Brickhouse

If you’re looking for a dungeon-​y, swanky, and utterly grungey-​cool dive in bar to sink your butts in (because their seating is an assortment of comfy couches), then you’re probably looking for Brickhouse.
Brickhouse is located only a walk away from Main Street-​Science World skytrain, so it’s accessible. The decór is neat, the music is mediocre, and the only bartender I’ve ever seen there is Leo. (I think he actually owns the place, but don’t take my word for it.)
Leo’s got a bit of charm, but has tendencies to scare off some customers with his cranky, grumpy attitude on the Friday and Saturday nights. Although, I guess if I had to serve a bunch of drunk assholes all night, I’d get a little impatient as well.
Other than that, there are some alright drink specials, nothing crazy. There’s no food, so if you’re just looking for a place to hang out with friends and play darts, pool, or just get cuddly on a couch and chat, Brickhouse ain’t a bad pick.

I love everything about this place. The angry bartender (make sure you’ve made up your drink choice by the time you get to the bar), the strange décor (you could spend all night looking around and not see everything), the cheap beer (they are under 5 $), the old school tunes, the chill atmosphere (everybody is there to drink, talk, play pool, etc.). You’ll never find another place like it.

I want to chill there and shoot pool with the boys. For eternity. It really opens my chakras it has really sick vibes so chill. I am so glad I went there my life is changed forever. I decided I wanted to pursue my education and become a good father. Thank u brick house fir making. Me into the person I am today :0)

Great bar for sloppy good times. Vancouver doesn’t have many good options, IMO. This might be as good as it gets for this type of place. Packed on the weekend, which can be a good thing.

This is, nt a dive bar. Its a badly run business with regular priced drink. long lineups, no waitress night I was there, bartender was pissed off and bitched about being short staffed. If this is vancouvers idea of a dive bar were embarrassing. cant recommend, wont be back.

Definitely a dive. But for the prices and wait time, I’d pass if I were you. Drinks aren’t expensive, but they’re not cheap either. Atmosphere is nicely divey, though it smells like someone is perpetually cooking curry burritos in a mystery microwave. Service was fine, but wouldn’t consider it friendly at all. My main problem was with the wait times for drinks. You go to a bar to drink. When you have to wait upwards of 30+ minutes, in a literal queue, for a drink, it’s time to go somewhere else. I was here for more than 90 minutes and 75 of them were spent standing in line waiting to order. It was ridiculous. I even asked the guy in front of me if this was normal, and he said «yeah» and shook it off like it was nothing. Overall, a pretty miserable experience that my friend and I couldn’t wait to get out of.

It’s decently cozy, but god knows how much mold and bacteria lives in this dank dive.
The coat check girls are super nice, but that’s kind of the only good thing going for this place. Drinks aren’t particularly cheap, it’s too small to comfortably accommodate all its patrons, and there’s always some asshole hogging the pool table.
The owner is kind of a dick. Pretty sure he’s racist. The first time I went, he was super friendly to me for all of a minute, then he asked me if I was Japanese. I told him no, I’m Korean actually, and he quite literally waved me away and stopped talking to me altogether.
I’ve been there again once since, and ordered a double of jack.
It came to $ 9.50 and get this — he wouldn’t take a $ 10 bill for it. What the actual f*ck? I get that he probably didn’t see the dollar in my hand that I was ready to tip along with the change, but that was just ridiculous.
He made me hand over both the $ 10 bills in my wallet, and he gave me $ 10.50 back in change. I didn’t end up tipping anything except for $ 0.50 because of this. F*cking ridiculous. Learn how to use money.

Filthy fun. This place is a glorious and legit dive bar — the bar owner literally stops the music when he’s about to throw someone out. It’s not a place you’d really want to go to sober, which I guess is why it opens quite late.
The lighting is low, the décor is worn, the furniture is comfy. You can start a tab at the bar (I think their card limit is pretty high otherwise), and most likely you’ll be amazed at how cheap the total is come the end of the night. It must have been only around $ 4 for a glass of wine, if that.
This place is like hanging out in the living room at your most irresponsible friend’s house. May it live forever.

