Fast Food & Takeout
A Steveston institution since 1985, Pajo's serves fish and chips from a float at the bottom of the wharf ramp. Order at the window, then eat at picnic tables over the water while the fishing boats unload. Casual, outdoors, and dogs are welcome.
The working boats are the whole argument for eating down at the wharf rather than somewhere with a view of it. Pajo's sits at the bottom of the ramp in Steveston, close enough to the harbour that you can hear the winches. Steveston has a real fishing port attached to it rather than a decorative one. Fried fish tastes different when a vessel is offloading forty feet away, and that is not romance, it is just what the place is.
Fish and chips is a competitive category in this village and people hold firm loyalties about it. Summer is the complication. Between May and September the wharf collects tour traffic, weekend visitors from the rest of Richmond, and a queue that forms early and stays formed. Shoulder season afternoons are quieter, and the light off the channel is better then anyway.
The wharf is exposed, and weather counts for more down there than it does up on Moncton Street. Wind funnels along the channel and arrives sharper than it looks from dry land, so bring a layer you would not otherwise bother with. Streets near the harbour fill up on summer weekends, which is a good argument for walking in from Moncton Street or riding down the dyke instead of circling for a space. The village is compact enough that either works. A trip down here is best treated as an afternoon in Steveston rather than a meal you drive to, park for and leave, because the harbour is the reason to come and the food is what you do while you are there.
In the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other fast food and takeout restaurants and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
A takeout-first pizzeria on Moncton Street known for going well past pepperoni, with seafood, steak and truffle pies at prices to match. Thin crust, made to order, and a short menu of classics if you'd rather not spend big. Expect a wait on weekends.
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A no-frills Moncton Street chip shop that regulars rank against the wharf stands. Halibut, cod and salmon come battered to order with hand-cut fries, plus chowder and burgers. Small dining room, steady takeout trade, and less of a lineup than the waterfront.
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A small family-run Hawaiian spot in the Bayview block near the Steveston waterfront. Plate lunches, kalua pork and loco moco come out fast and cheap, with rice and mac salad on the side. Limited seating, so many orders head out to the boardwalk.
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A waterside eatery tucked behind the Bayview shops, best known for burgers and a brunch that runs all seven days and stretches to crab cake benedict, cabbage rolls, borscht and chowder. Casual and rustic, and easy to walk straight past.
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From the blog
Longer reads from the editor, with the places worth a detour linked inside them.
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I live four blocks off Moncton Street, so this is the Steveston I actually use: where to park before the Bayview lots fill, how to buy fish straight off the boats at the wharf, the honest answer to the Pajo's versus Dave's question, and why the history here is not decoration.
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