Elite Event: reLiSH Life on Commercial Drive

Thanks for a wonderful event. It was so fun to have the mixer games and Relish tree wishes.
I truly talked with more folks than even the more intimate games nights. Excellent seeding the networking field Ladies many thanks for all the giggles. My wish tree items can be delivered directly at a later date and like for Santa I will have cookies & cognac waiting.
My main review is up on ReLish main page but here’s the blurb:
I had the delicious opportunity to try reLish at a recent event and couldn’t be more pleased. the staff (especially Simba) are charming and helpful the location is great and the food was truly reLished.
I got to try their Angus Patty and their ground turkey patty with the inspiration toppings of big Texas, the great one and under the Tuscan Sun in each patty. My fave was the Angus as big Texas and although messy it was worth every juicy bite.
Now who doesn’t like to start with dessert before the main that’s kind of like the relish sides in relation to the burgers. The mains are amazing but the sides are wowsa! the relish poutine gravy was just right and onion rings and sweet potato fries are a definite can’t put down item. I guess for most folks the most appealing thing may be the fact that you can really custom design what you’re eating with relish — picking your Patty picking your toppings picking your sides and having gluten-​free vegetarian and vegan options seem to cover pretty much every need. I will definitely relish going back and trying some of the other must-have’s off the menu namely the Nordique the Jersey City and the Cabo Diablo. Here’s to reLishing the next round

Relish really brightened up an otherwise blasé rainy Vancouver day.
Thank you to Ayla & Sam for all their hard work that went on behind the scenes for this event.
The owners/​chefs and serving staff were all very friendly and worked their tails off trying to please everyone. One of the owners even came around to personally ask us what each one of us relished. That was a nice touch. Props to Simba — one of the servers — who really went above and beyond, taking orders and getting to know my table a bit better.
My +1 and I arrived a few minutes early and were thrilled to be the first ones in. We quickly ordered a bevvy each and got ourselves acclimatized to the new restaurant. The first thing that struck me was how long and deep their bar/​cashier/​prep area is. There are still some seats by the front entrance area and a few small tables in the back by the washrooms. It’s a modern/​functional space and I’m sure they’ll have a nice atmosphere once they are fully up and running.
I think the cooks/​staff were overwhelmed by the number of people there. Thankfully I had a bite before coming because it was 45 minutes into the event before I tried my first burger — a Big Texas without cheese or bacon. Very tasty I must say and well worth the wait. I also sampled their poutine fries and a couple onion rings with a special dip — the onion rings were really good. Relish advertise their burgers as ‘gourmet’, so the price point of almost $ 10 for the burger itself might be warranted. I would not compare their burgers to Vera’s or Splitz because I find those to be more geared towards fast-​foodies.
I really liked their beverage selection. They had a number of different kinds of beer, wine, pop and water. I had a pint of wheat beer which really hit the spot.
I found the Elites much more willing to engage this time around. Between cooperatively filling out the Relish trivia to finding my mystery Unilocaler and this time I met everyone at our table! Yay! :) Good to meet a few new faces and recognize some familiar ones. Once again a really thoughtful swag bag with a Relish shirt & hat and a few other goodies.

There were many special moments this evening. There was the one when I tried my first Big Texas. (I am sure that this burger is the real deal!) It was love at first taste, if I am allowed to (mis)use that phrase. Then there was the one when I tried the lovely poutine which was really complimented by the addition of caramelized onions. Every interaction with the super friendly service staff made for good memories.
I liked the central idea behind the place. Take something as generic as burgers, add dollops of creativity to it and behold! You have something that is special and savory!
I am sure to return to this place, to meet my love: The Big Texas.
Wish the place had some more seating place, and a few extra helping handing hands to accommodate the huge footfall on occasion of the Unilocal Event.

Great event! My plus one and I struggled to get food a little as well, but I can’t bring myself to take any stars away, because I had so much fun! I did luckily get to sample all the burgers by the end of the night, the big Texas was good, but I loved the turkey one! We didn’t get any onion rings or fries, but we got to share a poutine with our table and it was really good. The beers on tap were great, hubs and I are craft beer nerds and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the offerings and the full sizes (whoa, so much for me? yay!) The mingle game was fun, though I never found my person (and no one found me either) I enjoyed the theme of what do you relish, great to think about what brings us all JOY! I relish good food, friends, and drinks and that was all served up with a bow for me last night. I will try relish again sometime, maybe a patio spot for people watching. The chain owner and franchise owners were so friendly, happy and effervescent the vibe was so great in there. I can’t believe those swag bags, selfie stick yay! And a lounging Tee and hat for dog walking, so generous of Relish!

