Section 3 Restaurant

I heard that they are closing down next week and transitioning to a new owner, which is also a burger franchise. I’m not sure.
I came yesterday with my friends for lunch. I ordered the chicken pesto penne. It wasn’t as good as before. A bit too salty without enough chicken flavor. The sundried tomatoes felt not integrated well with the pasta. There was too much asiago cheese which overwhelmed the other flavors and made the experience seem too sticky. At least that’s what she said.

If overpriced Yaletown food is what you’re looking for, then you should come here.
I shared the quesadilla and scallop/​prawn penne on special. The quesadilla tasted like plastic bag while the penne I finished in under 5 minutes. While I understand this is the lunch specials, I expect it to be a little bigger than a kids meal.
I don’t think I’ve ever finished a lunch as quickly as the small portion I had here. I might as well just ordered fries and munched on that.

Typical yaletown bar. Trendy!!! Eli is my favorite server here! She’s friendly and always checks if everything is good. The appies are pretty good! Makes me hungry just thinking bout it. I love the Baked brie! So good!
It’s a great place to have drinks and have fun with friends. Sometimes you will see people dancing on the dance floor (not really a dance floor, but they dance anyways). Music is mostly hip hop.

For those who enjoy a good night out on weekends, Section 3 is a vibrant bar/​lounge in Yaletown full of gregarious late-​twenty and thirty-​somethings. It’s a solid choice when choosing a trendy, hip late-​night destination with a buzzing atmosphere on Friday and Saturday nights.
We came for drinks on Friday. It was packed — lots of energy, endless chatter and noticeable «groups of 2» (gents with well-​drinks and ladies with cocktails) at the bar.
Similar crowds: SIP lounge, Cactus Yaletown

I was very lukewarm on Section 3 the first time I came but I think it’s because the service was so iffy. This time? The service was amazing. Our waiter was great.
My friend and I came because I had a Groupon for their prix fixe menu. It was pretty good; my steak was a little overcooked for my tastes but that’s a little complaint. If you like strawberry lemonade, I recommend the Teeny Tiny Kate. Really good. I wish I’d ordered a double. And maybe another one after that :)
I’m not sure I would go back for the food next time but I wouldn’t mind trying a lot of their drinks.

I had a wonderful experience at Section 3, although my situation is quite a bit different from the other reviewers:
I am on my office’s social committee, and in the past we’ve hosted our annual Christmas lunch at a private club, opting for the standard buffet setup. The lunches have always been nice, but they certainly weren’t exciting. In fact, I would say they were boring. This year, I really wanted us to host our Christmas party at a restaurant in order to inject some style into the event, and after perusing tons of restaurants I came across Section 3. I sent an email enquiring about doing a restaurant buyout to Salli, the owner, and she responded within minutes saying that they could accommodate us.
Now, I have to say we’re not exactly the easiest group to plan office parties for. Being a government office, staff have to pay for the party out of their own pocket, so we wanted to keep costs low so that people could afford to come. When we initially contacted them in the summer, we couldn’t even give an accurate estimate about how many people would be coming, as our colleagues don’t RSVP for the event until about a month prior. Regardless, Salli and Chef Ben worked with our group to create a custom menu that was within our modest price range, and I couldn’t have been happier about how it turned out. Since none of us had ever worked with a restaurant before we had no idea what to expect, but Salli and her team made it effortless for us.
On the day of the event, we showed up to the restaurant and it looked spectacular. They had custom menus placed on the tables for all the diners, and although the social committee was expecting to have to do a little setup beforehand, they had already done everything for us.
Eighty-​six people ended up showing up for the party, and the restaurant staff handled our group with ease. All of the service staff were outstanding –I heard multiple comments about that from my colleagues. Our waiter was terrific, and I was impressed with his memory; he remembered what everyone at my table was drinking, and he made sure we never had an empty glass.
Not only was the service great, but the food was pretty freakin’ good too. My steak was cooked to perfection, and the pumpkin cheesecake that followed was one of the tastiest things I’ve ever eaten. I was amazed that they were able to turn out orders for 86 people at the same time –obviously they took a lot of time to prepare themselves for our group.
At the end of the party, I received a few comments along the lines of «Best. Party. Ever.» Yeah, it was. Thanks again to Salli and team for making our event so memorable. Planning a Christmas party isn’t exactly a simple task, but it certainly felt pretty easy with the crew at Section 3 on our side.

