Well, this evening didn’t get off to a good start, but it sure ended well.

So I caught a tweet a couple of days ago from Deuce Restaurant that they were offering $3.95 beers and a buck a shuck oysters with a DJ after 9pm on Thursdays. I responded with a question about the start time, but I guess being really new to twitter and all, they didn’t get the hang of replies. No worries, we decided to take our chances.

We arrived at Deuce about 5:30pm to an empty restaurant and were told they don’t have oysters tonight. Bummer.

So we decided to move on.

As an employee of one of Vancouver’s top attractions, I get a Tourism Challenge Passport to encourage trial at a variety of attractions, hotels and restaurants around Vancouver. We decided to check out Tantra Lounge at the Quay, given the Deuce thing didn’t work out as we’d hoped. I never knew, but Tantra is fully licensed and all patrons must be over 19 years of age. Okay… given that I had my son in tow, that wasn’t going to work for us.

We then decided to head up the street to Raglan’s Bistro, a North Vancouver favourite.

I’m so glad we did. I appreciate a dining environment free of patchouli.

We were immediately greeted with a warm welcome and invited in. Our drink order was taken right away and our son was offered crayons (though I’d recommend they get some larger sheets of paper rather than offering a piece of receipt paper, but no biggie – anything is great with a 3 year old).

Raglan’s Bistro is decorated as a Tiki Hut with surf boards, cute chalk drawings, great music and a large screen showing surf movies; even the menus are printed on bamboo mats. This was a HUGE hit with our son, whose favourite movie is Surf’s Up.

I love the sign in the middle that reads, “Shared Seating – Musical chairs & shared seating have been a tradition in this location for 18 years. Get to know your neighbour; create community.”

We opted for a plate of Mexican Nachos to share. We were toying with some other ideas – I’ve been craving yam fries for weeks now it seems – but the nachos were so satisfying we didn’t end up needing anything else.

Raglan’s has a small-ish but super unique menu full of simple but fun foods. Offering an assortment of salads, tapas, burgers, and pizzas, you wouldn’t think it was that unusual. However, the assorted Poutines might make you double-take as might a variety of Nachos.

Tapas include favourites such as Yam Fries for $6 or Calamari for $9; salads offered include a few unique choices such as Grilled Pineapple and Goat Cheese for $12 or Squid & Tiger Prawn for $15. Poutine selections include Classic, Cheeseburger, Pulled Pork and Ancho Chicken; and Raglan’s also offers the standard burgers for $10-$14 and thin crust pizzas for $12-$15.

The Mexican Nachos were fantastic – the best Nachos I’ve had, actually, as far as flavour goes. For $16 it was a nice sized plate of chips with cheese, black beans, chorizo sausage, chipotle sour cream, large chunk tomato salsa and guacamole. Even the chips were seasoned so the  whole flavour was unlike anything I’ve yet had.

Beverages include a selection of beers, wines – by the glass or bottle – and tiki drinks. I opted for a Blue Hawaiian, which promised a pineapple-coconut yumminess… it was good, but a bit too sweet. Perhaps a shorter glass would have been a better mixture.

All in all, the food and service were great and the atmosphere was super fun. Don’t believe me? Check out the Raglan’s reviews on dinehere.ca, a more Raglan’s reviews on Urban Spoon or a couple of older ones on foodpages.ca. I would definitely recommend Raglan’s to anyone looking for a great place to grab a quick bite or even take a low-maintenance date.

Contact & Hours:

Raglan’s Bistro is located at 15 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver – just a stone’s throw from Lonsdale Quay – and can be reached by phone at 604.988.8203. They’re open Monday to Thursday from 5pm to midnight, Fridays from 5pm to 1am and Saturdays & Sundays from 10am to midnight. I hear they do a mean brunch; that’ll be my next visit.

As for Deuce and Tantra… maybe I’ll check them out another time.

*Listed prices are only valid as of publishing date and are subject to change*