The Cellar Jazz Club

The band we saw was so, so… I was disappointed because the place charged a minimum of 10 $ per person after we had already dropped 20 $ on the tickets. At the end of the evening my wife and I paid ~50 $ to see a mediocre band and eat really bad food. If you going to charge that much you better deliver, this place didn’t.

Ok, I had a cursory look through the reviews already posted and can see that this is going to come as a bit of a shock. I wasn’t going to bother writing this and when you get finished reading it you may wish I hadn’t. But, I just couldn’t let this go.
My wife and I have been to Cellar Jazz at least 6 times over the last 5 years — it is not convenient as we live in North Vancouver and this club is near UBC — a good 40 minute drive. However, the number of live jazz clubs in the lower mainland is approaching zero so there is little choice for a jazz lover like myself. Usually the music ranks anywhere from good to great and we have never walked away from a night at Cellar Jazz feeling disappointed. We will order a few drinks, located and devour something on the strange menu, and happily pay the $ 10 (each) cover charge.
The last time we went however, it was different. The place was full but my reservation held and we got decent seats. We ordered our drinks and diligently went about trying to located something on the strange menu — most dishes have names I cannot pronounce, let-​along understand, and give little indication what you are ordering. Just close your eyes and pick something — think of it as an adventure :-) This particular evening we were both disappointed with our meals.
Then the music started. great! the reason we drove 40 minutes and paid the cover. Oh. my. gosh! It was amateur night and we weren’t warned. I am sorry, I do not remember the name of the band but it was fronted with a female singer who we simply did not like. The 3 piece band was good and, for the life of me, to this day I cannot see why they would play professionally with this woman. At one point she stuck 2 flutes in her mouth at once and attempted to play them both at the same time. It was awful! And to think we had to pay for this.
I was really disappointed and do not think that we will be returning anytime soon. Next month we will be heading south, to Seattle, for a week. After the above experience I set out to find other options for our ‘Jazz Fix’ … did you know that Seattle is quite the hot-​bed for alternative music.
Maybe we’ll see you there

I had a great time at the Cellar last night. The band was great, interesting, and fun. the staff helpful and friendly. Got a bottle of wine, that was decently priced and actually pretty good. They even gave us a taste before buying it, not something you see at most places. Add some duck fat tater tots to make the night perfect. Didn’t eat anything else so can’t comment on other food issues, but damn, go on tuesdays get some tater tots, a drink and take in the vibe.
Greasy G and the Poole party were great fun and can really play, too bad this might be their only gig as it was just pals jamming together.

We could not have asked for a better night: the trio was smoking! The service was pleasant and attentive, and the food was tasty and fine. While it is true that the drink menu is limited, we enjoyed some great organic Chardonnay. I think that the $ 10.00 cover charge was very reasonable. Every penny spent was a worthwhile investment in maintaing the jazz scene in Vancouver.

Good Jazz. After ordering 250+ dollars in alcohol (in less then 3hr) they told me at almost last call that if we each (4 people total, I was buying) didn’t order a full entrée I would have to pay a ten dollar cover charge (per person). WTH? (12 shots of 15yr scotch in the form of four-​triples and 2 bottles of good wine). I went there for the Jazz (after just having dinner at Don Francesco, forgot to check in sorry) and the Jazz was Awesome, but the service was a little disappointing and to throw that on me at the end of almost a perfect night… ??? I was close to ignoring the flaws, I would have given them 5 stars, but by the end of the night I wanted to give them 1. She gives me the bill and fortunately my GF looked at it first (else I would have paid without looking) and noticed she had charged us 8 cover charges. ??? The waitress looked at it and said OPs, I was not feeling like it was an accident… ARG! I tipped them 40 bucks and my GF was upset about that, however, if I didn’t feel like I was getting taken I would have tipped 100 bucks. The Jazz was Awesome and the Drinks were great and more importantly, up until the last 15 minutes I had a great time. However, walking away like that with a feeling that you were just Shot at and Missed, then shit at an hit, just wasn’t what I would call a happy ending. I will NOT be going back to this place again, they embarrassed me with my friends (from out of town, getting on a 7 am flight back home the next morning, hehe) and ended an almost perfect night with a sour taste. ARG!
Seriously, I read the reviews after the fact and find out that there are many similar stories to mine. I definitely need to reverse this habit.

So jazzy!
I had a wonderful time here. The food was great (although at typical Vancouver+ prices) and the music was *amazing*. Food highlights include a delicious onion leek tart with beet salad and a perfectly cooked lamb shank. I also really enjoyed the underground cellar-​like ambience. They even had holiday lighting, which always increases my affection. The service was pretty attentive for such a bustling place. So no complaints here… I would definitely return, especially since I live nearby.

