Pan Pacific Vancouver Sunday Brunch on May 12 -- Will There Be One...?

[Yo Adrienne]

DH and I will be staying at the Pan Pacific Vancouver in May prior to our cruise.  Years ago, the hotel had an excellent Sunday Brunch in their Oceans 999 restaurant.  Then covid hit...and the brunch was gone. 

 

Currently on the PPV website, they list the Sunday Brunch as available to book (using Open Table)...but when I try to book it for May 12, it says there's no availability.  (In fact, it says there's no availability at all in Oceans 999 on that date). 

 

Just out of curiosity, I looked at prior Sundays...and other Sundays after that date...and there DOES seem to be availability for brunch on those dates. 

 

Does anyone have the scoop on what's going on there...and whether there will actually be a Sunday brunch in Oceans 999 on May 12...?

 

Thanks in advance for any info...

[martincath]

It's Mothers' Day - so it's sold out! All the swanky brunches in town sell out on Mothers' Day.

[Yo Adrienne]

6 hours ago, martincath said:

It's Mothers' Day - so it's sold out! All the swanky brunches in town sell out on Mothers' Day.

Thank you...I was wondering if that was the case...! 🙂 (I saw/read somewhere that they were accepting reservations beginning 60 days in advance...but I've been trying long before that, to no avail...so maybe that wasn't accurate.) 

Guess we'll just find something else fun to do in Vancouver instead...! 🙂 

[martincath]

4 minutes ago, Yo Adrienne said:

Thank you...I was wondering if that was the case...! 🙂 (I saw/read somewhere that they were accepting reservations beginning 60 days in advance...but I've been trying long before that, to no avail...so maybe that wasn't accurate.) 

Guess we'll just find something else fun to do in Vancouver instead...! 🙂 

No worries - I have a vague recollection about someone asking if/when the PPs buffet would return a couple of years ago, while Covid rules were still in place... if that was you then at least you know it did come back! I think it might be technically the only actual Buffet-service fancy hotel brunch now, as Arc in the Fairmont Waterfront did indeed ditch self-serve entirely and now operates a 'keep ordering small plates from the menu for 2 hours' table service version - incidentally I checked, and they are also sold out/unavailable for this AYCE brunch on May 12th. The fancy-hotel-buffet prices also climbed heftily, to $65pp from the prior $39 if I'm remembering rightly from just pre-Covid, and frankly the menu  looks a rather pale imitation of the glory days of yesteryear despite costing more!

 

For that cash, even if it was available I would instead suggest you should make a reso ($10ea charity donation to avoid the easily-an-hour wait, and that's on a regular weekend morning!) for still the best breakfast in the city at Medina; take a cab both ways (<$10ea); splurge on ordering two breakfasts each (~$40ea), then waste half your food because it's far too much to finish even if you didn't want to add on a waffle (which you do - there's at least one other real Liege waffle place in town now, with the imported pearl sugar to give it the crispy-crunchy caramelized shell, but Medina still has the best sauce to fill the holes with in their lavender chocolate). Total price pretty much bang on the same as the buffet brunch would have been... or just walk over and put the cab fare toward another waffle 😉 

 

But you could also call the hotel directly - maybe they got a bit delayed in opening booking for it (if so, expect an even gougier Mothers Day Special Menu Price when it does open as this is traditionally the biggest brunch day of the year for most of the continent) or if it did sell out there's a good chance at least some seats will have been held back for hotel guests, since after all Mother's Day is an American invention that has yet to spread much beyond Canada - everywhere else in the Commonwealth sticks to the original Mothering Sunday date of 3 weeks before Easter Sunday.

 

Even if the religious side has been overwhelmed by the Female Parent meaning of Mother, fellow guests from basically every Anglican country except the US and Canada will be genuinely surprised there's some special Mom holiday brunch in May instead of March and get annoyed if they can't have their expected eggs & bacon except through room service...

