A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

Diner

DINER: Dear Restaurants, For The Love Of God, Enough With The Word “Social” Already

Portrait

This shot was just sent in by one of our readers passing Pappas Furs at Pender and Hamilton (by Victory Square). I nearly gagged. One of the most disturbing, eye-numbingly shoot-me-now trends in Vancouver’s food scene over the last few years has been the inclusion of certain buzzwords in restaurant brands. You know them as “public”, “local”, “resto-bar”, “kitchen” and the like. The one that appears to have gone the most viral (as in “I have red bumps all over me and I can’t stop myself from projectile vomiting”) is the catch-all-but-nothing word social. If you put them altogether, as in Local Public Social Kitchen & Resto-Bar, I wouldn’t put it past the least imaginative elements of our restaurant community to actually name a future project that. In the end, I know that the buck stops with the food. That’s what counts the most. Perhaps the restaurant seen above (“EXP”?) will excel in that arena, but still…permit me an ew.

There are 17 comments

  1. Started out clever to let people know that “this restaurant is really a pub but not really because we can’t get that license” but you’re right. just annoying.

  2. Is it maybe supposed to mean “EXPO?” Could be a classic case of the Designer needing to be taken out to the street and shot.

  3. agreed. can’t we all damn assume that if it’s at a restaurant and it’s about eating, then there’s an inherently social element to that?

  5. This is a good example of rookie marketing firms failing to understand the distinction between the ingenious and the derivative. The first to name their wine something irreverent like “Fat Bastard” received acclaim and a fortune in sales but now the 1000th to name their wine irrespective of varietal or region wallows unnoticed. The message here is be ‘first past post’ or ‘best in class’ to ensure success and send those PR types packin’.

  6. Counterstrike martinis and Donkey Kong sliders? Judge not, et cetera…

  7. have you clicked on the website? it looks like white spot + cocktails + videogames … wtf?

  12. Interesting, I’m not sure I agree with Andrew for once.

    Names are branding, obviously, and most of us can’t help but aspire to the ‘oh so cool one word term that has an ironic double meaning and also tells a story’ . umlauts and ethnic words that unintentionally mean cool shit in english get double points.

    Some are obscure on purpose, trying so hard to be hipster (corner suite I’m looking at you) and successfully announce that you can expect your server to have one or more ironic tattoos, a piercing, a menu filled with classic dishes with a hint of whimsey and comfort, and a cocktail list made by a guy who honestly believes no one on the planet can make a proper old fashioned.

    Others simlify things somewhat – burger bar, brewpub, bar and grill, bistro etc. which should indicate that they don’t take themselves so seriously that you’ll have to ensure every course is photographed and tweeted to your blog or that your server will guffaw at your choice of wine.

    Names, shit, names don’t mean squat, and most restaurateurs are small business owners desperately trying to convey a message amidst the noise of 6000 other venues, and a food media that plays fanboy to anyone with their lvl 2 wset and an opinion on bitters.

    I should know, I had two venues with arguably the worst names in history, one developed in a drunken stupor, and one developed in a drunkerer stupor. Fiction was supposed to be because we loved the stories of people’s lives who would elbow up to the wood, and it fit (in my mind), but I don’t think anyone felt like it said anything about the kind of venue, and Lucy Mae Brown was about the stupidest name ever, but everyone sort of went for it, with names like Durbach, Scheurman, Kolt, Wolowydnyk, Barnholden etc behind the operation and performing magic at a horrific pace in the restaurant equivalent of a pimped out volkswagen beetle, desperately held together with duct tape and good intentions.

    Honestly, I don’t care much if someone puts ‘social, local, bistro de luxe, goat rodeo’ or ‘factory’ (ok i hate factory…but the rest I can stomach) as long as they can deliver in the room, on the plate, and give me the outing I was looking for. Sometimes I want sex on a plate, othertimes I might not have time for culinary foreplay. Hopefully we can have a city that can support both the AC and DC or the industry.

    Watching a lot of restaurants fail this year, a 30% loss off the top in sales in hospitality, and a US recession that doesn’t look like it’s getting better, i’m not sure I really want to keep shitting on the little guys who are mortgaging their houses to chase a dream, all in the name of hipsterism.

    I chatted with these guys and looked at what they’re doing, and it’s interesting. Done well, it could be really cool. They’re in the right mindset so far and the 3d mockups they’ve done are impressive. I know a ton of xbox junkies in the business, who knows?

    Maybe I just like cheering for the underdog.

  13. Social, uber(x) and toothsome should all be banished based on their overuse and pretense.

  14. I like dining, but I just want the experience of having dined. Maybe it’s all done over the internet, after all it does kind of resemble a cyber cafe. Or perhaps it’s Live Action Restaurant Playing? I hope they W.O.W. me.

Diner

See more from Diner
Diner Mt. Pleasant

A Look Inside ‘Casa Molina’, Now (Softly) Serving Up Spanish Food in Mount Pleasant

Casa Molina (2211 Manitoba St.) has successfully managed to mix the laid-back, at-home feeling with great service and a strong food and drink program.
Diner Kitsilano

Outtakes From a Maenam-aLena Staff Meal

We love a good family-style staff meal. Last month, we caught wind of a variation on this theme: a staff meal exchange between neighbourbood restaurants, Maenam and AnnaLena.
Diner

Field Trip: Tagging Along for a “Glorious” Tomato Appreciation Feast

Inspired by their love of tomatoes and everything that farmer Mark Cormier and his farm crew put into growing them, the team from Say Hey Sandwiches head out to Aldergrove on a mission to cook a feast for the Glorious Organics team...
The New Breed Main Street

Reverence, Respect, and Realization: What The Acorn Taught Me

At 21 years old, I'm still just a kid and relatively new to working in restaurants, but I grew up umbilically tied to the hospitality industry. My father was a food writer, and my mother is a photographer. Their careers meant that most of my early years were spent in kitchens and dining rooms instead of on playgrounds and soccer fields; consequently, I learned my table manners before I could count past one hundred.

The Scout Community

Become a member