SIP Lounge

This is now «Loco Ono» — a Hawaiian style takeover!
Saturday night and this area is hopping. Young crowd out partying.
Stumbled upon Loco Ono because it looked like a really cozy and interesting spot to grab a drink and people watch.
Seated immediately in the bar area right by the entrance. Could watch everyone coming and going. Dance club music and dark. Music was loud but can still hold a conversation. Nice vibe.
Served immediately. $ 4.95 drinks and $ 9.95 eats! I like already.
Interesting menu: Ono perogies? Spam Musub-​Eh? Pork belly sliders, Kalua Pork Poutine., Loco Moco, Tuna Poke Bowl. Too bad we already had dinner! We were tempted by the Malasadas though: fried donut rolled in sugar. We did not regret this! Delicious! Just enough sugar, and not oily. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Drinks: Makenna Beach Calling: Bombay Sapphire gin, Pimm’s No.1, lime juice, green tea syrup, pineapple juice, cucumber. This wasn’t one of the cocktails for $ 4.95! But it was refreshing, not sickeningly sweet and delicious!
I will be back for dinner! By the way, they offer private rooms to host private events and parties.

Stopped in for happy hour, sign out front drew me in – $ 4 hi-​balls, $ 5 food. Checked with the hostess if they had wi-​fi (Yes), important to me as I’d been offline & phone down all day. When the waiter got to my table, things had changed (Wi-​fi not working, this should have been communicated to the gal on the frontline who might get asked about it.) But, he was able to point me to another network (of another lounge right next door) and was ready with their password (Shady!).
It didn’t work (yes, I tried it, now I was shady). Look over the menu items at the top, which were the $ 5 HH food I’d inquired about. But smaller portions, I was told. I can live with that. Steak frites, which were actually quite good — and not an entrée.
When the bill came, my frites were $ 18! Not wanting to look like a cheap-​ass, I didn’t say anything (but prob should have).It was not busy, and HH was clearly my intent, so I doubt there was confusion.
But I did feel like I got the bait-​and-​switch routine. Next time I’ll speak up.

Came here the other night for a mutual friend’s birthday. Our server was sloppy drunk. As in– has to come back to take your order 3 separate times drunk. As in– admits «Ohmygod I’m so drunk I’m going to be fired» drunk.
Word to the wise– don’t place your most boozed up gal on the party of 16. Things are likely to go wrong very quickly.

I’m going to give this spot 3 stars when in reality it probably deserves 2 – 2.5 because we had really great servers here. Came here with a group of friends and was meeting up with some other people so had substantial amounts of time to spend here (almost 2+ hours) …
They do have beer, but their beer is mostly in bottles, and not so much on draft except for American beers which are less exciting to me.
They are supposed to be a wine bar, I think … but they literally had like a choice of 2 wines of white or red … not sure how this is supposed to be the same menu as The Refinery upstairs which was closed at the time for a private event.
Finally, the cocktails. Just not really impressed. I mean this is really just a typical lounge /​bar that has nothing particularly spectacular to offer or is anything special. Pass.

I am never going back here. Yes this place has been around for awhile, at least 8 years. It used to be more popular back then.
The tapas are ok but my bad experience here was due to some type of food poisoning. Partly my fault b/​c I didn’t say anything and drank my sangria anyways. Am I confusing you guys? Lol. Well I ordered sangria and noticed that the fruit in my glass looked a little too fermented maybe. As well it looked like some canned fruit! So instead of questoning… I drank some of it. That night I had the worst stomach pain ever! Pins and needles type of pain. And no… I never ate any meat here so it had to be this funky sangria lol. That’s my opinion!
I’ve never been back since… and oddly no one ever brings this place up.