We came in pretty much because the ribs came with mac and cheese. Cannot even tell you how excited we were about the promise of ribs, coleslaw, and mac and cheese together all on the same plate.
We were seated at a booth. I went to go check out the facilities (which were at one point nice I’m sure, but you know what? They needed a good thorough cleaning. They smelled of wee) and when I came back, we had been moved. This was a little confusing. As I was pointed facing where we had been sitting I discovered this was so a favorite/​regular/​employee/​something could sit at the booth nearest the exit into the building, in eyeshot of her dog which was hanging out by the door. I like dogs so I couldn’t mind a lot. It was just… interesting.
We shared a bowl of the chicken corn chowder, which I liked a lot, but my companion thought was a little on the bland side.
The ribs were nice, although I’m thinking there was a heavy handed dose of liquid smoke in the sauce. Our hands smelled like fake smoke almost to a comic level for hours afterwards.
Big Beef was with the mac and cheese. I recognise that the title of the dish is «mac and cheese» but the chef seems to take this literally, as it was just buttered macaroni with some cheese on top, warmed through. That’s it. It was HIGHLY disappointing. There does seem to be some sort of vast misunderstanding in this city about how mac and cheese is made.
And for a place with such a nice looking bar, they sure seemed to be out of a lot of things to make drinks with.
The waitress wasn’t awesome, and the bill took an awfully long time to come. Should people start just telling waitresses «I’m paying with debit» when the dishes are picked up? There is lengthy back and forth with the bill, wait, then the card, wait, then the machine, then they leave, wait, wait, wait. Can’t we solve this somehow? Surely no one is winning in this situation.
Wasn’t Wowed.

So… It was the Taste of Yaletown!!!
My best friend and I were hungry after Halloween shoopping and wanted to just go eat… Our first choice place was booked solid! Our second choice had a 2 hour wait for seating!
We didnt want to wait so we decided to go to Section 3 as there was room on the patio! I hadnt been here before but I had heard great things about this place so we waited the 3mins for the hostess to seat us!
Here’s what we thought!
Pro’s —
Our Appies were freakin amazing! SOOO TASTY!
The Stacked Cheeseburger with Bacon was the BEST EVER!!!
The Food quaility and taste was TOP NOTCH!!!
Cons–
The Server was friendly but her actual service was shotty and sucked! I didnt know how busy she might have been or what she was doing but she was never around when we needed her!
The food took forever to come out
The Entrée’s arrived before the Appies
We waited 20−25mins before our server first arrived!
I will definately be back as i try not to judge a restaurant on its first try! The foood however was well worth the wait!!!
I hope that next time we go back the service improves because it was the only thing lacking!

I went to Section 3 with a group of girls for dinner. We all decided to try the taste of yaletown menu. I didn’t have high expectations since it was only $ 25 and didn’t advertise themselves as gourmet restaurant rather as a fun hip bar. The decore is hip and trendy. The servers were young, cute, friendly and effecient.
Our server quickly greeted us when we walked in and quickly seated us at a table. He took our drink orders very quickly and allowed us time to look at the food menu and chat a bit first.
Eventhough service was good, food was a different matter. I thought there wasn’t much thought to the menu. I ordered the following:
1)lamb lollip with sliced potatoes — this dish sounded more like a main course except it was starter portion. I thought it would be nicer if I was served on a bed of lightly tossed salad. The lamb was flavourful and cooked properly.
2)Cauliflower gnocchi with sundried tomatoes– Maybe I was spoiled by authentic Italian restaurants who served fluffy gnocchi, so I expected the same here. Boy was I wrong, it was dense and very doughy. I found the sundried tomatoes to be too chewy and dry. They should have been rehydrated with some sort of liquid to plump it up. I couldn’t finish the dish.
3)Kahlua Crème brûlée — pretty good, I could taste the alcohol but it was pretty smooth.
One of my friends ordered prawns cooked in cream sauce. It looked decent but nothing special.
I would have food elsewhere then go back just for cocktails since they didn’t have an extensive wine list. The atmosphere was fun.

