Pourhouse Restaurant

This place had a nice ambience. There was no wait when I was there. I ordered the scotch eggs and steamed clams. Both were delicious! I would definitely go back again! The price was reasonable and customer service at the bar was good too.

This place is pretty cool. Friendly bartenders and patrons. Bar was pretty empty on a Sunday night. Ordered the Debbie Does, which was pretty good. I also liked the step pedal to turn on the sink water in the restroom.

I like the Pourhouse, it’s never a chorehouse, it’s never a borehouse, I want to go morehouse.
The Pourhouse is one of my favourite restaurants in all of Vancouver. I’ve always found the food to be really good quality (and cheaper than I’d expect, for how fancy it is), while the service is very professional and friendly, the ambience is lovely and the cocktail selection is great. You can get some great drinks here, both traditional and original, and if you’re visiting Gastown I’d definitely recommend you put this on your to-​see list.
The Pourhouse can get very busy, though, so if you can either reserve in advance or have a table held for you for later, that will make your evening a happier one. There are sometimes some long waiting lists if you turn up at the door. This place is popular, as it deserves to be.

Pourhouse hits every single factor a restaurant should have — exquisite food, a lively, exciting atmosphere, impeccable service, and lastly, an «it» factor. Pourhouse’s? Their live jazz on Sunday nights.
The decór is gorgeous, and the layout is very unique with a platform for guests to watch the live band and get cozy in booths and tables alike. The walls are made of brick which adds a rustic feel — a theme I think Pourhouse is trying to create. Wooden panelled pillars and ceilings further adds to the rustic environment.
The staff are amazing — kind, efficient, and professional. As for the food, I had the spaghetti and meatballs and they were absolutely mouth watering. Although the menu is limited, the food is quality, and the choices are a fair range of BC seafood and other interesting mains such as rabbit terrine and octopus (not something I’d go for, but hey, they get marks for individuality!)
Pourhouse almost has a European quality, but honestly, I think that all comes from the energy in the room created by staff, the band, and the guests.
Almost tucked away for you to wander upon a secret, incredible new world, Pourhouse is perfectly located in central Gastown. I can assure you, you won’t wanna miss out on a Sunday night at Pourhouse. It’s simply magical.

This review is for Sunday night drinks at the bar.
We popped in between 7 and 8pm on a Sunday night to enjoy cocktails and live music while sitting at the bar.
I quite enjoyed my Debbie Does, and my husband liked his Sazerac.
The bartender was excellent — friendly and very competent.
The live music, which had a blues/​rock feel, was great.
Overall, an awesome visit!

Katie the Bartender pours drinks like nobody’s business! She’s actually a barback here but recently moved to Vancouver so she has to pay her dues. I hope they get her as a bartender full time because she know’s her cocktails like a magician knows magic. We didn’t eat anything here, so this review is purely based on the libations. I think I had 4 drinks here, all were just as delicious as the previous one: vodka martini with a twist (she made it taste just like water, so I didn’t order another one as would have been a dangerous night otherwise), a Ramos gin fizz (concocted to perfection as it took 4 people to shake this baby to the 10 star that it was), a cognac sidecar, and some concoction she made that had a beautiful presentation (I can’t quite remember the name of the drink, but it was good and gorgeous). All cocktails are $ 14 CAD here, which isn’t bad if the exchange rate is in the USD’s favor. For as good as these were, I’d say it was all worth it. Not only were the drinks brilliant, but the service was even better. Katie made us feel like regulars here and answered any questions we had. She was very inviting and engaging. She almost felt like a friend that made you a drink when you needed it. The manager, Chris, was also cool. Come here for the drinks! You’re guaranteed to love it!

The food is fantastic – scotch eggs! – and it’s a lovely interior and great food, but both times I’ve been in I’ve had the same server – dark-​haired man, I don’t know his name – and he’s incredibly condescending. Tonight we went in for my birthday but left after one round and went to the spaghetti factory, because why pay for premium when the server’s making your dining experience uncomfortable? Two in a row, I probably won’t go back.

We like the drinks and the ambiance at Pourhouse. However, the service and food were disappointing during our last two visits. They gave us burnt tiny bits of fries both times. They pieces were so small we had to use our forks. Also, we felt that the servers were quite pushy trying to get us to order more food both times. What if you just want to get (ridiculously expensive) drinks and a couple of appetizers? The servers should loosen up a bit. This place has a lot of potentials so hopefully the management will do what they can to improve on the above points.

