The Winking Judge Pub

Go for the drinks, and the service. (the food is 3 stars, service is 4!)
We ended up here by accident went in and found Simon, our patron Saint of Pours.
He gave us the low down on the place, the area and the menu.
We ordered up the nachos (psst, being from the area that originated these… offer meat options!) which were numerous and a big plate.
Ordered the bangers and mash, they were average… but who cared. The service and the conversation that makes up a pub is all that mattered to us that day.
Ask for Simon, get a good stiff chaser with a pint of something and enjoy the atmosphere.

A fun pub with large windows so it has a lighter feel than most pubs, and even has a few outdoor tables. We arrived in the afternoon for a late lunch, and service was quick. I asked about the the wine on tap and she told me I would probably like the BC red by the glass because the whites tended to be on the sweet side. The BC red was a good choice and arrived in an almost full glass. I also chose the winner foodwise. Their three cheese grilled sandwich with onion chutney was amazingly good, oozing with flavorful melted cheese on tasty lightly browned sourdough. Their french fries were perfect. It looks like the locals appreciate this place too.

The Winking Judge is a nice little pub located (as the name implies) in the heart of downtown, near the courts.
The staff is young, attractive and friendly. They seem to know most of the regulars by name, and there looked like about half the customers when I was in fell in that category. Gave it a nice, neighborhood feel.
The menu is fairly varied, from burgers, meat pies to salads and daily home made soups. We had the clam chowder (very good) and the 3 cheese toasted cheese sandwich with onion chutney (excellent!).
Beer and (eco-​friendly) wine on tap. The prices were reasonable. With our meal, a wine and 2 beers we paid less than $ 40 Canadian.

I love this place. The service, however, is a bit hit and miss. In the past I’ve come here and had great service, the last time however we came in on a busy Friday night, our server was unfriendly and didn’t want to be there. We saw her finish her shift and leave towards the end of our meal without even telling us she was leaving or introducing our new server. The second girl was friendlier but nothing amazing.
I come here for the food– the Tower of Yorkshire (with a Yorkshire pudding the size of your plate, then a roast dinner on top) is one of my favourite meals in the city. Unfortunately this night the were out, so I had the Beef Pot Pie with fries and seasonal vegetables– also delicious with tender beef, rich sauce and a perfectly flaky puff pastry lid. And the vegetables are always cooked to perfection.
While clearing the plates they spilt a big puddle of au jus over the table and walked off leaving it there. We had to ask our server to wipe it up.
Even though the service is hit or miss, I will be back as the food is just too good to resist.

This place is a fantastic, authentic piece of Vancouver at its best. My go to place ALWAYS. They have the best staff that is second to none downtown and a very good beer selection. My first and only complaint is a new hire that that (didn’t) serve me on Sunday night who seems to miss the point. Guy the bartender is a great, friendly host but I sat there for almost ten minutes without anyone at the bar acknowledging me. I watched Guy getting hit at one end of the bar but the other bartender essentially ignored me and seemed oblivious to Guy needing help. I’ve been going for around 6 years and its the first time I’ve ever walked out. Help this new guy out. Tell him to look up. Maybe smile at people. Besides this minor complaint, I think that everyone needs to go here at least once. The staff here really know how to get it done and will have you smiling when you leave and unlike most places downtown it won’t break the bank. Big love to you guys.

If you don’t care getting an attitude from the server/​manager even though you treat people friendly and politely, this is the place. Otherwise, do yourself a favor and spend your money somewhere else.
We were a group of 3 friends that decided to enjoy a happy hour after everybody had a long day at work. We always saw this place and thought about trying one day.
From the moment the waitress came to our table with the menus, and we asked her a question, we noticed an attitude. We just looked at each other in disbelief. We thought, ‘OK, she is probably having a bad day’. We placed our orders, ignored the bad start, but the situation turned to a point where it was too discomforting. Unfortunately we didn’t get her name. She was the skinnier blonde. This is to her «For God’s sake, if you choose to work in this business, give at least some respect. When people talk to you, look at then instead of looking at the street. When you bring the bill, don’t throw it down in the table when you walk by, put it on the table and be respectful. If you are not feeling well, call in sick. If you hate your job, quit.»
We decided to finish our drinks and food an leave. One of my friends made sure to pay the bill at the counter to let me manager knowing about the problem. We got the typical ‘sorry’ meaning ‘I give a s…’, which explained the attitude one of his servers was passing along. BTW, while my friend was talking to the manager, we got some dirty looks from 2 thugs behind the counter.
To be fair, the only time we had a break on that attitude was when a young guy brought our food (possibly the cook). Friendly and respectful dude. Coincidentally, we met him again when we were leaving. One more time he showed us there are people who value customers, his profession, and enjoy what he does.
Beer: mediocre
Food: ok
Waitress (skinnier blonde) /​management: ridiculously poor, to not say sad.
Cook (perhaps): professional and polite guy

This became our favorite pub to crash at and grab a beer after a long day of exploring the city. Fun atmosphere and good beer selection.