from a quick glean of the taste of yaletown menus, one would guess that section (3) had the best menu. It did The beet salad was a typical salad. It was the main and dessert that make it worth the money.
My main was a sheppard’s pie — with a brisket as the meat. The mashed potatoes were whipped and even with the butter, very light. The portion was perfectly sized and ginormous on taste.
Having had the benefit of being able to sample the cauliflower gnocchi would make any future trips much more difficult to decide on a main. The gnocchi was also a very generous portion, and its taste was stupendous. The cauliflower adds a nice zip to the gnocchi.
Without a doubt, the service was amazing. We had the most friendly and courteous waitress — always smiling and very engaging.

Cheap drink specials and good enough food. This place is great to hangout with friends and get good and drunk. They also offer affordable lunch options in expensive Yaletown and they have a decent patio in the summer time to people watch.
I’ve come here a few times over the years, and each time I’ve come the service has been courteous and friendly. The atmosphere is also a little more relaxed compared to the other, way more pretentious places you can find in Yaletown.

I really don’t know how I ended up drinking in Yaletown. Random confluence of circumstances and acquiescence — basically, a shrug… «Ya, I’ll give it a go.»
Well — it was alright. It’s a bar in Yaletown. You get exactly what you expect: trendy yuppie joint — whether this is positive or negative is up to you. Music was a bit strange — I don’t think I’ve heard ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ that wasn’t played ironically in 10 years.
I tried to order the drink special — but my friend promptly reminded me that I was in Yaletown not Davie Street… seriously, why can’t I drink a Cosmopolitan? Isn’t that what the strange natives of this land drink? Oh well — I wasn’t buying so I was forced to order double vodkas… poor me.
The entire night I was wondering why this place was named Section (3) and why there was a huge ‘nerd’ sign over the bar. I am a proud nerd — there’s nothing remotely ‘nerdy’ about this place as far as I could see. But as the other write-​ups mention, it’s named after Section (3) of the BC Privacy Act after Robert DeNiro threatened legal action as this place was formerly known as DeNiro’s Supper Club.
Okay — pretty cute story. And I have a nerd crush on DeNiro as well — I channel ‘Ace’ Rothstein when I’m working (similar job conditions and I admire the character) and I drop the ’30 second’ line are words to live by (… well — if you’re a sociopath). But if you check out their website and accompanying video/​documentary — it’s a butthurt backhanded slap to Mr. DeNiro — crying about how he doesn’t appreciate his fans and that they were unfairly targeted.
Honestly, the man was just protecting his name — would you guys be cool with me opening a restaurant called ‘Section 3(a)’ out of ‘appreciation’… just be glad the man didn’t have you guys cattle-​prodded and then have your right hands hit with a hammer…

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of my brunch here. I had a delicious egg scramble with goat cheese, portobello mushroom, spinach and garlic (comes with bacon but I asked them to make it without). It was so tasty I would come back just for that. The potatoes were tasty, too, but I gave most to my friend as I’m not a big potato fan.
In terms of atmosphere, it’s hard to beat the location and patio, especially on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Our server was friendly, kept our water glasses filled and brought our food out piping hot. Definitely a good option for brunch in my ‘hood and I would also be willing to try their dinner menu if the occasion arose. I guess my expectations weren’t all that high but I’m really glad I was proven wrong!

Atmosphere was exactly what I wanted and expected from a Yaletown restaurant.
Section 3 is trendy and it shows in their décor and the people who dine here. I love the cute little sign above the bar with the word «NERD». The outdoor patio area is a good size and not too crowded.
The servers were friendly and the service was quick. We didn’t eat since we came here after dinner. We had drinks ranging from cocktails to shots. All were decent and a little overpriced, — as expected in Yaletown. I thought the drinks can be slightly stronger though.
Overall, it was still a great place to hang out with friends.

