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The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant is a 300-seat restaurant in the heart of Granville Island with its very own sushi bar, earning bragging rights as a fresh seafood restaurant. Their unique, second-floor patio is under the Granville Street Bridge, overlooking False Creek. Hoshi’s Sushi Bar is one of Vancouver’s best kept secrets, open 7 days a week from 5:30pm onwards, Master Sushi Chef Hoshi makes the freshest sushi to order. From Thursday to Sunday, the Teredo Lounge transforms into a trendy piano bar. Featuring a variety of local brew, the lounge at Sandbar is an exciting place to listen to live music, enjoy fresh tapas and meet great people.
Quick review: Been here twice, once last summer for a memorable night and I still remember the Arctic Char I had. Came here last week and was fairly disappointed. Their California rolls were horrible, sure they use real crab but I thought it was poorly executed and bland. Excellent sablefish though, it was rich and buttery and perfectly cooked to my liking. Fish is definitely their specialty. Our server was stretched and never brought us bread, besides a quick quality check and the payment he was pretty much non-existant, the service was just not there. They have an amazing view of the Granville Street Bridge on their outside heated patio though.
Sandbar is a great standby restaurant that I visit when I want consistent seafood or just appies and a beer. I like to sit upstairs on the covered patio which is open year round and has a fantastic view of under the Granville Street Bridge.
They have a daily fresh sheet that includes items cooked on their wood burning grill or in the pan. My favourites include king crab (when in season), arctic char, sablefish, and the mahi mahi. They use to have monk fish on the menu which was absolutely amazing but unfortunately that is not to be anymore. Perhaps its not sustainable and being an ocean wise partner prevented them from serving it, fair enough.
They also have a mussels, frites and pint of beer special from 3-6pm Monday to Friday in the lounge for $10 which is a pretty good deal. If you're not in the mood for seafood, they grill up a pretty good steak as well.
If you're with a group of people and just want to nibble, the dragon boat platter is a good place to start. For around $30, its a pretty good deal with a bunch of different tapas served on, you guessed it, a wooden boat that you sometimes see at sushi restaurants.
The restaurant is absolutely massive with two levels and lots of space to accommodate parties large and small. Even on busy nights, you can sit in the lounge, have a cocktail and your table will be up pretty quick. For the quality of food, service and value, this is a great place to go for a consistently good meal. Definitely recommended and I will return regularly.
They say for a restaurant to be successful they need to have only two of these three things; great food, great space and/or great service. In my opinion the Sandbar is successful because they have great food (actually okay food) and a great space. The service was not okay.
When we arrived there was some confusion of who our server was. We were seated by the hostess and almost ten minutes later we saw a server. This was after the hostess pointed us out to the server. Then there was a discussion of which server was really responsible for our table. We arranged for water while we perused the menu.
We asked if there were any specials when she realized we didn't have the fresh sheet which she quickly brought it to us and then went on and on and on and on and on explaining what was listed there. I can read. A few highlights would have been fine.
A new server then came to take our order. We placed it including some wine. Our food came and it was okay. Nothing special but nothing to really complain about. We had lettuce wraps and an appetizer chicken dish. Lettuce wraps were okay and the chicken was dry and could have used more sauce.
My friend mentioned this to the server when she returned who said "you shuld have told me and I could have got more sauce.". If we had seen her prior to finishing our meal we would have 1) ordered more wine, 2) arranged for more water, 3) and asked for more sauce. Instead when she returned her only interest was arranging for the bill. We didn't ask for the bill but it was apparent it was time to go. When she returned for payment i asked for water which had been empty for most of the meal. Instead of getting it right away she waited for the payment to go through on my credit card then I waited for the person next to me to pay for his bill and then I got my water.
The sandbar is not the most expensive place in town and it's not the cheapest. I expect better service than I received. It's easier for me to stay home than have service like that.