My boyfriend and I loved it here. Great atmosphere, the service was amazing both times we went, and the food tasted great. Lost a star for slow kitchen.

Great little pub in the heart of Vancouver. Located near the scotiabank theatres.
Great beer selection and great pub style food!
Space is limited so it can get crowded in there.

Rude waitresses with far too much attitude. Terrible, lacking, service, food is average or below. I used to love this place. I’ll be giving it a miss from now on. There are better pubs in DT with better food, better service and polite and friendly wait staff.

I’ve been in here before for a drink and it was fine, but last night they took 1 hr to serve me a BLT and Nachos. It was a joke. I asked 45 mins in what was up and the bartendeder, I’m assuming a manager of sorts barks back at me «it has to go through the que. there are others ahead of you!» no shit Sherlock, but 45 minutes for a BLT Sandwich and a half plate of Nachos? Gimme a break. Not to mention, its not like they were packed or anything. I could see one of the guys in the kitchen on his phone at one point, so clearly he was not in any rush. Based on that experience alone, I will never ever go back to this place again.

Don’t let the bad reviews mislead you. This is a great British style pub.
If you read in other reviews that it’s pricey, welcome to Vancouver. If you don’t like the pub food there is a japadog just across the street.
Otherwise, the wings are good and half order of nachos is enough for two people.
If you read that the drinks menu is limited, let me remind you that this is a pub, get a Guinness. Want some hipster drinks you can go back to Gastown. I love the revel room.
Overall great service and good pub experience.

Just regular alright place. Great to hang out there right after movie b/​c its accessibility. Nothing too bad or too impressive though better than stupid Granville pubs.

Came by for some beers and good times.
Parking here is pretty horrendous, until 1800 or so. Try the side streets.
The inside is mostly Irish style with the wood panelling, but this venue differs from most others in the way that there are nice large windows that prevent the place from getting too dim. There’s also a decent sized patio outside. The night I was there, there was a guitarist, who actually wasn’t bad at all.
Staff are friendly, but they’re spread out too thin. They kept missing the inner raised area where I was seated (it’s off the main path between the bar and the outdoor patio). My friends and I had to keep flagging down the waitress each time.
Beers were average priced, but nothing really stuck out. The thing that keeps this place going is location, location, location. Maybe next time I’ll try the food.

While walking down Robson trying to find a place to grab some drinks and dinner, my friends and I turned a corner and found this fun pub. It wasn’t too too busy around 6 pm on a Saturday, but it quickly filled up. It is across from a cinema so this is a good place to grab a bite and drink before or after a show. We had a few drinks and grabbed food. All the food has a law pun (good place for lawyers or pun enthusiasts). My friends and I ordered some beer and I had some of their Winking Wine, which was awesome. The food was not short of great either. My friends ordered a BLT and a chicken pie. They both said it was excellent. I ordered the grilled goat cheese salad, which was delicious, especially with the grilled goat cheese. The prices weren’t bad either since they had specials. If you’re in the mood for good pub grub, check out this place!

Not exactly for the younger crowd but Zack the bartender is super great. He made drinks custom to me and my cousin that were delicious. I’ll be back just for him. ;)
Down to earth atmosphere in downtown. Kinda refreshing. Check it out.

The food and service was great. We enjoyed the steak and ale pie and salad more than we expected. We would definitely come back. Hopefully they arent out of the chicken pot pie next time.

The Wild Mushroom soup is outstanding. Perfect for a typical rainy Vancouver afternoon.

Having just realized we waited too long to buy our movie tickets at Cineplex we instead chose to go for a beer. Sitting at the bar I found that the waitresses mostly ignored you as they zoomed around which was fine once beer was ordered. Moosehead was on special!!! A not-​too loud great little beer house which unfortunately doesn’t offer much in the way of gratuitous seating. Either way you look at it-​go for beer and not be disappointed.

I’m not typically a pub person, but I have been here twice now. The first time was with my father after seeing a movie. We got a seat outside and ordered some drinks along with wings. The wings were very good and my father enjoyed them enough to order another round.
My second visit was seated up at the bar, a nice waiter took my drink and food order. The food did take a while to drive, long enough that he did not charge me for my first drink. That being said, like the first visit the food (this time clam chowder) was excellent.