This is a fun little place with affordable drinks and comfy couches. Check your coats and bags at the door (it’s free!). The drink line can get long, but you’ll likely meet some new friends while you wait. No cash? That’s okay, you can run a tab. My only issue is the fish tanks… cool idea but the water is so low in some of those tanks it is not even up to the level of the filtration system. Those poor fishies do not look like they’re destined to last long. SAVE THE FISH!

Although it couldn’t really be classified as a pool hall as there is only one pool table I really enjoyed this establishment.
The beer wasn’t anything special and the shots of whiskey were overpriced but it is a charming place.
Half the time I played pool and for the other half I played darts. I gave my I.D. and a credit card and had the benefit of being able to run a tab. There was two people working the bar, however it did take some time to get a drink.
All and all it is a nice place and I enjoyed myself so I will definitely be back.

I VERY much understand the charm of this place.
It’s not really an acquired taste. You either get it or you don’t.
Leo is the best.
*Short review warning: Sometimes I write excessively short reviews because this place is either 1) A consistent 5-​star shut out review (meaning not even a MINORITY will give it less than 5 stars), or 2) There is something so special about this place that it’s worth GOING and not mulling about on Unilocal to decide if it’s worth it.

this review is from 2 years prior.
The place had the smell of mold lingering in the air, giving it a not– so-​well aged feeling to what might otherwise be someone’s man cave.
The stuffed chairs, couches, books scattered everywhere, the pool tables, and small bar tucked in a corner gives this place an intimate, homey feeling.
The owner/​bartender and waitress duo makes for an interesting time trying to get your drink (s) on.
Suggestion– order 2 at a time.
everything a guy needs to feel at home:
Books, billiards, beers, sometimes babes! XD
If they can do something about the smell, I’ll swing by more often.

It’s been a while since I’ve stepped into this beauty.
Everything around this place changes, the Brickhouse does not.
Drink Prices go up, these stay relatively the same haha.
Crowd is pretty mellow, everyone is usually in a good mood and its just a weird place in general where time stands still.
Its a bit grungier than I usually dig but I’m not usually showing up here for my first beer of the night…

Finally. I found a bar in Vancouver that reminds me of home… literally — there are so many couches.
The Brickhouse has a great vibe. Laid back. Nice bartender. There’s music but you can hear your friends talking. The fish tank could use some more water. There are pool tables for those inclined… This has been the bar that I’ve been searching for in Vancouver for years.
I recommend getting there early to nab a good seat.

Cool place with a lot of characters. The décor is great and it feels like somebodies living room in the 80’s or something. Places like this are becoming a rarity in this city, I hope it will stays for a long time. We had a bunch of pitchers and a good time!
The old school bartender Leo is pretty chilled too!

The Brickhouse is an awesome neigbourhood bar where you can drink a pint or whiskey and just read a book in the afternoon. Or hangout with friends and shoot some pool, play some cards or dice!
They have a small assortment of BC craft beer on tap (Storm Scottish Ale, R&B Raven Cream, Tree Pilsner, R&B Red Devil Ale). Pitchers run $ 17, but they usually have a $ 4.50 sleeves and several Bourbon/​whiskey specials. One of the cooler features of the bar is the indoor bicycle parking. I love the character of the Brickhouse!

I had a friend growing up who’s dad had a ‘man cave’ in the basement that was *just* past it’s prime and ready to be remodeled. You know the one I’m talking about, designed in the 70’s, worn shag carpeting, fish tanks filled with some form of aquatic life (my friends dad had Piranha’s), an old wooden bar that had seen it’s fair share of mixed drinks slid/​spilled across it, old random pictures of places traveled and gifts from friends, a dartboard, a pool table, and old worn our furniture that you might get a spring up the rear if you sat down too quick. Man I loved that place.
Now picture this 25 years later, and you have the Brickhouse. Frozen in time and as cool as it was when I was a kid playing pool with my buddy and drinking Grenadine straight our of a rocks glass (it was all we could find in his dads bar).
The Brickhouse has been my go-​to place for years now. If we’re wondering were to go for a cheap drink — Brickhouse. Need a place for a birthday shindig — Brickhouse. Friend in town out of nowhere and need to go somewhere in a pinch — Brickhouse. Cat just died and need to drink your sorrows — Brickhouse (okay this one hasn’t happened yet, but you get the idea).
There really isn’t much more to say. Some people love it, some don’t. It’s a great place to relax and have a drink with friends. I wouldn’t call it a ‘Bistro’ so much as I don’t recall them ever having and kind of food except bags of chips but if you ask Leo nice enough you can get a pizza delivered…

