There is no way Kits should rank in the bottom half of this list of neighborhoods. Mind you, all four are great in their own way.

Disclaimer: I'm not quite as old as Adam but also don't care/know about which clubs are closer.

To clarify, I was posting preferences based on someone moving to Vancouver for 6 months during the winter.

I've lived in Yaletown and Kits. If I was opining on where to live permanently, Kits would be #1.

Winter in DT > Winter in Kits is true. Also easier for ppl moving temporarily.

I love Kits, but for ease of use Yaletown>Gastown>Coal Harbour>Elsewhere

glad someone mentioned gastown. best value in the city when it comes to housing because it is an up and coming neighborhood. lots of young ppl, lots of cool restaurants and shops and only a few blocks out of the main downtown core.

One of my friends said that the problem with Gastown (as an American moving to Vancouver that doesn't have a good knowledge of the neighborhoods) is that there are some shady areas and it's a little tougher to pick a good location within the area. Although there are some good pockets of places, it will be tough to find them as a new resident unfamiliar with the city. For a small savings to move to Gastown I would be greatly increasing my chances of getting a less desirable or shady location. <----- So I have been told.

I can't thank you guys enough for all your help and input.

SallyWoo

Galleria in edgemont village and moodyvilles in lower lonsdale are both pretty great north van "restaurants". I also really like peckinpahs in gastown. Also +1 to all the lower lonsdale praise, I'm at the Pier and I love it.

Gotcha. I was starting to wonder about your sobriety level.

Gastown is on the border with the Downtown Eastside so you will get a lot of traffic from drug addicts and drunks. It's a bit cheaper than Yaletown. It has a lot of older brick and beam construction which some people like. Some of the renovated buildings are next to the railroad tracks.

Don't move to gastown.. your friend is absolutely correct. You seriously cant walk for 5 minutes in gastown without getting asked for money. I really enjoy the area, nice bars, shopping, girls, scenery (old buildings)but I would never live there because of all the crackheads.

the type of chinese in vancouver is so diverse that it really depends on what you are looking for. and china is so diverse in itself that although we group the entire selection of foods as chinese there are so many styles to choose from (ie szechuan, shanghainese, cantonese, hainese, taiwanese, etc). richmond is probably where you want to be since basically every style of chinese food can be found in close proximity to one another.

haha man im actually sitting here trying to think of what to recommend but there are just so many good restaurants out there depending on what you like that i literally dont know where to start. when i crave for chinese food there is usually a specific dish that i crave for and thus go to the restaurant that i know that serves it. all i can say is that i am on 2+2 often enough that when you do get a craving for something specific i can most likely point u in the right direction.

Sorry, super standard white guy asking for "chinese" food.

Szechuan is my preference. I like it hot.

I have to think a bit on Szechuan restaurant as I don't frequent them that often.
Some top Cantonese type are Sun Sui Wah restaurant, Kirin, Land Mark, Top Gun ($$-$$$$.)
A great hole in the wall place for Shanghai food is Long's Noodle House in Van on Main near 33rd.. Make reservation as place is tiny. Best drunken chicken, chicken wonton hot pot, steam Shanghainese pot bun are the nuts and inexpensive.

Some good wonton places are Mak's, McKim's on Kingsway (also Richmond), No. 99 on No. 3 Rd Richmond.

A good Taiwanese place is in the Best Western on 5400 Kingsway, Bby.

Altho there must be many Szechuan restaurants, the only one I can think of is Szechuan House on 4300 Imperial in Bby. Kinda of hole in the wall but decent hot stuff.





Too many to list. Drive along Alexander Rd in Richmond, Chinese nickname for area is roughly "Good Eats"

Gastown is 1 blk north of skid road. If you don't mind that and like living in heritage building, then might be ok but personally not my preference even tho I grew up and play around that area as a child. From your posts, Yaletown is the place for you. I am very familiar with most places in Van and especailly Yaletown and Kits as I have a son living in Yaletown and another who use to live in Kits.

Anyone in Burnaby?

Best Szechuan restaurants are the two Kirin restaurants, one on Alberni between Bute and Thurlow downtown, the other at 12th and Cambie at the top of City Centre Mall. Very wide range on the menu, and reasonably priced. Lots of entree dishes for $15 or so. (Several that are far more than that.)

A surprisingly good restaurant is Fusion East in Tinseltown Mall (aka International Village) on the Main Floor on Pender Street between Abbott and Carroll. Entree sized appetizers for, like, $6, and the entrees are top-notch for the price. Also on Pender Street, just west of Abbott is Wild Rice, which is a pretty upscale restaurant in a really downscale neighborhood.

I'm a huge fan of the Grandview Szechuan Restaurant on Fraser Street south of King Ed, just a couple doors up from 26th on the West Side. I've been going there regularly (and their previous location) for 25+ years.

In North Vancouver, you can't beat the Red Chilli (sic) Szechuan Restaurant at Lonsdale and 8th. Very reasonably priced, good service. Also they offer a great lunch special for less than $10 that's one of the best bargains in town.

I'm really wary of Richmond. Lots of the places are a little too authentic for my Caucasian tastes, and in many of them, you will have a lot of trouble getting served if you don't speak Cantonese.

I'd recommend www.dinehere.ca as a resource. Lots of participation by reviewers, and most appear to be genuine, good-faith reviews.