We made a reservation for 6 people for the seats right across from the big screen. It was my birthday, and I wanted to watch the Canucks game, as I have done a few times in the past, and it was always fun and the food was great!
The reservation process was smooth. We were greeted by Graham, who I had made the reservation with. My husband and I were the first ones there and soon after our other friends arrived. We ordered drinks and all of the appies, except the Arrancini, which I think was only because I didn’t see it, (I think I’ve had them before). It was still Happy Hour, and highballs were $ 4 and appies were $ 5. This is where the experience started to go south.
Any of the food that was supposed to be hot, wasn’t even warm, and in fact, most of it was cold. Normally, I would have said something, but the game was starting, and I wanted to enjoy my guests. It was palatable, but not good. So, I figured that the main course is where they will shine. The general consensus was that the food was OK, but cold.
As for quality of the mains, other than cold, I can only speak to what I ate. I love seafood, so I ordered the Fettuccine Pescatore (Seafood Fettuccine). I counted all of 2 shrimp, and mostly the char. But what really made it particularly unappetizing, was the sauce had absolutely NO FLAVOUR! It was like eating paste. I had to ask for salt, pepper, and Parmesan, and I rarely have to put salt on anything when eating away from home. Also, of course, it was cold, and so that made the whole thing somewhat unpleasant to eat. Again, I just didn’t want to make a scene.
On the other hand, the service was good. We were taken care of by one of the managers, Graham, when we arrived. When he had to leave, he introduced us to the Marketing Mgr, Unfortunately, I just can’t remember her name. She would be taking over. When I showed my disappointment that they had discontinued their chocolate cake, (it was my birthday, after all) she came back to offer an alternative that sounded ok. It was a pecan tart and it was pretty good, the chocolate mousse was your average chocolate mousse. The chef brought it over and explained everything, but I was distracted. He said something about «his version of chocolate mousse», but really, I couldn’t detect anything special about it. The lemon thing was like a dried out lemon muffin. The cake was something I’d had once when I was there, Now all they have is bread pudding, which was also, ok. One of my friends ordered it. It wasn’t finished, and it was passed around for people to try.
I wanted a coffee to go with dessert, but they don’t have any, and so our server, the marketing mgr, offered to make an espresso upstairs, but i declined when she said they didn’t have decaf. I can’t drink caffeine that late at night. So I asked for tea, which doesn’t seem to affect me as much as coffee. It seemed to be taking a long time. Just as I was starting to wonder outloud, about what was taking so long to boil and bring hot water and a teabag, the mgr came to the table with a decaf coffee that she had walked down to Blenz, presumably in the rain (it’s Jan. in Vancouver) and bought me a decaf coffee and brought it to me. THAT, really impressed me. That is good marketing, and that is something I will remember about my night there, on my birthday.
I hope they can get the food temp. problem under control. It looks like they have heat lamps, but I never noticed them being on.
Then, to top off the evening, they saddled up new server to take care of us, because I guess they thought we wouldn’t be there much longer. This server didn’t even know what a Paralyzer is. My friend had to explain to her what it is. She brought her something with pineapple in it.
We did leave shortly after that mostly because it got too loud with the DJ. Then our bills were messed up and there was about $ 30 more on my bill than there should have been, but it got sorted out. I don’t know what was going on with my friend’s bill, but she got exasperated and just paid it.
I don’t know if they’ve gone through a management change since I was there last, but it will be a LONG time, if ever, that I go back to Sip. Too bad, it’s a nice place to watch a hockey game or any sports. It’s not a huge space, but it’s sorta average size. Nice, big screen.

My favorite place on Granville!!! The staff is awesome, the food is amazing, and you are always guaranteed to have a good time. Also has the best music every night. Rad place, and always recommend it to friends!

Great staff. Great environment but just okay food.
The burger was warm, thick cold bread and regular tasting. The fries were good though. The perogies were okay but Costco has the same quality and they charged $ 16!
The gratuity was included but they didn’t tell us ahead of time and they charged 20%.
The duck poutine came out warm though they did just give us a free one when they made a mistake on the order.
Not sure if I’ll come back here. Nothing spectacular.

