Checkers Bar & Grill

Checkers Bar & Grill
1755 Davie Street
Vancouver, BC

OK, OK, the World Cup is over but I still have posts in the queue from those days… Sorry? ^_^;;; So, similar to my posts to Fogg N’ Suds and Dover Arms Pub, PO and I chose to go to pubs to watch the games – except that day there was no game. Despite that, PO was fine to visit a pub just for kicks (or drinks). At first, we were planning to go to some pubs in English Bay but, guess what? When we arrived, despite it had a sandwich board outside and the doors weren’t locked, there was absolutely nobody there! We took a peek around and there was absolutely nobody. So, without further hesitation, we just turned around and look for the closest pub and, among the several ones, we ended up going to Checkers Bar & Grill.

At first, we were confused as to where we ended up walking into. It wasn’t until we realized the entrance was shared with the Best Western hotel. Oh, boy, hotel food? Anyway, we turned left after the entrance and that’s where it leads to the “pub”.

Unlike the Great Bear Pub where, despite there was no sign of whether we should sit ourselves or wait, not long after we walked in, a waitress spotted us and told us to take any table. That meant a table that has some good light source, which translated into one near the window… And here is the “oddity”. Staff aside, I think we being in the restaurant brought down the average age of the dinners by over a decade! I guess it “helps” the restaurant has a special menu designated specially for customers of a certain age group…

After we got the table, here comes the “usual” question: What to order? In the case of Checkers, it had some usual suspects but we decided to go for their specials. In PO’s case, that ended up being one of the daily specials in the form of…

Grandma’s Meatloaf Sandwich – Fresh meatloaf served with sourdough bread topped with sauteed mushroom and gravy. Served with the option of salad or fries. I am not sure what is the general though of the gravy, whether it should look similar to a demi-glace or that brownish colour; regardless, to me it looked really odd… But, as for the sandwich, it came with two large pieces of meatloaf, which was a bit too grounded for my liking, not to mentioned it desperately needed seasoning. Wonder if it was targeted specifically to the group we observed?

As for me, I went with the other special that requires a purchase of a drink: their steak sandwich – A 6 oz. sirloin steak smothered in mushrooms and served on garlic toast. Normally, had I ordered it by itself, I would have been $16. During certain times of the day, with a purchase of a drink, it will be ~$13. Suddenly, it sounds like buy the sandwich, get the pop for free?

But, back to the sandwich. I wasn’t expecting any form of melt-in-your-mouth type meat. I mean, after all, this isn’t fine dining… The done-ness level was good enough for what is being paid. Tastewise, there was some noticeable beef but, past that, it is pretty much similar to most of such sandwiches of this type you can find. As for the rest… Well, that’s where some question marks kick in. What’s up with the same mushroom served over both the meat loaf sandwich and this sandwich? Where is the top bun??? The bread actually managed to soak whatever was falling down from that perspective, it did its job.

In the end, the food served here was… Average at best, considering the fact this is a restaurant in a hotel? Even if it wasn’t it wasn’t exciting at all and, for the same price, I might as well go to another nearby restaurants as the price range is about the same and, in a lot of other cases, better food. However, given the age group of the customers, that also means something, just that that something does not apply to me.

Tagged under: pub • Sandwich • West End