Princeton Pub

Let’s be clear: The Princeton Pub is no more a dive bar than Pavarotti was an East Van lounge lizard. It’s true that the Princeton Hotel next door is a boarding-​house-​cum-​liquor-​store, and the neighbourhood is a bit down at the heels. But the Princeton is a welcoming ray of light on a cold, wet night, with better-​than-​average food and friendly, attentive service. A real dive bar, in contrast, is a place where food service is an oxymoron and butter knives are best kept out of reach of the patrons.
Each day features a food and drink special, with Trivia Night thrown in as a Wednesday bonus.
Although many menu items looked tempting, I went for the Sunday special: a pulled-​pork sandwich topped with cole slaw, a side of fries and a pint of Powell Street White IPA. It was all — dare I say — better than average.
Apparently, live music is to be had on many evenings. But karaōke was on this Sunday’s music menu. I opted for discretion and left before bursting into an East Van lounge lizard’s poor imitation of Pavarotti’s rendition of Rodolfo in «La bohème.»

prices have gone up. ok the food is a lot better but the prices are quite out of whack for its location, clientele, and ambiance. its a dive bar keep it dive bar prices…
but saying that i still love the princeton.

Best hidden breakfast gem in east van!
My boyfriend and I have been coming here every single Sunday for the last 2 years. It’s my most treasured tradition of the week.
The ambiance is down to earth and relaxed with ample booth seating to get extra cozy. The servers here are all huge sweethearts and make you feel very welcomed. They serve breakfast until 2:00pm so you can enjoy a nice sleep in and stroll over as you please.
The breakfast special is super cheap & traditional– 2 eggs, toast, bacon or sausage and roasted potatoes for under $ 7.00. Consistent taste and quality. No frills here, but exactly what you’d want in a breakfast on a Sunday morning.
My most favorite thing about Princeton Pub is that I can walk in, seat myself at a bright and sunny booth by the window, get a cup of coffee and order food within 2 minutes of getting there. No lines, no waiting for anything. I really appreciate this about Princeton.

At the risk of making this amazing breakfast spot even busier than it already is getting… I have to say this is hands-​down my favourite breakfast in the city (probably the world) my family and extended family of friends have been coming here for just about weekly breakfasts for years. The hash browns are tender and cooked with rosemary so they almost taste like stuffing. The eggs are cooked perfectly, the bacon is crispy, the ham is juicy, and the marble rye is amazing. I can’t talk it up enough. If breakfast isn’t your thing they also offer an excellent and varied lunch menu (I highly recommend the club or BLT). The ambience is part of the charm of this spot as well. You can sit and watch the big trains go by only a few feet from the window! The servers are lovely here. They genuinely go out of their way to make us feel welcome and always serve us with a smile. I recommend this spot wholeheartedly but keep it secret! Don’t tell your friends!

Great dive bar. Clean, good drinks and live music.
Good pool table, friendly people and food ain’t half bad.
Some live shows are a bit loud but it’s a great collection of diverse and interesting people.
Good neighbourhood drinking hole!

the Princeton has a pub and hotel restaurant. shared kitchen in the middle. I just eat at hotel restaurant which closes at 3.
super clean, cool staff, cool booths. parking across the street. all my meals have been great. breakfast special like $ 6.39. burgers are hand made. chipotle chicken burger is so light and fluffy. no frozen crap here. French fries are like no other place in town that I’ve seen.
this place is a gem and should be busier than it is.

this used to be one of my favourite breakfast spots in the area. however with the increase in price, that seems to mean there’s a decrease in food quality. i used to come here when the breakfast special was $ 5 and done well. it’s still pretty cheap ($ 6.29) but nowhere near as good as it was when it still came with a piece of fruit. super mangled and mushy hashbrowns, slightly undercooked sausages, and poor presentation. save your cash and walk up to Far Out and get their breakfast burrito instead.

This bar is the closest bar to my boyfriends place, so we went to checkout out on a Monday night .
We were pleasantly surprised by the beer special — Gulden Drar for a $ 7.50! At 10.4% alcohol this is a strong beer. We were even more pleasantly surprised there was live music. A folksy gentleman with guitar and harmonica treated us to some John Denver And James Taylor classics. My boyfriend tried his first Hawkins cheezies.
They have a kitchen and daily food specials. Kitchen closes at 9 but we will definitely be back to see if our local bar can have 4 stars. Wouldn’t that be great?