Yeah. The Hells Angels have a large presence there. Also, I'm told that you get the best heroin and crack in and around the Metrotown Skytrain Station. The second-cheapest hookers work the stroll along Kingsway between Imperial and 14th or so. (The cheapest are in the Downtown Eastside.)

If you're a thief, I'm pretty sure that one of the biggest fences operates out of Burnaby, but I'm a prosecutor, and we NEVER catch the fences. Just the thieves and drug dealers.

Metrotown has the largest number of armed robberies where the robbers actually fire their guns.

It may not be surprising to hear that Burnaby has the second-largest RCMP detachment in Canada....

Yeah, I'm with dad604. Gastown is, at best, in a state of flux. Though I think the dangers are perhaps overstated (for a thirty-something male), and you don't have a car to get stolen or broken into, it's just too easy to take a wrong turn and end up in the middle of something you don't want to be a part of.

Kits is great, but it's best in the summer, and if you've done the beach scene in places like Oz, Kits can't compete with that. Yaletown sounds like the place for you.

Yes, right in the heart of Burnaby!!! What do you want to know. I agree with crowhurst re the area Imperial and 14th but otherwise fairly quiet place. He might be right regarding the fences and others but they don't brother anyone.

Surrey is the bad place to be, especially around the Whalley area, otherwise there is nothing in the whole of BC that compares to major US cities for crime and violeince.

I am in Coquitlam. Nice area, but would not appeal to an early 20's poker refugee who wants to party a lot and make use of his considerable leisure time.

[QUOTE=j_crowhurst;28814410]Best Szechuan restaurants are the two Kirin restaurants, one on Alberni between Bute and Thurlow downtown, the other at 12th and Cambie at the top of City Centre Mall. Very wide range on the menu, and reasonably priced. Lots of entree dishes for $15 or so. (Several that are far more than that.)

Kirin is mainly Cantonese and I think it is worldwide chain (I believe the name is registered worldwide.) Locately they are in Richmond, Coquitlam, Queenboro (next to Starligh Casino) plus the above two adress. The one on 12th and Cambie is one of my favourites. Authentic Chinese, HongKong style, they serve a great dim sum lunch.


I'm really wary of Richmond. Lots of the places are a little too authentic for my Caucasian tastes, and in many of them, you will have a lot of trouble getting served if you don't speak Cantonese.

Don't worry, very open minded nowaday, your business will be welcome at most place. I see a few Caucasian all the time. Most are like Kirin which is authentic. I have seen Causcasian at all the places I mentioned a few posts above. Even the hole in the wall Long's Noodle House, better than any place I found in Shanghai, husband is cook and wife takes care of customer. Very friendly lady who very capable of multitasking. I have seen her doing 2 or 3 different tasks at the same time, I am sure she has photographic memory.

QUOTE]

i agree w kirin being the best chinese seafood restaurant out there...def one of the better places for dimsum too although u do pay a bit of a premium...my take on dimsum is that the diff between v good and average is not that big but the prices between the two may vary somewhat significantly... Dai Tung on Kingsway 4-5 blocks past knight prob one of the better places for quality compared to value...

my fav shanghainese restaurant would be shanghai river (think thats the name) in richmond around #3 and westmister basically facing the richmond centre Bay across westminster...

i really dont have much of an opinion of szechuan... for some reason we dont eat often...maybe cause the wife dont like spicy foods....

yea its too bad too...i think areas like richmond and coq have really died down ever since the stricter drinking laws...i remember a decade ago there would always be places out there to lounge and have some drinks but it really has gotten to a point where there is no where to go anymore but downtown

Vancouver is better. Don't listen to people who say Montreal has the hottest girls, that is rubbish. Asian girls are the best and so many live in Vancouver/Richmond. Even if you like white girls better there is still more attractive ones in Vancouver. It rarely snows in Vancouver, unlike Montreal which gets snow for 6 months. That means Vancouver girls are more fit and not as overweight because they get exercise year round. Less fatties in Vancouver, believe me I've been to both cities numerous times.
People in Vancouver are healthy. I can't say anything bad about Toronto but it just isn't as good. Visit all 3 cities for a couple months and you'll see which one is best.

I'd vote Yaletown for Sally as well. A lot of the nicest buildings are there, there's pretty decent green space for walking and stuff, and you can just take the Skytrain from Yaletown-Roundhouse to Broadway/City Hall to go to the Cambie Whole Foods there. Coal Harbour is great but pretty inconvenient if you're carless.

Kits is nice too but has less nice buildings than other areas in general and you don't get the full advantage if you come during fall/winter months.

south burnaby is the ghetto (british columbia version of.)
north burnaby is really nice and very expensive.

+1, forgot about that place, great higher end place. Use to be so popular when they first open up, that if you are just 10 min. late for your reservation, you lose it. Definitely worth a mention and dining there.

Just so many great/good/hi-end/lo-end place that it would fill up pages here. Something for every taste.

Also agree, great dim sum vs good dim sum is very small difference in taste but big difference in price. That DaiTung place use to have salt roast chicken on bowl of rice for $1.49. I use to order 2 for lunch. Best deal in town and one of the best salt roast chicken. So many great and good dim sum place here. I stand by my statement that we have the best and most choice of different Chinese food restaurant of any place I have visited.

Great Japanese too, and I have just recently started going to East Indian place that are great too.

Hey, are you losifu from 604????