Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

2.5 STARS
I think this was our most expensive meal in Vancouver. I’d been wanting seafood, so we decided to go to Joe Fortes for our last meal. I made a same day reservation for lunch through OpenTable for Monday, January 18^th at 12 noon.
*Bread with lobster oil and balsamic
*New england clam chowder: cream, bacon, thyme ($ 9.95)
*Joe’s classic caesar: crisp romaine, focaccia croutons, grana padano parmesan ($ 12.95)
The clam chowder was kind of bland. This definitely needed more seasoning. We ended up adding some Tabasco to give it a little flavor and kick. I liked the caesar, but it was under dressed. The whole salad contained pieces of lettuce coated with very little dressing and some with no dressing at all. The complimentary bread with lobster oil and balsamic was just weird. Lobster oil and balsamic do not go together in my opinion. We just ate the bread alone.
*Joe’s seafood tower on ice: atlantic lobster, chilled crab, oysters, clams, mussels, scallop ceviche, albacore tuna crudo, poached jumbo prawns ($ 59.95 for one tier)
*Truffle parmesan fries ($ 9.95)
The main event. The seafood tower. I enjoyed the snow crab, prawns, oysters, and mussels. All were plump and juicy and went well with the accompanying sauces. Everything else fell a little flat. The lobster was meaty, but kind of rubbery. We were disappointed with the clams as we both thought they would be raw. The roommate got an overwhelming fishiness from the clams, so I ended up eating most of them. The crudo was a little bland and I didn’t eat much of the ceviche. Surprisingly, the best part of our meal was the fries! A generous potion with nice truffle flavor and aroma.
I ordered two glasses of Lamarca NV, prosecco — veneto, italy ($ 9.75 glass) to complement my meal. The first glass was very flat. Maybe it was the end of a pre-​opened bottle? The second glass was much better. Nice and bubbly.
An okay place for seafood. But it says a lot when the my favorite item was the fries! Maybe they’re a better chop house, but the seafood tower left me wanting more.

YUMMY truffle fries… To die for…
Also their seafood buns are delish…
Watch the happy hours for those lil buns!
Very well located on Thurlow/​Robson st.
On the 2^nd floor with a view of the area.
Also they’re a piano man if you like it…
I am more of the kind to eat and go…
Than sitting at the bar enjoying music.
But it’s all good and the ambiance is great.
The customers service is also purfect!
Very polite and attentive,
A nice restaurant in honor of Joe Fortes!

Despite the fact that we were still having drinks and putting in last orders near last call, the staff never made us feel rushed. In fact, it was their great humor and professionalism that really stood out throughout our visit here. You can tell when you have wait staff that are experienced.
Seafood was really good here, and the deserts were excellent too (get the crème brûlée!). Truffle fries and onion rings are rich here, and it seems like other Unilocalers agree. Calamari is good too. The venue has an old-​school vibe to it, and it’s cavernous (not in a bad way). Have only sat downstairs, but would really like to try the patio when it’s warmer.

We stumbled upon this restaurant while walking around Vancouver, and decided to have dinner. (Did not consult Unilocal before we took the plunge)
Wow it was such a great dining experience from the raw oysters to their beautiful entrees. It was packed even at 4:30 in the evening, but the restaurant had a cool and relaxed vibe for these out of towners. We loved the ambience of this place and just simply enjoyed every aspect of our dining experience!

We came on for happy hour today for the first time. We were hungry from shopping all afternoon. We ordered 6 oysters, Mac and cheese, mini burgers and seafood sandwiches. It was delicious! We sat at the bar which was cool to watch the employees in the bar making drinks. The were great refilling our water before it was empty throughout the night. However the waiter did enter the wrong food for our order which we got 2 wrong plates we didn’t order — which was addressed immediately. Then when we received our receipt at the end we were charged the 2 plates. The receipt was adjusted when we told them.

