alibi room

i likealibiroom - it's the kind of place everyone will like. easy, chill, unpretentious with a serious number of beers on tap and a solid selection of other drinks.

you ain't got noalibi~ went to the “alibi room” on a wednesday at 7pm, we made reservations anyways. good thing too, as there were people waiting as we entered and at least a group by the entrance throughout the night. it is located at the outer edges of gas town and is considered a “hidden gem” just by the location alone. the outside of the restaurant does not try to attract attention with a sandwich board, a neon lit-up sign or even a coloured awning. instead it just relies on its reputation and word of mouth referrals. it's nice to see front of building meter parking in gas town. although with only 4 spots available you are better of taxi-ing and being able to drink as much as you want and to try all the local craft beersalibihas to offer. upon entry you notice the décor is very "industrial":   brick walls, large ceiling to floor windows and cast iron fencing in front of them. even the art work matched this theme; back lit images of gears and oil rigs hung on walls. walking to t

great food...worst service. my husband and i like to eat late night - we have learned our lesson that vancouver restaurants close when they are not busy, no matter what time their websites say they are open until. so, we call ahead to see if thealibiroom was still open (it was 10:30pm) and the person who answered the phone said the kitchen had last call at 11:30 so we headed over and arrived at about 10:45. when we walked in, there was a group of 3 servers just to the right of the door chatting with someone in the kitchen who proceeded to roll their eye when we asked for a table. thank you, god forbid you would need to do what you are paid for. we were sat at a table right away, then waited 23 minutes to have our drink orders taken (yup, i did time it) - we were ready to order food but our waitress ran away before we could even tell her that. when our drinks came, we placed our order, and waited...and waited. when the food arrived, the condiments we requested were not there, but we finished our meals before our waitress even passed by our table again, and when she did, she didn't ask how anything was, she just cleared 1 plate (of the 2 dirty ones on the table) and disappeared again. after another 15 minutes of waiting to see her, we had to ask the hard working bus-person to get our bill, and the bills of the tables on either side of us too who were also wondering where the heck the server went. she said she would get our server. again, we waited. we made our way up to the front to find our server sitting down - she turned around and told us she was tired. i would like to say i am exaggerating even part of this, but nope. worst server ever. the food is fantastic - we both had the burger, with fries and smoked onion mayo. we have been here several times and have had good service from the other female server we always see there (i hate to describe her this way but she is a bit of a bigger girl, i apologize i don't know her name) but i will never sit in the snobby, tired, just plain crappy, skinny girl's section again - it is not worth my time (or hers apparently).

the heat wave has officially hit vancouver once again and hopefully this time it remains for a bit longer than just a few days. this weekend phil and i hit up a new brunch location located in gastown calledalibiroom. i love how their windows are wide open so the breeze flows in and tons of natural lighting enters the space. when we got there, there were only another group in front of us so the wait wasn’t too long. just a quick thing… their waiting area smells like a return it depot…not the most pleasant waiting area ever, just so you know. i’m pretty sure they hold quite a night life here, hence the smell of alcohol in the waiting area.

brunch at "thealibiroom" in gastown

it's after 2:00 pm and the cacophony of diners offers a lively buzz to the shaker style atmosphere. we are offered immediate seating at the bar (tables are full). menus are clear and after a brief perusal has one imagining the taste of a seductive custom draft on tap. 

natasha (totally dedicated) explains the choices of local draft beer. atmosphere is unique. we sip libations as red union pacific train passes out the window in front of us. we order the fresh fruit (see photo) and "the salmon benny" along with a draft beer. english muffins (benny) were crisp and the handcrafted hollandaise by chef craig was truly felicitous. fruit is succulent---raspberries are a nice spin on the typical jejune fruit and yogurt offering. 

my rating is 4.5 stars on "thealibiroom." definitely a fun and lively "alibi room" offering good cuisine, service and awesome music "abba's dancing queen" enlightens our spirts during our meal. hope to be back for dinner and another great dining experience in pleasant gas town.

cool side story: when confronted with my out of battery phone (had a photo taking storm earlier) natasha said no problem and plugged it in for me. thanks so much! no smirks just kind service and witty conversation.

if i want a beer flight, i come here, end of story. 

i need a 12 step program to wean me off of the garlic vinegar they serve with their skinny fries. really addictive. service has always been great, too, which is nice. all that wrapped up in a comfortable space that's perfect for after work winding-down. good job,alibiroom.

best drinking spot in town. they have an amazing craft beer selection, which can seem quite daunting to wade through for an amateur beer enthusiast. but have no fear, their helpful and knowledgeable staff are there to help you choose a beer (or a few) that you will really like. the food isn't bad either, and they have a range of more health conscious meals such as seasonal salads, to pub favourites like burgers and fries. the only downside is the ever massive lineup during peak hours. it's best to avoid thealibiroom between 7 and 9:30 pm on most days, because you'll likely be waiting a very long time for a seat.

my first time to visitalibiroom in gastown. the pub is quite big that a lot of people can sit, drink and chat after work (like happy hours) or enjoy the time off on the weekend.

the pub has a lot of variety of beer and wine. i didn't know what to drink and try. my boyfriend and i ordered a frat bat - ninkasi haze, brsnk 1trickpo, ninkasi pump and sf jongleur. some of them were bitter, but they tasted good.

the service was alright. we went in the afternoon around 3pm. there was no food (from the kitchen) until 5pm as per the server. the pub opens between 5:30pm and 11pm every day except saturday and sunday that they also open between 10am and 3pm.

most of the people who rated here like this pub as well as one of our german friends who also said this pub was really good. people who love to drink beer should try the beer here.