Might be better value in Yaletown for the same food. Food was not bad, but a basket of fries costs over $ 7! (To give you an idea of how much things are). Cocktails were tasty but not too much alcohol flavour (so depends on what you like).
It was a little hard to get someone to take our order, we even resorted to trying the Asian-​waving thing but it didn’t work.

I bought a deal online ($ 40 for three course dinner for two people) for this restaurant. It was a very pleasant surprise, I must admit.
I liked the place, and the big NERD sign above the bar area. Food was really really delicious. I will definitely go back to try some more. I had a carrot — lemon grass soup, gnocchi with veggies for main, and a brownie for dessert. Soup was very tasty, a bit spicy which I liked, Gnocchi and veggies were OMG delicious! so much flavour! Brownie was also nice and gooey, and it came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Overall, the place looks cool, service is pleasant, and food is delicious.
Would definitely recommend it! The room itself is good for a group of people or a nice date (since they have booths).

Had my first visit here last night and am not impressed. Our large group was seated in a back booth, which was nice and away from the crowd in the rest of the restaurant. Though, this also meant limited service as we were out of sight.
Cocktails are tasty and enjoyed the Barbie’s Vacation. Not enough though for the $ 7.25 price tag. The DJ was good and kept us singing along while we were there.
The real kicker to the night was that it turned out that the air vent directly above the booth (aka above my head) filters in air from outside where all of the smokers stand. Filled our booth with stinky smoke air and left me smelling like an ashtray. DISGUSTING. Uphold the smoking bylaws and make people stand in a proper area.

This is a great place for drinks but not for a nice dinner. I wouldn’t come here for the food. The music is the best part — I came here when they a live DJ — but very loud and everything is fast-​paced, dark, and cramped. The bar gets VERY busy into the night. I came here with a big group (of 18 or something like that) and everything was just really crazy and hectic.
Not much service (probably because of our large group) but the food was pretty good. I hated that they played Psycho on the TV — not exactly something I want to see while eating dinner. I also thought it was funny that there was a family with little kids at another table. This isn’t the place for kids, what with half naked girls on the back of the menus and a huge photo mural of boobs next to the bar.
Overall, trendy place for hipsters and partiers. Sweet music. Food wasn’t memorable.

I didn’t notice the bro vibe as much as my boyfriend did– at least, not right away– but the bro vibe was strong in Section 3 the Friday night we were here.
After a good meal, we were looking for one last drink, another spot to check out, and this bar/​restaurant, at 10:00 seemed reasonably crowded but not over the top. We were seated by a hostess at this bench area, given food and drink menus, and then the bartender came over to take our order. Interesting.
There were booths with a pre-​clubbing Asian crew, some couple totally making out grossly, seriously, not in a good way, guy/​girl groups of 3 – 4 here and there, and some bro’s on the prowl at the bar, sadly there were no chicks in their immediate range.
Honeymoon in Vegas was playing on the LCD, which basically fueled our discussion for 2 rounds of drinks. Nicholas Cage. Leaving Las Vegas. Has he done any Lynch movies, etc… I got some Lychee Martini thing, it was OK. Like other places in Van, they didn’t serve it ‘Up’, it reminded me that this town ain’t cheap, and we’re spoiled by strong pours in the Bay Area.

Can’t believe I haven’t written about Section 3 yet. It’s one of the best one’s in Yaletown!
So the story behind the restaurant name is really cool. Legend has it that the owner is a HUGE Robert DeNiro fan. So she originally named the place DeNiro’s. Mr. DeNiro caught wind of this and prohibited it from happening. So it either went to court? Or had some legalities involved. So bottom line is that the Section 3 of the law stuff is what prohibits a person from using another person’s name w/​o their permission. Cool eh?
Now onto the actual restaurant. Stays open late for drinks and stuff? Plays loud music. Yuppie, urban vibe. If you dig it, then this place rocks. I’m more of a lunch and eggs bennie girl. And their lunch menu has the BEST wraps! Brunch menu too, for ten bucks flat.
Love the décor. Although there’s a pair of naked boobs right on the wall, as you walk in. Kind of bold. But nice. Oh, and the sous chef is absolutely amazing! 5 stars!