Elites Party in the Rec Room at The Bimini

Best Elite Event to date, hands down. I mean, they’re all great but I had such a great time here and enjoyed The Bimini so much that this is probably one of the few YEE locations that I would come back to on my own time.
First of all: sliders. Burgers are my one of my true loves (after Brian B. and bacon of course) and there were SO MANY. Plates upon plates of tiny little delicious meaty treats circulated the event and I literally stuffed myself until I felt uncomfortable because I couldn’t stand the sight of so many of them being sent back to the kitchen, uneaten and unwanted. ALL the food was great, but the sliders were fantastic.
I loved the friendly bartenders and the drink menu was great. The venue itself is wonderful and I LOVED not only the amazing «rec room» decorations (NINTENDO FTW) but the layout of the restaurant was nice too. Loved it!

Donelly surprises me again.
Spacious digs. Efficient, friendly, awesome staff. So they didn’t do an full open bar like the crazy times at the New Oxford party, but the bar staff kept up with the barrage of Unilocalers. The Murdoch Float was an interesting twist on a childhood classic.
Didn’t get to try much of the food, except the sliders and some pizza. Both were alright.
For those less sober (or not), the arcade games, Wii, pool, and foosball were abundant. Lesson learned: Don’t make bets at pool when you’re drunk and suck at pool to start with. It’ll cost you.
Robin — kudos as always. I’ll be your speakerphone any party!

I walked right into the 90’s. Robin did a terrific job for this one. The food was quite spot on for a rec room too. I enjoyed the sliders, pizza and the chips. The lemonade drink was light and refreshing. 90’s Nintendo games, real arcade pinball machines, pool and table soccer really brought even more memories of the past. There was a lot of room to move around since there are three floors at The Bimini. I met Don B, David W, Vanessa G, Michael M, and Vincent N. There were a lot of people that I didn’t have to chance to talk to because The Bimini is big! The staff were very friendly too.

I walked by the Bimini a few weeks ago, so it was really exciting to get to check it out at an Elite event. It doesn’t look like it on the outside, but the Bimini is huge! The first floor has a few pinball machines, a pool table, a foosball table, and a decent amount of tables. The second and third floors had separate bars and tons of seating, including super comfy booths.
When my fiancé and I got there, we were greeted by some delicious chips with a chipolte dip, candy on the bar, and a nice selection of whiskey cocktails. My favorite cocktail was the lemonade. It was super smooth and would be fantastic on a warm summer day. I decided to switch it up and try the orange creamsicle martini later in the evening. It was alright but not nearly as good as the lemonade. My fiancé indulged in a few lemonade cocktails before switching to winter ale.
We sat down in a booth near the bar and were brought some edamame beans. The wait staff were absolutely fantastic at bringing us drinks when we were running low. However, after the edamame, food never quite made it to our booth. We ended up having to get up and walk around in order to try out the mini hot dogs, sliders, and pizza. The hot dogs were a bit salty, but the sliders were absolutely fantastic! Another one of the shining stars was the mini poutine. The biggest disappointment was the chili. Way too much chili, not nearly enough chips.
My favorite part of the evening was definitely the old school video games on the TV near the bar. My fiancé and I got to challenge each other to a few competitive rounds of Super Mario Kart and Tetris Attacks. If you haven’t played either, you’re missing out!
I’m a bit late to the party in terms of reviewing this event, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it! I look forward to meeting more of my fellow Elite’s and attending more fantastic parties. Thank you Robin for another great Unilocal Elite event!

I renewed my Unilocal Elite status and geared up to kick off the festivities in style with another sweet community party.
The drinks were flowing over at the new incarnation of The Bimini pub now under Donnelly Group management after it burned down. We sipped on burdock floats (like spiked root beer floats), orange crush martinis, and sour lemonades.
The theme was a 1990s style rec room or basement festivities full of games and laid back, casual, flannel fun.
They broke out the Wii for some healthy competition and activities in between drinks and appetizers. I chomped down on sliders, mini hot dogs, and to die for truffle poutine. Yum.
It was as usual more fun times at this Elite event with the usual atmosphere and feel. The new members injected some needed fresh blood.

