Relish Gastropub and Bar

It’s disappointing to have to write this. I’ve been to Relish twice before with friends who like it a lot, but only at night once the tables are moved and the music starts playing. It was always a good time with a down-​to-​earth atmosphere, and we’ve recommended it to others based on that. We went last night for dinner however and it was quite poor. I would give it one star if not for the previous experience. There was a reserved section for a party and they were busy, so the slowness of the kitchen was understandable although our server didn’t warn us prior to ordering. Two friends got burgers and I the seafood pasta based on assurance from the server that it was good (for $ 18 it should be). I was surprised when the burgers came out as they were tiny; the patties not coming anywhere near the edge of the bun. As someone else noted the fries were all nubs and pieces, and were soft and flavourless. Neither friend was very pleased and one said his «sucked». For a $ 15 burger in Vancouver it should be memorable, if not very good, however both were poor. The seafood pasta did have a lot of seafood, especially prawns, which were cooked well (not over done) however the sauce was too thick, bland, and cooled very quickly. Not something I would ever order again which doesn’t say much for it. There was trivia on for the party who had reserved space so we had to deal with it even though it wasn’t trivia night, and couldn’t participate. It was a weird dynamic and not one I’d recommend to any pub owner. It really turned down the mood and no one felt like staying even for the cheap drinks. Poor food, bad choice of atmosphere from the owners, and slow service. Not the best way to present yourselves.

Terrible. Our server Lindsey was inattentive and never even came to check on us. We had to remind her to get us vinegar and if she had of asked how our food was we could have told her how awful the food was. A place that has «pub» in the name should be able to do fish and chips properly. The batter was thick and doughy and flavourless. It was clear the fish was frozen when you hacked thru the rubbery batter it was full of water. Fries were all little nubs and stringy pieces.
We had to stop every 30 seconds to shoo fruit flies away from our faces and food. The sign of a dirty restaurant. The bathrooms were smelly and no hook on the back of the door so I had to wipe up the soap and water all over the counter before I could put my purse down.
Will never go back and would never recommend this place. The only reason why it got one star is because the beer was pretty good.

Great place to stop for a drink. Very friendly staff and patrons. Thanks Sam for great conversation and service.

Good place for an after work drink
Plus, they have good beer specials
Not pretentious, it is what it is
Go and enjoy

Home of the $ 3 beer. I believe the beer is 12oz/​sleeve. Had the poutine today, it was about what I would expect for a poutine. But sadly, my beer wasn’t as ice cold as I was hoping for it to be.
The atmosphere of this pub isn’t the most vibrant. It’s good if you want to go somewhere off the Granville Strip and be somewhere where you can listen and have a conversation. Not really the best considering the layout if you have a group larger than 8. I probably come here maybe a few times a year. But personally, with other great options very near by for drinks and groups, I usually tend to go elsewhere.

Tough Unilocalers here, as I’ve only been here a few times for drinks and not a bad atmosphere here at all as it’s not pretentious compared to Yaletown. Probably location has something to do with it, as it’s right underneath a Royal Bank I believe, connected to a mid-​size office tower called Nelson Square, but I digress.
They’ve got an open patio that’s great for the summer. Nice décor, it’s been modernized but not an Irish pub or a sports one, despite its many TVs at the bar.
Happy hours from between lunch and dinner, that’s how I like ‘em.
Metered parking all around.
Next to that Japanese bbq place.

— Reasonably priced drinks
— tasty cocktails
— Friendly and attentive staff
— sports on TV
— 80s rock/​pop hits
— afterwork Vancouverites and a few tourists
Not a bad spot to wander into. Plenty of other action in the area so you might not want to spend the entire evening here. Park on the street (read restriction signs!) or pay an arm & leg at one of the lots.

We went for Tuesday night trivia, the host lacked panache and just seemed generally uninterested in being there. I ordered the mushroom Swiss burger, the patty was bulbous, dry and under seasoned. The burger bun looked like it was bought at No Frills on the day old discount shelve. My soup was like papier-​maché paste, very stodgy. I haven’t had food this bad in Vancouver in a very long time.
The only saving grace was the Tuesday night deal, $ 15 bottles of house wine.

Average to poor food and extremely loud. Picked Relish because it was close to our hotel. Food was poor and the tight confines made for a very snug meal and hard to hear. Food was poor. $ 22 sirloin steak was under seasoned and had gristle running through it that made it impossible to cut. Asparagus was also undercooked with no seasoning.
Drinks were ok but lemon drop martini was just the shot version in a martini glass. Hard to drink slowly.
Will not return.

