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