Christmas Restaurants in Vancouver

Vancouver has some amazing restaurants and drinking establishments, both at the high and low ends of the price scale.

Best Places to Eat and Drink

For the best places to eat and drink throughout the Lower Mainland, check out the following:

Top Restaurants in Vancouver

Below are just some of the region’s culinary and experiential highlights:

H2 Kitchen + Bar is a great restaurant that specializes in smokehouse-style cuisine. If you like rotisserie chicken, brisket, barbecued ribs and other similar dishes, you’ll love this place! It also has an exceptional outdoor patio in the summer. (Click H2 Kitchen + Bar for our article about the place.)
Vij’s is arguably one of Vancouver’s finest East Indian restaurants (and definitely the most famous).
Top of Vancouver in Gastown also has memorable and revolving 360-degree views of the city.
The Teahouse is a fancy place for a meal in Stanley Park.
Popular Vancouver-home-grown trendy chain restaurants to check out include Cactus Club, Earls and The Keg Steakhouse.
P2B Bistro at the Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel near the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Showcase Restaurant – a classy West Coast-style restaurant at the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel on West Hastings Street not far from the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Dockside Restaurant – a popular place on Granville Island.
La Casa Gelato at 1033 Venables Street draws fans from all over town to its 500 flavours of ice cream and gelato.
Tutto – an impressive Italian restaurant at 901 Homer Street in Yaletown.
H Tasting Lounge at the Westin Bayshore Hotel. It’s a really nice restaurant, and home to the Winterlust domed-dining experience between late fall and early spring.

In addition to the above, there is also Guilt & Company. Located at #1 Alexander Street in Gastown, it’s a bar, not a restaurant. It’s the best place, however, for live music which it offers almost every day of the year.

The above is just a tiny sample list of restaurants we recommend. The Lower Mainland offers many more exceptional bars and restaurants too. Be sure to check out the best places by region at the top of this page too.

Food and Restaurant Festivals

A number of special restaurant events take place in Vancouver. They include the following:

Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival – special hot cocoa creations at participating cafes and coffee shops in January and February.
Dine Out Vancouver Festival – special menu deals at hundreds of restaurants across the Lower Mainland from mid-January until the beginning of February.
Greater Vancouver Food Truck Festival – a series of food truck events at various locations in the summer.
Koolfest – special summer drinks at participating cafés, chocolatiers and other businesses in Metro Vancouver in July and August.
Taste of Abby – a fall food festival in Abbotsford celebrating the harvest season and local foods.
A Taste of the Valley – a food and drink sampling event at Chilliwack Heritage Park in late winter.
Vancouver Ribfest Events – festivals with barbequed food, live music and other activities in Port Moody, Langley, Mission and Chilliwack.
Brewery & the Beast – a high-end food and drink culinary event in Vancouver.
Korean Food Festival – also known as Kimchifest and the K-Food Festival, it’s a Korean-themed event in Burnaby.
Capilano Mall Foodie Fest – a food-themed festival with vendors, live music and kid-friendly activities at Capilano Mall in North Vancouver.
Taste of Yaletown – special menus at participating restaurants in Vancouver’s Yaletown district in October.
Richmond’s Asian Feast Dining Festival – a seasonal initiative promoting Chinese and other Asian restaurants in the City of Richmond. (It doesn’t take place every year, but it has sometimes in the past.)