SOCIAL CORNER COAL HARBOUR — Restaurant in Vancouver

I live right next door and I like tour other Social Corner location, so I was excited to try this new spot. Since it’s still in soft opening, I’d like to share some feedback that I truly hope will be considered to help improve the experience.

Service Within the first 10 minutes since I entered, five different staff members approached me with greetings and questions. While I appreciate attentiveness, it quickly became overwhelming - especially as I made it clear through short answers that I wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. Despite this, I was asked increasingly personal questions (how I spent my morning, my weekend, my summer, what are my plans etc), which felt intrusive rather than welcoming. And remember - by different people, multiple times. On top of that, while the staff were persistent about chatting, no one seemed to notice that my water had run out. The restaurant was nearly empty, yet my glass wasn’t refilled until I specifically asked - though staff did come by to ask if I wanted to order more food.

Food Quality I ordered the exact same dishes I usually enjoy at your Yaletown location. Unfortunately, the quality here fell short. The salad leaves were soggy and watery instead of crisp. The sauces were unexpectedly very spicy, even though these dishes aren’t typically spicy, and overall the food was noticeably oversalted.

Music. Saturday lunchtime. People come to relax and enjoy the food or some talks with each other. And loud music doesn’t let you to relax.

I completely understand this is a soft opening, and I genuinely want this location to succeed as much as the original. I hope these comments are taken as...

I'll start off by saying that I've been at the other Per Se Social Corner location before (3-4x) and I have never experienced what I am about to describe.

I will start off with the pros: The food was good, the vibe was really nice (especially on the patio).

We all understand that when you go to such a restaurant, you are paying a premium for location/vibe and also service, it's definitely not just about the food.

And that's the problem with our experience, the service from our waiter was basically very bad (especially more so in the context of Per Se Social Corner/Coal Harbour).

Our waiter was in a rush to get us to pay, since after 60-70 minutes of us sitting down he brought us the bill without us even asking for it (and there were other empty tables hello?). Even Michelin-star restaurants will give you two hours. He didn't ask whether we wanted anything else, didn't ask us whether we wanted to split the bill, just came to us BAM here is your bill. To protest, I told my friends that I wouldn't pay right away, and he came to us afterwards basically asking to pay and I didn't react. He kept eyeing our table and came afterwards again (and keep in mind we are only 70 minutes in) asking if we wanted to pay with credit or cash (cash? hello, this is 2025). We are all professionals in finance/banking, the dude was still afraid we were going to run out in the middle of Downtown at 6:17pm to avoid paying our bill. Our waiter tainted our experience for this soft opening, and if he were the only waiter there, I would NEVER come back, there are so many...

Visited the new location of Social Corner with a friend the other night. We visited Sept 4 which was the day after their soft opening on the 3rd. The first thing you are greeted with is large scale Roman statues flanking the enclosed patio. The space which is nice is strangely narrow with a very claustrophobic entry way. The space was about half full when we arrived at 7:30 but again this is a soft opening. We were seated in the enclosed patio area but there is also a fully exposed outdoor patio. Even if you are mildly claustrophobic I would choose the enclosed patio. The main dining room is (in my opinion) over furnished. There is also bar seating available. The hostess was lovely and we were promptly seated and greeted at our table by our server who offered water and took our drink order. My initial warning is that this place is not inexpensive — I found the prices unusually high and I do not normally have a sensitivity to that. We ordered the hummus appetizer to start and it was delicious. Social Corner is known for its burger, some saying it’s the best in Vancouver. It was delicious and a large portion accompanied by fries. We both ordered wine with our main and there is a good selection to choose from. The restaurant is right on Cordova and across the street from the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel. I suspect this location will be popular with tourists and it’s located in a lovely area close to the water. Give it a try, service was great and the food was good but bring your credit card you’re...