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Taking PaPa Lam to a Canucks game on one Saturday brought us to downtown for a quick bite. We wanted something closer to the stadium so we ended up at Jimmy’s Tap House. I have only been there once for a power lunch and I thought its fish tacos weren’t too bad.

Food

Turns out everyday (yes, including weekends) between 3pm and 6pm is half-priced appies at Jimmy’s. All it requires is purchase of a drink. And guess what, they have daily drink specials and on that day, house lager was only $3 per sleeve. Not to be too cheap, we grabbed a house lager and a Stanley Park Amber Ale ($6) for drinks.

We could have just feasted on appies but dad prefers something more substantial. Therefore, I only ordered a couple of things to try — something commonly found so I could relate to.

You have a number of options for Chicken Wings: salt & pepper, dry rub, JD BBQ, butter hot, sweet chili and Jimmy’s hot. I picked one of my favourite flavours, the Sweet Chili. It’s nothing crazy or innovative, but the wings were well coated with the sweet chili sauce, while still crispy and hot. The sauce did have a bit of heat to it. And I like that they didn’t give us the tiny wings that you usually get on wing nights. Not too bad for $5 (originally at $10).

Yam Fries weren’t great. The colour looks right but they were soggy. They didn’t have the crispy edges, or the crunch that you look for in fries. Glad that it was half-priced; I can’t imagine paying the full price of $6 for these.

As for the Red Hot Pizza, it got some heat! The crust was thin, a bit crunchy. I thought the toppings were a good combination for meat lovers (with the token mushroom as your veggies), but it could get a bit oily. Portion wise this is perfect for one person.

Service

Given it’s game day, the pub was already packed at 5pm; therefore our only option was the far, tucked away corner at the bar. It wasn’t too bad. The bartender didn’t ignore us. He and the server did come over to check on us, which I appreciate. Some people occupied a table, taking forever to finish the one drink in their hands; some people had their dinner over the half-priced appies menu and $3 sleeves; some just came in for a quick drink. Kudos to the servers for treating everyone equally.

Final Thoughts

Food here wasn’t a wow for me, but given its location and the half-priced appies menu, you have to admit that it does make a great option for pre-game bites or libations. Not a bad option for weekday happy hour hangout either.

Jimmy’s Tap House
783 Homer Street, Vancouver
604-689-2800
www.jimmystaphouse.com