The Charlatan Review

Tight patio but the appies ( coconut prawns and tuna ) and craft beer were A+. Looking forward to my next visit !

Covid update: more outdoor seating added.
Clear hard plastic hangings between tables.
Staff has masks on. Indoor seating offered also.

Probably my go-to spot in Vancouver for wings, especially on Tuesdays (wing night) with 50c wings. The flavours are delicious (I'm partial to the Black Dragon or Salt & Pepper), lots of beers on tap, TVs to watch just about any game you'd like, plenty of seating, and a great patio to hang out on in the summer.

Only reason I really go here is for the great patio. Food is average at best, really need to beef up there appetizer choices on those days you just want a quick bite and a cold one. They seem to be trying to go after the brunch crowd. Sometimes they have a hostess other times the bartender just says sit anywhere. Service is okay but I have noticed people trying to flag down wait staff.

Went in for drinks and a bite to eat on Italian day, I was very impressed with the food and service we got was fantastic. Our drinks we on the table in 2 mins and the place was PACKED! was not expecting that speed of service. Well done to the boh and foh team

Friendly place to go there. Good service and waitress.

Great place to go for beer but very poor for food. Don't reccomend. Service was not great at all.

Another quality spot to get drunk on Commercial Drive

This place is awesome! Great service and atmosphere! The food is good and they serve awesome local craft beers. My only issue is that they have a small selection of different types of craft beers - very concentrated towards lagers, whites, light and fruity ales.- great for patio pounding when the sun's out, but not so much for when I want to kick back at night with some buddies

Great food, amazing quality and tastes for the price.

Definitely try the hunters platter. Food is top notch. Glad we are here. We'll definitely go again.

The space is great. We had a fairly large group and they were accommodating and had great service. Food was also great! Really enjoyed our experience.

Great place to hang out and catch up with friends. Their wing night is not to be missed! They have delicious brunch too!

Cozy latenight spot on the drive for drinks good specials on wings and beer etc. Service has been atrocious and unacceptable 95% of the time we've been there and that's over 10 times. Servers ignore you. I don't know if it's the layout or they're just snobby either way so many other options. Why even bother.

Thank you so much for staying open later than others on a Saturday night!!

Good service and decent food. Atmosphere was also nice.

Tasty spot for food, and spectacular selection of draft beer

Great local hangout, hearty food and good veggie options.

Reasonably priced beer, wobbly as hell bar stools, cramped walkways... And great.

They have a 18 burger + beer deal on Wednesday. Beer is fairly priced and have lots of variety on tap - lots of local beers. The burger itself is good - the jerk chicken sandwich I got was pleasantly surprising. Good service and it's in a nice location. They have a good patio too.

Excellent outdoor covered patio to watch the world go by along the Drive & their signature Sangria is topnotch albeit tad pricey for limited budgets.

Really great selection of beers and staff so friendly

They have the best burgers! And house made onion ketchup.

First time in for brunch in years and it's so much better than it used to be. We were both super happy with our choices and left full and happy.

Great and helpful bar staff. Clientele that know when to chat, or not. Food is pretty good.

Find this place one time on a trip to see an art show nearby. After getting a predicted 2 hour wait at the "famed" Stormcrow down the block (the same scenario every time, even when it looks half empty...) we convinced the artists we were with that this was unreasonable and far too pretentious for a noisy festival-seating we're lucky enough to stumble on this place.

We we seated immediately, the service was stellar, and food variety/unique flavour combinations demonstrated top-notch culinary training. Their menu items were a lot closer to gourmet level work, but the atmosphere was really neat and still on the comfy pub-fare spectrum. It was busy & bustling, but not so noisy you couldn't carry on a reasonable conversation. My friends were impressed by the beer selection. Prices were excellent, especially considering the very high quality of the food. Lots of good veggies worked into yummy sides and garnishes, meaning it felt more fresh and real than the typical greasy-fried leaning of most similar establishments. An impressive variety of meats available as well (if that's your thing): rabbit & bison/buffalo dishes were in season at the time. An air of almost sushi-style care to presentation of each plate. Very visually appealing food & interior design. Highly recommend it over all the other places I've tried on The Drive recently.

