Places to eat near Westin Bayshore Vancouver

Hello,

We will be arriving in Vancouver this Thursday May 25th. I am looking for some good seafood restaurants to go to either Thursday night and/or Friday. Any recommendations? Someplace that locals go to is what we really like. Also what do you recommend for breakfast? I am not a Hortons fan.

Thanks

Probably the easiest would be to go to Cardero's for dinner which is a half a block away from the Bayshore on the water. I wouldn't consider it primarily a seafood restaurant but has a good seafood selection. I last went there a few months back with some out of town coworkers who ordered seafood entrees and they quite enjoyed their meals. For breakfast, White Spot is 2 blocks south on Georgia. It's a chain but IMO they do the range of breakfast fare solidly though nothing to write home about.

If you're willing to go further afield, we talked about Fish Shack in another thread. It's a non-fancy place on Granville though Granville street does get a bit hectic on Friday/weekend nights because of the bars/clubs/lounges. "Nicer" and though more expensive seafood specific restos in the downtown core you could also consider are Bluewater Cafe and Rodney's Oyster House both in Yaletown (which would be a bit of hike), Coast on Alberni, and Yew in the Four Seasons on Howe.

Other breakfast options you might want to consider are Cora's on Robson and De Dutch by the Convention Centre. They've also been mentioned in previous threads.

Milhouse,

Thank you very much for the info. They look great. Will check out their menus today!

We are from the US coasts but live in land locked CO. Not much for seafood here, good beef.

Thanks,

Another great place is the Forkhill house 1616 Alberti st,about 10 minute walk up Cardero street from the Bayshore

^I can second all of the above suggestions (although Forkhill is not seafood-focused, it's a very authentic Irish gastropub with a very solid menu, a worthy successor to the previous Fat Badger at the same location, and they've kept on the previous selection of English beers).

I'll also add Cactus Club - either at the Coal Harbour or English Bay locations - for awesome views and not-cheap-but-good-value dishes, including some excellent seafood dishes (tuna carpaccio & prawn ravioli we order every time). Both are a pleasant walk of around 20mins.

Closest really good spot is Lift - views, superb wine list, plenty of seafood options.

Agree with all suggestions except "Lift" although it is very close to Bayshore terrible service and food quality so so prices HIGH - definitely a restaurant I will never return to

And Vancouver has many wonderful restaurants so why go to a poor one...

In Stanley Park you have the Teahouse restaurant on English Bay and the Fish House both good and a short cab ride from the Bayshore ....

Heads up that Fish House closed just over a year ago. I think the plan was/is to make it into a gastro brew pub a la Stanley Park Brewing. Don't think it's opened yet tho.

Fun fact: Tea House is part of the Sequoia Restaurant Group which Cardero's is also a part of.

^Once again you really need to do some more research before stating resto opinions based on very out-of-date info BCHG - Fishhouse closed almost two years ago in Fall of 2015. Your lack of frequent downtown dining might also explain your error in price comparison - a quick check of the menus is enough to verify that Lift and Teahouse are very much on-par in terms of their pricing on similar dishes.

I can assure you bad service at Lift is not normal - I have received as good service in Lift than Teahouse every time and I'm comparing double-digits of visits against what sounds lime your 'one and done'. One bad service experience is possible literally anywhere - I've sent food back at more than one Michelin-starred resto and had some inexplicably poor waitron-related service on occasion too

It's an easier job for Sequoia kitchen staff and waitrons as there are few menu changes and simple preparations of most dishes, so shift after shift is 'same old, same old' for 90% of the menu. Lift has more challenging dishes and more frequent changes, so I would (assuming an equally-good crew in kitchen and on floor) expect a few more mistakes - but I can't recall any greater number of problems in either place frankly.

In my opinion Teahouse (and the other Sequoia restos Sandbar & Seasons) coast on their location and have for years, while Lift is actually innovative despite having as good or better a view than Carderos/Teahouse - they were one of the very first restos in the region to invest heavily in a wide range of by-the-glass BC wines, and anyone even remotely 'foodie' can see at a glance how much more effort goes into the menu prep than at Teahouse.

Lift could cut their menu back to Sequoia-esque small breadth, save themselves money, and still make tidy profits on the location alone but they choose to keep things more variable and interesting - and I for one respect the hell out of that, which is why I spend my 'nice seawall resto with a view' money there rather than in Teahouse.

Occasionally a prix fixe menu pops up at Teahouse that jacks their value up enough to visit, and Seasons will continue to get my brunch money now & again - the extra couple of bucks for a benny is well worth it for that view and I'm more than happy with a simple dish at brunch - but as objectively as I can analyze a restaurant experience there is significantly better value on every plate at Lift than on any Sequoia menu.

Edit - didn't see your post Milhouse, so redundant info re: Sequoia ownership/Fishhouse closure.

Is there a specific dress was code at Lift?

Is there a specific dress was code at Lift?

No dress codes anywhere in Vancouver these days except the odd private club. If you wear what you would to the main dining room on your cruise you should feel better-dressed than many in any local resto, even some of the very nice ones. As the pricepoint climbs - and/or if it's near a theatre with a show that night - you'll definitely see more jackets and suits around, but there will also be open-necked flannel shirts, jeans etc. in even the fanciest of restos.

Thanks!

Is there a good family friendly restaurant. We have 5 kids in our group from ages 8-15

Is there a good family friendly restaurant. We have 5 kids in our group from ages 8-15

All of the restos above will take bookings with kids, so it's really just down to whether you feel 'fancy food' would be wasted on them whether you want to take your kids to Lift, Teahouse etc.

If you mean somewhere that has an extensive kids menu, crayons, a play area etc. then White Spot immediately comes to mind. Their Georgia/Cardero location is very close to Bayshore. Started life as Canada's answer to McDs but definitely moved upward - though they still offer their locally-famous Triple O burgers with secret sauce. I know several adults who look forward to 'Pirate Pak day' when they're allowed to order the kids meal (it's not just a typical kiddie meal with a toy, the container it's served in turns into a pirate hat!) The regular menu is broad, with something for just about everyone; they've done a good job of staying with the times and offer several gluten-free options (although if anyone has an allergy rather than just choosing a GF lifestyle they do not guarantee no cross-contamination) and some decent vegetarian dishes.

We stay at the Westin Bayshore whenever we can and second the suggestions here for Carderos for dinner and White Spot for breakfast and lunch. Also - a very pleasant surprise for us - was the lively bar and grill within the hotel. Just checked the website and it seems to have been remodeled and renamed, but hopefully it continues to have a good menu. It's worth checking out, especially if you've had a long day and are too tired to trek far for dinner.