specifying what kind of cuisine you have interest in as there's so much variety in this great city of Vancouver. We are quite spoiled in our selection of food here compared to most other cities. A lot of out of town customers are blown away when they go to Ebisu cuz there is nothing even remotely similar in their hometowns.

http://www.bishopsonline.com/


a lil pricey and not really downtown van, but still amazing.

Well to be fair, I'd rather eat at Ebisu than Earl's because Earl's is fucking garbage.

The rolls are one thing that Ebisu does ok in. Your fish tacos are decent as well. Drink specials are good as are your oyster specials.

Here's what I have had problems with when I have gone in the past:

Your chicken wings taste like cardboard. I understand that for $5.55, you can't do much, but fuck, they are some of the worst wings ever. Raise the prices if you need to to increase the quality.

Your potato butter. I've made the mistake of ordering it twice now and each time, it's come out COLD. Cold potatoes with cold cheese is disgusting. I wanted to send that shit back and raise a fuss, but the people I was with didn't which is why I didn't bitch more.

Your Ton Toro. This could entirely be a question of taste, but Guu's is more tender and tastes a hell of a lot better. Oh and sizzling hot plate? Mine sure as hell wasn't sizzling when I got it.

BBQ Short ribs - At your price point, this dish stinks. It's no different from the crap that you would get at an all you can eat place. Only difference is that at an all you can eat place, I can pay $12 and get as much of that garbage as I want. You want to improve it? First off, stop serving the dish cold. Second, less fricking sauce. The dish tastes more like sauce than ribs. Third, get thicker cuts of ribs. Yours are anemic.

Asari Pasta - your chef needs to learn to make a sauce. This dish is gross and this is coming from someone who LIKES rich cream sauces.