I’ve Been Here Two Tuesday Nights in a Row — I’m thinking tonight might be Night #3.
I’ve come here after my martial arts class and everytime I’ve worked up quite an appetite — the only downside is, the kitchen closes at 9 — last time here, I’ve resorted to eating Bar Nuts from a vending Machine (which surprisingly was really good).
Beer prices are cheaper than the standard price (~$ 5).
This place has an amazing cast of patrons and so far, has always been a good time.

I’ve been going to the Princeton for over eight years for karaōke. In all that time, I’ve never had a problem with the food or the service. Every two weeks my friends and I go to the Princeton for Karaōke with DJ Val, and it is a rocking time!

went here a few nights ago with a few friends to support a friend who was releasing a newly published book and another friend’s band that was playing on the same night.
it’s deceivingly large because of the way they have the mirrors set up! it’s actually a really small place, but they have a huuuuge mirror that runs along one wall, so i was tricked into thinking there was a whole other section to the bar… but nope! all tricks. well played though, it opened up the room a lot more and so you didn’t feel so crammed into a tiny space.
the beer prices were reasonable (around $ 15 a pitcher was their special that night). i honestly was expecting a little bit cheaper just because of the type of place it was. i guess we do live in vancouver after-​all.
overall, i had a great night with my friends, and if there was another event similar to this, i wouldn’t be opposed to going back. it is kind of out of the way in terms of where i live, so i probably won’t be back on a regular basis.

We went here on Friday night to see a friend’s band play. We had a hoot! Comfy benches along the wall gave us a great view of the packed room. $ 5 to get in was reasonable for three bands. Don’t go here for the beer selection and eat first. They have chips and peanuts if you get hungry.
Totally relaxed venue without any pretence. It’s not like this is going to be my regular hang out but if there’s a fun band playing I’ll go back for sure.

What a sh**hole. At night it’s packed with rowdy, over-​served idiots. During the day it is worse… sad old teamsters hunched over the bar, complaining to each other, lording over their pathetic little slice of the world. God forbid you come in with a friend and try to have a conversation that cuts into their «shows» (they put on whatever midday crap they feel like watching, as if it were their front-​room). If you play the jukebox they’ll glare and harrumph and eventually ask the bartender to cut the sound out on you. Why have a jukebox if everyone hates it and doesn’t want it to be played? Don’t even get me started about the creepy guy in the corner with the surreal, gigantic pile of pull-​tabs… but I guess every awful, disgusting, sour booze-​can has to have one of them.

The Princeton only attracted my attention because of the new shows being billed here. They built up a stage against the train tracks and the place gets packed quickly, thanks in part to the talent and in part to the promotion work. The sound is hard to screw up in such a small space (capacity has to be 150 at most) and the dance floor feels quite crowded between the ATM machine and the bar tables.
Yet, somehow these few aspects are the only appeal of the place, because the bar itself has to be one of the least hip places you can be. Decorated with corny barrels and a pool table, you’ll find unreasonable beer prices in an odd location full of mid 30s to 40s on any given night. They could justify this with a consistent western theme, if it existed beyond their swill. I dont mind buying good beer on tap, but theirs is bottom barrel, with an odd taste in the glass to boot.
The staff are also incredibly reserved here. For example, when I’ve sung karaōke, I had people honestly offended by the fact that I was a bad singer (and singing the Rolling Stones), and so I challenged them back by having my friends sing all their song’s lyrics as «Matts birthday.» I understand we were being annoying, but we were all kicked out for the night, instead of just being asked to stop. Its kareoke at a bar, the entire point is that people are supposed to be 1) drunk 2) bad 3) not ashamed of either of these facts. On another night, during an event I drunkenly snuck a friend in the side door and got caught. Realizing I made a very poor judgment, I apologized to the event and bar staff, and the promoter was ok with us coming in as long as we paid cover this time. Yet the bar staff made it a VERY personal complaint, and because of an angry waitress we were curbed. Understandable, if this was a bar full of 40 year olds. Oh, wait…
So thats my take on it. Get drunk and get out business here for anyone not a regular. Come here to see a show if you like the bands, but dont expect the staff to take any shit. and dont expect to make any friends with people under 25 for now

I think The Princeton is going for an urban cowboy theme what with the old-​style barrels out front and the music that’s played, live or recorded, that most would categorize as country. And I suppose they’ve achieved what they were shootin’ for.
But, honestly, that vibe isn’t my bag and I’ll leave this place to the 40-​and-​up crowd. On weekdays anyway. Still a fun place to go with a gaggle of friends for a game of pool, drinking some beers, playing some pool and listening to some usually pretty decent live music (no cover which is nice) on a Friday or Saturday.