Las Margaritas on West 4th is an awesome place for a night of fun food and drinks – but it’s never exactly cheap. Add up a few pitchers of sangria, a round of tequila shots, and a platter or two of chimichangas, and you’ve racked up a hefty bill.

Living in the neighbourhood, we seem to visit almost once a week, and have become seasoned in the art of ordering cheaply at Las Margaritas.

The Taco Platter is one of Vancouver’s best kept cheap dining secrets. This is no longer on the menu, but ask for it by name. For under $20 you receive a large platter of fixin’s to make enough tacos (soft or hard) to feed two to absolute fullness, or to share with four with a few other appetizers on the table. You can have beef, chicken (or both) along with refried beans, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, cheese, rice, and lettuce. Likely there will be enough to take a little home! The experience of making your own tacos is fun, a bit messy, and perfect for the picky eater.

Las Margaritas knows how to do side dishes! For under $2 you can make your own basic vegetarian burritos. Order a side of either black or refried beans and a stack of 3 or 4 fresh tortillas and you are good to go! Add a little hot sauce or free salsa from the table and you ate for less than a meal at a homeless shelter. Classy! Pretty much anything they have on the menu is available as a side dish. Ask nicely. The price is right.

Keep in mind that they often charge you extra for refills of the chips and salsa, this ain’t no Lonestar. So avoid chowing down on three or four bowls of this before your meal.

Margaritas at Las Margaritas are great, but they aren’t cheap. Why not try a virgin drink? They are made with natural fruit nectars, and taste just as good as their boozy counterparts – for a third of the price.

They also have a few great desserts. While their churros are incredible, few people can down a plate of fried dough after a big meal. If you order their hot chocolate it comes with two sweet fatty churros on the side, and it’s half the price of the dough-only dessert.

Address:

1999 West 4th Avenue (4th and Maple)
Vancouver, BC
604-734-7117

http://www.lasmargaritas.com/

When I’m hungry – I’m hungry, and I don’t like to waste my precious eating time waiting in a long line hoping to get a table. However, there are a few places in the city that are always worth the wait, Las Margaritas on West 4th being one of them.

The taco platter is a fun sharing plate.

You can expect to wait at least 20 minutes even on a weekday evening – rain or shine. On a busy Friday, figure you’ll be waiting for about an hour. If you’re lucky, or just plain charming, you can snag a seat at the bar or in the entrance alcove and chow down on free chips and salsa (only the first basket is free) and some of their signature drinks. Their tequila selection is outstanding, better still are their margaritas. Try the Cadillac with Herradura El Jimador Reposado, lime juice and a bit of Grand Marnier. That hour wait will pass in no time!

Strangely enough, it’s not so much the food nor the service that really make Las Margaritas special or wait worthy. The menu good, with some items being outstanding, and others making you wish you’d had the Mexi-fries at Taco Time. And the service is notoriously slow.

However, with great authentic music, a dark candlelit vibe, and plenty of loud and lively tables (plus a huge patio), you’ll find yourself coming back again and again.

Best dish not on the menu: Recently the “taco platter” was taken off the menu, but if you ask for it by name they’ll serve it anyway. This dish is a steal at under $20 and will feed two VERY hungry people easily. It’s also a fun appetizer to share along with a big pitcher of their fruit laden sangria.

Tip: Las Margaritas does not take reservations, so if you are coming with a big group send one person along early to put your name down on the list.

Address:

1999 West 4th Avenue (4th and Maple)
Vancouver, BC
604-734-7117

http://www.lasmargaritas.com/

Urbanspoon Says:

The Yaletown Brewing Company is an awesome, fun place. I choose these less-than-original descriptors as there is nothing particularly original about the brewing company, but it is definitely an awesome and fun place. It’s loud and friendly -  you might say boisterous- the beer is great and it pairs well with the food. There is a huge outdoor patio that is just about always full in the Summer- if you are lucky, you’ll get a seat.

YBC’s menu is a few steps up from your standard pub fare. There are some classics available, like steak, meatloaf (nice!), and all that, but there are also some internationally flavoured selections. Nothing is too out of the ordinary, but the quality solid. There are pizzas as well- actually a substantial part of the menu- and they are good- although some are on the dry side. I very happily stuffed my face with an Italian chorizo pizza while my fellow pub-goers looked on somewhat jealously.

It should come as no surprise that the beer is plentiful and the main feature at the Yaletown Brewing Company. We each had a beer flight and were able to sample the season’s draughts. This was an excellent deal ($12) and it will leave you, even if you’re a well-upholstered individual, at least a bit hammered. If you’re not in the mood for that, there’s almost certainly an ale, hefeweizen, or pale ale that will suit your tastes.