In East Vancouver, born and raised
On the playground is where I spent most of my days
Chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool
And all shootin’ some b-​ball outside of the school
… and luckily I still had some vintage (*not* throwback — they are 90s *vintage*) Hornets gear. I’m too old to be still wearing basketball jerseys in public — but this was the perfect excuse. And I little surprised only a few people came in theme — it’s 90s party, it can’t get easier! You are telling me there no old clothes kicking around in your closet? Come on — you must have some old Bugle Boy and a Vuarnet/​Club Monaco sweater or a Mossimo t-​shirt. Robin should have mandated everyone that didn’t dress up *at least* tight-​roll their jeans. Ideally, I would rolled in on a 5.0 Mustang (… ahem… «with my ragtop down so my hair can blow») — rocking a thin gold chain, a loud, vintage Gucci crewneck and a Zack Morris cell-​phone and two pagers. Drug dealers of today can learn from d-​boys from the 90s — they had style, not Affliction and Ed Hardy.
So I got decked out in my teal gear
The fly-​est fashion from a distant year
I whistled for a cab and when it came near
The license plate said ‘Fresh’ and it had dice in the mirror
If anything I could say that this cab was rare
But I thought «Nah forget it». «Yo homes, to Bimini!»
… Bimini isn’t a bad place at all. To be honest, I was half-​hoping it would be open-​bar again like the last Elite party that the Donnelly Group hosted… but I guess they learned their lesson. None of the food really stood out to me and and the cocktails weren’t to my liking — it was either too sweet or too weak for me. However, the Granville Island beer options and Spicebox whiskey on the rocks kept me happy. Before the ‘secret’ got out — the upstairs bar was limited VIP before the word got out. But by the end of the night, I had drinks akimbo… (See? Doesn’t that sound classier than ‘double-​fisting’?)
But as always — good people and good times at a Unilocal Elite party. Thanks to Bimini for hosting and to Robin:
Hard swagging like a pimp or boss,
Dressed as Aunt Viv, brushing her shoulder pads off
She looked at her queendom and in quick maneuver,
To sit on her throne as the CM of Unilocal Vancouver.

Playing games, pool and hanging around with whiskey and cocktails, is the best way to start the 2012 year! Best opening party ever for the year of 2012!
The Bimini bar is HUGE. I find it more of a lounge than a bar though because there are so many seats and the smaller bars really add to the convience when you are sitting far away from one of them. I love the large glass doors as you enter the bar, it is amazing. Makes me feel like I was in Las Vegas again in those few seconds.
Anways, onto the food shall we? The sliders were epic. 100% beef, it was so juicy I couldn’t contain it… *drools* and the big bowl chilis. OMG. As usual, we couldn’t finish it, there wasn’t enough Chip to chili ratio. :(NEEDED MORE CHIPS! We had tons of drinks that night, and I stayed fabulous, as usual. The hot dogs were delicious! I loved the relish they used on the hot dogs, it tasted great. I can’t believe I am complimenting Hot Dogs… LOL. The Pizza wasn’t that good, but it was edge Pizza which was amazing. Less sauce and more ingredients. But the bread was pretty greasy to the touch. Didn’t like that for sure…
The drinks were amazing. Three cocktails, the Orange Crush, nostalgia to the old style orange cream popsicle. It was very delicious, but it was dangerous as you can’t taste the alcohol, when I know there is some in there… OH GOD. The rootbeer float was amazing. But I couldn’t call it a float because there was no ice cream T_​T and I thought there would be, but I was disappointed. It was delicious though. The Lemon cocktail was my favourite of the night. *DROOL* had tons of these, but I couldn’t feel the alcohol though. Surprising, and it was delicious. I love the sour and the sweet inside it and the acidity really flowed.
Amazing time with the Unilocal community as always, and meeting many new Unilocal Elites! Finally met David W, Yassir N, and seeing Miachel P again! :D Yes me and Michael P go way back. LOL. But he is still older than me. LOL.
Fabulous night went well I can say! See everyone at the next one! :D

Yep I don’t know what YOU were doing but my friend Serena and I found how cool it was, while also hot, hanging out at last nights’ «rec room party». Bimini’s rocked it with a jukebox controlled sound system, standard Burdock Float cocktails, wine, beer and a select special set of non-​menu cocktails (lemonade & orange crush). With 3 different areas to be enjoyed, certainly anyone could find their niche. Full rec room immersion upon arrival with arcade games, fozball and billards, followed by booth and table seating at the impressive bar and cherry-​on top upper floor area. Over looking the main bar while also sporting a bar-​a-​thopia and further intimate seating.
And then there’s the food…
Nintendo wii game unit with two remotes and massive game directory

Rootbeer floa – err Burdock Float please! Those cocktails were delish and really did bring me back to the days when drinking sweet boozy drinks was a thing I really did in the «Rec Room» (aka someone’s basement).
I’m glad to see Bimini’s back in action as it was a nice, casual place I used to frequent pre-​fire. Love the big open space with lots of room to roam. I’m so nostalgic that I don’t think I can bring myself to call it THE Bimini ;)
Besides the sweet drinks, I also liked the sliders and jars of candy around the bar. Put a Wii controller in my hand and set me in front of Super Mario Kart and I’m all set!
Thanks Robin!

