Where did you eat in Vancouver?

[teriyaki]

For those who are back from their Alaska cruises, and those of you who know Vancouver, where would you recommend eating?

We're looking for casual places with varied menus, nothing hideously expensive.

Thanks in advance.
Laurie

 

[E&Cmom]

I recommend White Spot. It is a chain here so they are easy to find. Good variety in their menu. I live just outside of Vancouver and we love it there. If you want Pasta, go to Old Spagetti Factory in Gastown. Fun place to eat and they are reasonably priced. Your entree price comes with soup/salad,yummy bread, spumoni ice cream and tea/ coffee. I can't help with smaller places. Unfortunately, I don't get downtown as much as I would like to.

 

[whayes]

We visit Vancouver a lot since we live so close. There are a wide variety of restaurants all over the city. We enjoy the Old Spaghetti Factory. There is an interesting Russian/Eastern European restaurant, a yummy yogurt place and a great cookie store on Denman Street. There are a lot of options on Robson Street. If you like Indian and are willing to travel away from the port, there is a great place called Maurya on West Broadway.

This may seem weird to some, but we even enjoy McDonald's. They have different choices than the US and it tastes different. It is a fun experience.

Enjoy your time!!

 

[NancyIL]

Death By Chocolate! We went to the one on Denman, but I just read that location is closed.

 

[Medic193]

First place we ate at was recommended by the hotel concierge and was written in some book as one of the best restaurants around. It was called Kirin. Was pretty much the worse place for food and service I have ever been to. After that experience I was a little nervous.
We went to Whet at Granville Island and really liked that place. We also really like White Spot. I was expecting something like Denny's when we went and I was suprised when we got there.

 

[ibouncetoo]

Old Spaghetti Factory is a good spot to take a group as they can easily accomodate large parties. (Good bbq ribs too!)

.

 

[wisegal]

My family likes Red Robins.

 

[woody73]

Death By Chocolate! We went to the one on Denman, but I just read that location is closed.

We enjoyed Death by Chocolate. I forget which location we went to.

Woody

 

[PredzMan]

It depends on where you are staying in Vancouver, we were at the Fairmont Waterfront and based our food decisions off of where we could go on the SkyTrain or walk.

On our walk up the seawall to Stanley Park we hit onto a place called Cardero's in Coal Harbor (about 1/2 way to Stanley Park). They have an excellent happy hour deal of a pound of mussels, bunch of french fries, and a pint of beer for only $10. Being from Milwaukee, we almost passed out at a price like that for fresh mussels. They were in a light curry sauce - very good. A nice little pre-dinner snack if you wanted. We did look at their menu and it was very much a seafood and steak place, but also rather expensive.

We ended up going to Al Porto in Gastown for dinner. Now before everyone gets on my back - we have an Old Spaghetti Factory in Milwaukee and it's considered just a step below Olive Garden standards, not too good. Plus the concierge at the hotel said it was just "average" food. So for those that have been there and like it - I respect your opinion! But, Al Porto was by far one of the best Italian places we've been to. It was very inexpensive as well, entree's around $15 for pasta stuff and $20 for steaks. The service was excellent as well.

Keep in mind that if you're in Vancouver during the day, near Canada Place there are about six different food trucks within 4 blocks of that area. We hit up the dim sum truck and the mexican truck as well. Both excellent street food, would go back to them in a heartbeat.

Here's the www sites of the places and food trucks -

http://vancouverdine.com/carderos0experience.aspx
http://www.alporto.ca/
http://www.straight.com/article-393237/vancouver/new-food-trucks-fabulously-tasty-start

Jerry

 

[kgsmith]

It depends on where you are staying in Vancouver, we were at the Fairmont Waterfront and based our food decisions off of where we could go on the SkyTrain or walk.

On our walk up the seawall to Stanley Park we hit onto a place called Cardero's in Coal Harbor (about 1/2 way to Stanley Park). They have an excellent happy hour deal of a pound of mussels, bunch of french fries, and a pint of beer for only $10. Being from Milwaukee, we almost passed out at a price like that for fresh mussels. They were in a light curry sauce - very good. A nice little pre-dinner snack if you wanted. We did look at their menu and it was very much a seafood and steak place, but also rather expensive.

We ended up going to Al Porto in Gastown for dinner. Now before everyone gets on my back - we have an Old Spaghetti Factory in Milwaukee and it's considered just a step below Olive Garden standards, not too good. Plus the concierge at the hotel said it was just "average" food. So for those that have been there and like it - I respect your opinion! But, Al Porto was by far one of the best Italian places we've been to. It was very inexpensive as well, entree's around $15 for pasta stuff and $20 for steaks. The service was excellent as well.

Keep in mind that if you're in Vancouver during the day, near Canada Place there are about six different food trucks within 4 blocks of that area. We hit up the dim sum truck and the mexican truck as well. Both excellent street food, would go back to them in a heartbeat.

Here's the www sites of the places and food trucks -

http://vancouverdine.com/carderos0experience.aspx
http://www.alporto.ca/
http://www.straight.com/article-393237/vancouver/new-food-trucks-fabulously-tasty-start

Jerry

Thanks for the information, Jerry. We'll be at the Fairmont Waterfront, as well. The menu at Al Porto looks great! And so does the early bird dinner price We'll still be on east coast time, so an early dinner sounds like a good idea.

 

[n8tivecaligirl]

If you like greek then go to "stepho's greek taverna"(1124 davie st). This place was good and fairly cheap (for vancouvers standards). Be aware there is ALWAYS a line out the door and down the street(even at 10 PM), but the line moves quickly and it's worth the wait. They have chicken, lamb, seafood etc.. LOTS of food.

