Al-Hadbah offers excellent Middle Eastern food in a counter service establishment with some patio seating on Robson Street.
I had the Falafel Plate, which included four pieces of falafel, taboule, pickles, hummus, tahini sauce, harissa sauce, and pita bread. I loved that the falafel was made to order! The hummus and taboule were also very good. Service was friendly, and the prices are very reasonable. Highly recommended.
This place, located in the posh part of Robson Street, is a bit hard to find, being upstairs along a narrow passageway, but it’s worth the effort.
For lunch they have an extensive and popular buffet, but we elected to order off the menu.
Papad were served with three chutneys, the normal min and tamarind varieties, and a mayonnaise based one I hadn’t seen before. It was very good on the Chicken Pakora, our other starter.
For mains we had Butter Chicken, Navratan (vegetable) Korma, and some accompanying garlic basic naan bread. All were quite good. I liked that the mains were served in dishes with a built-in flame below, so they stayed hot. Speaking of hot, the “hot” version of the Korma was what I would call medium, so if you are spice-averse you needn’t worry.
Service was friendly and attentive.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/spicy-6-fine-indian-cuisine-vancouver-2
I’d been to the Earl’s Kitchen in Orlando, and was interested to see how this one compared. It’s in a large (for Vancouver) upstairs space on Robson. The interior is fresh and open, perhaps recently updated?
The menu is above the level of typical sports bar food, although there are plenty of football games playing on the TVs around the bar.
I had a Cobb salad, which I enjoyed although it was a bit odd. It was as if someone had read the ingredients of a Cobb salad, but never actually seen one. Typically they are served with discrete rows of chopped ingredients that can be mixed at the table or eaten by plowing your way through one row at a time. This one was just a mixed green salad with some of the traditional ingredients sprinkled around it. But the accompanying dressing was quite good, and I like it for a nice, light lunch.
My companion had the Stea Frits. This dish is often served with a thin steak, or with the steak sliced up in the kitchen. Here it was more of a baseball, and I have to say it wasn’t the most tender steak. The accompanying steak knife wasn’t really up to the task, but oddly the serrated table knife worked better. The rub and sear on the outside was delicious, though.
Service was pleasant. There’s also a nice outside dining area that would be a great place to sit, too.
Since I’m originally from Los Angeles, I’m used to being able to get great authentic Mexican food almost anywhere. But it’s been a long search for authentic Mexican food anywhere in the West End. Well, this is only marginally in the West End, but it’s sure better than anywhere else west of here!
This restaurant is located in a particularly seedy stretch of Granville, but it’s nice once you get inside.
The traditional Margarita was excellent. One of the best in town.
Nachos we just so-so. They did use melted cheese, but needed more, and needed jalapenos instead of a meager few dried serranos.
The chicken tostada was a home run. The crisp tortilla base seemed homemade, and the ingredients were plentiful and flavorful, including a nice spicy green sauce.
The pastor taco was also very good: fairly succulent pastor on two corn tortillas, with a generous side of cilantro and onions.
Service was pleasant, although the Mexican version of Bollywood on the TV can get old after a dozen similar numbers.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-mexican-antojitos-y-cantina-vancouver
We live in this block, and there are three excellent Korean restaurants. This is my favorite!
It would be hard to beat their “Lunch Course” which has a wonderful variety of flavors in ten courses, far more than we could possibly eat. Fortunately they do a huge takeout business, so containers are plentiful.
That said, it’s really a lovely place to dine in. It’s off Robson, on a quiet section of Cordero, with huge trees outside the picture windows. (Note that there is another Kosoo just a few blocks away on Robson, but the vibe there is completely different, more quick server, while this leans more to fine dining.)
It’s hard to pick a favorite dish, and since you can try them all, why bother?!
Service was pleasant and all the food came out course by course, with great pacing, piping hot or ice cold, and fresh.
Note that they don’t have tea, but they do have hot water, so bring your own teabag!
This cozy cafe/sports bar offers brunch from morning until afternoon and then switches to more of a sports bar menu.
The bacon and cheese omelet was tasting, and accompanied by nicely crisped home fries.
The cinnamon French toast included two poofy pieces of brioche, nicely grilled, and served with assorted fruit.
Service was friendly, and the background music audio quality was impressive enough that we noticed their excellent playlist.
This bustling seafood house has been around almost forty years, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are they serving great seafood, they’re doing it with impeccable service. The entire staff is laser-focused on every diner’s experience, making sure your meal runs like clockwork, and everything is refilled, cleared, or delivered within moments.
Beef carpaccio was an excellent starter, and unlike many restaurants seemed to be made to order, not presliced from carpaccio central.
My fish duo was the lunch special–a nice piece of salmon and a wonderfully seasoned blackened tuna.
It’s worth noting that salads are available in half portions, which was plenty.
The wine list is extensive, and offers a particularly large and thoughtful selection of wines by the glass.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/joe-fortes-seafood-and-chop-house-vancouver
We went here in 1986 during Expo 86, and it’s still as lovely as we remember. Whether is time for a dramatic sunset, or a cozy day with rain pattering on the glass roof, this is a special place in a special park in a special city.
The menu harkens back to traditional time, with dishes like Steak Diane, but also a few modern dishes such as herb crusted ware albacore.
Service was extremely professional, and the entire staff was efficient and welcoming. You can’t beat this location for an especially memorable Vancouver meal.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/teahouse-in-stanley-park-vancouver-2
Aptly named, The Basic is basically a basic breakfast and lunch place with basic dishes that are based on breakfast and lunch basics.
Seriously, though, we really enjoyed our meal here. The menu has all the, er, basics of a satisfying breakfast, but we opted for sandwiches. The tuna melt is actually closer to a patty melt, but with tuna instead of a patty, since it normally comes on rye and has grilled onions. But they happily substituted sourdough, and could certainly leave off the onions to make it more conventional.
The cucumber and avocado sandwich was a nice lighter choice, served on toasted sourdough with tasty cole slaw and a nice fresh salad of mixed greens.
Service was pleasant and swift.
Put this review through the “Mexcian food in Vancouver” filter, because it’s a different scale than, say, Mexican food in Los Angeles.
I like the fun ambiance here, with bright colors and neon. The chairs are more comfortable than they look. It’s nice that they have table service, not just counter service.
The BTO (better than okay) margarita was quite good.
Nachos were also good, factoring in that the cheese is movie theater nacho squirt cheese, not actually melted cheese. But the pickled jalapenos were real, and the addition of pickled red onions was a tasty innovation.
Those pickled onions came on the Wilbur pork butt taco, too, although I would have liked more cilantro, too. That taco was probably the most authentic Mexican food I’ve had in Vancouver. It was served on two traditional small corn tortillas.
Service was friendly and prep was very quick, due to the fact that we were alone on a Friday at lunchtime.