Our server Anna was exceptionally friendly and the ingredients of highest quality.

Might want to actually put some sausage in the mussel clam sausage item.

I regularly come by grabbing some food in this spot. I enjoyed the prompt customer service and well cooked food. Fantastic work.

Extremely disappointing experience. Poor service right from the start. The servers looked miserable and didn't give much attention. When the food arrived, it was dropped in front of myself and another without saying a word. Turns out the orders were mixed up, so I ended up eating duck meat for the first time by accident (I'm pescetarian, so I was not too happy to be eating duck). Then the food tasted stale and the ingredients were bad quality. I had a stomach ache almost immediately. Definitely not worth the 100 bucks we dropped at this restaurant.

I used to work in this joint when it was under a differant name...
Since Ive lived in this hood its been at least 5 differant owners.
The Charlatan has finally installed a proper bar, that seats quite a few peeps!...
Service is great,(even if your a tad obnoxios..)...(Ive heard)
Food is pretty good..its a bar!
It is structually not conducive to anyone with wheels for mobility, as it is portioned in sections by stairs..3 tiers.
Great outdoor balcony....Probably best on the drive...
The ladies bathroom has allows had an
issue.....it stinks(literally)
After a few drinks you cant notice...ha ha or sit outside.
...PS 6 months alater....bathroom fixed( I haven't experienced first ...)
One hopes!!

The place was awesome and the table waiters are friendly They have quite a selections of drinks and local tabs. Tried their poutine and it wasn't half bad.

A little bit high-priced, but many very good food options. Full 20oz pints as well!

This place has friendly bartenders.and the upstairs bar is a great place.to meet.people.

We had surprisingly good drinks, service and food. Beautiful large space too. I'll be back.

Food was great. Weird service though. Asked the server if the dates wrapped in bacon were worth it and she said idk I m vegetarian . Cool.

We were a group of 6, the place was almost full, it was at night (cold night), the hostess set us in a table outside. Ok we agreed. Later the server took our order, we ordered Moscow mule (6), she arrived with 6 Mezcal mule, that was a misunderstanding of course, some of us kept the mezcal mule and some others changed it to Moscow. Later we move to a table inside and everything was good.

A busy bar on commercial, which makes it fun. Drinks are ok.

My favourite patio in the summer time! Under willow treats. Great drinks,
Especially The Dirty Boot!

Enjoyed dinner here today and it was a nice way to kick start patio season for 2019. The veggie burger was absolutely amazing... the guac and red pepper toppings were a bomb combination!! Upgraded to the poutine for $3 was a great idea. Outdoor seating was nice and away from the sketchy people walking by on commercial. Also, customer service wasn t bad. I ll definitely be coming here more!

as far as I'm concerned this is the best place for caesars on the Drive. very tasty 6$ doubles on Sunday days and the best patio for people watching. I've only eaten the mushroom eggs Benny and it was fantastic. the staff are rad as well.

Great local spot, I'm here all the time! Good taps, good food, nice neighbourhood vibe. 5 stars because I keep coming back!

Basically not a bad place. Music is way too loud. I had tagliatelle, it was amazing. Beer selection is also very good. Waitresses are fast and attentive.

Had the grilled halloumi & prosciutto salad and a seafood arabiatta pasta and chorizo. Am so glad I did! Especially surprised nt the pasta meal, the flavor was perfect. Please note the meal is quite spicy so be warned.

Good atmosphere and good deals for wings on Tuesdays

Good selection of beers and the service is great here. The many of times I ve been served by Andy the service has been perfect to a T.

Randomly walked in the other day and what a great little find, great drink selection, and delicious food with quite a few options.

Good food and the bartenders always treat me well. They have really good wings that are cheap on Tuesdays. Nice side patio.