[Milhouse]

I popped into the Pan Pacific when out for a walk this afternoon while waiting for the missus to get off of work.  Oceans 999 was closed with a sign saying to visit the Coal Harbour Bar on the other side of the floor instead.  So I chatted with the bar staff (very friendly people) and they confirmed that if it's full on Open Table, they are fully booked. But they said to contact their manager (gave me her business card) as they occasional keep a second waitlist(??) in the event of cancellations.  (I'm not sure if this was a wink, wink, nudge, nudge moment or just a chance for a hail mary 😄).  Good luck on whatever you decide!

Demi Kammer - Asst Restaurant Manager

604-662-8111 x4148

604-230-9096 (cell)

demi.kammer@panpacificvancouver.com

[julia]

Oh my....  our cruise ends in Vancouver on May 12th, and we are staying on for three nights in our favorite city. Although our hotel is adjacent to the famous Medina, we won't attempt it on Mothers Day, but wondering now if places might be booked up for dinner as well.... ?  @martincath  ?

[martincath]

12 minutes ago, julia said:

Oh my....  our cruise ends in Vancouver on May 12th, and we are staying on for three nights in our favorite city. Although our hotel is adjacent to the famous Medina, we won't attempt it on Mothers Day, but wondering now if places might be booked up for dinner as well.... ?  @martincath  ?

Some places absolutely will be more heavily booked at dinner as well - on the swankier end of things though I find it's the joints that have been open for decades, that generations of the family regard as their regular celebration resto, that get hit hardest, with e.g. Grannies taken out as well as Moms by the family (Sand Bar, Teahouse, Seasons in the Park, Blue Water Cafe for example) - but given it's a Sunday, I would say that mostly dinner is more of a 'perhaps as busy as a typical Fri or Sat' situation rather than 'OMG if we did not book 3 months out we are not getting a seat!' like brunch...

 

And even then if you are someone who likes to eat say dinner at 8pm rather than 6pm, you might not notice much trouble finding resos at all, as (stereotyping alert!) in my experience 'Mom Meals' whether for mothers day, birthdays or whatever are far too often daytime meals with the kids/grandkids present, rather than romantic dinners... So book something newer, edgier, romantic, super low brow divey, or just in a dodgier part of town - anything that doesn't have a Mom Vibe basically - and you should have a plethora of options across a variety of pricepoints on the day.

[Yo Adrienne]

11 hours ago, martincath said:

No worries - I have a vague recollection about someone asking if/when the PPs buffet would return a couple of years ago, while Covid rules were still in place... if that was you then at least you know it did come back! I think it might be technically the only actual Buffet-service fancy hotel brunch now, as Arc in the Fairmont Waterfront did indeed ditch self-serve entirely and now operates a 'keep ordering small plates from the menu for 2 hours' table service version - incidentally I checked, and they are also sold out/unavailable for this AYCE brunch on May 12th. The fancy-hotel-buffet prices also climbed heftily, to $65pp from the prior $39 if I'm remembering rightly from just pre-Covid, and frankly the menu  looks a rather pale imitation of the glory days of yesteryear despite costing more!

 

 

Thank you so much for the scoop...!  I really appreciate the recommendation for Medina, too...! 🙂

 

Another question for you, if you don't mind.  Any thoughts/recommendations on a good asian restaurant that would deliver to PPV on a Saturday night...?  (We'll arrive at the hotel late in the afternoon--so will just wanna be able to order in for delivery, rather than venturing out.)  We've ordered from Hon's before (about a year and a half ago when we were last at PPV)...and it was excellent.

 

(And indeed, I did ask about the PPV Sunday brunch several years ago, so it might be me you're remembering...! 🙂 )

[Yo Adrienne]

10 hours ago, Milhouse said:

I popped into the Pan Pacific when out for a walk this afternoon while waiting for the missus to get off of work.  Oceans 999 was closed with a sign saying to visit the Coal Harbour Bar on the other side of the floor instead.  So I chatted with the bar staff (very friendly people) and they confirmed that if it's full on Open Table, they are fully booked. But they said to contact their manager (gave me her business card) as they occasional keep a second waitlist(??) in the event of cancellations.  (I'm not sure if this was a wink, wink, nudge, nudge moment or just a chance for a hail mary 😄).  Good luck on whatever you decide!