As a romantic Valentines Day treat, my boyfriend and I came to the Cellar to hear American Jazz Master Sheila Jordan show us her stuff… and Sheila didn’t disappoint.
I wish I could say the same for the Cellar.
The level of service left much to be desired. The restrooms are atrocious. The staff are rude. The selection of drinks and on-​tap beers is puny. (I have a larger selection in my kitchen AFTER a crazy night with friends!) The ticket price is added to the cheque, which causes unsuspecting patrons to tip on the total… something the staff don’t deserve. And the food… The food left me speechless. Al dente pasta with marinara sauce… Obviously from a can. Edamame beans soaked in oil and salt. Really? Really? Really?
The Cellar has two redeeming qualities. #1 The music and #2 the option of Gardein soy chicken breast substitute.
If I wasn’t a fan of jazz, I wouldnt revisit The Cellar.

This is a great Jazz Club… probably the best in Vancouver. Why? Because it is a Jazz club… and if you love music, you know that most restaurants/​clubs have musicians as background music. The Cellar Jazz, tells you up front that you are there to listen to the music. So really it’s a concert venue with food, and not a restaurant with music. I disagree with previous poster who said it’s important to revue the venue not the entertainment. Why? Because this is not a place which is all dressed up as a venue to impress with fancy lighting, and tableclothes, it is what it is. A black box, in a basement with a stage and a good piano, for the true jazz lovers to go enjoy listening to some good music and have a drink and some snacks while they are there.
This is one of the few clubs in Vancouver where musicians go to be listened to. So if you are looking for a place to go eat with some cheezy jazz singer singing, then find a hotel downtown, don’t bother with the Cellar Jazz.
If you want to hear some of the hottest musicians in Vancouver and Canada, then go to the Cellar Jazz. The food is really decent for the price and to be honest I was so excited they had good food! I thought I might only get peanuts with my drink in a jazz club. Coming from Montréal where jazz clubs are really just bars…
Cory Weeds does a great job with this place and I love going to hear some great music, eat some good food and have a nice drink… what a great evening out!

People, WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES!!! I don’t get it from all the detractors of this wonderful jazz club. The alternative is to pay Ticket Master $ 10 or whatever it is per ticket for their unfair share, another $ 60 to $ 80 for a ticket at the Orpheum or the Centre for the Performing Arts and if you want a drink between intermission, you have to lineup to buy tickets. And they frown on you if you bring the drink in. Much as I love the Orpheum for classical venues, it just ain’t no jazz club. I prefer to listen to jazz improvisations when I am relaxed. Having a meal served and being able to order drinks is one hack of an added bonus over the Orpheum. The Cellar Jazz Club is cozy and smallish, but that is exactly what makes it great. You can converse with other people who love jazz if you want to. The musicians are relaxed and approachable. Many times I had chatted up with the Jazz greats here without making any effort. All you have to do is show an interest in Jazz or talk to them about their equipment and voila! you are talking to them at the Cellar. Try doing that at the Orpheum.
I have observed that a lot of people arrive too late at the Cellar and expect the wait staff to trample over crowds of people when the performance has already started. That is just not reasonable. Not fair to the musicians, not to the management, not to the wait staff and not to your fellow music lovers there. I have no problems with the service whenever I arrive before 7 pm.
Hey, with fine dining, you should arrive on time for your reservation too. But if one desires fine dining with the service that comes with it, please go somewhere else. The Cellar is where people come to enjoy music. I must compliment the Cellar staff and management for trying their best to improve the experiences of their clients. There have been major efforts to improve the menu and service. I admire Cory Weeds for what he has put together here. Folks, let’s recognize the Cellar Jazz Club for what it is: one of finest Dinner Jazz Clubs in North America. I have been to clubs in NYC, Chicago, DC and LA, and most are not as good and only a few are as good. I know I shall happily support the Cellar Jazz Club as long as they keep bringing the great Jazz acts in a relaxed and cozy atmosphere.
Incidentally, I love Blues too, and if you compare what the Yale is bringing in for blues, there just is no comparison. The Yale has been short changing us by bringing in too little worthwhile Blues artists too far and few in between. Wake up, Yale Hotel, before all the good old Blues acts are gone. If you call yourself a Blues club, you have a duty to support blues artists and letting them play in Vancouver. What Cory has done for Jazz should be an example to you.
Regarding the food at the Cellar Jazz Club, it has been steadily improving. I like the soups of the day the couple of times I ordered them. They were good. I really like their house salad with cranberries and pecans. For entrees, the Pecan Chicken, Duck Confit, Lamb Shank, Striploin Steak, Pork Tenderloin are all good. The pan-​seared salmon filet is sometimes dry and overcooked. But hey, I come here for the music, not the food. I come away with being musically uplifted, well-​fed, and the drinks are pretty good too.
If you don’t want to catch the better acts which you will have to book the dinner to be guaranteed to be seated, you can always show up for the Tuesday B3 Beatdown. These Tuesday nights don’t have a cover charge and usually, they have featured specials for drinks. I love the HAMMOND ORGAN and I am rarely disappointed by the B3 Beatdown show at the Cellar.
Boy, but when you can attend great jazz performances from the many greats that come to the Cellar, that makes this place a real treasure. Considering the alternative, I gladly pay $ 65 for dinner and two sets of great jazz performances. Compared to rip-​off Ticket Master and performances at the Orpheum, I get a good dinner, am relaxed with drinks and have money left over. With jazz concerts at the Orpheum, I usually come away with a stiff neck.

