It had been a mighty long time since Gastown had found its way into the crosshairs of my Vancouver social calendar.
A wise man once said, “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right”. With this mantra as a backdrop, I decided to reacquaint myself with this trendy little Vancouver neighbourhood…twice.
I’ll throw together a little table of contents for you so you can stickhandle your way through this post:
First bit: Chill Winston
Last bit: The Lamplighter
My role in this: Tour guide and event planner combo
Your role in this: Whatever you want in the context of eating, drinking and being merry
Robbie Burns Rest Stop
I told you earlier about what happened this past weekend on Robbie Burns day for me. The long and the short of it was that a friend who was in town from Toronto en route to Whistler (don’t worry, I told him about Starbucks) and we 
wanted a place to go after our first stop (read: The Cascade Room).
Having been to Chill Winston once or twice before, I thought this seemed like a logical next step…it was. I’ll leave it to you to decided if Chill Winston is your thing, or not, but what I will tell you that the service we received at it, despite an incredibly packed house, was as good as I’ve had at a lounge.
Like a ‘perfect storm’, descending on Chill Winston on Saturday night was: 1) people; 2) rather large birthday party entourages; 3) stags/stagettes; 4) Robbie Burns types (aware or unaware); and 5) who knows what else.
Suffice to say there were a lot of people there. And, like any lounge that is hip and tricked out in terms of design (which Chill Winston is), there’s going to be a lot of things going on and a lot of people running around.
Despite the frenetic pace of the circus going on around us, the room was chilled out (maybe that’s why the named it what they did) and the people we dealt with were smiling and friendly. No attitude, no rushing you through, and actually…manners. Like “You’re welcome” and “Would you like a napkin with that?” kind of thing.
Very impressed. So my advice…go, in whatever shape you and your group take, and chill.
Lamp Lighting
From the makers of Biminis (RIP), Library Square, The Calling, and Republic comes The Lamplighter from the very well known, and perhaps not-so-well heard of, Vancouver nightlife machine, The Donnelly Group.
Long have I been a fan of what the The Donnelly Group has done for the Vancouver entertainment scene. Their venues are well designed (or in the case of The Lamplighter, well renovated), well situated, well attended, and just well done all togther.
With some history behind me, I decided to arrange a get together for a large group of friends from Hadj’s class. We’ve been out once or twice before and it’s been a lot of fun. So, fun being the goal, I thought I couldn’t go wrong with making a ‘bet’ on The Lamplighter. Guess what…my bet paid off.
The group (which numbered probably 15 or more all told) was easily handled and there was no waiting in line. We managed to secure a large table and the service was prompt and to be honest, really friendly. Actually making conversation with guests is a good thing, I think, and our server was (from what I could tell…correct me if I’m wrong guys) great.
The music (which wasn’t a live act on this night) was solid and jumped out of the speakers with more energy than frogs on a dynamite pond. We even had some ZZ Top from 1983 thrown in…nice touch.
Will I repeat…yeah.
Will the group go out again….yeah.
Do I think you should go…definitely, not maybe.
The End (fade to black).
darren
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