I’ve tried so many things on the happy hour menu so today, when I went with some friends, I decided to try something different — the mini burgers.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST YOU ORDER THE MINI BURGERS.
McDonalds has burgers that taste better than these sliders.
The patty is… mediocre. Dunno why they even bother putting this on the menu. You get a thin slice of cheddar, a slice of pickle, and honestly that’s all I can remember when I peeked in the burger.
Still, you get 3 sliders for $ 7.95. Which works out to more than 1 burger patty of meat. If you have ordered other things that maybe have coleslaw on the side, you can add those to your sliders to make your slider more acceptable looking.
Go to a real burger place, like Sliders on West Broadway, to get really decent sliders. Go to McDonalds for mediocre burgers. But leave the sliders at Joe Fortes alone.
Everything else from the happy hour menu was, however, good to really good as usual. Prawn Tacos still ace.
They were also very aggressive about seating. We were in shortly before 4pm and the four of us got a tiny strip of bar. They were going to try to jam us four, plus another 2 couples (total 8 persons) in there, but we had too many orders and eventually they did move us to a table when one became available.
In the meantime, they brought out food as it was prepped from the kitchen, but there was simply no table space. One of the servers essentially urged us to quickly divvy up items on one of the serving plates so she could clear it and make room for another.
Happy Hour isn’t really geared for parties. I think they are expecting couples who just order one or two things and are done quickly. Not the best dining experience, I have to say, but they were slammed even at 4pm and with a lineup in the waiting area, so I think they are moving people quickly so others aren’t kept waiting too long.

About a year ago, I came here for their happy hour and had a fantastic experience. This time around, not so much. I made a reservation since we decided to order something off of the regular menu and the happy hour menu but didn’t want to risk getting seated at the bar. They phoned me to let me know that I can’t make a reservation and be served from the happy hour menu. I guess I get it if I was only ordering from the happy hour menu but the tone of voice when she explained it to me seemed a bit rude. So I cancelled and see how it goes when I get there.
The ladies and gents at the door was very courteous and nice when we came in. They suggested a seat on their heated patio. They told us we could take a look and if not, they’ll fin something more suitable. We got a corner seat which overlooks robson street. My partner and I thought this was perfect. …And from there it seemed to go a bit downhill.
It took a while before we were helped. I saw two servers chatting with the bar manager. We tried to get their attention, but guess this is the downside of sitting in the corner. What seemed like ages, a new server came running out from the back. We immediately flagged her down to get the regular menu and to start off with some oysters. Afterall, a buck-​a-​shuck is a must at Joe Fortes. She brought us some water, put in our order but forgot about our menu. She must of remembered half way serving the other diners because she then brought us the regular menu. We added Joe’s seafood tower on ice on top of our oysters.
We noticed that the other tables that came in after us seem to be getting their orders before us so we asked our server if ours were coming any time soon. She told us that it takes a lot of time to build the tower and that the oysters were being added to it. Ok„ make sense since we didn’t have much space on our table, but it’d be nice to inform us about it.
When our tower finally came, we noticed that there were indeed some oysters, but it wasn’t the ones we ordered from the happy hour menu. Our server then went to check on them. And guess what? They are still coming…
Seafood tower ($ 59.95) served on ice with tomato sauce, tartar sauce and mustard:
–Atlantic Lobster (⁴⁄₅): You get half a lobster to share. About average size. Tasted fresh. Easy to remove from shell
–Snow crab (²⁄₅): Didn’t taste fresh. It was similar to the frozen crab you’d get at the supermarket. Definitely no taste of the sea there!
–Oysters (3.5÷5): We got 6 of these. They are the same oysters you get for the buck-​a-​shuck. Pretty small this time. Last year, they were twice the size. Considering it’s the same season, it’d be the same? Guess not.
–Clams (3.5÷5): Not sure how they were cooked but I saw some parsley and garlic on them. Due it being cooked then chilled, they were a tad bit rubbery but other than that it was good.
–Mussels (4.5÷5): I didn’t expect from them. Not a big mussel fan in general. They were cooked the same way as the claim with parsley and garlic. BUT the mussels tastes way better. I can eat them without sauce. Plump and juicy, however also a bit small in size. Heck! Everything that night was like baby-​sized!
–Scallop Ceviche (4.5÷5): If you’ve tried their shrimp ceviche from the happy hour menu, this is better. They didn’t skimp on the scallops, though still diced of course. It had the perfect level of sourness and the right amount of kick from the chili.
–Tuna Crudo (²⁄₅): You get two slice of tuna on a bed of greens. Not a crudo at all. Should be an in-​between of a sashimi and gravalax, no? To me, there was no difference to it than the sashimi you’d get at a cheap Japanese place. At least with sashimi I’d get some soy with it. It didn’t taste fresh either.
–Poached jumbo prawns (³⁄₅): Just like it’s name. Nothing special. You get two of these.
We weren’t utterly satisfied with the service and the tower wasn’t as good as expected. My empty glass wasn’t filled till I asked. And only when we were almost done, I realized… aren’t we suppose to get complimentary bread with lobster oil? I know bread doesn’t exactly go well with a seafood tower… but doesn’t mean we should be cheated off of it.
Note: Be cautious if you’re sitting on the patio and wear heels. The floor some times gets wet and it gets very slippery.