...alibiroom is always still packed with people. a super chill environment, with dimly lit lights and communal tables,alibiroom is a great place to hang out with friends and have some drinks. they are famous for their beers, but i opted for one of their ciders. we decided to share a few dishes and started with the seared albacore tuna . the tuna was lightly seared on the sides and very fresh. it was topped with a green olive tapenade and a side of greens. the star of the dish was actually the red lentil puree though. i’m not even a fan of lentils, but the way they seasoned the puree was perfect. very flavourful and we cleaned up this dish in no time.

thealibiroom located in the “quiet” part of gas town offers a large selection of beer on tap. there is no obvious sign to this place , you’d have to look up to see a tiny sign hanging there. otherwise the patio is a give away that this is some sort of restaurant. they use long tables inside the restaurant. a party of two, would be seated at one of their long tables, with a bunch of strangers. it’s a neat idea, if some one ever gathers up the courage they can start a conversation with a stranger. thealibiroom selection of beer changes every day, as a craft beer fan, it’s overwhelming to choose which one you want to enjoy. for the indecisive they offer the flight or paddle option or try 2 oz beer if you’re uncertain. on the plus side, if a beer you wanted is completely sold out they always have a back up plan of which beer you’d like to try. food wise, like any pub in downtown vancouver, the selection of food is the same.  as a starter patryk and i had the charcuterie plate. i cannot

okay, so this post is a little dated, but to be honest, i just forgot about it for a little while. but never fear, i remembered it now and here it is! mary from mary in vancity and i were supposed to check out ask for luigi but seeing that we arrived super early and they were already full, we walked down back towards gastown and came acrossalibiroom. self described as a “modern tavern”, they couldn’t be more spot on. definitely a nice, generous sized tavern with tall ceilings and exposed brick and wooden beams that is just so authentically gastown. they offer a formidable beer menu but serve some great wines and cocktails as well. we started off with their mezze plate ($13) which includes white bean and green olive dip, house made rosemary garlic flatbread, goat feta, olives and caponata. loved all flavours and textures on the dish – also a good amount for two people to share. mary ordered a dark and stormy ($8.25). it’s made with house ginger syrup, dark rum, fresh lime and soda. th

had such a good time atalibiroom’s 500th tap list celebration, i had to go back a few days later to have some more! it was my mission to include some food this time. beast meatballs?? i love most ground meat foods…

way back in february, vancouver craft beer mecca thealibiroom celebrated the release of their 400th beer list. now, i’m not sure if that corresponds to 400 weeks, or what, but since it’s thealibiroom, i’d say that the rotation is a bit more irregular than that. as expected for an event of this calibre, the wait to get in was long, and my party had to hang around gastown for an hour before our table was ready (not that hanging around in gastown is very hard). i don’t have a transcript of the list, but barley mowat can hook you up if you want to see what kind of goodies were available that night. i started off easy, with iain hill’s (of yaletown brewing) saison and driftwood’s barrel aged old cellar dweller. okay, maybe opening with a barley wine wasn’t the greatest idea. i confess to having ordered this because it seemed like a “must try rarity”, while forgetting that i don’t really like barley wines all that much. the syrupy, pitch-dark fruit flavours are a bit too heavy and suffoc

model trains the size of real trains!. this ne gastown staple is always busy.
setting up camp in an old train station,alibiroom launched nominally as a place for aspiring screenwriters to meet and read screenplays, either in the afternoon or late at night while wearing coal miner headlamps.
the food is good, the wines decent, the martinis great, and the beer selection outstanding.
this is a terrific spot for long conversations into the night.
it's also excellent if you enjoy trains, as life-size ones will travel past the back windows at all hours.
overall, i have to say i enjoy thealibiroom and recommend it, even if i don't get there as much as i'd like (4 times in last 10 years).

thealibiroom is a “modern tavern” in gastown that is famed for its grand selection of beers on tap. with 50 taps of local and imported craft beer, this is beer heaven.  thealibiroom is located inside a heritage building that’s over a 100 years old, so it provides an interesting atmosphere for dining and drinking. this restaurant is frequently occupied by loud and cheerful guests who come for after work drinks. the other night, my friend lawrence and i came here for late night drinks. clueless as to what beers to get, i got a flight of 4 beers suggested by our server. this is the best way to sample a variety of beers rather than just one. flight of beers ($18) along with the drinks we ordered a bucket of skinny fries . i’m normally not a big fry person, but these ones were different. they were super crispy and were still warm when we got them. along with some fresh house made ketchup, these fries are easily one of my favourites in town. bucket of skinny fries ($5) and of course, wha