I don’t form loyalties that bring me back to a restaurant week after week, so it was surprising to say the least that I ended up at the Rugby Beach Club Grille on Thursday night and then again on Friday night. It is, afterall, located in the heart of Vancouver, a stone’s throw from the hospital district, and hence very close to where I work. It is a hip but comfortable place to unwind after a long day at work.

The very cool concept at Rugby is the ability to create your own meal. Instead of ordering a steak and being stuck with whatever sides the chef concocted to complement the meat, you choose your meat/tofu (I counted some 20 choices, from $6.95 to ~15.00) and then you choose your side - either veggies or “carbs”/potatoes (another ~16 choices, from $4.50 to ~9.00). I ordered a cajun-spice rubbed organic extra firm tofu (6.95) and red curry thai vegetables (4.50). The tofu was fiery and a far cry from ultra-bland sweet miso paste topped tofu that I ordered half a year ago; the vegetables were spicy but not very thai. You can see that one of my dinner mates ordered the salmon with a side of mozza-covered vegetables.

On Friday, I toned down and ordered the calamari salad (7.95), calamari sauteed in a tomato-based sauce with beans and served atop radicchio. The calamari was so tender (but, wait, isn’t it supposed to be chewy?) but I liked it anyhow, relieved it wasn’t the deep-fried version.

A big selling point of Rugby is the price of their drinks! I ordered two martinis (on Friday, not Thursday!) - the Seethroughgrassskirt martini (Smirnoff, Peach Schnapps, Cranberry, OJ), a 2.99 drink, followed by the Sunset martini (coconut vodka, pineapple juices), a 2.88 drink. Pints of beer go for about ~3.00, I observed.

We learned that when you’ve arrived in a party of 8 or more, they will add a 15% gratuity to your bill - explaining the “incongruity” in the bill from my first visit. We also learned that if you don’t eat, there is a two-drink limit. That was rather frustrating but it could just be the point when you start “buying” drinks for other people….

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Rugby Beach Club Grille
950 Broadway Avenue West (near Oak)
Vancouver, BC