Restaurants near Days Inn Vancouver Airport

We are staying there two nights post cruise. We are not renting a car, so we will have to walk or take taxi. Any suggestions?

If you like Chinese food, you have a multitude of options within an easy walk (under a mile). If you don't you're staying in the wrong part of town! Fisherman's Terrace, Dinesty, Red Star are all close, with Kirin and Sun Sui Wah less than 2 miles away (walk there/cab home after you're stuffed full). There are other restos too, but I can't personally recommend any of them as I pretty much only go to that area to eat Chinese!

A ballpark budget and genre(s) of food you enjoy would really help with recommendations, but the first thing I'll suggest is actually moving hotels unless you do want to experience a lot of Chinese food & shopping opportunities. Airport location for 2 days means an awful lot of very inefficient and/or expensive travel to and from downtown (and aside from Chinese food and shops, Richmond offers very little to entice most tourists...)

If you're staying at the airport for budgetary reasons, see if the YWCA hotel downtown has availability. It's not just cheaper than airport hotels, it's rated better than most of them on Tripadvisor etc. too! Being able to walk to the downtown sites will save you an hour or two a day in travel.

The Days Inn - Vancouver Airport seems to be very close to a skytrain station (<10 minute walk) by the River Rock Casino so you can easily ride into downtown or vicinity. The casino also has a number of restaurant options. Haven't eaten at any recently so won't recommend one way or the other. The Sea Harbour Seafood restaurant across from the casino has really good Chinese food but it's a tad pricey; somewhat more reasonable for dim sum though. If you're in town on a Fri, Sat, or Sun night, the Richmond Night Market is just west of the casino. There is an admission charge of about $2.75(?)/person. They have a large number of food stalls which are reasonably priced. The majority are asian food stalls and but there's a good selection of other food vendors.

If you're looking for a "safe" chain, The Boathouse is about a 10 minute walk west of the hotel. Typical seafood restaurant/chain. I'll go if forced, mainly due to one bad experience, but my friend likes them and goes every so often as he likes their happy hour, which I admit is fairly reasonable though not spectacular.

Richmond has a plethora of Chinese options many of which are reasonable to get to if you head south on the skytrain line. Too many to suggest unless you have something specific in mind.

If you're looking to forage around Richmond, I'd also suggest googling 365 days of dining. Tourism Richmond had a contest to find a food blogger to post reviews for a 365 days a few years back but the blog has lived on. I think Tourism Richmond has done a good job of promoting the food scene around town.

Thoughts....

• Richmond is a great place to explore Asian foods. Check out Dim Sum as a form of Oriental high tea to explore variety. Sea Harbour is high on my recommendation list for trying offering bilingual menu's for non-Chinese clients. It is a premium restaurant.
  
• Another vote for River Rock Casino for food. Love the food court open late at night.
  
• That hotel is a 7 minute walk from the subway..... also compared the Raddison Vancouver Airport for better subway convenience with a value price.
  
• Consider a transit daypass to get around sightseeing, while taking advantage of the convenience of getting around to eat.
  

Thanks everyone. I am travelling with older parents who have trouble walking. So, I booked tours with Landsea Tours on Saturday doing the Sea to Sky tour (they transfer luggage to hotel). On Sunday, we have to get down to the Westin Bayshore because we are taking a whale watching trip to Victoria for the day. I booked tea at the Empress because my parents would enjoy that. We are getting a transfer to Butchart gardens at 3:00 because the boat leaves from the dock at the gardens. I had to pick tours that involve little walking.

I was debating about booking a hotel in downtown Vancouver, but the prices are double that of Days Inn ($190), and we have really early flights on Monday-8:40 a.m.

^Your need for transport seems to only be Sunday then, to and from the Westin. SkyTrain doesn't go close enough to walk, especially with mobility-challenged parents. Taking a cab from your hotel to the Westin will be metered, and almost certainly in the $40-45 range on the meter.

Other options are: free hotel shuttle to the airport then a fixed-rate cab ($37 to the Westin, it's inside the Stanley Park zone) or SkyTrain to downtown and a cab or bus from there to the Westin. There are usually cabs waiting outside Waterfront and Yaletown stations - ballpark $10-15 metered fare.

Taking a bus has no extra cost over the SkyTrain ticket inbound ($2.85pp, $1 less if your parents are Seniors, from Bridgeport Station the closest one to your hotel - can use Credit Cards at the ticket vending machine) and since you won't need much luggage might be just fine (all buses are low-floored and kneel, so even if your parents struggle with a couple of stairs they will be able to board). If so, get off at City Centre Station - there are several buses along Georgia that stop within a block of the Westin at Cardero St.

Coming back it's better to take a cab from Westin to SkyTrain, as buses need exact cash fare to board and bus tickets do not transfer to SkyTrain. City Centre or Waterfront stations are both about the same distance.