Banter Room — Restaurant in Vancouver

My friends and I came to Banter Room on a Saturday night. We were a group of 11 girls celebrating a 30th birthday and excited to check out Banter Room after our a nice dinner down the street.

Here is what happened:

Entrance: We arrived at 12:30 am and ready to provide our IDs to the bouncer since there was no one in line. We were immediately told that they could not accommodate our group.

Our group was told that our group was too big due to the bar requiring a seat for each individual to meet capacity regulations. This is absolutely understandable but we were confused at the reasoning for our particular party because the tables that they pointed out to us were empty. The bouncer explained that they couldn’t seat us (even though the atmosphere was clearly a standing area) and nobody else was sitting at tables.

A second BR employee told us that they were also at capacity and couldn’t allow anyone in.

Mid-conversation, a group of 9 guys arrived up to the front of the line and we’re immediately let in. This was meanwhile we were being told that our group couldn’t be accommodated due to being at “max capacity”.

My girlfriends and I were left shocked. We immediately left because it was clear that they did not want us to come in. We felt discriminated against as a group and we’re left confused. We were extremely concerned at how we were being treated but felt like it wasn’t worth our energy to reason or question their actions as it was clear the establishment did not want our business and had no practice in equal treatment.

I never ever write bad reviews for businesses because it’s important for me to not bash establishments for mistakes that can be corrected.

This experience left us shaken by the feeling of being discrimination against as we were a large minority group and our birthday girl extremely disappointed. Multiple conversations with multiple employees with conflicting reasons why they wouldn’t let us inside.

I hope this review helps BR reviews their branding and...

Brunch Review:

This was our first time trying BR and initially the encounter with the young hostess at the front was a bit awkward and strange. Here's what happened.

Banter Room's patio has a great brunch vibe, whereas the inside is more for evening...sort of bar, mingle and drinks feeling. Right off, she told us that inside seating was the only option, and since we arrived shortly after they opened, there was plenty of room on the patio. I asked her why we can't sit outside....and she said, "well it's because it's only for the two of you, and the larger tables are for more people." Keep in mind, that there were three other tables sitting outside that were only a party of 2. It struck me as very odd, for some reason she just didn't want to seat us outside. I asked her, "We can't sit on the patio just because we're two people? That doesn't seem right, does it?" She agreed with me and had to ask her manager, and that's when she finally sat us, but even then with attitude.

The Hostess lays the foundation of whether a first-time customer will become a return customer.

The food: The French Toast was quite good....very tasty with interesting pairings with walnuts, caramelized banana and strawberry. Nice.

The Salmon & Avocado Benny was completely cold, which was a shame because the flavour profile was done really well. The egg was poached perfectly and everything about it hit the spot, in terms of flavour, but I only finished one of the two, just because it was entirely cold...like it had been sitting for a while....maybe even by a drafty door. I didn't return it because we were in a rush and had other engagements post brunch.

The Americano was surprisingly pricey just because it looked more like an espresso shot..that's how small it was. $5.

The Service: Couple of girls were in training, they tried, made an effort and it was decent...the servers that is.....

The Hostess was a...

First time visiting banter room last night and definitely will not be going back. This occurred around 8:45-9:50 pm.

It was understandable that since we did not have reservations, we were seated at a smaller table. It fit the 5 of us perfectly fine however it was an issue when we notified our waitress to bring the nacho platter prior to our meals to avoid the space issue. Perhaps it was too loud in the restaurant and she didnʼt hear but our table was absolutely crowded with all of our food. My friend and I forgot to mention we needed a few lime slices for the shots we had ordered and had to wait over 15 minutes until I gave up & went to the bar myself. We were expecting the waitress to at least check on us in a timely manner so we could ask for the lime & a salt shaker but we were left waiting for way longer. However, these small instances would not have been an issue if the waitress hadnʼt acted the way she did at the time of payment. I watched her rudely place the machine down in front of my friends and I when she could have easily handed it to us. I most definitely did not appreciate how she threw the receipt across the table onto my friendʼs food containers, did it hurt to place it nicely on the table or even hand it to her? She also thought throwing the receipt in front of me was a good idea, even after I said “I donʼt need the receipt”. Then she proceeded to storm off without any “good bye” or “have a nice night” or “thank you”. Of course, any small talk during the time of payment was out of question. Perhaps she saw me skip the tip portion of the bill? Or perhaps we were the only POC in the facility? Whatever it may be, I hope she finds peace...