I looked at the menu prior to visiting and found some interesting items which I did get to try but sadly, they were quite disappointing. We ordered a few appies and a main to share. Need to save room for dessert!
–Devils on Horseback (2.5/5-$ 7): You get 6 pieces in a pool of bbq sauce. It’s basically bacon wrapped dates with something in the middle. You’d think bacon wrapped anything would be good, but nuh uh. The bacon was good, don’t get me wrong. The combination with the dates and the bbq sauce didn’t work well for me. I’d say skip the bbq sauce if you can.
–Scotch Egg (3/​5-​$ 8): Not particularly good nor bad. Generous amount of meat around the egg!
–Rabbit Terrine (2.5/5-$ 15): This comes with mustard, 3 slices of toast and pickles. The terrine was quite stiff. Nothing to write about the taste. The mustard was lovely. But not worth $ 15.
–Beets (4/​5-​$ 15): I was skeptical about getting this dish as I’m not big on Middle Eastern flavours, but this one got me. It was pretty darn tasty. The only downfall was the beets. It wasn’t sweet.
–The Pourhouse burger (3.5/5-$ 18): The burger itself was really greasy. I wouldn’t want to imagine how many calories I’d be consuming if I had the whole thing to myself. It was tasty and had a quality burger with some pork belly on top. Why would it taste good?! It lacked the veggies that usually comes with a burger. I’m sure a slice or two of a tomato would cut out some of the fattiness of the burger. The fries were ok.
Overall, none of the dishes were above average and most fell short. I deducted points for failure to execute the main component of the dish to its best (eg. the beets, the terrine).

I heard Pourhouse has a really decent burger, so I dragged a friend along to give it a go.
I’m sure it’s a nice looking place, but it’s dim inside. Lights are dimmed at 7pm, and again later (8pm?). For a tight space, there’s actually quite a bit of privacy with how the seating is arranged, plus there are lots of booths. If you want any chance of a booth, best to mention that during your reservation.
Pot of Tea ($ 4.50)
–Hmm… No tea bag. So you basically have to finish your tea quite quickly, otherwise it becomes unappetizing cold tea, and there’s no point adding hot water because there’s no teabag!
–Not sure about the spoon since I didn’t get sugar or honey anyway.
Scotch Egg ($ 8)
–Basically a boiled egg deep fried with sausage meat on the outside.
–Pretty thick layer of sausage meat, which was quite tasty with spices but also a bit salty (’cause it’s sausage!)
–Overall, pretty pricey for $ 8 and OK tasting.
–If you insist on spending your money on hard boiled eggs, try Tuc Craft Kitchen’s Crispy Bacon and Egg for $ 4. It’s strangely good and half the price (but obviously less meat).
Devils on Horseback ($ 7)
–Go easy on the BBQ sauce, which could ruin it for you with the sourness.
–Dates with a cube of cheese in the middle, and wrapped in bacon.
–NOT oysters! Those are Angels on Horseback.
–Overall I didn’t find these particularly tasty. Interesting small bites, but basically $ 1 each.
Rabbit Terrine ($ 15) beer mustard, bread and butter pickles
–The terrine itself is sweet and tasty. The rest is… the rest. Pricey for $ 15.
The Pourhouse Burger ($ 18)
–Menu doesn’t mention it, but comes with fries and a half pickle, making it a decent meal.
–You’re probably paying for the quality of the meat in the patty, because there’s basically nothing else.
–Patty is smaller than the bun! But thick, and cooked «medium», evidenced by the pink.
–Overall, not really tasty unless you can appreciate the meat in the patty — which I admit I can’t. Not enough to justify it being $ 18, anyway.
Beets ($ 15) labneh, pears, wheat berries, dukkah spice
–Winner! Get this.
–Price for portion on the high side but it’s tasty and interesting with a middle eastern flavour.
–Beets not particularly sweet, unfortunately.
Tempted to give ²⁄₅ because of the duds, but items were interesting and service was good so they get a pass.

This place came highly recommended by my cousin, so my husband and I decided to try it out while we are in town. The drinks are pricy, but very good! I got the Centennial, since I like fruity sweet drinks, and my husband got the Old Fashioned. We also ordered the Octopus and Scotch Egg. Both dishes were delicious! The tzaziki sauce was really refreshing to the octopus and potatoes. The egg was cooked PERFECTLY. Who doesn’t like deep fried foods? Deliiiiish!!!
Our server, Sophia, was great also! It was our first time here and she was extremely friendly and helpful with the menu!

