Name: West Oak Restaurant
Address: 1213 Mainland St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 5P2, Canada
Price range: $$$$

West Oak Restaurant

Vancouver Date Idea

What We Loved

Location, Food, Buzz

Our Date Experience

A trendy spot in Yaletown with great seafood and buzz. Not ideal for the fist date, since the tables are wide and it can get pretty loud in the evenings. Unless you just want to stare at one another the whole time or scream across the table, good luck getting to know each other in that setting 🙂 Perfect for a pre-party dinner or drinks since its located in the heart of Yaletown surrounded by bars and nightlife.

The Night

We arrived later in the evening (after 8pm) for dinner. West Oak is located in Yaletown which if you don’t know is the cool area of Vancouver. The atmosphere was very lively and there was a lot of socializing happening in the restaurant. We had made reservations through Opentable so were seated fairly quickly, though the restaurant was definitely full. This was only our second or third date so we were both a little nervous but the atmosphere made us feel like we had made the right decision!

When we sat down we were both presented with massive (literally the physical size of them) menus including a wine menu. Both of us were starving so we ordered some wine and oysters. The wine menu was full of local wines which we both appreciated, we ended up selecting a white from the Tofino area that went down easily. The oysters arrived and were your standard selection with toppings. We’d recommend choosing something off of their menu next time.

For our main’s at West Oak Vancouver she selected the Sablefish (it’s her favourite – read below) and I had the Scallops. Both dishes were incredible and we’d definitely recommend ordering either again. The Sablefish comes with rice which makes it a bit more filling then the scallops, so if you’re hungry I’d recommend the more filling one.

Our date ended well and we’d both recommend checking out West Oak in Yaletown for any couple looking to include a bit of a party for their date night out in Vancouver.

By the time we got to dinner we were about 10 hours into our second date and I was getting ‘hangrier' by the minute (do not attempt this at home, lol). Thank God the service was fast and food was great so the night went without casualties. I ordered roasted sablefish & prawn salad to start with and sablefish as my main course (you can never have too much sablefish in Vancouver). The food was amazing and I was really happy with both choices, though the hunger factor may have clouded my judgment a little. All in all, its a good date spot, though I wouldn’t recommend it for the first few dates since it tends to get noisy on those busy Fri-Sat nights and the tables in the main dining room are super wide so you’ll be constantly leaning over to talk.

P.S. We went here again for lunch on the 14th of February and scored a nice table on the patio. This was a much more romantic experience 🙂

This was my first time at West Oak and one of my earliest restaurant experiences since I moved to Vancouver. It's considered one of the hot spots in Yaletown so you'll regularly find a long line of "importance people" at the door waiting to be seated. This was my attempt to continue the all day snowboarding date since we were still getting to know each other and I thought it would be nice to dress up and finish the day with good food and a nice bottle of wine.

The food and wine were great but I wouldn't recommend this place for a first date, its not exactly a cozy and warm atmosphere. We found it hard to hear one another the entire time so there was not much talking going on. Luckily the place offers a great opportunity for people watching 😉

@vancitydateideas

Reserve a table in advance! Avoid sitting in the main dining area and request a table on the patio or a couch in front of the bar so you can sit next to each other.

Vancity Essential Date Tip