I had never been here before and had walked passed it many a time. While looking for a good place to grab a pint, a friend suggested this. I showed up and had been expecting «something that felt like a basement» and it totally does. High ceilings, brick walls (most of which I’m not sure how they stay up).
There are two main areas to the place, the front which has darts, a pool table and couches and the back with more couches and the bar. The whole place is dark, windowless and covered in random movie and pop-​culture memorabilia. You have to give a credit card to play darts as a deposit and I’m assuming it’s a similar situation with pool.
At 7 on a Saturday things were starting to pick up.
We shared a couple pitchers of beer, and I have to say given that they had RnB and all sorts of local beers their prices are really good. $ 15 for a pitcher of anything. I’m happy with that.
The owner works the bar and is super eclectic. He has clearly been around Vancouver for a long time because he knows exactly what he’s doing.
The crowd seemed really mixed, hipster, bridge and tunnel people, the whole mix. I will totally go back!

Came here as a direct result of getting a tip from Reena M. This place delivers big time.
Parking is available if you look on the side streets. Otherwise you’re looking at metered spots along Main.
The Brickhouse really is a Dive bar with a capital D. When I first tried going in, I went to the front door only to realize it was gated and padlocked. Huh? The signs on the glass tell you to go to the back. Simple enough, until you realize you have to go through a dingy alley completely with hobos. At this point you’re also checking your back to make sure you’re not about to get mugged or shanked. When you finally do get to the back, the door is also locked. Huh? Oh, you’re supposed to rap on the door LOUDLY, then someone is supposed to open the door?! My head was filling up with crazy unpleasant thoughts when I went through this «Brickhouse rookie initiation» process.
Fortunately, the bartender came a-​running and let me in after a few seconds of utter confusion. Wow, this place smells (literally) of character. By character I mean really really dusty upholstery. It was filled literally to the ceiling with vintage knick-​knacks, from old textbooks (for those who want to feel «learned») to old soda dispensers. The entire bar is operated by one (!) cheerful girl, who has got to be the friendliest and most dedicated bartender I have ever met in a long time. More on her later, as she deserves a special mention. In the back is a pool table.
Seating came in the form of vintage mismatched (and somewhat dusty) couches arranged around the edges, as well as a couple of tables. The place had a very homely feel to it, as if you are in someone’s basement. There were some oldies playing in the background, which added to the vintage feel.
The drink selection is quite wide, with highballs and cocktails to alcoholic eggnog to beer. The beer is some 8 types, all served draught. Only $ 4.75 (somewhat cheap) for a glass, and $ 17 (average priced) for a pitcher.
I need to talk specifically about the bartender. She went WAY beyond her duties for my friends and I tonight. When I asked about a beer, she gave me a small «sample glass» after telling me a couple of things about the brew in question. When my friends wanted coffees (some didn’t drink), she gladly made a pot for them, no questions asked, for free. She even helped them add their sugars and creams. Our group left her a generous tip at the end of the night.
Even though a few of my friends initially wanted to cancel last-​minute when they realized the location and surroundings of this bar, at the end ALL of them were very glad they showed up. The Brickhouse really is something. You won’t be here for the upscale experience, but this is the place to be if you want character. Recommended.

The Brickhouse is this strange place on Main Street that looks more like a basement full of odd knick knacks than a pub.
The Brickhouse was pretty empty beside our large party and the actual bar was way in the back. The place is charming but odd and the bartender was as well.
The service wasn’t great and the bartender just seemed out of it in general. I like the place because of its charm but that’s pretty much it. There are cool open spaces for games and such, but I had fun because of the people not so much the place. Unless, you like the novelty factor and kitschy décor, check out another bar.
Otherwise it’s a neat place. But I have no idea why it’s listed as a «Late Nite Bistro». Did I miss something?