Well, this place is just fabulous. The atmosphere is such a vibe and the bartender Michael is one hell of a bartender. Very impressed! Totally recommend this place to anyone who likes a few drinks and good vibes.
Thanks for the lovely service, kindly appericate it

Nice little place,friendly staff. My food wasn't great, but maybe just a bad day.

good food, decent prices. good taps. service depends on where you're sitting, a lot of blind corners here. split patio is interesting idea.

The beer and cocktail menu is great.

The food menu is pretty standard.

It's loud. Too loud to have a conversation with the person next to you.

It's a good stop for drinks, not a great stop for a quiet dinner.

Really enjoys the appys and beer.
Good atmosphere

Great food, great atmosphere, definitely a must visit place. The ravioli is great, and the scallops are to die for. If I could give it a 6th star I would

Drinks were delicious and the waiter was awesome although they put a lot of mushrooms onn tje poutine

Tuesday night wing night is the business. 50 cent wings and great drink deals.

Excellent place! The service is spot on, by servers and bartenders that are both skilled and wonderful people as well.

Three levels, so you can find the spot/location you like, great specials and selection...and the Chef Chelsea makes a great menu with incredible food!

I feel cruel only giving it four stars, but the one thing that literally makes me leave this great place is the music selection. Totally inappropriate for the neighborhood, as well as the overall feel of the place in general. Bland, featureless electronic droning, when people I talk to would really like some great human music with lyrics and warmth. Seriously, oldies...reggae, folk, indie...rock...polka for crying out loud...but give me some human connection because that's what people are after!

Whew! Forgive the rant, but when something as good as this is brought low by something so obvious and easily addressed, it's frustrating!

It's a great bar to chill out with people you know in the neighborhood and people you know in your industry. personally I find that it's pretty easy to meet new people at this bar because of the way that it's laid out. If that's your goal- then give it a try.

Great place to gather friends, make sure to make a reservation if it's a bug group, they get pretty busy. Really good apps and booze.

Dirty little dive, but who cares when your half in the bag.

Came today for our friend s brunch and there was at least 20 of us ! Our server was incredible, attentive, friendly and the food was so delicious, big portions, decent prices ! Highly recommend this place !!!!

My hubby's favorite joint. It is quite busy and finding a table can be hard. We always have the steak and frites it is so delicious and reasonably priced. On commercial- great location.

I visited recently. I only pass trough Vancouver about once a year and try to try somewhere new each time. I was on Commercial Dr and this place looked like it had a good atmosphere.
I waited a good 20 minutes to even be looked at by a server. There were servers free and I wasnt the only table looking confused as to why none of them were attending to customers who had been seated without so much as a glass of water for that long. When the server did come to me, she looked distracted, listened to my order, then interrupted me to demand ID, before disappearing again for another five minutes- really strange behaviour! When she did come back, she again couldn`t manage to smile, took my order again and then left.
Some of the servers unfortunately were doing the kinds of things that give the rest of us a bad name! I waitressed on and off for years and despite the pay, loved it because of the people I met and because I had a good time working with my colleagues. These ladies let the team down. They seemed more interested in catching up with their friends at the bar before knocking off to sit down at the bar themselves. The no-smiling thing is awful. Chatting amongst themselves when three unattended tables are right behind them: bizarre.
If the service hadn`t been so terrible, I wouldn`t have minded the rest, but the veggie burger, honestly was greasy, as were the fries. Not all that special, and you don`t feel great afterwards.
To finish my visit, when I couldn`t pay with Amex, my server left me at the till mid-transaction, so I left cash for the amount. No tip.
Like I said, I`m a waitress too. I get it. I know when you`re on your feet the hours can seem long, but if you don`t care about people, you won`t get tips. Or maybe you don`t need the tips to pay your rent - so that`s easy: get out of the service industry!

Good rotating beer selection. Great cheap wings on Wednesday

don't come here with a big group or else you'll wait an hour for your food to arrive and have the server forget everything you ask for

One of the coolest places on the Drive, always open until late. Service is not always the best, but it has a good selection of beers and a great atmosphere. In summer days is nice to have brunch in their patio.

Had a delicious brunch with an espresso martini and it was delicious. They serve rabbit!