We had a great time. Alissa was amazing! She was welcoming, attentive and made great drinks! The…read moreFringe has a cozy atmosphere and friendly vibe. It felt like we were amongst friends. We'll definitely be back!

Great dive bar with cool staff and a laid back vibe. Nice place for a late night drink.read more

Very happy that I can still enjoy a night out at a bar that isn't at max capacity, or have an hour…read morelong waitlist on a Saturday night. Ive been supporting this bar for the last 4 years because they know how to get it done! The GM and bar staff are always super kind and continue to have great deals on cheap and affordable drinks. The venue is very spacious so you never have to worry about being close to anyone which makes my company and myself feel safe and the music is great! You can bring food inside the venue as well which I found pretty cool. The location is a bit sketchy to walk away from at night, I would suggest ordering an uber if you're unfamiliar with the area. Music is a big thing for myself to enjoy a night out, so thank you Back and Forth for always having the beats on point!

Ping pong dive bar in Gastown area…read more Parking is available on the streets. Sketchy neighbourhood. The inside is definitely divey. Floor is sticky. Tables are sticky. Ping pong balls are sticky. Basically reminds me of the Met, but with ping pong. Staff are friendly. Beers are a bit pricey. The ping pong area has a cosmic theme, with some black light I think. The ping pong balls are orange, and seemed to glow a bit. Good for some casual fun. Just try not to get too tipsy when playing.

Free entry Casual…read moreubc vibes Disco ball and 7$ photobooth Not alot of seats but we went to go dancing. The dj messed up twice and there was two moments of silence on dance floor haha. So you get what you pay for ;) Sound system definitely needs an update. No zero alch options.

I went to the Lido for the Updating after-party. By the way, the show at the Rio Theater was…read moreawesome. Anyway, at the Lido after-party one of the women who was a dater on the show showed up. While on stage at the shows she was completely drunk. This woman starts talking to me for a minute and then she mingles with others at the party. A while later I see her and her sister walk towards me so I start talking to her again. I'm a young-looking 61-year-old man and she is 22. At no point did I touch her or ask for her phone number or indicate in any way that I wanted to pursue anything with her. I wanted to talk to her because I found her behavior on stage at the show to be outrageous. She was upset that an older man like me would even talk to her and asked me why I was even at the pub. I told her it's because I like the Updating show and I want to meet Brandon and Harrison, who are the hosts of the show. A few minutes after this conversation, a woman who works at the Lido approached me and asked me to leave. Apparently, that 22-year-old woman complained to the Lido staff that I was harassing her. The Lido staff automatically took her side without hearing my side of the story. On the way out the door, I asked the Lido staff member who asked me to leave to hear my side of the story. She was nice enough to step outside with me to hear me out But then another female staff member who looked very masculine barged out towards us in a very aggressive manner and shouted at me to get the eff out (using the real word, not eff). She wouldn't let me talk to the other staff member who was outside with us. I asked her to hear my side of the story but she became even more aggressive and threatened to call the police. Obviously, in this age of the #MeToo movement, the Lido staff automatically believe anything a woman claims against a man without allowing the man to present his side of the story. Shame on you Lido.

This is the first of a five part review of a stag night…read more The SoHo is a great place to play some pool and have some drinks at your table (other places I've been to have a separate area for drinking). They were very accommodating for our reservations and they serve decent beer (you're not limited to Canadian, Coors Lite, and Kokanee). I was getting pints of Sleeman's Honey Brown while getting my ass handed to me in pool. Serves me right to play with one guy who grew up with a pool table in his home and another who is a hustling biker. Since it's two blocks away from the Yaletown Skytrain on the Canada Line, I will likely be back. Their food menu looks tasty. The nachos and wings I saw coming out of the kitchen looked very appetizing. Outside of that, I'm looking forward to spending a couple of hours playing some pool and drinking some beer. Definitely a great pre-dinner place. Next part is for Hy's downtown.

First time in Canada and omg I am loving it. Found this cute gem and been here for hours. The…read moreatmosphere is nice and the staff was amazing! I will definitely be returning back to this place when I come visit. There so much to do here and parking is not bad on cost. I will say it's tough to get a spot but at night it's easier.

5 stars for this revamped (new management + menu + staff), retro, tiki bar…read more I saw that they had their opening night this past weekend so I dragged a large group of my friends here to enjoy some tiki cocktails. We came in a little before 8 and there was no one there. I had to double check with the staff to make sure they were open. Lucky for us though since no one else was there we were able to get a table for a group of 9 right away. Our server Becca was awesome. She looked after us and made sure our drinks were always filled. We decided to get the punch bowl to share. I'm just going to say that we ended up ordering 3 of these bowls and I woke up the next morning with a Top 5 hangover. These tasted like juice and I just remember my glass never being empty. I also remember having a taste of their mojito, which was delicious. As the night went on the place began to fill up and by the time we left it was packed. A musician came in at some point in the evening and performed some island tunes, which added to the fun island tiki vibe. Overall, the Tiki Bar was a ton of fun and it was a Saturday well spent. I'm so happy that we could be part of their opening night. I'd love to come back to try some of their different cocktails soon.

This bar is SO FUN for a stop with friends while bar hopping along main. The drink options are…read moreendless but beware they are very strong. Every time I come here I try something new and I even hear they have a secret menu of drinks you can ask your server for. If I had to give one complaint- it is that this place is very busy. I wish they could expand or have another location given the demand to get in. Odds are slim on a weekend night with a group and no reservation. That being said, this is a must-try place in Vancouver.

