Getting the most value out of Dine Out Vancouver 2010
6 Comments
Karen Hamilton
April 20, 2010
Dine Out Vancouver comes to us much further into the year this time around, most likely to avoid overlap with the craziness of the Olympics. Good to see that many participating restaurants are taking advantage of this late start with menus that trumpet springtime is here!. Also pleased that more cross-promotion is in place this year, with hotel packages catering to Dine Out enthusiasts and food tours, cooking classes, and wine seminars wanting to tag team with your dinner plans.
I’ve created my 2010 Dine Out Vancouver shortlist with quite specific criteria: restaurants I’ve never been to that are cooking trout on nights that we have a babysitter. Since I don’t expect you to share these conditions with me, below are my 2009 Dine Out Vancouver tips rejigged along with new advice to account for some of the changes to the program this year.
Try something new
The incredible Dine Out dinners I’ve had in the past always tempt me to revisit those restaurants responsible for such fond memories, but to date, I’ve committed to picking places I’ve never been to for each new round.
If you have downtown Vancouver tunnel vision like I often do, consider going to a restaurant in Burnaby or Richmond instead. You could even go further afield for the parallel (but not co-produced) Dine In Whistler event. I’d make a beeline for Araxi and Bearfoot Bistro if I had the means to drive out there for it!
If you see this event as an easier way to explore the restaurant scene, not as a sale for your tried-and-true places, you may wind up with a new favourite eatery as a result.
Do lunch
Dine Out Vancouver used to be a right steal when it started, with meals as low as $15 and menus capped at $25. Since its inception, we’ve seen the addition of a $35 tier — now $38 — and the use of the Special Notes field to denote add-ons like wine pairings and even fine print like automatic gratuities. These do add up…and now a couple out for a Dine Out evening could easily spend over $100, wondering where the so-called deal has gone.
If your wallet or your spending sensibilities can’t handle the burgeoning price of Dine Out Vancouver dinners, try a Dine Out Vancouver lunch instead! Nearly a third of participating restaurants are offering it.
There isn’t a way to search for this option on the Tourism Vancouver website so I’ve decided to do the grunt work for you. You’re welcome.
- Amarcord
- Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant
- Bistro 101 at the Pacific Institute for Culinary Arts (PICA)
- Blarney Stone
- C Restaurant
- Cardero’s
- cassis bistro
- Ciao Bella
- Cru
- Darby’s Pub
- db bistro moderne
- Diva at the Met
- Don Francesco
- Elixir
- Fogg n’ Sudds Robson
- Goldfish Pacific Kitchen
- Gramercy Grill
- Hamilton Street Grill
- Harold’s Bistro & Bar
- Hell’s Kitchen
- Hermitage
- Herons
- hidden
- Kerkis Greek Taverna
- Kirin
- Las Margaritas
- Le Gavroche
- Maurya
- Medley’s Restaurant
- Moustache Cafe
- nu
- O’Doul’s
- Plato Estiatorio
- Raincity Grill
- Reflect social dining + lounge
- Rocky Mountain Flatbread
- Salt Tasting Room
- Sanafir
- Seasons in the Park
- Seawall bar & grill
- Society Dining Lounge
- STONEGRILL Restaurant
- Chongqing
- Thai Spice
- The Fish House in Stanley Park
- The Point Restaurant & Tapas
- The Sandbar
- The Teahouse
- Westward Ho! at the University Golf Club
- Wild Rice
- Yokohama Teppanyaki
You do still have to call these restaurants if you’d like to know how much their Dine Out lunches cost as well as what’s on the menu for it, but I’m betting that it’ll be more affordable than its dinner counterpart.
Put your ear to the ground
Not sure where to go? Hold off on making a reservation and wait for initial feedback. I typically seek out the opinion of food writers with similar palates, search for reviews of Dine Outs past, and listen to the rants or raves of loved ones returning from their experience.
Now that Twitter is the haunt of many a food lover, you could also lurk the feeds of your favourite restaurant addicts or check in on whatever event hashtag wins out (#dov2010 is probably your best bet).
One downside to this strategy is that the hottest restaurants will be fully booked by the time you decide to go there. If you were already thinking of dining at the likes of Chambar, West, Boneta, db bistro, and Market, don’t think: just book now. West is already sold out and tables at Boneta are going fast.
Compare against the regular menu
Don’t assume that all Dine Out participants are offering you a deal. Some are cheaper than their set menus imply, especially those that offer $18 menus for normally communal fare. Unless you are really smitten by their Dine Out lineup, you would do better to sample these restaurants on a regular day rather than competing with the crowds during Dine Out. [I am also puzzled by the continued presence of certain restaurant chains that have been with Dine Out since the outset, but that's all I will say about that.]
Upon closer inspection, you might also discover that restaurants with top tier Dine Out Vancouver offerings have more affordable prix fixe specials during regular service. Some may also have lunch service: a good way to try a restaurant out of your budget free of the crowds that Dine Out brings. And if you had had your heart set on the now sold-out West, West’s lunch may very well be your only option during Dine Out this year!
Select by menu, not by reputation
If you’re like me, you’ve eagerly looked up the menu of a restaurant of high repute at the Tourism Vancouver site only to discover how truly ho-hum its Dine Out edition is. The uninspired (re: cheap) offerings or plans that read like a workday set lunch turn me off from attempting an otherwise promising restaurant.
Make sure your palate is already salivating on what you’re going to eat or be prepared to have a less than stellar meal at a place that normally has a good reason to draw praise.
Share your Dine Out Vancouver experiences with others
Help your circle narrow down their dining choices by relating what you’ve enjoyed (or detested) in the past. On my part, I’ll list places of note from our Dine Out Vancouver history.
Pleased by:
- Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant
- Hart House
- Fleuri
- West
- Brix
- Raincity Grill
- Aqua Riva
- Provence Marinaside
- Rex Rotisserie & Grill
- Chambar (I’d prefer to go on a regular day and pig out on mussels)
Disappointed by:
Feel free to leave me a comment about your past, present, and future with Dine Out Vancouver.
Categories: Events, Food, Restaurants
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Articles by Karen Hamilton
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Thanks for all the great tips and taking the time to list all the lunch places. I guess I was lucky that I got a reservation for West.
@Sabine, did u reserve before the start of reservation? I tried to book a table the day before (Sunday) and West was fully booked for the duration of Dine-out. I guess with the online reservation, people have made reservation as soon as the dine-out dates were confirmed. That would be another tip. Reserve your table before the dine-out reservation starts as soon as you know the dine-out dates.
Yes, I saw a lot of places were already booked before the list came out, like Chambar. I booked really early on Monday morning after the menus came out.
Hi Karen,
We’ll be checking out Cru with friends. So many restaurants, so little time
Thanks for the tips, I was really wondering what to do with myself and how to choose restaurants for Dine Out. Toronto has Summerlicious and Winterlicious, which is like Dine Out but happens twice a year. Some restaurants are superb, but some just mass produce everything and they turn out to be just so-so.
Karen, I love some of your points on comparing with the regular menu, and choosing by menu choices.
I don’t attend dine out for those very reasons. When I have gone, I’ve tended to salivate over the regular menu and ended up ordering from it instead.
Great tips!