A great way to kick off the new year, by hanging out in the rec room with a bunch of Unilocal Elites!
This was my first time at the newly re-​opened Bimini’s, and it was a great opportunity to check the space out. There were cozy booths, a large main bar, and even additional floors to accommodate us. Unilocalers were decked out in their 90s gear, the bright colors, the sports jerseys, plaids, shoulder pads (Robin!), and the side ponytails!
The drinks were oh so delicious– I especially loved the Burdock float. Of course, the lemonade and the orange ones were also quite tasty! I loved that they used the Fentiman’s sodas to make the drinks. My favourite food was the short rib poutine-​I also added a scoop of the chilli for extra goodness.
Friendly staff who kept up with us the whole night, as well as being very attentive. I definitely had quite the awesome night. Thank you Robin for another fun event!

Where do I even begin with this review?! This was the first Elite party I attended and I’m glad The Bimini was chosen as the venue. Not only did I have a heck of a time, the Bimini exceeded my expectations!
The staff were overly friendly, helpful and polite, the food was delicious and the drinks. well, let’s just say, they kept coming and I had absolutely no complaints about it. This was certainly the first of many I plan to attend and I would not hesitate to return to the Bimini.
There are no other places (that I’m aware of) which combines the aspects of a social house and a gamer lounge. We were playing Mario Kart and Tetris for goodness sake. while drinking! The coziness of the venue and the people I met last night left both positive and lasting impressions.
Again, had a great time (as did my +1) and I’m looking forward to the next event.
Special thanks to Robin M. (you’re awesome!) and the staff at the Bimini.

Leave it to one Awesome! Community Manager and the Donnelly Group to set up the scene for one fantastic bar night! Robin, Pete and the team, thanks for all your incredible work putting together the first Elite event of 2012!
What made this party for me was the bang-​on ambience! What a perfect meld between Donnelly and Unilocal.Great, friendly staff and perfectly set music to create that gregarious environment (signature, Donnelly) tied to one awesome stylin’ theme (signature, Unilocal), 90s arcade night! Also, the bottomless GI on tap, whisky punch bowl, specialty cocktails, the endless roaming grub (sliders, pizza, poutine, and mini dogs) put the cherry on top for us eatin’ and drinkin’ Elitests! Great catching up with Robin, Mark H„ Dru C, Rick C, Larry and Mike too!
Glad to have Bimini back again! With its brilliantly designed out, leadership and ambience, there’s no doubt in my mind that Bimini won’t stand the test of time. Can’t wait to be back!

MAANNN FUCK the icy roads! Ain’t nothin gonna stop me from hittin up this 90’s retro event!
ol’ school video games? Junk food? mutha effen pin bawl!!! booze? the only thing missing was my «Cross Colors» gear and my MC hammer baggy pants! (you know what im talking about!!)
ROBIN! GGUUURRRLLLL! you did it again! you brought back my childhood and put it on BLAST!!! you are clearly the best! (REAL TALK) The food was great! ESPECIALLY the short rib poutine! I couldn’t get enough of it! The Venue was stellar, the staff was the freakin bomb! so nice and very attentative, OH and the individual washrooms? nice touch Bimini! nice touch! (now i can m*sterb*te in peace ;)) j/​k… –_​_​– .
Everything about this party screamed out nostalgia and fun for me! Another successful soirée by our wonderful C.M., amazing friends, great conversations, crazy drinks (root beer cocktails whhhaat!!!) I had a great time! Thank you again Robin! this is definitely goin in my «AWW YYEEAHH» books, son! ;)
am i making any sense? meh don’t care! :P
Untill next time, Unilocal!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I really like the fact that a non elite is the first to write a review to an Elite party. Got to love the irony. I haven’t been to too many, but objectively this one was really good.
Food: They had more food than I think people could handle. Sliders, mini dogs, chilli (vegetarian and meat) going around. And on top of that some good hard lemonade, orange crush drinks, and whisky floats.
Ambiance: It’s friendly, video games going, and then you’ve got the whole bottom stairs that leads to pool, foosball and arcades. The music was a little louder than I would have liked, but that’s when you know you’re getting old.
Host: As usual Robin did a great job. Thank You Secretary of State Clinton. She was really friendly in greeting me and my plus one. And we chatted very briefly. Considering she had so many Unilocalers to attend to, I consider myself lukcy. Also thanks for the Glow Stick, and the balloons tied to them was… an…interesting…add on. One of the Elites kept punching them.
People: Somehow we ended up starting a +1 table where about 80% of us were guests of others. It was great to see some familiar faces from previous events, and on top of that to meet some new +1’s. And introduce people to others. The beauty of it, I ended up meeting some people from Twitter. So score for the social media addicts.
I even ended up meeting an Elite that knew one of my interns, and pepole randomly coming up to me to chat. It was great!
Overall I had a blast! See some of you at the next UYE.

