L C.
Yelp
Great location on Granville Island, former home of Mulvaney's, in a prior incarnation the lounge / dance floor was a local hotspot. Well, The Sandbar isn't Mulvaney's, the dance floor has been reclaimed as dining space and it seems like things might have taken a turn for the worse since Covid. It is super noisy due to the high ceilings, wooden timber structure.
If you arrive early enough you should be able find paid Granville Island parking. Open table allows for online booking, convenient for larger parties.
Our group arrived on time and we were promptly seated at our table. First issue, table was set for the wrong # of guests, that was sorted out in 10 minutes or so.
From there things continued to deteriorate, it took a very long time before our server took a beverage order, 30 + minutes before cocktails arrived. It looks like they have a shortage of service staff, somewhat surprising for a Saturday evening. Food took quite a while to come up overall.
Our group ordered a variety of appetizers, sushi and mains. Apparently the clams were awful, the warm baguettes, fries and pizza were good.
I ordered halibut - rice was blah, broccolini and mini red/yellow peppers seemed to accompany most mains. Steak with surf and turf was undercooked. Chicken was ok, as were some of the other dishes ordered.
General feedback was the flavours were lacking, not a lot of spice or seasonings except in the spicy Szechuan green beans.
Despite server being overworked she did an admirable job trying to handle all of the tables she was given.
While I might return, some in our group wouldn't. Overall it was a pleasant time, meal cost was mid range.