Awesome place awesome staff!!! Celebrated my birthday here and it was great! Drinks were good tried the strawberry short cake cocktail blended delicious! Also I proposed to my girlfriend they provide provided champaign and played Bruno mars marry you after. Would recommend this gem to everyone try the perogies mmmmm

Words can’t express how awesome the team at SIP Resto-​Lounge is. My better half and I have been going to this place since before we started dating. We’ve had birthday parties, anniversaries, even random date nights there.
After receiving some bad news, we decided to go there to pick our spirits up. To our surprise, they were on day 4 of the roll out of a new food and drinks menu. There were some classic favourites that they kept from the old menu as well as some awesome new additions! I had the steak (prepared to perfection) and the lady had the tuna sushi which she adored. And that’s saying a lot because tuna’s not usually her first choice. All the appies are awesome. You can’t go wrong.
And the DRINKS! If you’re a fan of rum, order the Rastafariyan. You won’t regret it.
Ray and the rest of the team at SIP were very professional, welcoming and helpful as well.
This place is still a favourite! On top of everything that I’ve already listed, it plays great music, at the right volume which creates an awesome ambience. I was even able to catch up on March Madness highlights!
¹⁰⁄₁₀ all around!

This place sucks. The service is rude. They kicked us out. It was my birthday.
So you don’t think I was just an annoying drunk girl ill explain myself. We made reservations and when we got there of course there were no tables because they just sat a few walk ins before us (we were on time)… 30 minutes later my group of 10 people were finally sat. We ordered mounds of food (not worth the price at ALL) and shots for everyone. Things were great till about 2 hours later when the server told us she was bringing our bills because there was a group coming in about 10 minutes. This was the FIRST I heard about the other group, and she looked startled, rolled her eyes and got upset management didn’t tell us. But she was upset at us. She started throwing bills on the table and even went to find 2 people in the washroom so they could pay. She hardly said anything to us and when I asked if we could stay because the other group hadn’t arrived yet she looked at us and flat out said «no». WHY WOULD YOU JEOPARDIZE YOUR TIP BY ACTING RUDE? Needless to say we left 7 completely empty tables with no one there to fill them except the over tanned guidos drinking from their grey goose at the table behind us. Ciao.

I went to SIP during the Dine Out Vancouver festival and definitely got my money’s worth. The lobster linguini was delicious and the meatball appetizer was surprisingly good. For someone who isn’t always the biggest fan of meatballs, I was pleased. I enjoyed the dimly lit lounge atmosphere and all the servers seemed to be happy and helpful. I saw many of the servers making casual conversation with the guests and that was wonderful. Good place to just grab a drink and an appetizer. Don’t know if I’d frequent it for dinners, but it’s perfect for late nights.

Came here last night with a few of my ladies to try out their Vancouver Dine Out menu. I was pretty impressed with their 18.00 menu. I got beef carpaccio to start, stuffed pork for entrée and cheesecake as my dessert. All of it was pretty good. The service was not bad either. Even though there was only 2 servers for the whole restaurant at the time, she still came and checked up on us.
The reason for why I wouldn’t give this place a 5 star is on their open table they didn’t have times available from 6 – 9 and I’m guessing it was cause its for dine out and it was a game night. Therefore we had to go at like 5:30. Service was quick and we left the place at like 6:45.
It’s got a simple menu so I’d give this place a try on another day. Kinda wanna see how their wings are cause they are a pub.

Good: Friendly staff
Bad: Too dark inside; food was OK.
I don’t think I would ever go back here. There really is nothing about this place that I find special or enticing enough to go back to.