 

[ratt1345]

DW and I also enjoyed old Spaghetti Factory. Great food and great atmosphere. Also, since we don't have one where we live, we ate lunch once at Red Robin. Now I want one in our area!!!

 

[DisneyBasket]

We stayed at the Sutton Place, and our bellman recommended the restaurant across the street for a late lunch, called Joeys Burrard. We enjoyed it so much we went back another day for dinner. We did find it to be more pricey than we were expecting (the bellman said it would be reasonable), but it was not out of line for a city restaurant. Here is a link to the Joey restaurants in the Vancouver area: http://www.joeyrestaurants.com/

 

[mstinson14]

We ate at the mcdonalds close to port!

 

[Gilland18]

We really like Tim Horton's for breakfast. They have really good pastries, etc, plus breakfast sandwiches and good coffee. They also have good sandwiches for lunch and they aren't too expensive.

 

[PredzMan]

Karen - Since you're at the Waterfront, make sure you visit the honeybee garden on the 3rd floor. You have to exit like you're going to the outdoor pool and it's on each side of it. We spent about 20 minutes in all walking around there. On the other side where the bees aren't kept is where they have all the roses and herbs they use in their restaurant. Good spot for pictures downtown too.

When you check in - ask if you can get a room over looking Canada Place, we got to see the Wonder pull into port right in front of our room on Tuesday morning which added to the excitement.

The Waterfront also has a cruise desk on the right side of the Concierge desk, the Disney crew will be there Monday night pre-processing people for luggage transfer from the hotel to the ship. If you didn't sign up, or want to reconfirm you can do it then. Then just leave your luggage in your room and they'll pick it up for you. They do say that they start escorting people over to Canada Place starting at noon, but you can do it yourself before that time. It's literally a walk across the street, down 2 floors in the elevator and through the parking garage. I think they start at noon on purpose to space out when people board the ship. The only advantage of walking yourself and getting there early is to get to a buffet before anyone else does I'd think.

And finally, if you walk around the balcony of Canada Place between 9:30am and 10:30am you can probably catch Minnie and Mickey coming off the ship down the gangway to start greeting people. They both stopped and posed for pictures on the gangway a few times.

 

[mindelmouse]

The Waterfront also has a cruise desk on the right side of the Concierge desk, the Disney crew will be there Monday night pre-processing people for luggage transfer from the hotel to the ship. If you didn't sign up, or want to reconfirm you can do it then. Then just leave your luggage in your room and they'll pick it up for you.

Would you know if that is only a service offered at the Fairmount or would the other port side hotels have the same service? We're staying at the Pan Pacific.

 

[vpalmer]

Would you know if that is only a service offered at the Fairmount or would the other port side hotels have the same service? We're staying at the Pan Pacific.

I was told by the Pan Pacific that they would take our bags to the ship.

 

[PredzMan]

Would you know if that is only a service offered at the Fairmount or would the other port side hotels have the same service? We're staying at the Pan Pacific.

This is just a guess from what I saw - but I think the Fairmont hotels are the only ones with this service. They are the official Disney approved hotels.

The Pan Pacific www site says this if you book an Alaskan Cruise hotel package with them -


Vancouver Cruise & Hotel Package

One night luxury Accommodation (additional nights may be purchased)
King size or 2 double pillow top beds
Breakfast buffet for two in the Cafe Pacifica overlooking the Vancouver Harbour and Coastal Mountains
Late check-out (2:00 pm)
Complimentary transfer to or from Ballantyne Pier or Canada Place Pier
Direct elevator to Canada Place Cruise ship terminal
On-site cruise ship parking available, off site cruisepark available including over height vehicles (additional information, visit, www.vinciparkcanadaplace.ca)
Hotel is wheelchair accessible
Local daily newspaper
Complimentary access to the fitness centre

So I think that's a "yes". Just not done through Disney.

Jerry

 

[Candy Apple]

Karen - Since you're at the Waterfront, make sure you visit the honeybee garden on the 3rd floor. You have to exit like you're going to the outdoor pool and it's on each side of it. We spent about 20 minutes in all walking around there. On the other side where the bees aren't kept is where they have all the roses and herbs they use in their restaurant. Good spot for pictures downtown too.

When you check in - ask if you can get a room over looking Canada Place, we got to see the Wonder pull into port right in front of our room on Tuesday morning which added to the excitement.

The Waterfront also has a cruise desk on the right side of the Concierge desk, the Disney crew will be there Monday night pre-processing people for luggage transfer from the hotel to the ship. If you didn't sign up, or want to reconfirm you can do it then. Then just leave your luggage in your room and they'll pick it up for you. They do say that they start escorting people over to Canada Place starting at noon, but you can do it yourself before that time. It's literally a walk across the street, down 2 floors in the elevator and through the parking garage. I think they start at noon on purpose to space out when people board the ship. The only advantage of walking yourself and getting there early is to get to a buffet before anyone else does I'd think.

And finally, if you walk around the balcony of Canada Place between 9:30am and 10:30am you can probably catch Minnie and Mickey coming off the ship down the gangway to start greeting people. They both stopped and posed for pictures on the gangway a few times.

If you are staying at the Fairmont Waterfront but booked it yourself, can you still do the Disney luggage transfer? Does it cost anything? If we can't, we'll just schlep the luggage ourselves, no problem, but it would be nice not to have to do that. We certainly don't need the escort. I looked at it on Google street view and you can see the port from the front of the hotel.