Came here over the weekend for Sunday brunch. I’ve been here before, but first time for brunch. We didn’t have reservations, but luckily given how big it is inside we were seated right away. On the roof. Thank goodness it is fully covered on all sides and had the heat blasting. Honestly it almost seems we were completely indoors even thought were on the roof.
I ordered the Atlantic Lobster Benedict. It came with hash browns and a piece of pineapple and watermelon. There was definitely a good amount of lobster and you can taste it no problem. Delicious. One of the better benedicts I’ve had. Lobster can make a lot of things taste better. The hash browns were great as well. I was actually quite full after finishing this.
Then out came the truffle parmesan fries. It took a very long time to arrive. I was almost done my meal by the time the fries arrived. It was really hot when it did come. But honestly I felt like I was merely eating fries with melted cheese, in which case I would rather have a poutine. Don’t think I’ll be ordering it again. Definitely not worth the wait.
Ambiance is decent. Service was okay. At one point, I was asked if everything was okay by one staff, only to be asked by another less than a minute later. I felt it was a bit obsessive. Well I would be okay if my fries came out earlier…

Came for lunch a few weeks ago during their anniversary special. As I’m sure was the case with a lot of their lunch clientele, this was my first experience with Joe Fortes. The experience left a sour taste in my mouth.
I came by around 1pm on the advice of one of the hostesses as I did not have a reservation. I had a seat at the bar which I was prepared for. Speaking of the hostesses, they were welcoming and created a good first impression, as did the barkeep when I sat down.
The restaurant was absolutely packed from floor to ceiling. Lots of staff on hand. I got the impression that the place is a bit dated, but it’s certainly comfortable as is.
Their special menu was pretty limited and even more so once I was informed that the steak was sold out. Not knowing what a rockfish was, I ordered a cheeseburger instead.
The food arrived in pretty good time, and I tucked in. Nothing special about the burger — in fact it was neither juicy nor flavorful. Having recently visited Harvey’s, I can tell you that their burgers blew Joe Fortes’ right out of the water. No comparison. Fresh ingredients, nice juicy flavor and ready much faster. To say I was disappointed by Fortes’ burger is an understatement. I’ve had way better burgers at every single fast food chain.
Unfortunately, the fries were no better. These were more nubs than fries and again almost any fast-​food place can do better.
Another impression that was made during my visit was when something was dropped by one of the waitstaff around the corner from me. It was not a plate or glass as it didn’t make a huge explosion, but it attracted quite a few staff. One of the crowd was I presume a manager who stood aside and glared at the spot on the ground while it was being cleaned up. If it wasn’t bad enough to have made this mistake in front of clientele, I don’t think he made the situation — or the guilty employee — feel any better.
I realize that they must have been overwhelmed with the number of guests, but even so I would think that the kitchen would be held to a certain standard. On this day at least, the standards I had set for Joe Fortes were not met. Even though they rolled back a few prices, I believe the restaurant would have wanted to put their best foot forward to attract repeat business.

We mostly came here b/​c it was the only place we could find street parking and we were starving. They were having happy hour and it was warm, so why not?
We ordered a smorgesborg. Truffle fries, lobster/​crab roll, oysters, etc. It was all pretty typical, basic happy hour food. The place wasn’t remarkable. It reminded me of many large restaurants I’ve been to in NYC, Dallas, etc. It did the trick and we left happy.
Oh and we paid extra for the lobster oil and basalmic vinegar (they charge for it during happy hour) and it was weird.