This place did not disappoint!
On our first night in Vancouver our first dinner choice was delicious! We started by trying out the scotch egg which was quite delightful. Then came the Mac & cheese w/​sausage. It was very flavorful and quite feeling. Luckily we decided to share the pourhouse burger. The burger has pork belly and was cooked perfectly! Comes with a side of fries as well.
Such a great dining experience! I would definitely recommend this place to any Vancouver visitors

Where else can you get an amazing old fashioned, scotch egg, pâté, and bangers and mash in the same place? Bangers and mash is not typically known as the most flavorful of dishes, but it was super tasty here. The pâté was so good we ordered it twice in one sitting.
Their bartenders made one of the best old fashioneds I’ve ever had. That’s the standard to which a good bartender can be held, so I was impressed.
Good for late night eats and drinks, cool prohibition-​era vibe, usually really busy.
Great to check out if you’re in gastown for the evening.

Went here with friends for some drinks after work one Friday night. The gentleman who served us was fantastic. He was witty, personable, and seriously knew his stuff when it came to cocktails. A couple friends asked for surprise drinks, which I can’t imagine is any servers favourite request. He handled it well though and asked for a few more details of what they were looking for. Were there any types of liquor that they didn’t like, any they preferred, did they want something sweet, something bitter? When he came back with their drinks, they were both pleasantly surprised.
Unfortunately, that server left us halfway through. I think he worked the bar and, since we were sitting in the restaurant area, he wasn’t able to serve us once it got busy. Although our new server was pleasant enough, she wasn’t as witty and upbeat as he was. Still, she did a good job of checking up on us and refilling our drinks.
I ended up ordering the crispy fried cheese with the curry ketchup. They were delicious and I loved the curry ketchup!
Prices are definitely a little higher here, but you get what you pay for. Great drinks, food, service and atmosphere. Perfect spot for a date or just a nice night out.

The roommate and I were in Gastown and stopped by Pourhouse since I had them bookmarked for their cocktails. It was Sunday, January 17^th around 5:30pm. We ended up sitting at the bar and ordering two rounds of drinks.
*Old pal: American rye, vermouth, campari ($ 13)
I got this cocktail to start off with. A little sweeter than I prefer, but a good drink to start off the night.
*Ardbeg uigeadail: islay ($ 19 single)
*Oban 14 yr: highlands ($ 13 single)
*Taketsuru pure malt ($ 12 single)
The roommate wanted straight pours, so he decided to try a couple scotches. I got the oban. Nothing new, but a good go to for me. Our bartender was awesome and suggested the taketsuru pure malt. The roommate liked it and even ordered it at the next bar we went to.
The atmosphere is dark, a little exclusive, and kind of sexy. I loved it! If I had a bar like this close to home, I’d probably be a regular! The bartenders were also fun and we talked a bit before it started getting busy.
Note: They have free WiFi! Just ask for the password.

This place is always busy whenever I walk by at night, so this time at 3pm I couldn’t find any other bars open and my friend really wanted a cocktail. Thank god Pourhouse serves food for lunch so they’re open all day.
I sat at the bar with my friend, since all we wanted were drinks and the bar was pretty empty. The winter cocktail list looked pretty good to be, and the bartender also told us he could make whatever else we wanted. I didn’t look at the food menu at all, so I’ll have to come back and give the food a try sometime.
Both cocktails I had here were really good, and the corpse reviver #2 I had the bartender make me really hit the spot for an afternoon drink.

This is definitely a cool place to hang out and chill for a bit before going elsewhere.
We dropped by for a few drinks and the bartenders were pretty cool recommending drinks based on other drinks that we liked. I had a chance to try the burger which was pretty decent.
I’d come by for a drink again but I’d probably skip the food the next time.

I came here for a couple of drinks to catch up with an old friend and the bartenders know exactly what they are doing. I wanted something tart and sour and the bartender made me a Gin based drink that was just what I had ordered. I then ordered a pesci sour with egg whites which again was made to perfection… highly recommend sitting at the bar and letting the bartenders take care of your drinking needs.
The ambiance is great and the pedal water tap in the washroom is a great reminder of the simple ways of life back in the day!

I had the best cocktail of my life here. It was a take on a bourbon sour, and it was everything I could ever want in one beautiful little drink. Unfortunately for you, Unilocal,the name of said drink has vanished from the notes section of my iPhone, but I’ll leave you with this — it starts with a C, and it will change your life.
Sunday night they have a live jazz band, which really adds to the ambiance of this bar. Everything stylistically is on point — from the leather bound menus, down to the wallpaper in the bathroom, to the broody vibe with that sexy, candlelit glow. This is one of my favourite spots to unwind and people watch.
Haven’t tried much of the food offerings here except for two beautiful words: Scotch Eggs.
And those were, of course, incredible. Great spot.

Oh. My. God. Drinks
I’ve had some of the best drinks in my life at this bar, and I do go out for drinks a lot. I’ve never ordered from the menu. I usually just go in and ask the bartender to be creative:) it’s always a hit, never a disappointment. This place is a must try if you like off the menu surprises