V Yaletown

Earls has pretty much become the landmark place in YT for decent food and a good time. I spent the first night of the Olympics here; I watched our winning Olympic hockey game here (still can’t believe I got in) and I’ve been here many times before, afterwards, and in between. In the spring it’s also a great place to begin your first foray into comfortable outdoor dining. I’ve been here so many times that I’ve quit going out of boredom, in fact.
What I recently learned is that the V lounge is a great place to hold a company party. If you spend enough dough you get pizza, calamari, noodles, sliders, veggies, and surprisingly delectable desserts. Caramel crème brûlée in a spoon was probably the best that I’d ever tasted, in fact.
My only complaint is that I didn’t know tables were actually set up with warm food, as I missed most of it but had to wait until the waitresses came to me. But still, I did not go hungry!
The cool cat spins mostly 80s-​90s music and the bulk of it was actually great for dancing.
In spite of the large group, the bathrooms were kept impeccably clean and were always almost surprising empty. Festive reindeer rested on the counters which really made it even more welcoming.
The waitstaff and bartenders were kind and friendly. The wine was of a decent quality.
I would certainly book a party here again; in fact, it might just have been the best I’ve attended, and that’s not even including the guests. Who knew?
It might be too late for this year, but it’s something to think about for the next big event!

Blah — don’t know why I agreed to come here. But I figured that I’ll at least give it a shot.
Walked upstairs and then I realized I’ve been here before — it was just so forgettable. Either that — or I’ve found that I always try to wipe my mind after visiting Earl’s.
The moment we’re seated, the waitress asks what do we want to drink. So I ask what’s on tap — instead of telling me she passes me the drink menu and flips to the page… wasn’t sure why that was easier than just telling me.
Saw that they had Devil’s Elbow IPA on tap. And I really didn’t expect a joint like this to have pitchers. Okay, maybe this place isn’t *that* bad. However, when I asked for it, I got a puzzled look from the waitress and hesitant «…okay…» and later got back the inevitable «We’re sold out». Okay, I understand that places get tapped out — but I couldn’t shake the feeling that no one has asked for real beer here in ages.
I thumbed through the drink menu — and saw the gimmick behind this joint, the ‘bespoke’ cocktail menu — where you pick your own spirit, cocktail style and flavouring. Fuck that — that was too much thinking. I’m a ‘mixologist’ and I can’t be restrained by these formulas. So I taught them how to make a Johnson-​tini, which is:
1) take all your herbs, syrups and fruit juice… and set them aside
2) add two cubes of ice to a tumbler
3) pour liquor on top
4) pour more of said liquor in Step 2
5) serve and call it a ‘Johnson-​tini’
6) repeat as necessary
I scanned the room — this place is full of people on dates and girls living in a «Sex And The City» fantasy. A lot of people dressed up and drinking out of colourful glasses. I guess that works… woah — what is that dude drinking? Cognac and white wine? That’s classy *and* hardcore. Oh wait… is that Jäger and Red Bull? Jagerbombs? Really? Hmm… wow. Seems awfully out-​of-​place… yet appropriate.
Random Observation #1: The rear of the place is a wall of *empty* Ketel One bottles. I didn’t know K1 was display-​worthy… and I didn’t know we were taking design cues from my old apartment… carefully strewn liquor bottles.
Random (Nerd) Observation #2: The washrooms are decked out in gold and honeycomb. It was like a scene out of out ‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution’. If you don’t know what it is — don’t bother. Not worth your time to Google it.
Anyways — it’s kinda loud but it’s roomy. Not my type of joint at all but it’s easy. Meh.

I’ll just grab a seat at the bar. Wait no stool. No no don’t offer to find me one. I can see you’re busy making a fancy cocktail. What is that a Gin & Tonic? Whoa you’re good. It will be my pleasure to stand all night and watch you work!
So the menu breaks it down for you. Design your own drink. Wait what? That’s not my job. You wanna drink it for me too? Okay I’ll play along…
«I’ll have something with rye and bitters please». That should give him enough info right? These expert creative mixologists. Oh you don’t know what I mean by bitters? I’ll take a closer look at the menu. Hard to concentrate though what with the shitty DJ blaring house music behind me.
Hmm, okay this ain’t the best stocked bar I’ve seen. Choose something simple. I know! How about a Moscow Mule? Choose a mixer. That’d be ginger beer. A fancy-​lookin’ bar like this that caters to 20 somethings must stock something as basic as Ginger beer. After all I just saw a cocktail glass smothered in whipped cream go out. No ginger beer either? Uhhh forget it, how about a Whiskey sour. Even this place must have whiskey, lemons and sugar. Oh good thanks! Bleah! That was awful.
T otally hot bartenders who look great struggling to mix basic cocktails.
I ndustrious staff working hard at looking like they’re working hard.
T asty cocktails being served to patrons elsewhere.
S weet sound system playing crappy music.
A ttractive staff who went to the same bartending school as my cat.
N ice décor including a bar stool free bar.
D esign your own drink concept with dozens of unavailable ingredients.
A lluring drink menu –if you just got out of prison.
S exy staff just itching to disappoint you.
S umptuous décor that disguises the dive bar quality of everything else.
Why does anyone go to this place?

