15 of Vancouver’s best happy hours
Credit to Author: Joseph Ruttle| Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 23:00:27 +0000
Special to Postmedia Network
It’s hard to believe that until just a few years ago, Vancouver didn’t even have a proper happy hour, though a few restaurants tried their best with “appy hour.” But since 2014, when the province legalized the practice of discounting drinks for a defined period of time, we have fully embraced both mid-afternoon happy hour (usually 4 to 6 p.m.), and late happy hour (usually after 9 p.m.).
Here are some of our favourite places to leave the office early for bargain booze and bites.
845 Burrard St., Sutton Place Hotel
The crispy chicken wings with fish sauce caramel alone should entice you to this swish hotel lounge for happy hour. But even more temptation comes in the form of octopus ceviche, house-smoked salmon pâté, Korean galbi ’dogs and two-buck-a-shuck oysters, not to mention $6 highballs, $7 feature cocktails and $7 wine by the glass. Seriously good food and drink from one of the best culinary teams in Vancouver. Plus the menu is available next door in cosy Gerard Lounge as well. Happy hour: daily, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
The bustling bar at Bufala Edgemont in North Vancouver.
3280 Edgemont Blvd, North Vancouver
This is the happy hour the North Shore has been waiting for. Bufala, which also has a location in Kerrisdale, has only just opened in Edgemont Village and already the neighbours are lining up for the crispy polenta for $4 and arancini with smoky aioli for $7, the rigatoni with Bolognese, the margarita pizza, and the Negronis or house wine for $6. A stylish modern room with great food and drink? It’s just what the Shore has been craving. Happy hour: daily, 4 to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close.
Polenta bites and Negronis are part of the happy hour menu at Bufala Edgemont in North Vancouver.
Aperitivo hour features Italian snacks and cocktails at Caffè di Beppe in Gastown.
8 West Cordova St.
How cute is this charming Italian caffè, with its vintage décor and appealingly rustic approach to home-style cooking? Its aperitivo hour menu is modelled on the finger foods served at the Venetian wine bars known as bacari. The snacks start at $2 and include olives, salumi misti, burrata, potato chips, crostini and meatballs, plus there are Italian cocktails, $5 glasses of house wine and $3 vermouths. Happy hour: daily, 3 to 6 p.m. for drinks, and 3 to 10 p.m. for food.
Aperitivo hour features Italian snacks and cocktails at Caffè di Beppe in Gastown.
615 Seymour St.
You might think this swanky steakhouse is a hangout for star athletes, celebrities and the very well-heeled, and it is. But it also has a pretty swell happy hour, with $8 craft cocktails, $9 wine, $6 beer and a selection of nibbles including sliders, jumbo shrimp cocktail and $2 oysters. But we’re there most of all for the 40 per cent off champagne and sparkling wine, the best way to end a busy weekday. Happy hour: Monday to Friday, 3 to 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to close.
777 Thurlow St.
If you love seafood, then this is a happy hour for you. Think: fried oysters, jumbo tempura prawns, steamed clams, mini lobster-and-shrimp rolls, $1.50-a-shuck oysters. There are plenty of other nibbles, too, on this extensive list, and a decent deal on drinks, too: $6 beer and highballs, and $7.50 wine. There’s a reason people still line up at this classic Vancouver hotspot, even more than 30 years after it opened. Happy hour: Monday to Friday, 3 to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 4 to 6 p.m., daily 9 to 11 p.m., at the bar only.
135 Keefer St.
When one of the top cocktail bars in Canada — No. 2 on Canada’s 50 Best Bars — offers happy hour, you don’t even need to know what’s on the list to know you need to be there. That said, the Keefer has a great deal to offer: 50 per cent off bar snacks, dim sum and dessert with the purchase of a drink. Then there are daily drink specials, like the Keefer Cider (Forty Creek, organic apple juice, lemon and spices) that’s served on Mondays. Happy hour: daily 4 to 6 p.m.
1017 West Hastings St.
This stylish but casual cousin to David Hawksworth’s fine-dining restaurant (it even has a cameo role in Ali Wong’s Always Be My Maybe) offers modern Canadian cuisine, a terrific cocktail program and, as it turns out, a pretty great happy hour, too. It’s not just the usual snack suspects here. Instead, expect to find beet hummus with za’atar flatbread, buttermilk fried chicken or a baked sweet potato with smoked bacon and crème fraîche. There are highballs and beer for $5 and wine for $7, plus the signature Bramble cocktail for $8. Happy hour: Sunday to Wednesday, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
162 Water St.
This is a decidedly hearty happy hour, loaded with rib-sticking dishes like spaghetti and meatballs, scotch eggs, poutine or Caesar salad (perfectly loaded with cheese, Hickory Sticks and pork belly), not to mention the legendary burger. Drinks include an Aperol or Cynar spritz or glass of wine for $8.50 and $4.50 draught beer. Be warned though that you’ll be tempted to stay on and enjoy more cocktails afterwards from one of the best bar teams in Vancouver. Happy hour: daily 5 to 6 p.m., Fridays 2 to 6 p.m., nightly 11 p.m. to close.