I don't know if the economy has hit the Sandbar hard or if there is new management, but what I do know is that the Sandbar has changed... My first experience was 6 years ago (2006) and the food, service, ambiance was great. Visit #2 was about a year after my first and I was blown away!!! The seafood tower and entrees were fresh and impressive. Unfortunately my last couple of visits have been sub par and my last visit was the last nail in the coffin. Spending $30+ on an entree at a nice restaurant is totally acceptable, however when your entree arrives and is the size of a Weight Watchers meal, it's a problem. The piece of fish was small, which is not a huge issue, however the fish was accompanied by 3 small vegetables and, at most, 1/3 of a cup of plain cooked rice. Come on Sandbar, put a few more vegetables and some more rice on the plate and while you're at it, maybe opt for a wild rice mix for extra colour/texture and season the vegetables please. Totally disappointing.
Sandbar has great seafood, as it should. No complaints with the food.
I don't remember the service too well, which means is was not bad or good.
The restaurant is quite large. I wish we could seat upstairs, but they never do. Must be for large groups only. It has some fantastic views of the city, however, since it is so large, you most likely won't get a view.
From what I hear, the food is better at Sandbar, the view is better at Bridges (Another Granville Island restaurant).
Nice place to go after a day at Granville Island.
T. Schuay
Splurged by the recent sunny weather the 3 of us decided to catch some outdoor rays upstairs at Sandbar. It's another great looking space at Granville Island but the views from the covered outdoor patio aren't exactly earth shattering depending on where you sit - we mostly had views of underneath the bridge and the practically filled space felt a little clausterphobic but I digress.
The food was hit and miss. We started off with the salmon carpaccio which appeared to be filleted halfway and then thinly sliced through the boneless fish. I've never seen it prepared like this before and was difficult to fork without breaking it up into little pieces. The grainy mustard did little to entice. Our two, tiny medallion crab cakes were, on the other hand quite good but rather appauling given the size and price. Our friend's black cod entree was slightly underdone, but retained much of the buttery texture while my arctic char was completely overdone to the point where nearly every piece needed coaxing to stay on my fork as it hit my mouth. The blanched spinach from my gf's spinach salad was unusual, while the ahi tuna on top lacked the high heat sear and was a little offputting in taste. Desserts luckily faired well all the way through with the cheesecake and belgain pudding. We enjoyed their signature cocktail "under the bridge" but felt it was watered down. Prices are certainly steep for what you get.
We had a fantastic server as he was on top of everything including reporting back on the backlog in the kitchen. He was pleasant without being forceful and the transitions from clearing plates to serving drinks and topping up waters were seamless. One thing to note would be the disorganized front hostesses and their strange notice system using a flag-on-a-line rig to let you know your table is ready.
The food rates closer to a 2.5, but I should've gotten the steak instead.
Food: Wok fried squid was greasy and salty, crab cake was average, arctic char was good, lamb was excellent and trio of sorbet was a nice light note to the end of the meal. The sides that came with the main entrees were sad excuses for sides - when you're paying as much as you are for an entree, give something that accompanies the main protein rather than slapping down the same broccolini and tomato with generic seasoning and calling it a day. Overall, it was a hit and miss with the food so it balanced out to a solid rating.
Service: We were seated at the bar while we waited for window seat but it was so busy we waited a while before being able to order a drink. Food service was very slow and the server had to apologize several times - apparently they can't cope with large groups (then don't take them in! argh!) Service was absent for most of the night until the end of our meal when we were being checked on several times - where were you when I needed a water refill???
Value: The portion size was average but the food quality was not as good as I thought it would be.
Ambiance: Seafood smell wafts through the air and in a weird way, it's actually quite nice - good thing my dining compadre and I didn't go anywhere afterwards since I'm pretty sure we smelled like fish! Nice dark lighting - great for couples and intimate gatherings and also suitable for large groups and there were many around us. Not a place to catch a sporting event - the tvs were terrible.
Overall, I'm glad I tried this place but I don't think I feel inclined to return for their regular menu but there was a mussels and beer for $10 offered M-F from 3-6 pm I might try someday if I'm in the area at that time. We live in the Lower Mainland where seafood is abundant so restaurants offering stellar seafood are everywhere! For a seafood based restaurant, I don't think the food was the calibre I expected. Then again, I went in with high expectations so I would recommend that you try it for yourself since there must be a reason this place is packed every night. With caution, bon appetite!
Came here for my friend's 19th birthday dinner. Good times.
