Hotel Bars


900 WEST LOUNGE
An impressive wine list highlights this classic meeting place, and the experienced bar staff also know how to handle a martini. While prices are near the high end of the spectrum, live jazz and generous heapings of free nibblies help ease sticker shock, and the service is outstanding. Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 W. Georgia St., Downtown, 604-669-9378.

BACCHUS PIANO LOUNGE
The Wedgewood is Vancouver’s classic boutique hotel; its Bacchus lounge, all cherrywood panelling, gold and burgundy colour scheme and blazing limestone fireplace, extends the hotel’s brand of elegance. Regularly winning Vancouver magazine’s award for Best Bar/Lounge, the Bacchus hops with downtown’s movers and shakers. Wedgewood Hotel, 845 Hornby St., Downtown, 604-689-7777.

DIVA LOUNGE
A fun, open space, The Diva offers competent bartending, a wide-ranging bar list and an above-average menu of light fare. Diva has many in-town regulars but also attracts film-type folks who’ve escaped the clutches of the Gerard. Metropolitan Hotel, 645 Howe St., Downtown, 604-602-7788.

GERARD LOUNGE
Known for the slightly musty air of our mid-’90s X-Files peak, Gerard is still home to Vancouver’s Hollywood-in-exile types sequestered while waiting for calls to the set for Jumanji III. Martinis are the real stars, but the room can sometimes feel curiously underpowered. Sutton Place Hotel, 845 Burrard St, Downtown, 604-682-5511.

OPUS BAR
Very stylish indeed in that Chelsea/SoHo boutique sort of way (think Eames stools, Jacobsen egg chairs, Philippe Starck’s Neoz cubes and pillars to lean against). The crowd is a mix of jet-setting internationals and locals who’d dearly love to be jet-setting internationals. Drinks and service are excellent—this is an establishment that is extremely of its time. Opus Hotel, 322 Davie St., Yaletown, 604-642-6787. Opusbar.ca.

SIDEBAR LOUNGE
Remember when bars were just for booze? Not for karaoke or trivia night, but good old unhealthy binge-drinking? Well, many fans of the Sidebar sure do. This Howe Street dive is a booze-soaked time capsule of questionable late-night charm—though some aficionados say it has lost its je ne sais quoi since it finally went along with the smoking ban. Bosman Motor Hotel, 1060 Howe St., Downtown, 604-682-3171.

SYLVIA HOTEL LOUNGE
A much-loved room that has undergone a much-needed makeover, the Sylvia was the first cocktail bar ever opened in Vancouver, back in 1954. It’s always been a poky, low-key place, often filled with older guests of the homey rooms upstairs, and dishevelled young men and women reading Chekhov or scribbling in notebooks. Service can be underwhelming, but the views of English Bay are unbeatable, and worth braving a generally uninspired bar list. Sylvia Hotel, 1154 Gilford St., West End, 604-681-9321.

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