Tasty.
Great raw bar (love the oysters).
I had the weekday meal deal, $ 40 CAD for app, entrée, and dessert. It was definitely a great deal and totally hit the spot!
This place has been around for a bit and there’s a history behind the name, all cool added bonuses.
Great venue to bring clients too.

I have previously never been to Joe Fortes so it may or may not be the best way to experience the real deal.
My friend made reservations for us during Joe Fortes’ throwback week in celebration of their 30^th anniversary, in which they threw some prices back to 1985! (Lunch time only)
Upon arrival I was overwhelmed with how festive (holiday lights & Christmas trees) the restaurant looked! I loved it, it felt like the warm holiday season already! The restaurant was packed as expected (unbeatable prices!) and we were lead to be seated upstairs. My friend who has been to the restaurant a few times noted that they never usually have to open up the upper level dining area during lunch — that’s how busy it was.
We were first seated in the tiniest table by the stairs. As it was raining that day, we girls had a lot of stuff with us including our umbrellas, purses, and shopping bags. The table just wasn’t acceptable and we wouldn’t have enjoyed our food if we had to eat in such a cramped space. We asked nicely if we could be switched to the adjacent more spacious two-​seater table, which they arranged thank goodness.
I was really disappointed because the moment we were given our menus, we were told that their steak choice was already sold out. I mean, we’ve made our reservations way ahead of time and I’ve already made a mental note to order the steak. They should have been more prepared as I’m sure the steak is the most popular choice. Had we have known we might have reserved an earlier time to come. Service was mediocre, but I guess understandable considering how busy it was.
Bread was served with dip — a mixture of lobster oil and balsamic. To be honest, I don’t taste the lobster, but the balsamic was decent. We both ordered instead of steak, the pan fried Blackened Rockfish and Clam Chowder (the Cocktail Shrimp dish was small & didn’t look that filling).
The Clam Chowder was quite chunky and also came with Oyster Crackers (reminds me of San Fran). Not a lot of clam but I don’t mind, I love my potatoes! Before we were even close to finishing our soup, our entrée was served. We were forewarned that the plate was hot, and indeed it was! I knew this because I had to push the plate aside so that I’m not finishing my soup in an awkward position with the bowl at the edge of the table.
The fish was surprisingly good. I didn’t like the first bite as it tasted burnt (I don’t really enjoy burnt taste), but as I continued to take more bites, I’ve come to appreciate the «burnt» taste because I could taste the herbs seasoning that was actually blackened with the fish. The sauce was also delish. I scooped up the leftover sauce with my bread instead of using the lobster oil & balsamic dip. The fish also came with roasted potatoes and vegetables (carrots & string beans) which were pretty average sides.
After our food was cleared and we decided not to have any dessert, we waited quite awhile for our bill (considering how we seemed to be rushed earlier on). We had to actually wave our server over, more than one attempt. But I guess we were also somewhat chatting away and the server might not have known we were ready to be on our way.
Overall, this wasn’t the best experience considering how much people have raved about this restaurant. But as for now, I will rate this experience a 3.5. I would probably have to revisit on a regular day.

