Gone but Not Forgotten: 3 Vancouver Restaurants Locals Still Miss
Vancouver doesn’t hold on to its restaurants for long. Tastes move on. Land gets redeveloped. A room that fed a neighbourhood for decades can turn into a hotel lobby or a set of apartments.
Some places stay in people’s heads anyway. Years after the last service, people still talk about the drinks, the neon and the dining rooms. This piece looks at a few of them: what they served, how long each one lasted, why it ended and what stands on the site now.
None of the originals is serving today. You can still walk past every address. One of them has a comeback in the works.
3. Hy’s Mansion and Romano’s Macaroni Grill (West End)
Where: 1523 Davie St (Gabriola mansion), West End
When: Hy’s Mansion from 1978; Romano’s Macaroni Grill in the 1990s and 2000s
Cost: n/a (closed)
Getting there: Davie at Nicola, about a 5-minute walk from English Bay Beach
At 1523 Davie stands Gabriola, B.T. Rogers’ sandstone mansion. It is a Victorian home. For two generations of West End diners, it was also where you went for dinner.
The house first became a restaurant in 1978, as Hy’s Mansion. In the 1990s it served as Romano’s Macaroni Grill. The restaurant era ended around 2008, and the mansion then sat empty for years. Eating pasta under the ceilings of a mansion was the appeal, and plenty of birthdays and first dates happened there.
The mansion has since been converted into rental apartments, now called The Mansion, with a small row of townhouses added along the lane.
The building is still there, and it’s a heritage building you can see from the outside. It sits at Davie and Nicola, about a five-minute walk from English Bay Beach. Pair it with a walk down to the water. Keep to the sidewalk, since it’s private property.
2. Trader Vic’s at the Bayshore (Coal Harbour)
Where: Bayshore Inn (now The Westin Bayshore), Coal Harbour
When: 1961 to Dec. 31, 1995
Cost: n/a (closed)
Getting there: On the Coal Harbour seawall, a few minutes’ walk from the Stanley Park entrance
Trader Vic’s opened in 1961 beside the Bayshore Inn on Coal Harbour. It was a Polynesian tiki restaurant. People went for the tropical rum drinks and a room full of tiki decor. The building was an A-frame, and it turns up on 1960s postcards and in archival photos.
The arrival is the detail people remember. You could come by boat as well as by car, and that is what the place was famous for. On a harbour city’s waterfront, that was a fair claim to fame.
The tiki era faded, and the restaurant’s pull faded with it. Trader Vic’s closed on Dec. 31, 1995. Because it closed on the last night of the year, some sources list 1996. The bar stayed popular, and the room was rented out for events until the building finally closed in May 1999. That summer it was barged to Vancouver Island.
The Bayshore Inn is now The Westin Bayshore, on the Coal Harbour seawall a few minutes’ walk from the Stanley Park entrance. The A-frame is gone, so the view is all you get. Look up one of those old postcards before you go, then stand on the seawall and try to line it up.
1. The Ho Ho, later Foo’s Ho Ho (Chinatown)
Where: Sun Ah Hotel, 102 East Pender St, Chinatown
When: Opened 1954; Foo’s Ho Ho from 1998; revival in a new space reported June 2026
Cost: n/a
Getting there: Pender at Columbia, a short walk from Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain
The Ho Ho opened in 1954 at 102 East Pender St, in the Sun Ah Hotel at Pender and Columbia. It was a Chinatown fixture. People went for the home-style Cantonese cooking.
The sign made it a landmark. It was a giant neon noodle bowl with chopsticks, and it came down in June 1997. From 1998 the restaurant ran as Foo’s Ho Ho. After it closed, another restaurant briefly moved in before Carol Lee took over the space in 2015.
The story isn’t finished. Earlier reports pointed to a return to the old address. In June 2026, Global News reported that a revived Ho Ho will open in a new Chinatown space instead of its original home. It hasn’t been confirmed open, so check before you make a trip of it.
The Sun Ah Hotel is a short walk from Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain. Stand at Pender and Columbia to see where the restaurant ran for more than four decades. The new space is on the ground floor of the Beijing building, kitty-corner across the intersection; the owner has said she hopes to open by the end of 2026.
| Restaurant | Neighbourhood | Opened | Known for | The site now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trader Vic’s | Coal Harbour | 1961 | Tiki decor, rum drinks, arriving by boat | The Westin Bayshore; the building was barged to Vancouver Island |
| Hy’s Mansion / Romano’s Macaroni Grill | West End | 1978 (as a restaurant) | Dinner inside the Gabriola mansion | Mansion still stands, now converted to rental apartments |
| The Ho Ho / Foo’s Ho Ho | Chinatown | 1954 | Home-style Cantonese, the neon noodle bowl sign | Revival reported for a new Chinatown space (June 2026) |
Where to stand
- Trader Vic’s: The Westin Bayshore on the Coal Harbour seawall, a few minutes’ walk from the Stanley Park entrance.
- Hy’s Mansion and Romano’s: 1523 Davie, at Nicola, about five minutes on foot from English Bay Beach.
- The Ho Ho: the Sun Ah Hotel at Pender and Columbia, about five minutes on foot from Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain.
The comeback to watch
The Ho Ho is the one place here you may be able to eat at again. Global News reported in June 2026 that the revived restaurant will open in a new Chinatown space. It isn’t confirmed open yet. Check the latest reporting before you go, and confirm hours once it opens.
Etiquette
- These sites are now a working hotel or private property. Take photos from the public sidewalk only.
- The Gabriola mansion is private property. Admire it from the street.
- At the Westin, you’re on a working hotel’s doorstep. Keep it brief and stay out of the way.
Before you go
Old postcards and archival photos make these visits better. The Trader Vic’s A-frame and the Ho Ho’s neon sign are both gone, and a picture on your phone shows you what used to be there.
None of these rooms survived in its original form. One building went to Vancouver Island on a barge. One is a mansion that now holds rental apartments. One is coming back under its old name at a new address. Walk past the sites and you’ll see what’s there now. The old menus only last if people keep talking about them.
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Photo credits
- Davie Street, Vancouver, BC – panoramio (2).jpg by Larry LaRose, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Davie Street, Vancouver, BC – panoramio.jpg by Larry LaRose, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Davie Street, Vancouver, BC – panoramio (1).jpg by Larry LaRose, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Circle K–Davie Street, Vancouver.jpg by Northwest, CC BY-SA 4.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Foo’s Ho Ho IMG 1777 (9209822685).jpg by Shinsuke Ikegame, CC BY 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Trader Vic’s Canada.JPG by Lailowe, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
- Vancouver BC – Rogers Mansion 01.jpg by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