Staying downtown and attending Les Misérables we decided to try something different than we…read morenormally do and we discovered The Ventura Room. We got there quite early into service so not a lot of people in the place. The ceiling is low, it's kind of dark, but somehow it works. It feels maybe more intimate, which was right up our alley. We wanted some nibbles, not a full blown meal lest we fall asleep during the performance. Happy hour was still on so we ordered the dill pickle chips and the burger sliders combo. Both were excellent! The chips were spot on definitely dill pickley, nicely cooked and crispy. The sliders were really great as well, not too small like many we've had lately and you could really taste the beef. Our martinis were also great although a little more juice in the "dirty" side of the equation and perhaps an olive without a pit. We also ordered the BLT with mixed greens, which we probably didn't need but Les Mis is almost three hours long. The service was also great, waters topped up regularly and the servers interactive and interesting. We would absolutely come back to Ventura again. Oh and Les Misérables was outstanding!

First time trying this place out this week. I've walked past it a few times and was curious about…read moreit. Very casual at the time that I went with lots of tables (high top or standard). I had the sticky Thai chicken and yam fries. The portions were actually pretty decent and very filling for what you get. Plus the prices are decent as well.

First time coming to this pub for a get together and I love the food and casual atmosphere!…read more I didn't know this place existed and it looks small from the outside, but it is huge inside. There's different areas for drinks, food, a small stage for live music, place to play darts and an area for virtual games such as racing to a pool table and a ball arcade. It was nostalgic to see some of the games of the past. It's very casual which is great to just chill with friends. There's some seating areas as well as a bar stools and high table. This is a great place for couples as well as a big enough space for large get togethers. Service is friendly. Drinks are just okay, but the price is friendly and they have specials. There isn't a lot on the menu, thought the pizza is really yummy. Parking is mainly metered street parking.

Such a fun and spacious bar to hang out with your friends! They also do trivia nights, have live…read moresports, and a lot of fun arcade games!! We were walking on Main st. and stumbled upon this place so decided to check it out, the ambiance of the place is casual with the servers being very informal and friendly. They also have a photobooth machine that you can use with your credit card :) We spent about 2hrs here playing pool, foosball, basket hoops, pac man, and many other games. They have a big selection of beers and cocktails as well. We did not order proper food but got their chips and dip which was basically potato chips with a dill pickle dip. I personally loved their dip! Their arcade games are pretty affordable, it was $2 for a game of pool and about the same for the rest. This is a place where you can hang around with a large group of people, playing games and enjoying drinks. Would definitely go back!

We took Friday night to step out of our age and revisit our youth!…read more Jmac, Stevie and my brother bought tickets to see the seminal Vancouver rock band Japandroids at the Cobalt. It was everything that i've become shitty at lately. Including staying up late, lining up, dealing with crowds and waiting for a drink. We started early in the hope they would have as well. I dont know how we did it. It seemed like such a struggle coordinating cabs to arrive before an unspecified time at a complete shit hole that seemed to have no concern that we were thirsty and unacustomed to having to fight our way through a bar line up that seemed oblivious to our ability to tip our way through this. Johns first rye and ginger arrived as a red bull and rye . The pretty thing at the bar was unimpressed with our ability to buy service and looked in disgust when John complained, threatening to take his businness and his tye dye Tshirt out of there and back to Browns!! It began to get even hotter and the crowd swelled beyond the legal limits of capacity. I thought, why didnt we bring a fireman? I switched to canned beer out of frustration. Cheap, cold and less of a line up. I felt young. My power wained even further. I went outside to cool down . When I rentered my glasses immediately fogged up to the point of blindness. I scratched my hands across the table looking for the beer I thought i had left there only to find my self running my fingers through a hipsters beard. As I screamed my apology through the ear splitting cacophony of a to near speaker , my glasses cleared long enough to see him wipe my spittle from his forehead and hear his girlfriend ask me if I needed to call someone. At this point I was unsure if I was having an anxiety attack or a stroke or both . I leaned back and pushed my self into the hipsters bench without invitation. Surely i was leaving on a gurney regardless. As the crowd looked at me with no concern whatsoever I became mildly at peace and gave in. And it happened. I cooled down for no acceptable scientific reason. my blood slowed, my vision cleared. I stopped sweating and the overwhelming sense of doom associated with a full on panic attack stopped for no reason other than the ativan i couldnt push under my tongue became nothing other than a belief in its psychosomatic effectiveness. I stared across the crowd and 200 hipsters were singing " its raining in Vancouver and I dont give a fuck, Cause im alone with you tonight" Screaming the lyrics to a song. I wanted to take a picture but I noticed no one else was. It was beautiful . They were singing along. Joyfully. Im not young enough to do this anymore but i still undertand why I did.... And if you need any particulars of the actual space . Yeah, Ayla's sums it up nicely.

This skuzzy death metal bar used to be a strip club back in the day, and the mounted pedestals with…read moreshower nozzles are still located throughout the room, adding an authentic trashy vibe to the already filthy ambiance. The Cobalt is the lowest common denominator of bars in Vancouver, but it manages to take a certain pride in the dilapidated scenario. Typically full of punkish-goth kids, it serves extremely cheap beer and highballs, has ample seating and room for mosh pits, and comes off as unpretentious, in a "too good for good" sort of way. Many loud bands are given their first opportunity here, and many of the better ones return after achieving success for nostalgia's sake. Things can get out of hand, as conventional wisdom tends to get left behind in coat check, and obnoxious teenage drunks start doing whatever they want. I've even seen a band shoot whiskey filled super soakers out into the audience. This is actually the only place I ever did cocaine, taking it for the only time on one of the musty old cars parked out back. I had always envisioned doing blow with nice clothes, beautiful women, a mirror, and a rolled up hundred dollar bill, but the Cobalt was so exactly opposite that it seemed perfect.