Homer St. Cafe and Bar — Restaurant in Vancouver

This place is best described as elevated comfort food (accurately quoted by Dave the bartender). I feel majority of people know them for their rotisserie chicken, but this place has much more to offer. The ambiance was very festive, warm and cozy. We were seated at the bar and I’d recommend making a reservation beforehand on a weekend.

We ordered half a rotisserie chicken, sunchokes, and steak tartare. The rotisserie chicken was what I expected, flavourful and juicy. I will say it would’ve been nice if they gave an option to have it precut because they gave us half a chicken, which we butchered in the process of eating. The gravy was light so the dish itself wasn’t too rich, pairing well the fries. The sunchokes is what surprised me - they were cooked crispy, similar to how brussels sprouts are served, but it’s more of a starchy veggie. It’s delicious, but I wouldn’t say it’s a healthy veggie dish as it’s pretty greasy, more of an indulgent one. Lastly, the steak tartare - it was light and although the picture makes it super complicated, the flavour was simple. The tater tots was definitely different than what I’m used to, but they were pretty good - I ate them seperately because I would’ve preferred something that made the steak tartare easier to eat. Overall, I had a decent food experience and I can confirm that it felt like I was having elevated American food. However, I think the drinks are what really impressed me. We were celebrating a birthday, so I had the decaf espresso martini and amaretto whisky sour. I don’t drink often, but the espresso martini was so good - nice and frothy with a hint of vanilla syrup that helped cut the strength of the vodka as it’s got a kick. As for the whiskey sour, the amaretto was a very nice touch to your standard whiskey sour giving it a sweet aftertaste and making the cocktail very smooth. They also surprised us with a butter tart at the end, which was very kind of them. The butter tart was good, but definitely on the sweet side.

Overall, I had a great experience at Homer cafe. The staff was very friendly and I really have no complaints. I would highly recommend their espresso martini for drinks, and for food would say to give the sunchokes a try. I felt everything was fairly priced, and dishes were a decent size - I think it’d be too rich and greasy if the dishes were larger. The ambiance is good for a variety of occasions, may it be date night, a celebration but maybe not the best for large parties. I’d come back to try one of their other options, but moreso if I was craving some solid american...

We had happy hour on a Friday at Homer Street. Luckily it wasn't crowded. They have patio seating and indoor seating. All the servers were wearing masks. I had the Aperol spritz for a drink. It had a bit too much ice in it and tasted a bit watered down. We also had the chicken liver pate with toasted brioche, the burger and the steak tartare. The chicken liver pate was my favourite out of the three. It was really creamy and tasted very liver-y which I like. It went really well with the toasted brioche. I just wish there was more shallot marmalade to balance off the creaminess. The steak tartare was my least favourite out of the three. The smoked sour cream masked over the flavour of the steak tartare. I liked the onion potato chips. The crunch was really nice. The HSBC burger was not bad. Its a TALL BURGER so be warned you will not look good eating this. I couldn't really taste the cheese but there was a lot of lettuce in it and sauce making it pretty messy. I wish there was some tomato in it to make it fresher. I liked the crunch from the lettuce. The burger also came with A LOT of fries. The fries were delicious when hot. The outside was crunchy and inside was nice and fluffy. But once they got cold you could really taste the flavour of the oil. The banana pudding was okay. Not too sweet. Wish there were more caramelized bananas in it to give it that additional crunch.

Overall: great place for drinks and food. Their happy hour menu is quite extensive. I would stay away from the cocktails and choose champagne or wine instead next time. Definitely get the chicken liver pate if you like chicken liver. Our server was super nice and patient with us. She knew we wanted dessert and let us wait till 5 to order dessert. Would definitely recommend for happy hour

Tip: the burger is grilled to medium so let them know if you would prefer it more grilled. Also dessert is served at 5 so please keep that in mind if you...

Our first impression was not good. We waited by the door for the place to open at 10:30 am for brunch and once we approached the hostess (Melissa) she was unwelcoming, cold and dismissive. The manager (Tom) spoke to me about it and his demeanor was professional, concerned and very apologetic and smoothed things over with us. It was a relief to see someone of his capability in charge, because we felt that the hostess for whatever reason just did not want to seat us, and actually told me, "well....I'll seat you but you have to be out by 12!". Our server (Nancy) was just as great as the manager and shocked of our first experience at the front as far as first impressions go.

The Americanos we ordered were great! Really nice rustic and full body flavour perfect for your first morning cup of coffee served in a sparkling clean coffee mug and piping hot. However, I wasn't crazy about the French Toast. I'm not sure why but it was covered with a massive amount of whip cream. I mean sure....I've had french toast with some whip cream but this was more like.....whip cream with french toast and not the other way around. I did manage to wipe most of it off my toast but after a little while there was just a pool of melted whip cream in the plate....kinda confused me a little bit as to ...why? why put so much?

Aside from the food. This experience was a perfect example of the quality of any restaurant being reflective of its team work. It was only and only because of the manager's response to his incapable, unprofessional and, in my opinion, unsuitable hostess that we are willing to possibly return or tell our friends about this cozy little cafe. Our server's friendly attitude, attention and hard work breathed new air into the foul first impression we received from a very polar...