The Roof

Went here for lunch a few weeks ago. I really liked the atmosphere of the closed patio with the fire places and couches. We sat near the outdoor patio, and unfortunately the ground was a bit went from the recent wind storm. I was a bit surprised it hadn’t been mopped up, but oh well. Our server was really lovely, very attentive and accommodating without being overbearing. She also did a good job of selling the special to a few people at the table. I had the Salmon Salad, which was delicious and filling. I would definitely come back, and would love to try Happy Hour to taste of a few of their other dishes.

Their happy hour is from 2:30 — 5:30 every day and there is a select menu with 50% off their original price. Select beers, highballs, and featured drinks are $ 5.
The Charcuterie came with prosciutto, a selection of salami, parmigiano-​reggiano, seasonal marmalade, olives, cornichons, and forno bread. I loved the cheese and the selection of meats were great. A good deal at $ 9.
Next up were the Salt Spring Island Mussels which came in a coconut Thai curry broth, cilantro, crispy shallots, and another side of forno bread. These were delicious with the mussels being fresh and plump and the broth having a strong coconut flavour. The broth was great to dip your bead in. We soon realized that all our dishes came with the same bread though and that we were filling up with bread…
The Crab and Spinach Dip was a gooey mix of artichokes, and sun-​dried tomatoes. It was very heavy and cheesy but I quite enjoyed it. Again, it came with forno bread to dip.
Our last item was the Atlantic Lobster Flatbread, which came topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, tarragon, lobster bisque, corn, and pickled onions. This was quite tasty with the corn bringing a sweetness of flavour to the typical savoury dish. We were disappointed that there wasn’t too much lobster though. If you were lucky, you got a few strands on your piece.
The girls got the feature drink which was a Blueberry Champagne Spritzer, while I had the Driftwood Whitebark Beer. Overall, we were quite pleased with the food, other than the fact that almost all the dishes came with the same bread for the side, so we got a bit sick of that. Our server was pretty friendly at the end, but started off being a bit cold. Not sure what that was all about. She also forgot our order of Calamari, but we were too full to eat that anyways. Prices are reasonable during happy hour, with each of us paying under $ 20 for our share of food and drinks after tips.
I do want to note that I was quite disappointed with the service I received subsequent to this dinner. I had left my lunch bag from work under the table and went home without it. When I called to ask if it was still there, the manager said that they were not aware and that they would look after closing since there were still diners. She said she would call me back if they found anything. Since I didn’t hear anything back, I called again a few days later, and they said that they were still looking and would call me back. It’s been more than two weeks since, and I have heard nothing back. What I lost is not a big deal and it isn’t their responsibility, but I am quite annoyed at the fact that they disregarded the whole situation. I rather they call me and tell me they looked and could not find anything. The fact that they said they were still looking seemed like they had not even tried to look. As the restaurant is part of such a large restaurant group and consider themselves an upscale restaurant, I would think they know how to better please their customers.
Pros:
— Reasonable prices during Happy Hour
— Nice ambiance
Cons:
— Too much of the same bread on each dish!
— Service was just average for an upscale restaurant

Pretty neat atmosphere but too expensive for the quality of food and service. Overrated.