Demi Kammer - Asst Restaurant Manager

604-662-8111 x4148

604-230-9096 (cell)

demi.kammer@panpacificvancouver.com

Thank you so much for this info...I really appreciate it...! 🙂  I did reach out via email to them...but haven't heard back...so I'm guessing it's a "no go" for us.  We'll probably find something else fun to do on Sunday, instead.
 

Since you obviously know the area...any ideas/recommendations for a good asian restaurant that would deliver to PPV on Saturday late afternoon...?  (We arrive later in the afternoon, so will probably want to stay in, rather than venturing out for the evening.)  We've ordered from Hon's (last time was about a year and a half ago...and it was very good)...so just wondering if you happen to know if they've kept the quality up...or if we should consider any alternatives, too.
 

Thanks for any suggestions you might have...! 🙂 

[martincath]

21 minutes ago, Yo Adrienne said:

...Any thoughts/recommendations on a good asian restaurant that would deliver to PPV on a Saturday night...?  (We'll arrive at the hotel late in the afternoon--so will just wanna be able to order in for delivery, rather than venturing out.)  We've ordered from Hon's before (about a year and a half ago when we were last at PPV)...and it was excellent.

A couple - plus, if you are recalling the date correctly the Hons you ordered from is still in business (Olympic Village location would be the one closest of the two current restos, they use Uber/Dash etc. rather than their own delivery - the original and Robson branches both closed over4 2 years ago, so odds are near 100% it was Olympic Village who cooked last time).

 

ChongQing downtown and Szechuan Chili both deliver to the core, would be open until at least 9:30/10pm on a Saturday, have their own delivery people, and I'm familiar with them - I've had very consistent food from the latter for several years, whereas CQ went a little up&down during and after the 'vid. If memory serves, last time this came up Milhouse had been using them more than I was so you might get a better answer soon!

 

Use the SkipUberDash type third parties and do you have more options - personally I don't order delivery via any of those any more, so I can't say whether the speed/keeping it hot part of the experience will be good or not, but the food in Chinatown BBQ is excellent and it's close enough that delivery should be quick. Peaceful might also be of interest - Northern cuisine, much harder to find in most places compared to Cantonese & Szechuan, wheatflour and lamb are key ingredients - but I honestly can't say what their delivery is like these days to downtown as both downtown and 3rd Ave branches closed a while back; the latter was just a few minutes from home so when they used in-house delivery staff from there I ordered frequently and everything was great... I'm not sure if they even have any delivery staff now or just use 3rd parties, but if you stuck to softer meaty and noodly dishes the food should survive a longer drive OK (Cumin lamb on noodles is one of their specialties and it even reheats well; the beef rolls and XLB though suffer texturally if not eaten quickly so I'd eat those in the resto...)

[Milhouse]

I'll defer to martincath for the bulk of the recommendations (and particularly delivery to downtown since we never use delivery).  

We haven't been to Hon's Olympic Village recently but maybe I'll convince the missus to stop in for a quick snack pre/post walk report this weekend. 

We usually go to Congee Noodle House (and its sister restaurant Congee Noodle King) on Broadway for relatively fast casual Chinese. Not sure how practical it would be to get delivery from there but it's not that much further than Hons in Olympic Village.  

 

I think we had chatted about Chinatown BBQ being a bit inconsistent but likely due it (and other businesses) needing to get back to a regular routine.  I grabbed lunch there a few weeks back (along with getting some pastries from New Town Bakery) and it was good. Very busy for a weekday lunch too.  However, I just don't crave it as much as I do Hong Kong BBQ in Richmond which isn't practical for most tourists logistically unless they are hard core foodies.  

 

I enjoy going for northern Chinese too and the Peaceful restaurants are a good option as suggested.  But agree as martincath says, a few key popular dishes aren't great for delivery.  