I used to do lunch at Joe Fortes quite often in the past, when an ex-​coworker loved this place. The Blue Plate lunch specials were our fave sit-​down lunch, a welcome midday break in a beautiful restaurant.
For no particular reason, I just haven’t been back in recent months. But as soon as I found out about their 30^th Anniversary «1985 menu» specials, I was intrigued and made 2 reservations for lunch at Joe’s this week!
On Monday, we were there at 1pm. The 2-​storey restaurant was packed — full house! I don’t recall ever seeing it this busy usually, as the top floor often stays closed off at lunch. Our server immediately told us upon seating, that the steak option was «sold out». My friend & I both had the Clam Chowder (1985 price: $ 2.95) and the Blackened Rockfish (1985 price: $ 11.95). Since I’ve never had the Chowder nor the Rockfish before, I can’t tell if these portions & ingredients are standard when ordered at regular price.
The Chowder was delicious. Granted, the portion was rather small, and the ingredients were mostly potatoes, but there’s nothing to complain about since it was only $ 2.95 and tasted pretty good. The Rockfish was absolutely amazing! It tasted really fresh, was well-​seasoned with spices & herbs, pan-​fried, and was served with a small serving of cut potatoes and veggies — both also very tasty.
Today, I came back again with a co-​worker, and because we were earlier, the steak was not «sold out» yet. We both ordered the Clam Chowder to start, and the 7oz New York Steak (1985 price: $ 11.95). Our server told us that the steak doesn’t come with any sauce, would we like a side of 1 of their 3 steak sauces? We both picked the Béarnaise (egg yolk, chives, hollandaise) as it sounded the most delicious of the 3. It wound up costing us an extra $ 2.50 each, unannounced. It’s odd to serve steak without any sauce, but I guess they cut the sauce when pricing this at their 1985 pricing.
The steak came after quite a long wait, and flat out honestly, it was disappointing. The meat was rough, not juicy at all, even when cooked rare/​medium rare. The mashed potatoes were alright, but I’ve definitely had better mash elsewhere.
We received great service today though, but not so great on Monday. From past experience, service has always been pretty variable here, so it didn’t bother me much.
What I loved best was the complimentary bread basket served with their famous lobster oil + balsamic syrup vinaigrette dip!
I guess I’ll be coming back again for lunch sometime, but avoiding the steak here! Gonna stick to what’s good — the seafood.

This is the last time I will ever cross the threshold at Joe Fortes…
I assume it has something to do with the fact that they’ve become so big that they are resting on their laurels.
I used to visit Joe Fortes several times a year being a resident in the West End for over a decade. The past two visits have been more than questionable and the last visit was also the last straw.
My lovely lady and I went for brunch one of the last sunny and somewhat warm afternoons of fall. We got a nice little spot on the patio, quiet and tucked away in the corner.
She ordered a salmon benny. It came out as expected. Nothing extraordinary but consistently good. I ordered the Cobb salad. This experience was not nearly as positive and I would say it was simply off-​putting.
Anyone that eats a Cobb salad understands the militant aspect of the experience. Everything In It’s Own Place. I like my salad segmented and separated showing me the palate of proteins and vegetables I am about to eat.
Our meals are about to arrive and I excuse myself to wash my hands before my meal. I return to what I refer to as my «dog’s breakfast». I am shocked to see that my Cobb salad has been tossed in an unacceptable amount of dressing. First, a Cobb salad should NEVER BE TOSSED (all hilarious puns aside, people). Secondly, a Cobb salad (nor any other salad for that matter) should be tossed in the absence of the guest that ordered it. Third, do not toss a Cobb salad with the intent of drowning it in dressing. Fourth, do not proceeded to take an unnecessarily tossed Cobb salad drowning in dressing and place it on a plate with the corner of a cotton serviette resting on the platter. Fifth and finally, come check with the guest whose salad you’ve just destroyed and muddled at least ONCE during his meal so he can complain about it directly to you instead of over social media.
The pic has been uploaded. See for yourself.
For $ 21, I expected one of the most brilliant Cobb salads I’ve ever experienced. Instead, I see a salad that the likes of McDonald’s would serve. In fact, I’ve enjoyed McDonald’s salads more as I paid 20% of the cost of my McCobb Salad from Joe Fortes.
I did email management and they did send some half-​assed response about how they intentionally toss a Cobb salad table side. I was baffled. I was then asked to provide my address so they could rectify my negative experience with a gift card.
MY FINAL SUGGESTION, JOE:
When you commit to service recovery, follow through. It’s bad enough I had to complain over email due to such a poor experience from a service standpoint. It’s worse that you’ve only proved to disappoint once again. I don’t much care about the gift card as it would just be Christmas re-​gifted to that colleague I’m not all that enamoured with. I do care about people not following through. Seems to be the running theme at your restaurant.
Goodbye. Farewell. So long.

