Blind Rabbit — Restaurant in Vancouver

Came here after dinner for an early valentines day celebration because my partner and I both love gin. They had live music happening which was nice, and the ambience was intimate but lively. We LOVED all the gin and garnish options, and especially that the house tonic was free!! We both got basil as our garnish and worked backwards from there and created really unique gin drinks. The prices were unbelievably affordable given its location and I've been telling all my gin-loving friends and family about it since we visited. There's only two reasons I took one star off (they do not deserve 3 stars): the band (which blind rabbit cannot be fully blamed for) during their break, walked up to every table asking for tips. Partially I can understand this since there was no cover at the door but it was really awkward and the guy doing it didn't seem very happy. We had also only sat down at our table 5 minutes before so we hadn't had a proper opportunity to listen to them service was something to be desired. I am a server and bartender myself and do my best to give the benefit of the doubt to staff but even with that it wasn't great Maybe it's better service if we sit at the bartop but for the size of the establishment, the amount of servers/bartenders on, and the amount of people in there it really wasn't great. His greet time was fast which was nice and he gave us a run down of the menu but then we had to wait a really long while before he came back to take our drink orders (menus were closed). He was around, and serving the table along the same bench as us and tried to get his attention while he waited for their decisions (not while they spoke to each other), and even as he walked passed us but nothing. Eventually we got our drink orders in, and shared another one between us, but during this time I did notice a new table beside us that sat down and spent a handful of time without service, got up, and left because no one came by. Paying for the bill was another rough area after trying to get his attention to pay, until my partner ultimately had to get up and meet him at the POS so he could pay. Again!! the concepts and drinks were great and i will definitely be back and would be inclined to tip more if the quality of service improved!! Altogether had a...

Decided to stop in Feb 18 for a drink after walking past earlier and seeing it was rather busy. Big mistake. There was only one other table when we came back. We were roughly greeted with menus tossed on the table. Server finally came back for drink order after 10 minutes. We ordered a couple drinks off the Valentine's Day special that was given to us. Several minutes later he came back saying we could not order anything off of that menu and took it away from us. Dug through their rather extensive menu and ended up ordering the same drinks for the same price off the regular menu. Decent gin and their house made tonic is pretty good. Then our server's assumed partner arrived and it was just a lost cause. He snuck off out back with her for 15 minutes. I sat with an empty drink this entire time. Tried to grab the attention of the other bartender but she wouldn't serve us. Original server finally comes back in, slouches over the counter, and stares into her eyes. Would have been rather comical had the service not been so abysmal. After finally getting his attention we decided to get the bill and spend our money literally anywhere else. When he noticed the "zero tip" option was selected we were greeted with an audible grunt and large eye roll. No receipt offered. No words exchanged. No thank you. Just a quick turn away after grabbing the machine. Quite honestly the worst service I've ever had in Vancouver. I really wanted to like this place, but I will never return based on this servers...

As this place is owned by the same people as The Brighton, I should have lowered my expectations, but I went to Blind Rabbit with moderate hopes. That was quickly dashed as I entered the establishment and there was no one to maintain social distancing by seating people appropriately, and there was no sanitation station. In fact, there was only one extremely stressed bartender for the entire place. She was freaking out, literally. And she was also maskless.

Another staff member trickled in, rolled her bike through the bar to the front to lock it up outside, and then proceeded to not wash or sanitize her hands. She picked up empty cups from an abandoned table and failed to wipe down the table. She then again did not wash her hands. Nor was she donning a mask.

The menus were reused and not cleaned between use. It took 25 minutes to get our order taken, and then we were not able to order again for another half hour, and by that time we had decided to move on, after seeing countless social distancing infractions, and just general mayhem behind the bar, that was obviously the fault of management.

We moved on to a vegan establishment a few doors down where the experience was excellent.

I don't think I will ever go back to Blind Rabbit and, frankly, I hope they get fined for their cleanliness violations. Maybe it would have been slightly more acceptable before COVID-19, but that stuff doesn't...