52 Powell St. | 1228 Hamilton St.
For some of us, happy hour means, simply, oysters, freshly shucked and slurped down with a pint of beer or chilled white wine. As it happens, that’s just what Rodney’s does best. Its “Low Tide” menu features $1.50-a-shuck oysters, $6 wine and $5 beer, as well as a generous list of other snackable seafoods. We’re there for the Louisiana hot crab dip, coconut shrimp and lobster mac ’n’ cheese, not to mention the charming maritime décor. Happy hour: Monday to Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m.
Crispy gougères filled with cheesy Mornay sauce are among the tempting bits at Tableau Bar Bistro’s happy hour.
1181 Melville St., Loden Hotel
The happy hour menu at this chic French bistro has a certain delightful je ne sais quoi about it. You will find escargots and beef tartare here, as well as truffled frites, brioche toasts topped with creamy mushrooms, charcuterie and fromage, and one of the best things on any happy hour menu in the city, the gougères filled with hot, melty Mornay sauce. Plus there are cocktails from a rock star bar team at $2 off, as well as $6 house bubbles, wine and beer, and even a deep discount on Veuve Cliquot. Also check out Tableau’s sister restaurant, Homer St. Café, which has similar happy hour times and pricing, but a different menu. Mmm, smoked cheddar croquettes. Happy hour: daily 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. (10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays) to close.
The best reason to hit Tacofino at happy hour? The Margarita, of course.
15 West Cordova St. | 1025 Mainland St. | 122 – 1050 Pender St. | 8 East 5th Ave. | 1909 East 4th Ave.
With several locations across the city, Tacofino has you covered for your margarita and Mexi-Cali nacho needs. Note that menus might change slightly from location to location, and are not available at the food trucks, but you can expect to find dishes from $8 to $14, such as nachos, tater tots, queso fundido, chicken wings and chips and salsa. And then, of course, there are the Margaritas, which are among the best in the city, and only $8 during happy hour. There’s also $5 draft beer, $1 off wines by the glass, and good times to be had by all. Happy hour: daily 3 to 6 p.m.
A selection of Mexican-inspired nibbles are on the happy hour menu at Tacofino locations across Vancouver.
1168 Hamilton St. | 102 Water St. | 127 West 2nd Ave.
The Flying Pig is not going to let you leave hungry. Or thirsty, for that matter. Its happy hour menu features good-value dishes such as beet and bresaola salad, classic poutine, pulled pork sandwich, beef short rib croquette, jumbo macaroni and sriracha BBQ chicken drumsticks, all under $9. Plus there are bargain house wines and cocktails at all this growing local chainlet’s locations. Happy hour: daily in the bar or lounge, 3 to 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. (9 p.m. at Olympic Village location) to close.
60 West Cordova St.
Most restaurants offer maybe one or two cocktails on their happy hour menu. Tuc is not most places. It has six classics ranging from the floral Aviation to the smoky-sweet Blood & Sand and tart Hemingway Daiquiri, all made with at least two ounces of liquor, all for $7. It also offers $5 glasses of wine, $5 draught beer, and terrific deals on food, like the chicken liver pâté with ciabatta for $8 and the pork cracklings for $4. Happy hour: daily 4 to 6 p.m.
Arancini bites are among the happy hour nibbles on the menu at Uva Wine & Cocktail Bar.
900 Seymour St., Moda Hotel
Pull up a seat at this stylish cocktail bar and just order anything they’re making; you know it will be good, and during happy hour, it will also be good value. The menu is largely Italian-inspired small plates ranging from $3 to $12 (arancini, bruschetta, prosciutto e melone), with feature cocktails ($7 to $9), house wines for $6 and beer for $5. Plus Uva offers one of the earliest and longest happy hours in the city, so you can settle in and enjoy. Happy hour: daily 2 to 6 p.m.
Top-notch handcrafted cocktails are on the happy hour menu at Uva Wine & Cocktail Bar.
1079 Mainland St. | 165 West 2nd Ave.
At this casual seafood restaurant, you can reel in that most mythical of creatures: actual buck-a-shuck oysters. (Though be warned that quantities are limited.) If that wasn’t enough temptation, there is also a substantial menu of other seafoody bites: salmon poppers, lobster-and-shrimp rolls, fish tacos, poke, ceviche, steamed mussels and buttermilk-fried oysters, as well as non-seafood dishes like chicken wings and meatballs, and drinks including wine, cocktails and draft beer. Happy hour: daily 3 to 6 p.m., and 9 p.m. to close.
Joanne Sasvari is a Vancouver-based food and drink writer and the author of the Vancouver Eats cookbook.