[Milhouse]

We did end up popping into Hons Olympic Village for a snack after walking the seawall to Granville Island on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Ordered their big hitters: wonton noodle soup and potstickers.  The noodles were on point and the wontons were good.  The soup was a bit light in flavour for our taste though.  We thought the potstickers were only ok/average.  Didn't disappoint but didn't align with our memories of them.  

 

[martincath]

On 3/18/2024 at 11:17 AM, Milhouse said:

...Didn't disappoint but didn't align with our memories of them. 

I think that the current Hons may not actually be connected to the original Hons except in name - I can't recall offhand the details of the minor scandals around ownership changes, but we always felt that Olympic Village was more like a food court version of the original, shorter menu and everything just tasted a little more meh. Enough so that we only tried it twice - and it seemed the same, not bad but not as good as it was (so for OP, if you enjoyed it last time it will probably taste the same again this time, consistency doesn't seem to be an issue!)

 

Man, it must have been three years that Congee Noodle House was closed, between the collapse of the parking lot and 'vid related delays- dark times indeed! I guess you must be closer to King than we are - I haven't been there for years, since they closed Carleton school; King and Jambo were the staple 'go for lunch with the teachers' choices because they were both tasty and quick (your mention of King made me check what's still open over there - still a lot of good options on those last few blocks of Kingsway before Boundary that tourists never get out to - and I was very excited to see that Jambo is back to buffets at least during Ramadan, for what looks like the best-priced Iftar meal in the city at $25 a head! So thanks for the very random chain of co-inky-dinks your post set off, cheap and hopefully tasty blast from the past dinner for me on Friday!)

 

 

[Milhouse]

Yeah while we were sitting there waiting for our food, the missus and I were chatting about the history and the state of the business today😄. I don't know if it's true but I think gossip has it that the original owner back in the day, lost the business due to gambling debts.  Pure speculation though.  And we were curious how these fast casual restaurants are related to the Hons branded noodles and potstickers you find in some grocery stores (??).  

 

We're pretty much halfway between Congee Noodle House and King.  We go to House when convenient like sometimes after an event/game downtown.  Also when eating with my sister, she will direct us there because she's become friendly with the staff.  We generally end up going to King because parking is somewhat more convenient than House (I still hate their parking lot and refuse to park there😵‍💫) and their prices are a tad less expensive.  The missus went to Carleton for a few years as a kid and loves to drop a story or two any time we drive by it. 😄

[martincath]

On 3/14/2024 at 9:06 AM, Yo Adrienne said:

...Thanks for any suggestions you might have...! 🙂 

I just found a definitely-fancy Brunch option for you, with availability, on Mothers Day!

 

Bacchus (the Wedgewood's in house resto) has always been on our secondary rotation - it's one of the very few quiet fine restos in Vancouver, off the radar enough to be always bookable and also literally quiet with lots of heavy fabric - but I only just found out that the normal far-too-overpriced hotel breakfast has been supplemented by a Bavarian Brunch starting this weekend, helmed by ex-Michelin Star winning Chef Stefan Hartmann himself for a ludicrously low price considering (as in, half the price of the hotel's regular 'bacon/sausage/2 eggs' American brekkie plate!!!)

 

They're also offering specific extra-fancy Mother's Day Brunch and Afternoon Tea service - and actually have availability right now for both! They're way pricier than the regular brunch menu, but the same ballpark as the PP/Fairmont brunches. If you haven't already decided on something else to do, go have a shufty at menus on the Events page and get booked ASAP if they look good.

 

Ordinarily I'd never recommend a resto experience I have not had myself at least a couple of times, but the combination of the impossible timing to sample before your visit and my total faith in any Hartmann kitchen he's actually working in make me feel this is worth the risk for once (long story short, our first Hartmann meal was in Berlin almost 20 years ago before he got his first Star; we were super pumped when he got hired by Uwe Boll of all people to come head up Bauhaus in Vancouver in 2015; he's not just a good cook, he runs a super-tight kitchen - I fully expect Bacchus to move up from the Recommended list to an actual star in the next edition of the Michelin guide this Fall, and when it does I'll be annoyed because getting a table will be much harder!!!)