Joe Forte's

GreenHippo

Turf 'n' surf 27th March 2007

3 found this helpful

Joe Forte's is a wonderful steak and seafood restaurant, with a cosmopolitan ambience and excellent service.

The restaurant is located just off Robson Street (the main shopping street) and therefore the valet parking is definitely worth the money as finding a place to park in this area can be tricky. I have an apartment nearby so this is not a problem that I have to deal with, thankfully. Inside, the over-riding impression is one of wood, stained glass and bustle. The staff are all impeccably turned out and are very alert and attentive without being OTT.

The speciality of the house is the steak and seafood combinations as well as the oyster bar. It is possible to just sit at the oyster bar and munch (or rather swallow) your way through an impressive list of oyster varieties.

Personally, I love the crab cake - it is a starter, but I often eat it with the asaparagus with hollandaise sauce as a main course. It is truly delicious.

My partner had the beef tenderloin and given that he is one of the fussiest steak eaters, his praise says something positive about the quality of the beef!

The cocktails are so-so. A pretty long list (and maybe I just chose badly) but the Luxury Cosmopolitan was just not as good as it could have been.

This is a great place to go on a Saturday night with a couple of good friends. Prices are great (for Europeans!) but on the high side for Vancouver. Main courses are in the region of CDN $25 to CDN $40 - so dinner for two would cost about CDN $120 (depending on choice of drinks).