For some odd reason.. about half the people ordered a pasta dish, 3 of them were the same. I heard no complaints or compliments. I heard the halibut is absolutely to die for and paired with a glass of white wine. The dragon boat dish (for two) had good squid and ribs, dumplings and spring rolls were mediocre. Two friends ordered the lettuce wrap.. did not look good. I ordered a tuscan flat bread, super delicious, and the margherita pizza. The pizza was super thin crust and loaded with really good cheese, but you could only taste the cheese mainly. Not bad at all though, was yummy anyways. Except both my pizza and flat bread was a little burnt on the edges.
Unfortunately, being a brand new adult, the birthday girl had to take the blowjob drink in between someone's legs.. and the waiter was a pretty good sport about it. He was very nice, very accommodating, and knew his wines. We ordered a couple of drinks, lay it on, tequila shots, blowjob, gin and tonic, light red wine, white wine, etc.
It is a bit more pricey than your regular dinner, but it's expected in these environments. Oddly they didn't give us a window seat looking over the water since we reserved the table a week beforehand.
Recommended. Just don't order the weird Chinese foods on the menu.. go to a Chinese restaurant for those.
Second visit: Great night, lots of food. Tried the dragonboat plate (for 2) again, same problems I think. Had the mussel mania with honey lager and.. some other beer. Something with the word ice in it.. recommended by server, excellent choice. The thai curry flavour is better than the tomato provencia. And the manila clams were delicious too. Will definitely come back for mussels.
atmosphere: great view and water, great for dates or picking up.
food: excellent. the portion is good and not too pricey. Speialize in fish/.
cons: maybe it's just me but the music at the bar is a bit too loud for the people in the dinning hall... I want to start a conversation and sometimes its tough talking em up
drinks: great full bar menu with aeptable markups
Thought we'd try a new restaurant so here we were. We've been to one other restaurant from this group and it wasn't bad so hopefully, this one will be good too. Not so.
It appears you definitely need reservations for this place because the hostess was either turning people away or having them wait in the lounge because wait time was about 45 minutes. Once seated, our waitress came and took our drink order which was simply one Coke and three waters. Did you know you're only allowed one glass of water for the entire night! I observed the three busboys near our table and noted that the only thing they did all night was clear away dirty dishes when patrons have left. They did not come around with water jugs to refill the water glasses. After reviewing the menu, we ordered: a salmon burger, a steak and from the Fresh sheet, halibut and sockeye salmon. The last three dishes came with seasonal vegetables. Seasonal vegetables today are carrots and broccoli.
The steak was okay. The halibut and salmon plates came sparingly with: a two-bite size piece of fish, 1/2 length of carrot, two spears of broccolini and lastly, an itty bitty 1/4 cup of rice. If I was on weight watchers, how many points is that? The salmon burger wasn't really a salmon burger because the salmon was as thin as a slice of ham. No lie. You get a bigger piece of salmon at White Spot and for less money. After the "enormous" meal, we just didn't have room for dessert. So the portions were tiny and we had no water since once the food was served, the waitress disappeared and the busboys don't serve water. Hmm. Well, we came, we tried and we'll drop our money elsewhere. This gets four thumbs down. Maybe your experience will be better.
We had a bad experience booking a private room for a function for 15 people. The hostess who initially took the reservation insisted on a pre-paid minimum of $1000 to go towards the final bill in order to secure the room. This was in January when restaurants are usually NOT busy. We asked if they had a lot of reservations and nearing capacity? She said no but they need to ensure a revenue stream. Ummm...ok. She was totally unprofessional. We responded by saying the request for pre-paid minimum is unreasonable. For a table of 15 it is very likely that we would spend at least $1000 but there is no way of being certain and on principle we did not want to pre-pay for the room so we asked her to think about it or talk to her manager as we are perfectly happy to go somewhere else. The Manager called us back. He was courteous and professional and agreed to reserve the private room without conditions.
