The Charlatan

One of my favorite watering holes in Vancouver...

Those hitting the Charlatan on a Friday or Saturday night will find it busy, loud, a little raucous and whole bunch of fun! They have a great tap selection paired to reasonable cocktail menu and offer a typical modern pub menu; they have not forgot the staples but do venture modestly into the Vancouver fusion fair. Staffed mainly by women in typical 'Drive fashion; beautiful, tattooed, and a little sharply tonged.

The Charlatan is larger that it appears from the street, but is still a relatively small place. The atmosphere is good and they offer a small side-of-building patio for outside drinks and dining in the warmer months.

A diamond in the rough! This surprising gem has some really tasty food and cocktails for a good price! Went here once and had what may possibly be the best Poutine in the city. It is a pub/tavern, so expect that when you come here. It can get busy around happy hour or later hours, but the service both times we went was still wonderful! Everyone was nice, informative and helpful!
The crispy fried chili tofu was also very tasty. Sat one time up in the bar area, and the second time in one of the booths down the stairs. Down the stairs area is low key the legit cozy spot! The vibe down there was great.
Up by the bar can definitely be a lot of fun with the right group. The place was clean, the service was fast. Will be going back for sure!

This was the first time going to this restaurant and it will also be my last. The atmosphere had a good vibe until they stuck my group at one of their outside tables that should really be meant for two people. We asked to move to a table with more space and the server stated, "I would have to ask the server to pay me to do that, or you would have to pay me" she did not elaborate on that and I truly do not know what that means. They stuck us at a table that was too small, as a consumer, I do not care how you resolve this but it should be resolved. They did move us but then ignored us the rest of the time.

Now onto the food. All the food is very salty. My burger was also made incorrectly and I voiced this and they gave me a cold ingredient to put on the burger instead of remaking it. After I tried it with the sauce they forgot, I told them it was not good considering the sauce was meant to be cooked onto the burger not put on cold. They did nothing to rectify this. Terrible service. Also, these homemade sauces (I.e. ketchup and BBQ sauce) are terrible, this restaurant should just invest in name brand sauces. Their homemade sauces are clumpy and lack taste.

Lastly, as my group and I started to walk home my friend got very sick from the food. She ended up vomiting when we got home.

I do not recommend this place and I would advise to stay away.

Nice cocktail pitchers and the first decent ceviche I've had outside of southern California. Ambience is fun for a weekend night out, but it can get REALLY loud and the rest of their food is just so-so.

My friend and I came here for happy hour as we wanted some drinks after work. I got a single shot vodka and she got a single shot gin and they weren't bad. We also got some honey garlic cauliflower wings to try. I did like the twist on the classic wings and would want to try some of their other flavours. Overall a great place to get together with a friend for the summer to catch up!

This place is A-OK to me. It's nothing special. It has a nice ambiance but is very standard and nothing stood out in particular.

The staff is very friendly and helpful! We went on a halloween weekend and it wasn't too busy. The staff was all in costumes which was fun to see.

I tried the winter butternut squash soup and it was extremely thicc. I thought the taste was good but it was more of a slush to me. It was also lukewarm so that made it kind of weird. I didn't end up finishing it. I did have the garlic toast that it came with which was good. I will say though that the food camp out really quickly.

The bill was also pretty cheap. I think it came to like $68 and we had mussels and a bottle of wine as well, so not bad.

Hey. If you want a place with a cool vibe and chill place with great food, this is it.

The food here is amazing. Wings. Ribs. Cauliflower wings. Lettuce wraps. All AMAZING. Beer selection is great.

But. The best thing about this place is the staff. They work hard. The clientele are all like minded chill people.

Warm beer. Beer came warm, when we asked for new ones we were told that they're all warm. Basically told us it's a hot day so the keg room is obviously warm and so all the drinks are undrinkably warm and what did we expect.

Fr

Bière chaude. Pourquoi??

One of the only bars open late on the drive during 2020.
The happy hour was not such as my drink cost $9. What kind of special is that? Not special at all. I got a Cesar. The olives were small, like that's all the could afford. The rim of my glass was covered in salt and pepper so imagine my surprise when it came without a straw. I asked if I could have a straw they said they would sell me one for three dollars for environmental reasons. That's such a Kitsilano thing to say . My server assumed I wouldn't want a spicy drink but that my darker companion would. I can't help but feel that has to do with my white-ness #Racism. Kind of kidding. Kind of not kidding. I don't wanna be too harsh on one of the last standing open bars in commercial so I'll say this, good for one drink but not for two.

Saw a table outside and asked if there was a queue or if our group could have it and was told that they were saving it for groups larger than 3. While they were saying this, another group of 3 took the table. Guess we weren't cool enough for them. Fortunately, it's The Drive. Plenty of better places to spend our time/money.

Service isn't bad, the food is pretty overpriced and poor quality though. Very few vegan options and the vegan "sausage gravy" has nothing sausage about it. Bland goo.

NO STRAWS! Not even paper or plant based plastic straws! Your only option in a BAR to drink with a straw is the purchase a cruddy metal one for $3-4. Tacky to profit off the "no plastic straws in the ocean/save the turtles" movement. Shows they don't care at all but saw an opportunity to profit. Yuck.

I wish I liked the food or drinks enough the give this place a better rating, because the patio is nice and I've enjoyed my service for the most part. I live close by, but only come here as a last resort these days.