The Fringe Café

More like a small bar and less of a café but still has it’s charm. Gets busy at night. Simple bar food. Customer service is good but don’t be surprised if they ignore you for a bit before serving you.

Only in Vancouver would people label this a ‘dive bar’. It’s not a dive bar, it’s a bar. That’s right hipsters, not everywhere needs a prefix.
It’s also a great little bar with very friendly ‘dive staff’, a great selection of ‘dive beers’ on draft and in bottles, and a good ‘dive atmosphere’.
Just a damn good place for beer and bar chat.

Really cool place! Love the hippie-​like feel there with all the décor. Amazingly friendly service. Loved the beer and salsa deal. A pitcher and salsa for just $ 10. Totally worth it! Genuinely deserves the 5 stars.

I really really wanted to like this place… I mean the vibe is so cool inside, and I love a good dive bar. But when I went the service was so terrible. They had one guy working the bar and serving the food. When he finally got to us he couldn’t take our food and drink orders at once. I only drank the $ 4 beer that they had on special, I found the rest of their prices pretty average (not cheap, considering the setting). My companions ate the veggie burgers and were not impressed.

If you’re looking for a dive bar with good drink specials and a great atmosphere look no further! Great local hang out.

The Fringe is the same that it was over a decade ago … cool hangout to chill with your buds and have a few local brews. Friendly bartender …

Love this spot! Nothing fancy, just cheap booze and excellent people watching. Definitely my fave dive bar in Vancouver.

Great place to go and drink your face off. Happy hour is $ 10 pitchers of DirtyGirl & chips w/​salsa!

This is not a dive, unless you don’t really like locally-​owned, intimate, interesting places that don’t resemble the Donnelly Group. This isn’t your parents’ bar: it’s dark, candle-​lit, and fun (rotary phone lamps, anyone?) Been here at least half a dozen times, from meeting up with a friend who is a regular, to taking a group for a nightcap after meetings at UBC. 4 – 6 irregular shaped booths lend themselves to groups, small tables & long bar for smaller pairs & singles. Personable staff with great sense of humour always puts me in a good mood here, they also have an ecclectic taste in music which I found to my taste although none of it was particularly familiar (refreshing!), from 80s to UK punk rock classics, hipster & drinking-​with-​friends songs. Excellent price and value for food, nachos loaded with cheese. Dirty Girl Lager is most sessionable and decent for even the more picky beer drinkers of us. Def. recommend to most folks for a meeting after dark, and for the east side oasis on the west ;)

Excited to try this local bar after reading an article about it. My friend and I had to wait about 15 mins to be served but we weren’t fussy about it cause it was quite busy that night. After orders were finally taken, we waited patiently waited for our quesadilla and 2 sleeves of beer. We waited for at least another 15 mins and decided to check on our order since pulling 2 sleeves shouldn’t have taken that long. With a lucky coincidence, the owner helped us at the end. He apologized for the wait and even offered to give us the entire meal for free! It was very kind of him and it turned the dining experience around for us! Great atmosphere, good food and awesome people!

Very relaxed, slightly cramped dive pub. The clientele is very mixed depending when you show up and everyone feels at home. Great pub food also — service is a little relaxed. Be lucky and grab one of the two patio tables for great people watching.

Pretty much the ideal bar: small but not cramped, awesome beer, cool music. The food is shockingly good given the size of their kitchen! Overall a kickass place to hang out.

Great music, good beer, great service, and fantastic nachos. We have been here several times now, and enjoy the hole-​in-​the-​wall aspect of the place. As a beer lover, I would suggest a little more variety in the bottle selection; however, the staff do a great job pointing me toward something similar to what I had in mind. This is our favourite place to go when we want to tuck in for a few beers and good conversation with a small group of friends.

Great, relaxed place to drop in for a beer. The staff are all super friendly and fun.
Decent selection of beer on tap and good, if limited, pub grub. If I lived in the neighborhood, I’d definitely be a regular.

Me and my friends dropped in on a Monday night after seeing the burger + beer on special for $ 10. Gotta say, this place is great. It‘s small and intimate, the décor is rockin (old school phone lamps!), service is quick, it‘s a chill crowd, and the food is absolutely delicious. The house beers are actually pretty good, and in a part of town where it‘s easy to spend too much money on sub-​par food and beer, this place is the perfect chillout spot.

My cousin took me here for a beer after having told him about my love for dive bars. Since arriving in Van, I’ve been on the lookout for my Cheers because nothing beats a little hole in the wall where you can get to know the staff and the other regulars, and I’ve found it. Upon leaving, the bartender approached me and told me I was going to be a regular there. It was nice to really feel welcome there.
They’ve got a really interesting selection of beer and the nachos are decent… It’s got a really intimate setting, but would be great with a big group of people. It draws a great crowd… everyone’s always really friendly and just there to have a good time.
I love love love this place!

What can I say? It’s my new local! The place has just-​the-​right everything: just the right lighting, music, and staff. The beer is cheap and good, the staff is friendly and attentive, and the atmosphere has character and energy. Tom the bartender is a master at his craft. If you’re in the area, you should definitely go.
(BTW, it’s the kind of place where I’m not sure how many people I should tell about it because I want to preserve that local feel. ONLY SHOW UP IF YOU’RE COOL).

The best atmosphere in Kits as bars go. A friendly and fun staff work magic in a long and narrow space. The lighting is dim and the tables are small (2 people) but for a big booth at the front and some nice big tables in the back. Along the bar, the stools are constantly covered with regulars who are great to talk to and always eager to strike up a conversation. The lighting is dim but pleasant and the walls are adorned with old concert and rock climbing posters as well as various other amusing and retro miscellany. Nothin’ fancy in the way of beers and the prices aren’t fantastic. But the glasses are always chilled and you’ll get your drink real quick. The music is also diverse and excellent, if you’re really nice Tom the bartender might let you throw on a CD. Oh and they also have a big stash of games, be sure to check out Blockus, its like horizontal Tetris and awesome.
The Fringe is the tops in Kits.

My friends love this bar and the staff, and I would have to agree with them. This no-​frills bar has really nice staff that won’t BS you with expensive drink recommendations, they just keep it real.
This place is small and has two secret tables in the back for bigger groups, but in general this place is great for a casual date, a nightcap, or a small gathering of close friends.
The music is pretty decent along with the décor. I like the Dirty girl lager, but the Ugly boy beer ain’t bad either. These are their house beers and they are pretty delish.

This cave of a bar is the kind of place where your comfort grows. And as it does, so do the frequency of your visits.
It’s a mix of a grad student bar, European café, and a rural roadside pub. The service is reasonable with a touch of gruffness. The tables clean but a smear of sticky. Everything hovering between just-​so and just hanging together.
The places buzzes – varying between conversation and blasting tunes. It’s a clean break from the excessive social-​house vibe of Kits, and hits closer to a back alley hideaway.
The chips and salsa make the perfect bar snack. An unending bowl of tortilla chips and mildly spicy salsa. The beer selection is diverse with good draft on tap.
Due to fairly limited seating, The Fringe is best as a mid-​week or Sunday night outing. Like the locals who fill the place, go here to talk, drink beer, and escape.