I have always loved the magic of the Hotel Vancouver. The 900West lounge is right in the heart of the lobby surrounded by high end boutique stores. Especially during the Christmas season this place is a must-pass-through spot.
Stopping for a drink and a bite to eat is a whole different ball game. The service was surly at best and delivered by a blonde haired, 50 something lady with gossip on her mind. Approaching our table (after we'd waited almost 5 minutes) she was obviously annoyed we had summoned her from her gossip session at the working station. She put on a phony smile and said "hay. what can i get you". She was clearly annoyed that my fiance only wanted a diet coke and seemed to dread our orders. My friend and i ordered a half litre of cabernet and she seemed visibly relieved that we going to spend some money in her valuable real estate.
Wine was over-priced (50$ 1/2 litre for an average cab) and we ordered a pizza which took over 40minutes and was also just average.
There was a piano player who really saved the ambiance of the room and distracted us from the annoyance of our server who took 1 minute to bring us our bill and then 10 minutes to take our payment.
All in all i will try this room again because it means so much to have some tradition in our city. I warn them though that the Shangri-La will be stiff competition and only 3 blocks away.