Food: Definitely mediocre. A few of us ordered Seafood Towers to share and what a disappointment! It had 1/2 a small crab, 1/2 small lobster, 6 little oysters, 6 prawns, a small handful of mussels. No flavour whatsoever. No butter for the lobster or crab, which didn't even taste fresh. Only tiny tin of shrimp cocktail sauce for condiments. The menu described it as something to be shared amongst 2 - 4 people but really there was only enough for one person. We ordered 2 sides of veggies...it was a tiny side plate of boiled cauliflower, carrots and celery...seriously! It was cold, no flavour and no seasoning. Really sad. Those who ordered steak or fish fared slightly better. At least their dishes were warm and had some flavour.
Service: 2 servers were assigned to the room and they were generally attentive and accommodating (it was a private room). They tuned in the hockey game on tv for us and readily added extra seating to accommodate extra people. Food arrived on a timely basis for the entire table and glasses of water / wine were topped up regularly. Overall, service was fine.
Value: Service at the restaurant (notwithstanding the not so smooth reservation) made up of for the lacklustre food. But it's still pricey for the mediocre quality of food. I guess people don't really come here for the food!
Ambiance: For people of a certain demographic, this place is hopping and probably a really fun for drinks and meat market activity. For others, not so much.
I went to Sandbar for a birthday party this past weekend. There were 18 of us. The servers were very attentive, and they answered lots of questions about the menu for us. I find the menu a bit limited, but you are there for seafood so I don't expect a lot of different menu options outside of that.
Everyone seemed pleased with their food and I found my salmon was very good.
The ambiance is great, Granville Island, water, the interior is nicely decorated. The only complaint that we had was that it was quite loud in there and we had trouble hearing people talk.
This is a great place for a speical occasion but with the prices on the menu I won't be a regular here.
What an ambiance. Sexy waitress, group of unattached chicks. Went for long weekend evening the group enjoyed it. Very authentic seafood food very tasty and great. Service was OK but not too prompt and the pisco sours are amazing a few of those and you'll be dancing to the DJ in the wee hours. Girls aplenty and after drinks very accessible. What a time. View of water and lights of downtown. Easy choice.
Came here for my friend's 19th birthday dinner. Good times.
For some odd reason.. about half the people ordered a pasta dish, 3 of them were the same. I heard no complaints or compliments. I heard the halibut is absolutely to die for and paired with a glass of white wine. The dragon boat dish (for two) had good squid and ribs, dumplings and spring rolls were mediocre. Two friends ordered the lettuce wrap.. did not look good. I ordered a tuscan flat bread, super delicious, and the margherita pizza. The pizza was super thin crust and loaded with really good cheese, but you could only taste the cheese mainly. Not bad at all though, was yummy anyways. Except both my pizza and flat bread was a little burnt on the edges.
Unfortunately, being a brand new adult, the birthday girl had to take the blowjob drink in between someone's legs.. and the waiter was a pretty good sport about it. He was very nice, very accommodating, and knew his wines. We ordered a couple of drinks, lay it on, tequila shots, blowjob, gin and tonic, light red wine, white wine, etc.
It is a bit more pricey than your regular dinner, but it's expected in these environments. Oddly they didn't give us a window seat looking over the water since we reserved the table a week beforehand.
Recommended. Just don't order the weird Chinese foods on the menu.. go to a Chinese restaurant for those.
This place is wonderful for lunch.
A couple of people went for lunch and I had the seafood club sandwich. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!
The little waiter we had was really nice and really professional with everything. She came several times to check up on us and made sure we were okay.
The value was a little on the expensive side, but it was well worth it.
The ambiance was very nice and definately showed a seafood atmosphere.
Will definately go back!!!!
Took our mother here to celebrate her birthday, because of the good reviews on this site. Definitely was not disappointed! When you first enter the doors it was a little strange, there is a small sushi restaurant on the left and tanks of live seafood on the right. Once upstairs it was nice...a lot of wood beams and pillars made it seem warm on a cold wet evening. We were seated promptly, although we didn't get a window seat which was disappointing. The service was great throughout the evening, our server was just present enough without being overbearing. He was observant enough to see that we were celebrating a birthday and offered us a free dessert, without us having to ask.