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire… Now, my friends don’t like it here. They have their reasons which I won’t say here because it hasn’t happened to me… plus, they could be overreacting… plus, they have deep fried mac and cheese so I don’t care.
Normally, the Hubster and I have a late breakfast on Sundays so we don’t normally have lunch. Some days, if I can convince him to have an early brekkie, I just might make it to Happy Hour 2:30 — 5:30. I love me a Happy Hour. What could be better than cheap food and moderately priced drinks? There aren’t really any cheap drinks in Vancouver, is there? While all the Glowbal restaurants have a Happy Hour every day, I like the Roof’s menu the best in terms of food. I have no idea what the drink specials are since I get a coke and my hubby gets a beer. There’s usually one on special.
We approached Black and Blue and were sent upstairs. Two ladies were outside telling us that they just had the best happy hour. I know. This time, we sat in the shadier section of the couches in the middle of the patio. Well, at least I was in the shade. The fireplaces we’re going even though it was smoking hot outside.
We ordered the Pulled Beef sliders, the charcuterie platter and the deep fried mac and cheese. Eww… do not get the sliders… okay, wait… I should not get the sliders. I was expecting a beef patty because I am blind and did not see pulled. Then, my hubby who hates blue cheese gets the one with the most blue cheese. While I am a firm lover of blue cheese, I didn’t really like the flavour/​texture combinations the sliders had to offer. The charcuterie plate was a winner… there was a good assortment of meats and cheeses… it’s usually $ 18, but on special for $ 9 during Happy Hour. It came with some deep fried dough (it tasted fried, so if it’s baked, you people are magicians) that were wonderful. The deep fried mac and cheese came with a truffle cream dipping sauce. I didn’t really feel I needed it for the mac and cheese, but it was so good for dipping the doughy balls.
As we sat and talked, we devoured everything… our server made sure that we were happy. I love this place… at Happy Hour.

Ate lunch at The Roof with a group of friends. Its a great space when the weather is good, as it was when we went. Service was a tad slow, but the food was wonderful. I had the shrimp skewer with the salad. The shrimp was tasty and perfectly cooked. Everyone else like their food as well, with the burgers being the major winner.

I just love the feel of this place, whereas my earlier review of Black and Blue said it didnt have a «welcoming feel» this roof did have a welcoming feel — perhaps it was the fireplace all around. The wine list is fantastic, the food is pretty good. I would go there for a date — its super romantic!

We met up with another couple for happy hour at «The Roof» on a Friday afternoon. It is, as described by many, the place to be for «people watching», as there were «beautiful people» everywhere. The food was good, although we did not like the mussels. The shrimp was the winner for us, as was the flat bread. The drinks were flowing so all was good.
One question, is the happy hour at the Roof better than Joe Fortes?

One of the «it» places to be for patio happy Hours.
The rooftop patio is called The Roof and the indoor dining area is called Black and Blue. Although they are the same restaurant, they have different names depending where you want to sit. I’m not really sure why, but I’m just guessing it’s easier for people to determine where they want to eat or maybe it’s the cool thing these days.
The Roof can get quite chilly on a cloudy day so ask the staff to turn on the heat lamps. It’s a comfortable place to enjoy a few drinks and snacks after work as well as a prime people watching spot. The menu is 50% off during happy hour so we may have over indulged. Besides our massive drinks order, we shared the mac n cheese bars, smoked salmon pizza, jerk chicken pizza, calamari, fresh oysters, mussels and phyllo prawns. Our favorites were the mussels, phyllo prawns and calamari.
Happy hour is only from 2:30PM-5:30PM, so get there early.

This is one of the better places for happy hour. Their selection of discounted items include crowd favorites such as deep fried mac and cheese, and a beautifully presented charcuterie board. You also can’t go wrong with $ 5 sparkling wine.
The service is excellent, with plates cleared quickly and regular check ups to top up drinks. My group took up a large section with people coming and going, and the servers managed to keep everything in order.
Everyone was already talking about the next get together.

Came here for Valentines Day dinner and was disappointed in their service. We had booked a reso for the roof earlier that week and i had called back to confirm a few days before too. We were running 10 min late and i called the roof phone number to let them know. We got to Black and Blue downstairs to check in and they tell us our reso is in the dining area. In the end we got upstairs to the roof but there was just so much confusion on their part that we wasted half an hour getting our table and were told we had to be finished by 615 when we finally got seated at 515. All in all the food was good but the service left a bad taste in my mouth especially for being a glowbal restaurant. This was my go to place but I might have to pick another.