Address:

1111 Mainland St., Vancouver
Vancouver, BC
(604) 688-0064

This place is a little bit hard to see from street-level as it’s on the second floor of a building on Robson. There’s pretty good signage, so once you notice the place you should only need another minute or two (if you’re like me and you suck at common sense things) to find the stairwell that takes to you Tsunami Sushi. It’s well worth the effort- trust me. There is also a fabulous patio that’s perfect for afternoon sake with a view of the shopping crowd.

Tsunami Sushi is very much like most other sushi restaurants- not particularly original in its decor (in fact a bit retro), rather quiet, and there are people in Kimonos; however, there is one differing factor. There is a creek in the centre of the restaurant that circulates little wooden boats full of sushi and other Japanese items. You can basically saddle up to the bar, and in front of you sushi will just float by. You can pick up whatever you like and the boat will float away empty until it is refilled by one of the several staff who work in the centre of the circuit. The plates on which the sushi arrives are color-coded (i.e. blue plates are $2.00, black $3.50, etc.) and you simply tally up the number of plates you have to figure out the bill at the end. This, in my opinion, is just so cool. There’s no other word for it.

The novelty of this creek will wear off as you eye a plate of tekka maki slowly making its way down the line while shooting daggers at the hungry overweight dude two seats down. There is, however, no denying the empowerment one feels when getting to see a product before ordering it and then receiving it instantly. You can’t assign a value to instant gratification like this.

The sushi here is pretty awesome too, and there are a number of selections that you will not find as easily at other more standard sushi places- sea urchin maki among them. Just make sure to arrive around a normal mealtime, as the creek floats fewer rolls at three in the afternoon. There’s no reason you can’t proceed with ordering as you would normally though. Also, keep track of your plates. It’s easy to eat and eat and eat, and then realize your plate stack is $10.00 more than you thought.

Address:

238, 1025 Robson
Vancouver, BC
(604) 687-8744

It’s hard to miss this place, a bright-yellow building that looks to be a converted cannery or wharf warehouse- like many on Granville Island. And it’s a fitting design.

Bridges has served some pretty great seafood for quite a while now. Bridges is a bar, bistro, restaurant and patio. There are few places, in our experience, where one can have some good food while enjoying Vancouver’s priceless weather (which is at a premium).

Bridges has a superb outdoor patio that overlooks False Creek and the yachts moored there. We enjoyed drinks and tapas on the Bridges deck on a sunny afternoon. The combination of tasty alcohol (the sea breezes are very good, I hear), tasty seafood, and the beautiful weather made for a perfect relaxing scenario. The only drawback was that there were many others there doing the same thing- and some of them deemed it necessary to talk our heads off (well- mainly the heads of my hot girlfriends) while the ice in their sea breezes melted.

Bridges offers a variety of menu selections that depend on where you eat. The outdoor menu is very much seafood focused and is divided into small, medium and large portions (my group appreciated this), including items like ceviche, oyster burgers and pasta dishes. There was also Caesar salad on the menu. (Caesar salad seems to be a dish most restaurants cannot escape, and I find it strange). The coffees that followed our meal were also very good- and were the right end to the afternoon as the booze, food and sunshine were making us drowsy- all in all a worthwhile visit.

Smoked salmon with onion and capers pizza.

Address:

On Granville Island (the big yellow building)
Vancouver, BC
604.687.4400

The Boathouse is one of those restaurants where you know exactly what to expect: the food will be pretty good, the menu items have catchy names, and the servers are good looking.

There is no risk here folks- this is a tried, tested and true dining experience -safe and satisfying. There are several locations throughout the lower mainland after all.

Now after that lengthy bit, I’ll get into the setting. The Boathouse English Bay is on a prime piece of Vancouver real estate. The view really doesn’t get much better than this. There is an ample (but tightly packed) outdoor patio (or deck, as they call it)- equipped with shields and roofing should the weather take a turn for the worse. There is no better place to be enjoying beer or wine, some food and looking out on a spectacular ocean vista. The restaurant inside is nice as well, but it’s really all about the patio. The Boathouse also has a bar with pub fare. We haven’t tried this, but figure it’s pretty good.

The Boathouse is seafood-centric, with a menu including items such as fresh-shucked oysters, and fish, mussels and their underwater comrades prepared every which way- there is no apparent focus more specific than fruit of the sea, and that’s ok. For the seafood averse, there are fallbacks like chicken and Caesar salad. Somehow, and I have NO idea how this happened, I wound up with pasta- but I think there was seafood in it. Regardless of this, I wasn’t overly impressed and neither was my party- but we weren’t looking to be impressed. When all was said and eaten, we left the restaurant satisfied, our wallets a little lighter, but not by too much, and we had appreciated a great view. Again- it’s about the patio.

Address:

1795 Beach Avenue
Vancouver, BC
604-669-2225