It was my first time to visit this restaurant yesterday. I saw Unilocal was promoting Joe Fortes $ 9.95 Brunch Bonanza October 17, 10am to November 8, 1pm, so I decided to have brunch here after a 9am service in downtown.
First experience — FANTASTIC and GREAT! Not exaggerating at all. We all know that this restaurant has high prices on all the dishes to be honest, but we pay for what we get.
First of all, thanks so much for a waitress called Angelina who served my table yesterday. Her service and professionalism amazed me and my friend. Angelina was a very knowledgeable staff who told us what was good or excellent about such and such dishes and checked on our needs during the meals. She was quite entertaining as well. Of course her service was excellent. A couple other staff also served our table who were very professional as well.
My friend and I ordered a cup of coffee to start with. Our server Angelina arrived with Starbucks coffee. That tasted very good! It was not watery at all. Then, we ordered a Classic Eggs Benedict and a Chorizo Eggs Benedict as well as a bowl of New England Clam Chowder as an appetizer. The clam chowder was SO GOOD! It was creamy and tasty that you could taste the soup base and eat the potatoes and clams as well as onions and etc. Both the Classic and Chorizo Eggs Benedicts were very good including the crispy potatoes that tasted excellent. We could taste the real «potato» flavour! They might be very fresh before they were cooked.
Based on Angelina’s introduction on their dessert menu, the coffee cake was excellent, but it was too bad that we were too full that we could not eat any more.
One more bonus about this restaurant was that we could listen to live music when we had brunch! A pianist was playing piano live! The music was great that it did not create too much noise to the restaurant.
I know seafood is great at Joe Fortes. I would love to visit this restaurant again in the near future.

Excellent service, knowledgable staff on seafood, great execution on seafood dishes, fantastic oyster bar.
Loved the perfectly cooked ling cod served over roasted root vegetables.

Visited Joe Fortes 2 times on a trip to Vancouver. Great quality and excellent service.
I expected good seafood and got it. As they stock a good local catch and have a great selection of oysters there will be a good chance of satisfying everyone.
Did not try their meats, but my expectation is that the standard will be high.

I had never been to Joe Fortes so I was excited when I had the chance to go for happy hour. Happy hour is from 4 – 6 and they have buck shuck oysters with other tasty cheap eats! We ordered 24 raw oysters, prawn tempura, calamari, truffle fries, beef carpaccio and the lobster rolls. This was enough to stuff the 3 of us!
The most memorable thing we ate was the lobster rolls. They come 3 per dish and I easily could have eaten all 3 myself! I could have passed on the calamari. It tasted a bit over cooked. Another favourite was the prawn tempura. The truffle fries were tasty and filling. A good share plate if there is a larger group of you. The service was great too. The server was very attentive.

Ah, the sea food crown jewel of Vancouver! If you are a seafood lover and you haven’t made it down to Joe Forte’s, please do!
It the perfect mix of upscale ambiance and great food. In my travels and especially in Vancouver, it is hard to find the right mix of good ambiance and great food! Joe does that very elegantly.
We got a starter plate of oysters, about 25 or so and it was great. The oysters were cleaned perfectly with great side. For main, i had a the sable fish and let me tell you, it was perfect. Not overdone, or underdone and the mushroom complimented the dish amazingly.
I would highly recommend this place to anyone. It does get a bit pricey though but for the great food and ambiance, I am glad to pay!

Out of all the places downtown restaurant, you can find a pretty good cheap decent meal at Joe Fortes. Yes I am serious. You are thinking what the hell am I talking about.
Well first off they have a special called «The Blue Plate Special». yes its not really on the menue but its a daily special for $ 10. Its a good size that will fill your tummy and its a per day special. Monday is Seafood Pot Pie. And best of all it comes with complementary bread with lobster oil and balsamic vinegar as dip. Yummy…
by paying an extra $ 4 you can add a soup to it or a salad or a choice of their dessert. Pretty good deal.
If you sign up for their online email, you also get emails about their upcoming deals. Like the week of Admin Day April 20 –24 2015, its buy one get one free lunch. Wow.
And also they have something like Early bird Appies.
Now you know what I am talking about cheap lunch EH!
In term of decore it gives you that oldie style kind of restaurant. Nice and clean. Service is awesome here. You won’t be disappointed.