What is your opinion of these Vancouver Restaurants?

[kcgirl]

I am planning my first visit Vancouver in about 2 weeks, and have been reading message boards, reviews, guide books, etc. I have a huge list of suggested restaurants and am trying to narrow it down. I need a couple suggestions/opinions about a few I have narrowed it down to. I am making resv. for a large group(12-15) both Friday & Saturday night. There is one vegetarian (who eats shrimp/prawns), and we usually like fun, funky, fresh inventive food without too much fussyness. Price range of $15-25 per entree ,preferably where we can have a glass of wine or drink. I noticed the better details I can give, the better responses I will like receive. Of course prefer a place we can make resv. Thanks for any feed back you can give me . I am really excited about exploring Vancouver and all their culinary offerings-much better than here in the Midwest. Here is my short list:
Guu with Otokamne-l think it looks fun, and heard good things vs Hapa Izakaya?
Sun Sui Wah- heard they do dim sum, but is it also in the evenings?
Maenam- hear it is really good Thai
Habitat- looks like a funky place but what do you all think about the food?
Afghan Horseman-same here
Fish House in Stanley Park- heard good reviews, looks like a nice location being in the park
Chambar- good reviews, but any vegt options?
East is East- looks fun, but do they serve alcohol?
Foundation Room- mixed reviews but what is the opinion out there?

or any other suggestions, there are more places we plan on visiting, trying to nail down these 2 dinners. Thanks for your feedback.

[gourmet wife]

There's a chinese vegetarian place on Cambie by 18th called 3G that's pretty good for veggie options.

[grayelf]

If you want to cater to your veghead friends and have a truly West Coast/Vancouver dining experience, you might try Dharma Kitchen. The food is vegan but very tasty, particularly the Thai-skewing dishes like lemon grass tofu. Really good value too, particularly the salads which are huge and have tons of fresh avocado etc.The room is almost too serene, and the staff are super earnest, sometimes to the point where they will try to convince you of something you don't agree with (see the dinehere reviews to get what I'm talking about). To me this is the place to go over say the Naam which seems to be the usual rec for this kind of dining and where you will get the kind of service I don't like at all :-)

[grayelf]

Can't get the link to stick so here is the address etc:

Dharma Kitchen 3667 West Broadway near Alma [phone]
no licence though

[grayelf]

Guu with Garlic is the Guu I like but I prefer Zakkushi on Main -- they have a couple of areas that would work well for your group. Hapa does not float my boat and seems less fun than Guu, which of all the izakaya in town I've been to is the most boisterous.

Sun Sui Wah does non-cart dimsum in the daytime and high-end seafood based Canto food at night.

Maenam- went once, thought it was promising but had a couple of misses.

Fish House in Stanley Park - I do enjoy the FHISP for specialish occasions -- stick to things that used to live in the ocean prepared simply (I'm a big fan of their sablefish). It is quite a pretty setting and you can specify the deck if you think it will be a nice evening.

[Sam Salmon]

Nuba's new digs on Hastings are an excellent choice for Lebanese and they have a license/all kinds of veggie options-quite casual and comfortable.

http://nuba.ca/

[sf toronto]

2 weeks gives you a lot of time to explore so you'll no doubt hit a number of great spots. Just a few comments on your list:

Habit - closed.
Chambar - not sure if your friend eats other seafood, but they do lots of mussels, and usually have a seafood main and scallops as an appetizer. That said, they definitely take requests and are very accomodating when it comes to veggies.
Foundation Room - I woudn't go out of your way to eat there. It's funky, veggie food (great nachos), but there are plenty of other places that you can eat at that will do veg and non-veg options. That said, Foundation is on Main street, and Main is definitely worth exploring. If you want interesting vegan food - try Radha (only open Fri, Sat, Sun for dinner), but again, that's only if you've got a few strict diets to accomodate.
Guu - gets a lot of good mentions and is consistently recommended as a fun place for the groups.

Have a wonderful time.

[Sam Salmon]

Afghan Horsemen has great food, not outstanding but done well.

Guu w/Garlic or Gastown Guu are the ones to visit.

Not sure if East is East has a license now or not haven't been for a while the 'seating' is hard on my aging back and the wailing music/low tables seem somehow contrived, the food is at best unremarkable and definitely overpriced.