Another great Unilocal event! Thanks to Ayla and the Relish Team for putting this event together. My favorite burger was the Big Texas. Got to try the onion rings but not the yam fries or Poutine. We sat by the window and the food never got to us until near the end of the event. Beer and wine were also great. Love the grab bag at the end — love the selfie stick. Thanks again for having this event and for being so gracious and generous!

Another fantastic night of burgers and booze, curated by the lovely Ayla and Alex.
The venue was fantastic. Enough space to fit everyone in, and yet just small enough to keep it cozy and entertaining.
The burgers were good, with my favorite being the «Big Texas,» with the most flavour. I personally found the pesto on the «LA Is my Lady» to be fantastic… next time I’ll order it with a beef or turkey patty. The «italian stallion» with turkey patty was also served, and not flavour-​packed like the other two. Sides were good, but I literally had only one fry, so I can’t really review ‘em.
I also echo how Unilocaler’s sentiment about how people were hounding the burgers next to the kitchen, now allowing them to be distributed evenly to the sitting crowd. I made sure to help out my new found friend Christine grab some veggie burgers she desperately needed.
Swag bags were fun, my girlfriend got SUPER excited we have a selfie stick for our travels to Italy!
And Simon was really the star of the show last night. Can’t wait to hear more amazing stories and get the party started this fall and winter!

What a fun event! Arrived promptly at 7pm to a line out the door, which moved pretty quickly. After checking in, we were greeted with amazing service. We were whisked away to the bar where someone took our coats, gave us each a beer, and presented us with veggie burgers. We were super impressed! But, that was the extent of the out of the world service.
Don’t get me wrong, the entire staff was outstanding. They were friendly, personable and did make an effort to get us samples of food that we requested, but maybe they underestimated how much food they should make at once for such a big group. We didn’t get to try another burger for over 20 minutes and that was only after we (politely) stole it from a server who was walking by us (we asked to take them, don’t worry).
We got pretty lucky with the fries though and landed a plate of onion rings and poutine in front of us. Yum!
In the end, we tried one of each of the three burgers (I loved the turkey burger! So flavourful. Although the Angus seemed to be the winner of the night), onion rings, and poutine (the poutine was delicious, by the way). Big thanks to the reLISH team for their personable service!
I did note that there wasn’t a ton of seating at this location, but I’d be curious to check out their other locations. At the end of the day, the burgers were still great!

The event was super organized and Unilocal Elites are so nice that they naturally form a line out the door.
That being said, I felt in the first hour of the event that food portions were way low compared to the amount of attendees. I definitely reLISHed the one Italian Stallion I had with its juicy turkey patty. Luckily I had eaten before coming so not a big deal. From the first two reviewers it sounds like they managed to try everything so hopefully I’m in the minority here. I hardly saw any servers go around with food and when a staff member did come up to us empty-​handed they explained that guests were hounding them right at the exit of the kitchen. I don’t think I would help matters if I too were hounding staff at the kitchen so I think future events like this could be improved by spreading the servings around or having an organized line like the one seen around the wine station.
On the bright side, everyone was all smiles like the Elite events I’ve had the fortune of attending for a couple goes now and another thanks to Ayla for keeping everything running smoothly!

What a fantastic event! Hats off to Ayla C and the Relish team for putting on such a deliciously fun evening.
The burgers were so flavourful and well-​presented, and the sides were sinfully good. I tried all three of the burgers; the «Big Texas» with beef patty topped with bacon, the «LA is My Lady» with veggie patty topped with avocado & pesto, and their signature burger with ground turkey. I enjoyed all of them, but was especially impressed with the veggie burger. Great flavours!
I also sampled the onion rings and yam fries, which left me wanting more. The poutine looked fantastic but I didn’t get a chance to try it this visit. Next time, for sure.
What I love most about these events is getting a chance to try out restaurants I’ve never been to before. I didn’t even know this place existed before tonight. With the delicious burgers, fantastic service, great craft beer selection and stellar location (a block from the Commercial Skytrain Station) I will definitely be back!
Thanks again to the Relish team for an amazing evening :)

What do you reLISH? After today’s Unilocal event at reLISH Commercial Drive, I definitely relish «The Big Texas». The crispy onion frites won me over and best of all, these frites were used onto of the Poutine as well: D The «LA is my Lady» with avocado has a bit of a «tang» to it and it was also pretty tasty, but «The Big Texas» stole my taste-​buds as it reminded me of my favourite burger of all time, the Man’s Man burger at Romer’s! The turkey burger had a nice infused herb flavour to it, which really complimented the taste of the patty!
Very fun event today, the staff was SUPER friendly, attentive, happy and generic!!! It was a packed place and seating was limited, so we stood most of the time which was OK because we got to hang out with our fellow Unilocal friends!
More locations are opening, one will be opening up in Lonsdale — close to my new place! Can’t wait to hit up reLISH when it hits The Quay!