Cool pre-cruise restaurants in Vancouver?

[Sigyn]

Curious what the best restaurants are in Vancouver for dinner the night before our cruise in July. Not looking for fine dining, but something fun and locally popular, that shows some of the vibe of the city. Perhaps a pub or bistro? 

[fastpitchdad]

Gyu Kaku on Nelson, which is almost walking distance from Canada Place. It is a Japanese/Korean BBQ, the food (and price) is great, especially for Happy Hour. You grill your own food at the table with side dishes and rice (definitely recommend upgrading rice to Bibimbap). It is kind of a dive but very popular, so much so that we always make a reservation. 

[lovecruzin]

We really enjoyed Carderos. Good food, and after dinner a nice walk back to Canada Place

[psuboater]

We loved Go Ask Luigi, in East Gastown, which is a tiny Italian bistro that has locally made pasta. Reservations highly recommended but they do leave spots for the walk ins. For drinks and light bites, the 515 lounge and The Diamond had fantastic craft cocktails and really captured the vibe of the city. 
 

Miku is a splurge contemporary sushi place right on the water near Canada place. Highly recccomend  their pressed sushi rolls, which they're known for. 
 

Miko is a tiny sushi restraurant on Robson that felt like we were in Japan. Next to is Ramen Danbo, which is a Japan import and always seems to have a line outside. The line is worth it, it was the favorite thing we ate all weekend!

[OrcaGirl]

This recent thread on Vancouver restaurants has some good suggestions:

 

 

[GoHawks-43-8]

Water St. Cafe in Gastown is quite good.

https://www.waterstreetcafe.ca/

 

If you like oysters, Fanny Bay is great. It's near BC Place. They're owned by Taylor Shellfish in Washington state and have some amazing options. It's less expensive in Canadian dollars than Taylor is in Seattle in US dollars. (And that doesn't even account for the exchange rate, which makes it extra less.)

http://www.fannybayoysters.com/location/oyster-bar--shellfish-market

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by GoHawks-43-8

[martincath]

I responded quite extensively on the pubby side of things in the thread linked just above, so won't repeat - but the single most popular Dining Thing in Vancouver is without a doubt eating on a patio. Since Covid it's become a little less traumatic, given the massive expansion of very practical patios with roofs and walls to enable outside dining even in less-than-great weather, but for proper old-school 'totally exposed to the elements' dining the demand on a nice day still stuns me - folks would rather queue for literally hours to get a table outside than walk into a completely empty inside space and eat right now!

 

So if you want to dine like 'Real Vancouverites' just join the queue for outdoor seating at, say, Tap & Barrel at the Convention Centre, one of the biggest patios with a great view across the harbour to the mountains, watching floatplanes and ships.