Came here for the happy hour after scouring for some decent mac n cheese options (I blame the pregnant cravings). During happy hour, their mac n cheese sticks with truffle cheese dip are $ 4.50! There’s also a lot of other great snack options including smoked salmon flat bread for $ 8.50, or ahi tuna screamers for $ 8, or beef sliders for $ 6.50. Despite our low spend, the service here was fantastic. They ensured our water glasses were full all the time and checked up on us often.
The mac n cheese with the dip was delicious (4 sticks), but the two on the bottom sat in a pool of oil so they were super greasy. I’d recommend doing a plate tilt right away or soaking up some of the oil early on. The tuna screamers were good too — but heavy on daikon as opposed to tuna. Flavour-​wise, it hit the spot!
And here’s the kicker, here’s where they earned the extra star. So when the bill came, we paid with a gift card we had. Turns out, the card came from Costco, so it was purchased at a discounted rate. And it says on the back that you can’t combine it with any promotions. Since we got the card as a gift, we didn’t realise this, and thus a confusing 10 minutes ensued of us trying to understand why we couldn’t use a gift card which we thought was as good as cash. The staff were extremely understanding of the situation (I guess they’d gone through it a few times), and offered up a reasonable work-​around for us. What could’ve been a really pregnant grumpy moment turned out to be better than expected. Our server was FANTASTIC (I think her name was Lia?) and I would go back just to see her!
So if you’re looking for good food options for happy hour in a nice setting with great service, I would recommend The Roof. Just don’t come if you’ve gotten your gift card from Costco. And if you don’t know if your GC is from Costco, check the back — it’ll say in the fine print you can’t use it with promotions. Helpful tip!
Accessible via the 2 or 22 busses, or a short walk from Burrard Skytrain Station or the 5 Robson Bus. Also, it’s downtown, so it’s walkable from most downtown bus stops :)

Was here in the fall with friends for dinner.
I got the lobster salad and it had about 3 – 4 leaves. Salty. The rest we ordered was so forgettable that I forgot what it was.
2 stars because the elevator going up is cool and the service was really good.
We left quickly and after we all went out again for a second dinner to fill our empty stomachs.

Came here on a Saturday night.
My friends had reserved us seats at the bar.
It was crowded, but didn’t interfere with the service which was exceptional.
After a number of Mai Tai’s, has a shared pitcher of white Sangria, it was time to order.
I had the Steak Salad — it was amazing ! It was grilled to my request (tender on the inside charred on the edges) and the salad part was a very unique combination of pea greens, cucumbers, cilantro, carrots and bean sprouts. It was perfection.
I ordered some bread on the side and if was a large portion of crispy goodness.
Desert was the Crème Brullie with macaroons on the side.
A few more drinks and off we went. Very pleased. Would defiantly return and recommend !

Great service and great food! I was there for appy hours and brunch a few times. The servers are very friendly and the food is amazing.

Not really the best view for a rooftop lounge/​restaurant, but had a stylish ambience. Our waitress wasn’t the friendliest, but there were multiple friendly staff constantly checking in, refilling drinks, replacing dishes, etc. Went during happy hour and got half off the appetizers. Ahi tuna was fresh and tasty, but nothing too special. Mussels & frites were so yummy (even my husband, who normally doesnt like mussels, thought they were delicious!), but the sausages that came with the dish were way too salty for my taste. The phyllo prawns were sooo good! Very unique, meaty, and juicy! Definitely would order the prawns again. Mojito, caesar, and strawberry fields were also very good. Lychee bubble tasted good at first, then got too sour for me.

Not impressed. Been to black and blue a few times and expected that their rooftop would be of the same caliber but it definitely missed the mark. Dirty side plates given to all four of us, cutlery wasn’t changed between appetizer and entrée round (the waitress even made a point to take all of our cutlery off our dirty plates and place them directly on the table).
Fried mac and cheese sticks were good but the overwhelmingly pungent truffle oil on the side was unnecessary. The prime rib sandwich looked like a mess, with au jus poured all over it. With that amount of au jus, the bread that the open faced sandwich sat on was supersaturated with salt and was basically a pile of mush.
This is a sandwich you would expect at a small diner somewhere, and the corresponding sloppy presentation and overall uncleanliness of the dishes would be acceptable there. However this is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in town, and my experience was truly a let-​down.