Relish is one of those places I always think of checking out but never do (I’ve been once, years ago), so I was thrilled when it was the destination of choice a couple of weeks ago during a girls’ night out. Unfortunately we could not stay long as we had a show to catch at the Comedy Mix down the street, but I was impressed during my brief visit, and will definitely return.
First of all, the service was great. Knowing that we were pressed for time (we really should have gotten to the restaurant earlier – it was totally poor planning on our part), our server made a conscientious effort to bring our orders and bills in a timely manner.
Second, the food was tasty and reasonably priced. Since I didn’t have time to dilly dally over deciding what to eat, I ordered the first thing that caught my eye – a salmon flatbread – and it hit the spot without breaking the bank. No complaint.
Third, and best of all, the drink special of the night was $ 5.99 martinis!

Wow, a welcome surprise after 24 hours of dining disappointment! Good drinks awesome specials and some food with actual flavor! I’m impressed! Pulled pork tacos, awesome grilled cheese, food and drink specials 7 days a week! Keep to the good work!

I used to go often but it was two years ago.
At that time the food was very fresh and kinda of fancy.
It was refreshing to have this kind of Gastropub downtown.
But since the menu has changed and they’re a DJ on Friday night.
Which is great, but not so great when the place is already packed,
but they let you in, with no place to sit, holding your coat.
So last time we left.
But I am still going sometimes for the 3 $ sleeve.
Always fresh. Love beer.

Stopped in around 2ish on a Friday for a late, light lunch before an evening event. As an out of towner the proximity to my hotel was the main draw here but I was pleasantly surprised!
The place was pretty empty, plenty of tables available, but being on my own I just grabbed a seat at the bar. The service was super friendly and attentive. My waitress rattled off the specials and when I asked for her recs she was a wealth of information. The décor was typical gastro pub, but I did enjoy the pop art-​esque portrait of Don Cherry on the wall.
Downgrade a star for being out of my first choice, oysters on the half shell. My waitress explained an issue with the supplier and how they’d have them tomorrow, but that doesn’t really help me now does it haha. Oh well. My substitute, the carpaccio, was amazing! Melt in your mouth tenderloin with great quality olive oil and these really unique balsamic «orbs». I’m assuming they were flash frozen a la Dip’n Dots and then thawed. It was an unexpected neat touch :)
Didn’t try anything else off the menu but I’d definitely be back if I actually lived here!

Relish !
Been on my radar for a while as its steps away from where I live. Weekends it sounds pretty rockin.
It was a Wed night, and happened to be a Game night. Lucky, we arrived, just as the game was ending. We seated ourselves at a booth in the corner. It was WAY loud.
Our server was friendly and cute. We were in a bit of a hurry, so we ordered drinks. They had no Strongbow Cider, BUT had a delightful alternative, made by Whistler Brewing Company. It seemed to have less bite and very refreshing .
The BF had a 3 $ Beer x 2 (Whistler Winter Ale) He liked it ;)
To eat we had —
Tenderloin Carpaccio …$ 8
Canadian Tenderloin, Olive Oil, Reduced Balsamic
Parmesan Cheese, Spring Greens, Shaved Radish
(Not a lot here kids– but at least it was under 10 $)
Charcuterie and Cheese
Pick 3 (meats & cheeses) …$ 11
Pick 5 (meats & cheeses) …$ 18
When we heard (barely heard over the VERY LOUD music)
that is was 3 or 5 TOTAL we opted for the 5.
Grand Cheddar ~ U.S.A. (yum)
Champfleury ~ Quebec
Triple Cream Brie ~ B.C.
B.C. Sockeye Salmon Gravlax ~ B.C.(very nice)
Smoked Serrano Ham ~ B.C. (good)
Again — the amount of food was very small!
Maybe 1 oz of cheese and 40 g of meat — at the most.; (
It also came with baguette crustini (an actual generous portion here!)
My BF’s request for softer bread was granted graciously.
It also had a few olives (which I hate) would of preferred a pickle, a gherkin perhaps ?
Knowing this was not going to cut it, we ordered a spicy chicken burger to go .
Sadly, this was very disappointing. It was actually inedible to me. How sad.
Throughout the music played on VERY LOUDLY
We were treated to Billy Idol, David Lee Roth, CCR and other bands from the 70’s & 80’s.
Ok so here is my score for Relish–
The waitress/​service was excellent *
The music was decent *
BUT it was too loud —
The food we ate at the pub was pretty good *
The portions were way small
The total for food and 3 drinks was 64 $ plus tip
I thought it was pretty pricy for what we actually ate
BUT we had fun, and the service was great. So 3 out of 5 seems fair.
I will have to return to reassess the situation… Stay tuned!