Situated in a shoddy part of downtown Vancouver, Sip Lounge is a trendy nightllife venue that just so happens to be a restaurant. This was never more apparent when being asked for my ID by a bouncer standing in front of the open kitchen. Come to think of it, Sip is like a person with multiple personality disorder: it thinks its a restaurant, a lounge, a club, a people watching spot, etc. At least they all have one thing in common: they all love alcohol.
If you’re in anyway confused by this, I shall explain: one of Sip Lounge’s claims to fame is their tapas menu, in which everything (yes, everything) is made with alcohol. Beer battered fries. Tempura sake salted pickles. Guinness poutine. Sliders with Jack Daniels ketchup. It goes on and on and on.
Lushes looking to get hammered off the food is unlikely to do so because the cooking temperatures are usually enough to burn away most of the actual alcohol. All that is left is an interesting taste, like the quesadilla, which consists of chicken marinated in Jamaican rum and peppers and also quite tasty. The beer battered fries tasted just like seasoned fries, but they were a decent snack at the table. I enjoyed the pan seared pierogies, which despite their lack of alcoholic content, had a nice texture and a nice bite. As expected, everything felt overpriced considering the flavor scale was just somewhere in the middle.
Trendy food comes trendy people. Most of whom are worthy of eye candy in any circle, and they fill this place up night in and out. The staff is a friendly bunch for the most part and are able to seemingly take orders for food while ambiant /​house music blast away in the background. Given the very chic and dark décor, this place is probably best enjoyed at night. Besides, I can’t imagine eating brunch and having a big man check my ID. Or perhaps I should just take it as a compliment (#1)
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(#1) Legal age is 19. I guess everyone has a baby face now.

Ugh.
I almost don’t even want to write a review I am so frustrated with this place.
Quite possibly one of the WORST dining experiences I’ve ever had and that is saying something.
When our server wasn’t sitting on the laps of the guys at the table next to us doing shots, she was busy mixing up our food and drink orders (probably because she was too buzzed to be working). I can honestly say, every single person had an issue at some point during the evening. So, let me start from the beginning:
I made reso’s for a good friends birthday on a Friday night (there was going to be 15 of us), which I was told would be no problem at all. I asked three times to confirm, explicitly stating that we did not want to be split up at different tables as it was a birthday event. We arrive, and of course, our table isn’t ready. To my surprise, there were actually two other large parties already seated, my blood started to boil when I was informed they didn’t even have reservations yet they had walked in moments before us and were seated ahead of my group…
25 minutes later after all 15 of us stood squished at the already packed bar, the hostess informed me that our group would have to be split up or face another 40min-​1hr wait because there simply wasn’t anywhere to put us. It was absolutely pouring rain and the birthday girl was hungry/​frustrated, so we decided to just be seated and get the night started regardless of the mistakes. Clearly this just wasn’t our night.
Our ditzy server walked back and fourth by us at least half a dozen times before taking drink orders. No apologies for the seating mix up, no apologies for leaving us waiting for another 15 minutes before even GREETING the table. I will add, the other two groups were already being served appys by this point. ARG! We ordered drinks, another 15 minutes passes before they are delivered to the table. At this point, we sent someone outside to check out the waits at places close by. 30 minutes to get drinks on the table after already waiting 25 minutes to be seated? We were starving. The birthday girl was getting moody from hunger, so we ordered some food and politely requested that our dishes be expedited due to how long we’d already been waiting.
Do you think our quality of service changed? Nope! My starter salad was pathetic. Barely any goat cheese and the greens were so wilted it was almost like the salad had been dressed and was sitting in the expo window! To boot, it was so dark I couldn’t properly see my food (not that I really wanted to at this point) and the music was so loud I couldn’t hear the person sitting next to me, even when she was yelling. The others that ordered mains reported that their food was bland and over cooked… To which our server replied «well there are salt and pepper shakers on the table. Go nuts» with no offering of correcting the dish. Pardon? Were we ignorable because we weren’t feeding you shots like the gross juice head ed-​hardy wearing losers at the table beside us? All signs pointed to yes.
I swear I almost torn my dress off in Hulk like fashion when the bill came to the table and the auto-​gratuity of 15% was still included on our bill. I dropped the pleasantries when I told the server she could take off the 15% and we would pay for what we consumed, or we would walk out and they would get nothing. Normally at this point I would have expected the manager to come over and at least hear me out. But, again, nope! The bills came back reprinted with no-​auto grat and the sever slammed the bill folds on the table then walked away without another word. I paid, but only out of morality. Not because I wanted to and most certainly not because I thought this hell-​hole deserved my hard earned cash.
I sincerely wish I could give this review no stars.
Thanks, SIP, for ruining my friends birthday.
And thanks, SIP management, for declining to speak with me on the night of because it was «too busy» and then further ignoring my email after the fact.
I will NEVER recommend this place to ANYONE for ANY REASON.