The performer here was exceptional, but like other reviewers have said, its important to review the venue, not the entertainment.
The Cellar Jazz Club feels like… a cellar. It’s a basement bar and there isn’t much done to really change that fact as far as atmosphere.
The food we had was pretty decent (which was a surprise since other reviews have been fairly negative). I would however say that the menu is over priced by about 20−25%. I suspect that isn’t much different than paying $ 5 for 10 cents worth of popcorn at a movie theatre. You’re charged a premium for food and drinks because of the entertainment.
Given the price tag, I think I’d rather visit a jazz club with a little more ambiance.

We came to a show with a $ 20 door cover charge and as this is a jazz bar we were expecting something along ‘feel-​good’ nite. Given it was Women’s Day we were up for something bit celebratory. However the music turned out to be a particular genre of death filled themes/​feminist/​deep ridden anger poetry sang in soprano over the worst piano sounds I heard in my life. «Painful experience’ is an understatement here. Food was extremely overpriced at $ 25 for the main course when the quality of it was at best of an average pub. The most bizarre experience!

The music was fantastic!
The service was ok as was the food.
When we got the bill we were charged the gratuity for 6 people, which was perfectly fine and expected. What wasn’t expected was that they charged the gratuity on the cover charge and then taxed both the cover charge and the gratuity, so we ended up paying 30% more tax then we should have!!! I would rather go to a jazz concert than partake in their venue again.

Cory Weeds has successfully engineered what many people have on their bucket list: throw yourself completely into one of your passions by making a venue out of it, and hope that others who share that same passion will show up and love it.
The Jazz Cellar is pretty darn neat. It’s usually packed full (make a reso) of people who love good jazz and don’t feel that $ 10 (approx) cover is an unreasonable thing to ask. There’s also a nominal food/​beverage minimum, but when you see and smell the dishes go by any resentments you may harbour about minimums disappears. The food looks very good for a place so focused on the music.
We each had a gin martini and then shared a ½ litre of malbec. The server did not ask what type of gin we’d like, so we didn’t expect excellence. It was totally passable, although the olives were slightly withered. The tables were sticky and the style of them and the chairs does cheapen the overall look of the place just a smidge, as does the stemware. But, again, JAZZ! Who cares?! Also, you’re just under a foot away from your neighbour, so claustrophobics beware!
We had a great experience and would certainly go back, especially on Tuesdays when it’s no cover and $ 3.75 pints, and Cory himself plays sax.

Had a gorgeous time at this hidden hole in the wall. Located downstairs below the street, it was an exciting little gem to discover. The musicians were incredible (I could NOT stop watching the piano player & upright bass players… they were on fire!) and the singer was this sweet young jazz gal on tour. Awesome. We had the cheesecake (not life altering) and some yummy alcoholic coffees. Also great was the art… it was all paintings jazz musicians back in the day– I could not get enough of those paintings! The seating was quite plain though. For the decadent surroundings (gorgeous art & music) I felt like plushy velvet chairs would be perfect. Hahaha don’t I sound like a princess… ;)

I think things might be picking up for the kitchen/​service at the Cellar.
Granted, the music was so terrific that it is hard to be totally objective, as Beki notes, but a couple of things:
They were totally up front about the $ 15 food/​drink minimum– so it was not a surprise.
The hostess called me when I was running late to ask if I wanted the table held and she was *not* rude about it. That’s a hard phone call to make without being cranky– I was impressed.
All of our food was tasty, albeit slow coming from the kitchen.
One of us had some flavor of house-​made girly martini that was extremely, extremely delicious. Next time I am having one (or more) of those.
So, yeah … it’s not a cheap night, but things seem to be picking up service-​wise, at least compared to the most recent reviews from six-​nine months ago.
Unilocalers having a positive effect on the (dining) world?

