Order in the court!

In a night that saw me breaking one of my cardinal rules, it seemed only fitting that I was doing so at the winking judge pub.

Holding court at 888 Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, opposite the ScotiaBank theatre and famous Japadog stand, the winking judge pub draws a steady stream of tourists and locals alike.

With the constant foot traffic and a tendency to attract groups, the winking judge pub can get quite boisterous, which in turn leads to uneven service:

• Case 1) on a recent Monday evening a couple of us sat and waited and waited and waited for service. It took a solid 18mins for a server to come over and acknowledge us, granted we were somewhat tucked away from the main bar, but she had tables around us that were getting served so…
• Case 2) as a general rule I’ve observed that single male customers, or groups of male customers, get more attentive, quicker service here than mixed parties, or parties of just women. Just saying.
• Case 3) the over-all cleanliness of the bar and especially its bathrooms is admirable (especially when you consider their location). However, when a large party next to us cleared out, the server promptly cleaned the table of glassware and crumbs but left the dirty rag sitting on the table, leaving the new group to deal with a nasty wet bar rag *shudder the germs*
• Case 4) as the night wears on and the room empties out, service improves drastically. While the relationship between customer and server can not be deemed as close as that shared by attorney and client, we did get glasses of water when requested, friendly menu suggestions, smiles, and absolutely no attitude when separate billing is needed.

Just like a courtroom you’ll find the service at the winking judge pub in your favour. or not. depending on who you know. and just like any courtroom you can be guaranteed some good people watching.