The Mill Marine Bistro

The Mill Marine Bistro
1199 West Cordova Street
Vancouver, BC

I might be overstating this but I try not to drink alcohol outside of home as the secondary effects hit me quite hard. In a way it is a gamble when you choose to go out for drinks and you have been booked all day for an event the following day… But, when you gather with friends to celebrate a wedding or to congratulate a couple who will be having a baby soon, you will take your chances. (But, just to be clear, I do NOT condone drinking and driving in any way. I knew I was going to be drinking that night so I chose to take transit). So, yes, it was such event and the chosen place was The Mill Marine Bistro in Coal Harbour.

Before I continue, I don’t particularly like this place for several reasons. However, we have been gathering here previously and people seemed to like it. So, in cases like this, who am I to argue? Besides, the last time we gathered together was before I started blogging and that gave me a reason to go. Now, while I do have a lot of things I did not like about The Mill, the view is not one of them (sorry for the partial double negative). How so? Well, it is right next to the seawall between Canada Place and Stanley Park with view to the mountains. Since it faces north, by the afternoon, the sun won’t hit you directly, yet there is still sunlight. To give you a “better” description, this is what you would see by 6:00 p.m. on mid/late September.

The Mill would be the red tents you see below, which are set when weather permits. The “nearby” green area is Stanley Park and the north shore mountains in the background.

We were originally scheduled to meet at around 5:30 p.m. In my case, my original plan was to be in the area (it was the same day I went to Cafe Medina) and do a silly test (a la Mythbuster confirm/busted): Is it really true there are more sushi spots than Starbucks in Vancouver? My perimeter was Burrard Street to the south-east, Burrard Inlet to the north-east, Denman to the north-west and Beach Avenue/Pacific Street to the south-west side. In other words: Vancouver West End. However, while walking about 1/3 of the area, I was starting to get tired so rather than force myself, I just went home for a break. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and arrived late. How late? How about a minute or two after the drinks and some food arrived at the table?

Pulled pork sandwich. Half of the sandwich was “cut” when this picture was taken.

“Original Mill Nachos” with guacamole and sour cream.

I only had nachos with the different toppings and I will have to say it is average at best. It felt it was cut flour tortilla in a pile with some melted cheese (which wasn’t really that noticeable) and then japaleño peppers, guacamole, sour cream and salsa drop on top of it. Tastewise it is as you would expect it: nothing wrong – heck, even something you can do at home – but nothing memorable either, except the price: $16 for the platter plus $4 for the guacamole and ~$1.50 for the sour cream for a grand total of ~$21 per platter. It would be “large” for one person; however, it would be “regular” if shared between two. In our case, for a party of seven we ended up ordering three of these plates. I did not taste the sandwich but, from what I was told, it was “good”. But, again, considering I make my own pulled pork… I did not take a picture of the pitcher – after all, a pitcher of beer looks about the same regardless of where you order it from. But, if memory serves me right, it was a pale ale. If that is true, I will have to say they were serving one with a really low alcohol content because I was able to drink about 2.5 pints yet still not feeling tipsy, whereas at home and eating a regular meal, I am done with a glass of wine or a single pint.

One thing I must admit about The Mill and it is the fact it is quite good for meeting other people, specially when the weather is “good”. Unlike enclosed places where it can be really noisy, this is open air. That, unfortunately, creates a really funny side effect: You will be “exposed” to whatever is outside. In this case, one of my friends “ran” into a spider silk thread and/or “felt” something going through his neck and so on. I am mostly used to things like that so it did not really bother me at all. But, of course, if the weather is “bad”, you would just go inside, though, we have always sat outside. But, on the note of being “exposed”, while we were there, we did meet an interesting “cast” of characters…

I am not sure if it was a stunt but it was funny nevertheless.

By around 8:30 p.m., one of those odd Vancouver issues started to be apparent: that of a no-fun city. While the concept of fun might be dependant on the person, I myself am not of the clubbing crowd. However, having some night life does not hurt anybody. The “problem” here is that they were starting to take down those umbrellas at that time. Sure, it was dark already and, short of a freaky rain, there was no reason not to take them down. It just felt it was a cue they were starting to prepare to close. I do understand there is the possibility of by-laws they are not allow to remain open until later, considering the nearby area is mostly residential, just that, well, it felt weird.

At this point, you might think, so far there is not wrong, right? Well, similar to Cafe Medina in yesterday’s post, not so, there were issues of its own, the main one being that of service. So, let me ask this: how long should it take to serve a glass of water? How about a pitcher of beer? In our case, every time we asked for something, it easily took over 10 minutes to arrive. I don’t think they were understaffed: while we were there, at least three different servers were taking care of us and I saw at least two or others outside overlooking a different area. I mean, this is no Chinese restaurant where it is understaffed and grumpy but sometimes oddly fast. From what I saw in the outdoor area, it was staffed accordingly. For the most part, if they were not interrupting us and provided things we needed promptly, I wouldn’t have had any issues. But, when we finally decided to settle, some of us were not necessarily happy we were slapped a 16% gratuity because our party was greater than six (though I must give kudos to the waitress who delivered the bill because she did mention the gratuity charge was already included in the bill). No, I personally do not mind paying tips, it is the fact that in this case, it did not feel they deserved it because of the time it took to delivery anything.

The other “issue” is that of price, something I seldom bring up. Earlier this year, I went with friend to Cactus Club and we ate a lot of food and had some drinks. On average, each one of us spent $35 but they were well spent $$$ as the food was quite good. Here, I do not think there was that much value as the bill for the seven and a half of us (the one and half being the to-be mother – of course, no alcohol for her) was ~$223 ($194 before gratuity charges). Now, one of our friends had to leave early and, as a result, his portion was slightlyt smaller than the rest of us. What does that mean? On average, it would be around $35 per person but never felt the food was at par to that of Cactus Club. Regardless, it is a good place to meet, just be prepared to bring $$$. And, to quote Sherman of Sherman’s Food Adventures, you might need to end up going to MickeyD’s for a filet-o-fish afterwards… Oh, one more thing. Just to prove I was not tipsy or outright drunk, I took these pictures after we went our ways. I doubt I would have been able to take these if I was in such condition… Enjoy!

Tagged under: Drinks • Snacks • Vancouver