The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver

On a recent warm and rain-free evening in Vancouver, Dave and I went out for a walk along the Seaside Bike Path in Kitsilano. As we approached Granville Island Dave announced that he had quite a hankering for some crab so we ducked under the Granville Bridge and continued our walk by winding through Granville Island's paths and streets, looking for the ideal crab-serving establishment.

We scoped out a few restaurants' menus before deciding to eat at The Sandbar - a seafood restaurant next to the big Granville Public Market building. The menu looked expensive, but we don't eat at truly expensive restaurants too often, so we thought #WHATTHEHELL. #TreatYoSelf. If my guy wants some crab, by all means, let's get him some crab.

.  the sandbar / false creek / granville island  .

And, um, yeah they certainly had crabs there. Full tanks of the little guys greet you at the downstairs entrance of the 3-story restaurant. We immediately wondered if we were not dressed well enough to be eating there but #psht #whateva. Not like we were wearing rags. Passing the sushi chefs who were hard at work on the first floor, we climbed up a flight of stairs to the second floor where we were greeted by the hostess... who then invited us to dine up on the third floor on their covered, heated patio. So many stairs. They were all worth it.

The patio upstairs at The Sandbar was absolutely perfect and was bumpin' with well behaved yet totally happy people. The building itself is right on the water beneath the Granville Bridge, so we had views in several directions via the partial glass walls on the False Creek side of the patio. We happened to be able to sit at a two-top right against the glass wall - probably one of the best seats in the house :)

.  view from the patio  .

The patio also featured tall, West-coast style heaters, two fireplaces with beautiful (probably fake) fires, a good sized bar, and lots of low wooden tables with Adirondack-style cushioned chairs. We opted not to sit at one of those, thinking that maybe the low seats would be too awkward to sit and eat at. (They'd probably be perfect for enjoying a drink with a buddy on a nice night, though.)

.  under the granville bridge  .

For dinner I ordered pan seared scallops, which were served with citrus butter, jasmine rice and a broccolini/cherry tomato medley. It was all really effing good.

.  i ate the shit out of this  .

Dave ordered a 1/2 Dungeness crab with French fries and the broccolini/tomato veggie side. He attacked it with fervor and appeared to enjoy it.

.  dave ate the crab out of this shell  .

We were both, seriously, very pleased with the entire evening at The Sandbar. The patio's atmosphere was a great balance between comfort and luxury, the food was worth every penny, and the waitstaff was really friendly and professional. I'm pretty sure we'll happily go back again sometime!