For starters we ordered the pan fried oysters and wok squid. The oysters were absolutely amazing! There were only 4 per order, and I would've ordered more if I wasn't trying to save my appetite for my entree. The wok squid however was disappointing. It came breaded and deep fried, not stir fried as I expected. It was also very bland, and the onion salsa overpowering. However, it was cooked just right, tender and not chewy. This is the only reason I didn't give this place a 5 for the food. The warm bread was a nice touch.
We ordered the sable fish off the fresh sheet for entree, and also the arctic char. The sable fish was the best fish I have ever had! The first bite was melt in my mouth, juicy and tasty. I enjoyed the entire thing - my mouth is watering just thinking about it! The rice accompanying it was not to mother's taste, but we thought it wasn't bad. The arctic char in a lemon butter sauce was also tasty, tasted like salmon.
The portions were not too large, and we were pleasantly not stuffed, therefore felt we had room for dessert. We ordered creme brulee, white chocolate cheesecake and lemon tart. The cheesecake had a funny taste, like it was made with some strong tasting cheese, but it was light and not too heavy. The creme brulee was good, nice crust on top and accompanied by a biscotti. The lemon tart was also very nice. A nice way to finish off a great meal.
My only complaint would be that a large table is placed right next to smaller tables. Anyone trying to have an intimate, quiet meal might be annoyed by a large table of guests talking loudly across the table. Or maybe it was just because that night the large table was occupied by a table of loud women. I felt sorry for the couple seated next to them trying to have a quiet meal!
As mentioned, they have a heated patio with a bar, heated lamps, blankets and big comfy chairs. Good selection of fish on the menu. Selection varies to availability. The servers were mostly accomodating. The guest mix would mostly be gentleman in suits over 35 and visiting tourist. IMHO, not a popular, regular local haunt due to prices . It is in granville Island. More popular with the locals for drinks on Friday and Saturday nite. 30 and up single's crowd.
The seafood platter is overpriced and nothing special. I love the selection of fish that they have. Food is pretty plain and ordinary. At least it is consistent. Dont expect to get wow'ed by the food. There are better value in the city. Good wine list.
Comparable to Lift, Cardero's, Joe Fortes, The Cannery
This was my 5th visit here and unfortunately the food simply was not good. It was 2:30 Sunday afternoon, the restaurant was about 60% full. My hamburger was overcooked and so dry, I am not a fan of well done meat at all so this disappointed me. I never have thought the food here was anything more than average but it is a good place to visit with friends, generally a good vibe.
The service was very good though so that was a positive.
Oddly enough people at three different tables within hearing of ours complained to their servers about their food and everyone had something different, so maybe the kitchen was having a seriously off day?
The more unhappy thing though was the menu showed the burger plate at $13 but when the bill arrived I was charged $16 with no comment. I debated questioning it then realized I needed to go and did not want to take the time to sort it out. However this is the second restaurant I have been in where the menu price and the bill differed and I did not order any extras or changes at all. Is this sloppiness on the restaurants part?
I did question it in the other restaurant and they adjusted the bill so perhaps the Sandbar would have if I gave them the chance to- who knows?
With the added cost of the HST this type of error makes eating out more complicated-not only is it costing 7%. More but you have to keep sorting out stuff. Time to eat a home I think.
I went to this place a year ago for Dine Out Vancouver and most recently for an early dinner in the lounge. Both times were great! I love seafood and there is a great selection to choose from. The place feels nice and comfortable inside with a nice view of False Creek if you get a seat by the window.
Last time I went, I was there specifically to try the Mussel Mania from 4-7pm in the lounge. For $10, you get a pint of Granville Island beer of your choice, a good serving of mussels served one of three ways, fries, and bread. I think it's available only Monday to Friday, but I'm definitely going back! Normally, prices are moderate, but I feel it's good value for the quality you're getting.
Service was good. It wasn't particularly busy either time I was there so we were well looked after. I'd recommend this place as somewhere to take out of town guests or for just a nice, but casual meal out.
We have never been dissapointed with the seafood we order at Sandbar and this restaurant taught me the rule to only order seafood from a seafood restaurant by the water =) Oysters, salmon, tuna ... you name it, and we've ordered it at Sandbar and loved it everytime.
Service is a bit spotty at times however ... not consistent.
All in all .. one of Vancouver's best seafood restaurants.
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