So a while back I had some correspondence with the owner of Relish back in March 2011, where she invited me to give the restaurant another try. I had a chance to try it again today, and boy were we disappointed/​unsatisfied.
The problem is not so much with the ambience or quality of the food, which was actually decent. It was with the service. All of us agreed this was some of the worst service we have ever had. And there were 8 of us in this group.
We have no idea what is up with the waitress, whose name is Jenna. This is some of the stuff we went through tonight:
— Friend #1 asked Jenna what the drink specials were for tonight. Jenna points to the board on the wall on the far wall and tells her to look at it. We understand it was written there (we actually didn’t notice it was written on the board initially) but every other bar I have ever been to, the waitress has ALWAYS simply told us what the specials were.
— Friend #2 asks for an ice water. Jenna replies with something along the lines of «No problem, and by the way, you know you have to leave in 30 minutes right?» (turns out there was a reservation at our table in 30 minutes). Let’s just say that there are much more eloquent ways to get the same point across; some of which may not be as offensive. Sounded like she didn’t even want us there.
— Towards the end of the night, as we are paying our bills with credit cards, Friend #3’s pen (given to him by Jenna) doesn’t work, so he asks for another one from her. She rolls her eyes and tells him there’s another pen on the table (it was being used by someone 2 seats away).
— Jenna also rolled her eyes (literally!) at a couple of my other friends, over things I cannot recall. I just remember seeing her do it. And yes, my friends noticed too.
We were going to grab dinner here, but decided to cut our visit short and eat next door at Gyu Kaku instead. The service was just RIDICULOUS. I am hoping the owner of Relish reads this. And yes, my friends all specifically told me to make the points listed above in my review. Most of my group tonight consisted of people who live/​work within 500m of this restaurant, and they don’t want to come back anymore.
**UPDATE**
Leigh (co-​owner) has personally sent me a message and has offered to host my friends and I. Will keep you posted on this one.

I went to this place years ago and thought it was just meh… but the place has really changed.
It’s a nice casual place to hang out with friends, get a bite to eat and have some drinks. Okay, so on a wekeend, the music is defeaning loud, the dance floor is super crowded and the bar is constantly pack with people trying to get a drink. But, the line up outside is short, the atmosphere and people are chill.

I’m still loving Tuesday trivia night UYEs and the $ 3 beer, but the food has gone way downhill ever since Relish changed chefs. «Gastropub» is a slippery little fish of a marketing term, but whatever it is, wings, poutine, chicken burgers and Caesar salad isn’t it. And portions are tiny to boot (maybe this is the gastro part).
They’ve also recently changed the hosts for the trivia, and while it’s still fun, there’s a lot of filling going into that brain sandwich. TWO music rounds? A category on «Current events» that is actually a quiz on yesterday’s Province newspaper? C’mon. I’m happy we got second prize, but nerd alert, it can be a little more challenging, and worldly.

I may be a little biased here since I crashed a wake on my first visit (had been meaning to try the place, went over, there was a wake going on. we just sort of walked in and took a seat). People were dancing and having a good time, and there’s a great little table in the corner that lets you see everything, awesome for people watching.
I haven’t eaten here yet, so I can’t comment on the food, even though the menu looks pretty good — but ambiance is great (been there 3 times now, only twice that I can actually remember though.), the servers are fast and friendly, and the place small and cozy.
I’ll be back to try the food and a proper night of debauchery so I can better inform the masses of my grandiose opinion.

BOO.
Many delicious items from before now replaced with typical bar food.
Gone are the duck fat fries, gnocchi poutine, po’boy, shortribs shepherd’s pie. So sad.
$ 1 oysters still in effect all day Monday and from 3−6pm every other day.
Trivia night will never be the same without the duck fat fries.

so…$ 11 for a grill cheese sandwich (not worth it) and some watered down weak-​a** sangria on «special».
It felt like they were trying too hard to be chic on their menu. They are a pub of sorts and they need to add some regular pub fare — don’t worry you can still put your fancy cheese on it .
I was here on a Tuesday for a trivia night — which was fun but the drinks and limited menu hurt the overall experience.
Is it a nice place to look at? sure, but I’ve had better and this wouldn’t be in my top 5