Stephos Greek Restaurant (visitor reviews, 1124 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 604-683-2555) is so popular that most nights of the week you’ll find people lining up outside the door, waiting to get in. And the wait is worth it, for the portions are huge, prices reasonable, service attentive, and food really tasty. Christine G. Louie writes:

“The kalamari entree was even more enormous than the other dishes and so large that whenever one of us forked a morsel, five or six little kalamari pieces fell to the table ($9.99).”

Pictured below is the roast lamb, which is a steal at $8.99 and is served with rice, potatoes, Greek salad, and a very tasty tomato ratatouille (something that you don’t usually find at Greek restaurants). Everything on the menu is under $10, and the wine is also reasonably priced.

Cactus Club (web site) is a chain of really trendy, energetic and fun restaurants with outstanding food.

Their location in West Vancouver (at Park Royal Village, 855 Main Street, West Vancouver, BC, phone, 604-922-1707) also features live jazz by the Geoff Peters Trio on selected Tuesday nights. Please call the restaurant to confirm about the live music.

Prices for dinner entrees are in the $15-$25 range. I really enjoyed the Steelhead Salmon Entree (pictured below) as well as my favorite snacking items, the Westcoast pockets (also pictured below). The Chicken Jambalaya rice bowl (also pictured below) was tasty as well.

Cactus Club’s Steelhead salmon Entree – grilled to perfection!

Westcoast pockets – like sushi, but bigger and better.

Chicken Jambalaya rice bowl. A colorful melange of ingredients combine for a yummy taste experience.

Kadoya Japanese Restaurant (1063 Davie St., Vancouver, 604-608-1115) is a tiny Japanese restaurant on Davie Street downtown, across from the Celebrities gay night club. Kadoya is usually packed with people around 7pm on a weekday, and reservations are recommended. Enjoy some of their colorful, inventive sushi creations such as the specialty rolls pictured below (approx. $7.95 per roll). A very large dinner for two came to approximately $40.