Bars & Pubs
A seafood bar and grill on the Steveston boardwalk, with Vicky's Lounge upstairs for drinks and harbour views. Fish and chips and chowder anchor the menu. The patio is packed in summer and it settles into a quiet local pub the rest of the year.
Two seasons share one address here, and the room has to work for both. Shady Island trades as a seafood bar and grill on Bayview Street, with a lounge upstairs. In July the stretch belongs to people who drove in for the afternoon, and by November the same room is doing quieter work for the few hundred who live within walking distance. That swing is brutal. Anywhere along the boardwalk has to be built for it, and the ones that are not tend to change hands.
Bayview is the last street before the water. The fishing fleet ties up at the wharf a short walk along, the cannery museum anchors the west end, and the dyke path picks up past Garry Point. All of that does real work for a seafood room, because you are eating in sight of the boats rather than in a themed dining room somewhere inland. Steveston is one of the few places in Metro Vancouver where a working harbour and a tourist economy occupy the same handful of blocks.
Village parking on a warm weekend is a competitive sport. The lots fill by late morning and most people end up leaving the car on a residential street north of the shops and walking down, which takes five minutes and removes the worst part of the trip. Anyone coming for the view should ask about the upper level, since that is where the harbour is actually in front of you. The off-season visit is the better one if you want the village at a walking pace.
In the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other bars and pubs and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
Upstairs on the Bayview pier with big windows over Fisherman's Wharf, Catch serves West Coast seafood alongside steaks, burgers and pasta. Locals come for the sunset patio, the halibut and black cod, and a kitchen that runs late on weekend nights.
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A 200-seat pub in the old Steveston Hotel with two patios that fill the moment the sun is out. Locals come for pints, pub food and game-day screens a block from the fishing docks, and it gets loud and busy on weekends.
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A taphouse near No. 1 Road and Moncton with a deep BC beer list and a long wine selection. Comfort food, burgers, salads and shareables. Roomier and less touristy than the waterfront spots, which makes it a dependable evening option.
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An everyday south Richmond pub on Steveston Highway with its own liquor store attached, closed Mondays. There is a beer club, Taco Tuesday and occasional beer and wine festivals, so regulars treat it as a local rather than a destination.
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Richmond's long-running sports pub on Blundell Road, with more than thirty screens including three large ones. There are separate pub and dining sides, weekend entertainment, and standard pub food. The default neighborhood spot for watching a game.
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A casual bar and brunch room in the Executive Hotel on Alderbridge Way. Oysters, tavern burgers and smoked salmon, plus a well-priced happy hour with mimosas and fried chicken sliders. Airport and hotel traffic keeps the hours long.
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From the blog
Longer reads from the editor, with the places worth a detour linked inside them.
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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The Richmond Maritime Festival takes over Britannia Shipyards on the BC Day long weekend, and Steveston fills right up. What the festival actually is, why you should not try to park at the site, and how I would spend the other two days of the three.
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The Night Market's final season is the loud story. The quieter one: free admission at the Cannery ends Monday, Britannia keeps summer hours through Sunday, and Steveston does sunsets better than anyone.
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