This place has been around for several years but only has 30 reviews? Probably doesn’t quite appeal to the typical Unilocaler. Or it’s just not that memorable. A friend mentioned he used to come here on a lot of first dates in his 20s. That made sense. The interior doesn’t really look like a lounge but the atmosphere and clientele fit the part.
OH! Unisex bathroom! That was interesting. I saw the male and female symbols on the door as I entered but was still a little surprised when I walked in and found two guys standing at the sinks — one adjusting himself, the other fixing his hair. They looked over at me and we all chuckled about the novelty of it. I’ve been in unisex bathrooms before, but usually at nightclubs. Then again, Edible Canada has the same concept but it’s executed a little differently.
So why is my review all about the bathroom? Oh yes, it’s the most memorable part of the dining experience.
Although the Guinness poutine was pretty good. The fries are beer battered first, and while I didn’t taste the Guinness, the dish was a tasty appetizer. Also had the 7 cheese dip with toast which wasn’t very special at all. Then I had the J Alapeno burger. Yup, it had a few jalapenos on there. Not a lot, but a few. The burger was alright. Definitely large and filling. The bun was tasty also, but I wish it had been toasted. I had the option of salad or fries so went with the salad. It had a very light vinaigrette on it that was just fine, but the salad was super simple — just greens topped with some carrot shreds. Only 4 beers on tap, but Heineken is one of them, and about a dozen bottled options.
Service was fine and fit the environment. So, overall my review is that this place isn’t bad, but it’s nothing special. There’s not much memorable about it, and I can tell you my food was palatable but unremarkable. My burger was most certainly not worth $ 16.

I had dinner last night at the Sip Lounge with 4 co-​workers. It was a great choice, and I think we’d all defiantly go back. The owner took our beer orders, and then after we were waiting for food came over and shot the breeze with the table. We also were waited on by two of their other staff who were all equally as nice and attentive.
The food was good– small menu, but quality. Yum.

SIP’s 7 Year Anniversary Party was where it was at last night — busiest Monday night I‘ve seen downtown! Festively nutcracker-​themed with Christmas lights, endless Stoli, roaming appies and one killer house DJ, the resto-​lounge was absolutely packed! Amazing party with loads of great people.
In the mix with industry people, Vancouver socialites and regulars was James Yurichuk (47, Defense) of the BC Lions who graced us with his presence and the Official GREY CUP! Some random partying naked man also entertained the night for a bit, lol.
Always love my experiences at SIP. Awesome crowd of good-lookin‘people, hot music and cool owners. Continues to be a top favourite of mine. A big congratz on the 7 year achievement along the Strip!

The food was hit or miss. At $ 29, a beef tenderloin cut had better be damn good. It was just okay, though. My sister’s albacore tuna dish, though, was absolutely delicious. Everything complemented one another. The crab cake appetizers were also delicious. Four pieces the size of my thumb at $ 13, though, was kind of a rip. The drinks were fine for $ 6.25, but had I bought them regularly priced at $ 10.25, I would have been annoyed. What saved this place from two stars were the free desserts. The cheesecake brulee was phenomenal. I have never had anything like it. The brulee made the cheesecake crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside, as if it had been deep fried. The chocolate/​brownie thing was also very good for what it was.
The other thing I notice was the crowd. I wasn’t sure if I had to sign a release for the 2^nd season of the Jersey Shore before leaving or if I had just stumbled upon the largest and most inconspicuous tranny bar in Vancouver. There were so many fake tits and roid-​infused machos. (Yes, that’s also what a tranny bar looks like). Maybe that’s just Granville Street?