i was going to give this place 5 stars… when i realized that i was mostly basing it upon the amazing band i saw that evening. take the band away and what do i have???
small intimate venue to listen and appreciate great talent… i like.
really tight tables with little room to maneuver around with comfort… i dont mind since it gives me opportunity to chat with my neighbors at the next table. or the table across from me?
very indistinguishable staff… which is ok, but who do i ask to take my food or drink order!!! do you work here? oh, you are just standing because there is no more sitting room, sorry…
now my experience…
when we got in, it was already packed full… the band was flying through an exciting number and everyone in there was groovin. i instantly liked the atmosphere and the crowd this place attracts.
our friend was performing so they had a huge table right in the centre that we were able to squeeze into. then we noticed another empty table right beside the stage, there were jackets and everything piled around it but the nice man sitting beside it, quickly moved it and invited us to sit there since there was more room. (hmm… he wasnt an employee so the cellar doesnt get credit for that)
we just had some appi’s…nachos & yam fries.
the food we had was absolutely delicious, piled high with toppings and generous amounts of dips, i really enjoyed my nachos. and the fries, just as good… but seriously, who can screw up yam fries???
i had asked for water (and got it in a nice wine glass) but never got another refill until near the end of the night when i asked someone. =(
the cover charge was a big B.O.O. but i can understand since the show and the talent was sensational. the cellar needs to step it up… with such amazing shows, they should show off an amazing restaurant as well.

Playing jazz for the rich seems a staple nowadays, and with the «world renowned» cellar in Kitsilano, its no different. Their food and drink minimum and cover charge will make you wonder if perhaps jazz musicians are finally the most highly paid artists in the world (although from knowing quite a few of them who have career highlights such as «janitor» and «telemarketer», this is simply not true) or if running a jazz venue means paying for the tuition of the bar staff.
The food is nothing amazing, but at least the bar selection is extensive. The acoustics of the room are nice, without echo and can make the instruments sound slightly more vibrant, but that’s also because of how small it is. There is no bad seat in the house to watch the acts either. The art is can hold your interest, but it seems like a faux pas to wander about the room and browse it. Might be worth coming to see a very interesting jazz combo, or to be known as a connoisseur of this clubs ambiance, or to take a date out for some «city culture.»

Hey! They invented this stuff called WD40.
Put it on your squeaky kitchen doors. Because they are so loud it can be heard over the live music in the back.
WOW.
Not impressed with the extremely shotty wait staff. Many tiny tables had dirty dishes piled up leaving a few precious inches of clear real estate for drinks and hand holding.
$ 74 without tip is straight up ridiculous for an hour of jazz + 3 glasses of wine and two special coffees. Are you kidding me?
I really felt out of place here. Not that the music was bad, they were great. It’s just that every other part of this experience totally sucked.

I wish I could say, go for the jazz, skip the food and drinking all together, but alas, there’s a $ 15 minimum per person on food or drink, plus your $ 15 (ish) ticket price. That’s one steep night for a 45 minute set (although I was told we could stay for both sets)
Things that made me go hmmmm:
–The pile of dirty, half finished plates that graced the table next to mine for well over ½ an hour before half of them were finally taken away.
–Seeing the surprised look on a guy who was served a can of Guinness, sans glass.
–Waiting 15 minutes before our drink order was finally taken while one server hovered over a staff table and took forkfuls of food and the other walked by our table, ignoring our signals to come over.
–Watching someone pick at their food, a look of disgust upon his face the entire time
I couldn’t have been happier that I had eaten pre-​show. But the feeling of being jipped lasted through the whole evening. If it weren’t for the minimum charges, I would have easily given the Cellar 4 stars, but being forced to pay for crummy food and drinks over and above the ticket price has left me with a less than harmonious tune inside my head.

It’s what it is – a good jazz club with a good menu for small intimate shows.
We went a while back, and saw a canadian flamenco jazz band (no, really… I might have to edit this later to get it right). Canadians are very shy, but also very talented, and they put on a good show that night. The place is almost too small for larger acts, but we had great seats, so we couldn’t complain.
When you sit that close, however, you usually have to order food. Food in these venues usually isn’t very good, but I was quite surprised — the steak was done well (medium rare, as opposed to overcooked), and everything seemed really fresh.