Starting the 2012 year off right with that Unilocal Elite party, here we go, on a very cold and crisp night on the west end of town. Many who braved the ‘harsher’ conditions for a good time on this Wednesday got it at the Bimini. I have never been here, and from the outside of this place didn’t expect it to be so big in size, and the 90’s theme for the night really threw a good curve ball on what to wear to make it feel 90’s like.
The one color that was showing at this event was teal blue, was this a 90’s color, I guess it was, as many were wearing this with other combinations. I came in an old Toronto Raptors sweatshirt, I saw Johnson C. in an old Charlotte Hornets L. Johnson jersey, and his brother in an old Canucks white jersey, and even Amy T. rocking it out in a red t-​shirt with an old Nintendo controller. Plaid was also seen amongst the crowd, but wasn’t this more an 80’s thing? The theme’s are one thing that definitely makes the party, I wonder what will be next (pimps and playas?). There was a good mix of beverages at this event, and even though I forgot most of the names that were provided, there was a burdock float (it tastes like a root beer float), orange crush (this taste like a orange cream soda) and some funky lemonade brew, which were all mixed with whisky. There were a number of beers that were also poured freely, with the nice straight up whisky that I had with Johnson and Derek and Vincci just to start off the night.
There was some good food to keep our mouths moving with all the liquids that were going down our throats as fast as we could pour them. Some pretty fair sized burger sliders, some half hot dogs rolling around, small samlpets of poutine (which I did not have… shoot!), and some fresh potato chips at the tables with some creamy dip, also the Unilocal swag was around the place, upstairs, downstairs, left and right to get our hands on. Also there was some good ol’ classic Nintendo getting played on one of the screens when coming up the stairwell. I was watching some classic Super Mario Brothers being played by Portland Unilocal Ambassador Don, who graced us on this day’s festivities, and he was great to talk to as well, sitting with us and having a drink talking about the worldwide Unilocal!
I was able to reacquaint myself with my Unilocal friends, and nothing helps more than booze, I mean great surroundings! Seeing Larry bring his brother ‘Jey’ as how it was spelled on the name tag was cool, and them bringing another of their blood (sister) to the party was cool. Mark H. after not seeing him at the last one due to being out somewhere warm in Asia, Derek and Johnson in teal, Dru, Amy, and Vincci, and also this time, being able to get a drink for Hilda… as she asked last time… «where’s my drink!».
A great way to ring in the New Year, getting greeted by Robin. Hats off to you, on another memorable planned Elite Event. As I said to you at the door leaving, see you soon, hopefully before the next Elite night, but your off to a fine start already!

Thanks to Robin M and the Donnelly Group for a great introduction to single occupancy washrooms! Yes, that’s right, they had EIGHT of them, covered in mirrors and posters and with toilets that had both a laser sight and a button in case the laser didnt work. And soap, and a sink, and a lot of surfaces to insufflate various powders with your nose.
They started off pretty clean when I showed up, after my first order of a tasty yet tangy lemon whiskey hybrid thing in a martini glass. Something by Beck was playing and magic was in the air at the pool table when I first had to go. But WHICH ONE TO PICK. Wait, what? Thats usually only a question of TWO, like YES or NO, like AM I A BOY OR A GIRL.
But then I took a seat and started chatting with some people about where to stash a ridiculously salty hot dog, racing to the bottom of the punch bowl when BAM gotta go again. I chose the SAME WASHROOM as I did the first time, probably out of habit, and IT WAS GETTING MESSED UP. Like toilet paper on the floor weird puddle on the seat MESSED UP.
And then I had some familiar Granville Island brews and a super smooth root beer flavoured cocktail and checked out the bathroom AGAIN. Devastation. So I looked in all the bathrooms, taking this opportunity to really soak in the Bimini’s ambience.
Then tried a burger slider, which was pretty tasty, and the chili, which was spiced and salty but not hot, and checked out the jukebox, which had a pretty awesome cross reference of cool (including Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. wut?) I didnt get a chance to check on the bathrooms because we left right after, but I did notice people playing tetris on the entrance to them.
Also, hippy paintings, darkly lit, booths and wood tables, looks like a lot of Donnelly would. I wouldn’t normally go here, but you might, so you should try it.

