The King's Head Public House — Restaurant in Vancouver

I didn’t have a pleasant experience.

I came in on Friday evening and wanted to sit on the patio with my significant other. They told us it would be a short wait and that was fine, we stood outside and then they suggested we start at the bar then why would come get us when our ts me was ready outside.

This did not happen.

We were forgotten, when I went to check up on why they hadn’t grabbed us, they didn’t have a good reason, then I asked to be sat outside, of course, at this time, the patio had last call and if we sat outside “the police would come arrest us and we would spend the night in jail”. I know this was a joke but saying it to customers who were waiting over an hour for a table didn’t sit right.

When we were at the bar, we were ignored for quite a while, even though there was only one other person at the bar. We had come fresh from another bar ready to keep our buzz going but when we finally got our drinks the buzz was gone and the night was in shambles. After we drank and asked about the patio we were fed up and wanted to move upstairs because the live music was SO loud we couldn’t hear each other and we were 12 inches apart. We asked to settle at the bar and were promptly ignored again, when the machine finally came by so I could pay I made a mistake and cancelled the transaction and tried to get their attention so I could pay. They seemed very uninterested in paying attention to us and by this time I was so bored that we just got up and went upstairs, not paying for what we drank. I figure hey, you don’t want my money despite me trying to give it to you several times? I’ll just keep it.

When we went upstairs it did take quite a while for our server to come see us, but I noticed she got clobbered with seating so it’s not an issue. She served us in what I would consider normal timeframes and she is the only reason why I...

I used to hang out at the King's Head when I moved to Vancouver 40 years ago. It was a fun place to go, with a lively atmosphere, great food, and occasional live music. So we decided to take a friend there for lunch yesterday (first time in probably 20 years).

Sadly, the pub is showing its age and could do with a bit of sprucing up, but no biggie. We had called to make a reservation for lunch because that's what we used to have to do. The lady on the phone seemed surprised, which should have been a clue for us. When we got there at noon, the interior of the pub was completely devoid of customers and only a couple of outside tables were occupied. One of the chairs at our patio table had a huge, dried splatter of bird poop that the staff hadn't bothered to clean off when they opened for the day. (Seriously, it was about 10 cm in diameter and had obviously been there for a while because it was completely baked onto the plastic chair.) There was only one server, Sim, who just didn't seem terribly interested in being there. She didn't write anything down when taking our orders, so we didn't quite get everything we wanted. Then she kept forgetting to bring things we asked for; jam for the toast, creamers for the tea, etc. even though she was only looking after 3 or 4 tables. The food was quite tasty, but the service was absolutely terrible. We were never asked if we wanted refills for our drinks and she pretty much ignored us during our visit.

The King's Head used to be our "Go to", but now it's a "Never...

The Kingshead promotes homophobia and homophobic staff.

Not a LGBTQ friendly venue.

While in the pub I overheard an appalling conversation between the server (young woman with tattoos on her wrists), a young man who I believe to be a cook there (in timberlands and corded apple headphones), and the bartender who was more passive but still in the conversation.

The young man kept repeating how he was homophobic and that there’s nothing wrong with that. To which there was laughter from the group. This was followed by the server saying she used to be homophobic but ‘wasn’t anymore’ but understands why he would be.

This was a very public conversation between these 3 in the middle of the restaurant.

This happened Dec 3,2025 approx 5pm.

*As per response below: How do you respond to the men claiming homophobia? And the woman responding that that was ok. When does being a lesbian excuse you for being homophobic?

This was not a joking conversation they were having. Don’t try to cover your homophobia with claims of jest. There is no misinformation being spread here: simply relating the facts of a conversation...