I came here for a friends CD release party and i have to say that this place is pretty snazzy!
I didn’t know what to expect nor i knew what V Lounge was. I thought it was a club just on top of Earls, but to my surprise it was a part of the restaurant. A very chill atmosphere, very Roomy, The seats are hella comfy, the service was great. i didn’t have to call my server even once to ask for anything, he just magically appeared like a freakin leprechaun. (that’s a good thing lol), and a great place to unwind and listen to great live music. Its also a great venue if you wanna throw a private party.
The Food is pretty much the same as downstairs. won’t say much about it. its just ordinary franchise restaurant food if you know what im saying… nuthing too exciting nor worthy to write about. but hey! Great Lounge ;)

Ok, so I know Vancouver is lucky with all their live musicians and such. But coming from California where it’s not that common during dinner, what a treat! I don’t know who was playing the night we were there but he was phenomenal. Our food was delightful and the beer was a perfect match. But honestly, the # of stars is primarily from our waitress. She was absolutely outstanding! I’m somewhat of a service snob being in the travel industry and I was with similar people and she knocked all our socks off. She could teach us all something about going above and beyond at our jobs. Great place!

My ears are still ringing from the dj that was spinning.
Holy Batman was it loud in there. We went there to celebrate the big 3 – 0 with three of my friends. You have to enter through the Earls and walk up the stairs. It’s seems more like a place for sipping drinks than for eating because of all the low seats and lack of tables I can rest my elbows on. Well, I lie… we got a private room with lots of eating tables because there were so many of us. The décor is dark and there was a huge horse in the corner beside the wall of alcohol. There are three tvs in this room and they used them to play a slide show.
Apparently you can order off the Earls’ menu upstairs, but because of the numbers, there was a set menu. For $ 30, I got a salad, a steak entrée and a chocolate cake thing with ice cream. For the starter, you could also get a dynamite roll or soup; for the entrée, you could also get ribs or pasta; and for the dessert, the only her choice was an ice cream sundae. The salad was good, but just a regular Earls’ salad. My fiancé got the dynamite roll, so I got to snag a piece. Yum. It had a nice spicy, but not too spicy sauce. We both ordered the steak and it came with mashed potatoes and cut up sweet potatoes… it’s supposed to be seasonal veggies… but I got two different kinds of potatoes… really, broccoli isn’t in season? I got to try my friend’s ribs. Wow… they were so tender. I loved the coleslaw it came with… I ate most of it, although he told me he loved it too… ahaha. The chocolate-​y thing tasted like the sticky toffee pudding, but on the website, it says the choices are either sundae or brownie. The menu I was given said sticky toffee pudding. Either way, it was good. Gooey and perfect with the vanilla ice cream.
I felt bad for our server. So many people all switching seats on her. While she did ask us our names to keep our bills straight, we kept moving to talk to different people. She figured us out though and brought the right food to the right people. Drinks were replenished and brought quickly. Remarkably the food was only like half an hour even though there was well over fifty people there… If my eardrums could withstand it, I would come back.

Came here for the first time for my birthday and I’m pretty happy with my visit!
Food here is basically an Earl’s menu, which is generally pretty solid and tasty. The atmosphere is more «loungey» than the downstairs Earl’s, but still pretty casual. Several televisions allow the boys in your group to enjoy a sports game. There’s also an area in the back that can be closed off as a private room if you’re having a huge party. Service is friendly and our server was great about checking up on us regularly and giving us suggestions (for myself, she suggested a drink called a «Helen Keller,» which she said was a Calgary creation and involves several ounces of alcohol all neatly mixed up in a pint glass (and doesn’t taste bad, which is the dangerous part!). After having one I could see how imbibing several in one go could rob a person of their sensory capabilities).
I enjoyed the prawn and scallop linguini, my friends enjoyed their Sicilian pizzas, and even the salads looked quite big and tempting. Of the Earl’s sandwiches my all time fave is the baked brie and chicken on ciabatta.
Definitely would be back!