Those lemon soda and root beer cocktails were way too drinkable! Double-​fisting has become a way of life at these Unilocal events, but I’m not complaining!
Nice to see Bimini’s up and running again, but I have to confess I’ve never been there before. Now that I know it’s such a huge space, this would be a great spot to catch the game. Two levels, Tornado fooz, arcade games and plenty of TV’s good from every seat.
I loved the short rib poutine! Truffled fries and parmesan, delish.
Glad I resisted the urge to curl up in bed on this –7 degree night to kick off 2012 with always awesome Unilocalers — are shout outs keeping in theme with the 90’s or is that still a term the cool kids use? :P Either way, much love to Robin & the amazing staff at Bimini’s!

Good vibes already! That was my quick tip of the evening.
A great way to kick off the Unilocal year. And a unique one at that too! Vincent N, non Elite writes the first review. Chalk one up to something that I think is going to be great things to come.
I haven’t been to Bimini’s in years and it was nice to see this place back up and in operation. Loved the Pod style bathrooms where I noticed some people could have fun with the dryer!
To keep it short,
Great great event,
The drinks were very accommodating. I was able to get one of the cocktail drinks without the simple syrup, which was a bonus for me.
Vincci L kept yapping about how great the Poutine was.
Got to meet some new Elites. Hope you guys like the flavour of these Elite events and keep Unilocaling for the community.
My plus one was so happy and delighted to see fellow Unilocaler Simon K. I think they had a few Bro moments there. Hopefully he’ll get off his ass and write some more.
I like the stuff he writes.
And my lil sister was Dereks +1. How neat was that?
And then there were the mini Hot dogs. I love hot dogs.
And of course «We love you Robin!»
It was a lovely mature event.
Cheerios for everyone!

A 90’s retro and video game theme party? Finally somewhere I can wear my Nintendo tee and fully embrace my geekness too!
I’ve actually never been to Bimimi’s and this was a great opportunity to see the place. It was a huge space and never felt crowded. We could have had at least 30 more people in there. The single washrooms are a great idea and there were enough so it was never a long wait. The drinks were great, but I loved the lemonade. Refreshing, but not too sweet.
The staff did an amazing job and I don’t think I was ever left without a drink. As usual, Unilocal parties are full of people who are friendly and never pretentious.
Thanks for being your awesome selves, Robin for setting this up and the staff at Bimimi!

LOVE: the guy wearing a NKOTB jacket. I don’t even. Didn’t get a chance to say hi, but you’re my hero.
Event was stellar, and I loved that I got to meet some fab new people. First time in a while I found myself chatting it up with Elites I’d never met and that’s always awesome! Hello to Kwoky & Christian and Daniella!
The drinks were fantastic! Love the burdock float — I spotted so many people with this drink before I gave it a try, so I was late to the game, but it was amazing. The spiked lemonade was great as well — boozy without the boozy taste (just the way I like em!)
The food — I honestly thought there wasn’t enough food, but I think it was our proximity to the kitchen that made the difference. Once we relocated to be closer to the bar, we saw a lot more delicious goodies come our way. The winners of the night were the sliders and the poutine (oh that poutine *drool*). I suppose since we spent the first bit of the event eating chips and edamame, my +1 was a little on the loud and hand-​wavy side. S’alright, he was more calm by the end of the night.
Bimini is a great location — there’s tons of room in the place for people to move about freely without the need to put your elbows out. The booths are so comfy, I wish I had lounged in them all night long. Service is great, the staff were super friendly, but drinks to our far booth took a while to get to us (and the food never made it that far). The bathrooms were nice, but that blowdryer in the one-​room bathroom rattled my brain every time I had to use it. It was crazy loud and echoed, and I could literally see all the dust fluff swirling about in a tornado-​like fashion while I dried my hands.
Robin did an amazing job with the event and looked fab as always. The space was a bit larger than what we needed, since there were certainly sections that didn’t get filled — but it was so good to see everyone at the start of the new year. My resolution — to hit the 300 review mark on Unilocal!You heard it hear first people!