First time coming here. Had high expectations after seeing various photos of the rooftop patio and the food. Sat on patio on a hot sunny day. They had some umbrellas but our table was pretty much in the direct sunlight.
Service wasn’t great. Given it was a hot day, we had to keep asking for them to refill our water. There was a fan nearby and we asked them to see if they could turn it on. Our waitress tried but wasn’t able to find a plug. Said her manager would come by but never did.
Ordered the Mac and cheese sticks to start. I’ve heard great things and they lived up to the reviews. After we had our appies, instead of replacing our cutlery, or waitress just took the cutlery off our plates and reset the table using the used forks and knives. Ended up having our expediter to bring us new cutlery with our mains.
Ordered the black&blue benny. Instead of the traditional English muffin, it came on top of a baguette. The baguette was pretty much impossible to cut through with a knife. There was a thin slice of prosciutto and the tiniest amount of crab. Would not recommend ordering this at all.
Overall food was just ok. Would come back for the outdoor patio if I was in the downtown area. Good ambience and good drink selection.

I stopped by here after work for some happy hour snacks and drinks but we were so full after that we ended up just getting frappuccinos rather than a real meal!
The phyllo shrimps were so unique and crispy while the mac and cheese sticks were indulgent and satisfying. The ahi tuna appie was sort of like what you would get at a Japanese restaurant and the sliders were just a bit disappointing. We also decided to try their happy hour drinks and we preferred the strawberry one over the lychee one. ($ 5 drinks!)
Anyways, the service was great but the patio was extremely loud and we could barely hear each other. We were in an out within an hour because the food was made so quickly but apparently the patio’s seating time maximum is only 90 minutes anyways. Definitely give this place a try because all their appies are less than $ 10 if you go during happy hour! (everyday from 3p-​6p)

My hubby and I came here for a light dinner. We started off with Sangrias (yumm!).so refreshing and delicious… try one! Then we ordered the Charcuterie Platter. We were in heaven! On the platter was chorizo, jamon, salami, parmigiano reggiano, burrata (one of the best parts!), mustard, cornichons, and forno bread. YOu simply cannot go wrong by munching on these tasty morsels. After we finished that, we thought we’d go for a salad so both of us ordered the Spinach salad which had double smoked bacon, mushrooms, charred onions, parmesan, and a warm dijon vinaigrette. We simply could not get enough but we made ourselves stop eating so that we could go for a walk (it was a beautiful night).
It’s quite a a happening place. If I had to give them a bit of critique is that we were alongside the restaurant closest to the entry way in on the east side. It felt like the tables were all shoved in there to get in as many people as possible. If they removed one table, that would relieve that feeling.
Other than that, it’s a beautiful décor. Who doesn’t love a rooftop deck???
Worth checking it out yourself.

How can you not be glowing, feeling like you are on cloud nine after a night out at a place like this. We were treated very well every step of the way. A few things that caught me off guard. There is an elevator to take you to the «Roof». (You can take the stairs).“The Roof” is covered and heated very well. No need for blankets at all. If you sit at the bar be prepared for the occasional smoke out by the Wood Fire Grill. Simple solution for that… don’t sit at the bar but ORDER from the grill… HA!!! Genius.
I noticed right away they do NOT use Alberta beef, it is from PEI, apparently because it is of higher quality. We enjoyed the slider trio during the famous Glowbal happy hour (3−6pm everyday, 50% off appies) One had huge chunks of bacon and blue cheese. Another had housemade BBQ sauce with red wine. The beef was grilled to perfection and the bread was soft and tasty.
The prawns… HOLY GEEZ. they get that big? Those were some biiiig, prawns. And the cheese that they use for the Mac & Cheese sticks. Like yumm…, I think it takes MAc & Cheese to another dimension.
The establishment it self is very modern, warm, luxurious but unique in a way that I really enjoyed and was very impressed.
Service was 5 star from beginning to end. I will be dreaming about watching the chef prepare the skewers of meat. It’s true.
edit: please click the link above and check out their fabulous website/​restaurant!!!