The Alibi Room

2019-01-19. Decent sized space, with a second bar in the basement. The decor upstairs feels a bit like modern bistro meets reclaimed industrial space with some cool exposed brick etc. Mostly long communal tables. Service is fine, friendly and efficient but not very chatty. There is a weird aroma - like cooking oil and cleaning products maybe? - presumably coming from the kitchen detracts a bit and makes it tough to get into aroma of some of the beers. It dissipated eventually thankfully. Lots of taps with a good range of mostly BC craft beers. Doesn't quite live up to the hype for me (it would have been surprising if it had to be honest) but tap list is one of the better options in terms of selection that I saw. Likely still me first choice if I had to pick one spot to go despite some quibbles.

Home place

Fun place if you can get a seat. Often busy but they have a good selection of food and beer. Cool interior!

Hard not to fall for this place ambiance and beer list-wise. It's next to the tracks in a beautiful old building, dimly lit, long tables and even a small patio. The disappointment was real when it came to a) the prices b) the service. Prices are what they are especially in a beer bar but everything here seemed to have that extra hipster tax. The service we had was abyssal - wrong size beers, long waits with empty glasses, assumptions made on replacements ("Sorry we didn't have what you ordered so I got this in your flight instead" - uh, ok) Glad I saw it, but probably won't go back.

So the 50 taps were mostly hyper-local and there were some beers and brewers I've never seen before and doubt I'll ever see again. The beers themselves though were pretty unspectacular. Nothing bad, but nothing great. Might just be a reflection of the local beer scene as I haven't had anything spectacular from Vancouver yet. Food here was pretty solid and the little corner in which I was working was actually pretty comfy.

We stopped in during a fairly busy Sunday evening. Lots of great BC local beers on offer. A great variety of styles. We sat at the bar as it was a very long line and we were only drinking but the atmosphere was trendy and the food looked good. A bit on the pricy side. Definitely worth a stop. I wish I had been able to stay/drink longer.

Lots of people are saying that this place has gone down, but we still found it to be excellent. Good selection of BC beers on tap, a few were great. Very hip and a bit of attitude, but not more than I could bear. Yes, a bit pricy, but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Vancouver local whose favourite watering hole was always Alibi Room. That may be changing. Alibi still has one of the best selections of craft in Vancouver (another reviewer mentioned that beers are hit and miss - I like that because Alibi doesn’t play it safe and tries tapping the truly unique beers unlike other bars (craft beer market) who just load up their 100 taps with boring safe bets). However, I feel that Alibi has lost their edge for exclusive one off taps over the past 5 years. The two floor bar on the far edge of Gastown is a good 20 min walk from transit and constantly has long waits on evenings and weekends making less appealing to venture too. It has a hipster Gastown vibe with good, knowledgeable service, but now has an army of fruit flies and the odd mouse running around since they first opened. The food is very well done mind you. Minus the average service and food at St Augustine’s, I feel St Aug’s is pushing the boundaries more for tapping new beers and has a cleaner facility. It’s also located one block from the skytrain so you don’t have to walk into the shady underbelly of Vancouver to access it. I hope Alibi Room cleans up the flies and mice and gets some more exclusive experimental taps that made it popular in its heyday. Until then, I’ll still visit, but only occasionally.

One of my favourite bars anywhere. Vancouver struggles when it comes to good bars, but Alibi Room has enough eccentric atmosphere to offset all the plasticky Earls type places around. Fantastic beer selection that is mostly local, BC and Pacific Northwest. There’s always interesting stuff on tap. Service is friendly and knowledgeable, especially if you sit at the bar. The only downside is that it has a food-primary liquor licence (ie, it’s legally a restaurant, not a bar), which means no standing, which means there’s a long waiting list on most nights.