Limited Time Only
Now is the time for a long lunch at Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House at 777 Thurlow Street. The food is very good, the service is great and until the end of March full entrees are 2 for 1 (with a coupon found on the restaurant’s website). Joe Fortes has been open for 27 years, has a name inspired by a local legend and has a very good reputation. We have visited many times and have never been disappointed. The service is always excellent and the food, while a bit less consistent, is good to very good. And with this 2 for 1 entree special it is a terrific value.

Great Food
Joe Fortes claims to have “Vancouver’s Best Oyster Bar” and features other chilled seafood on the lunch menu as well as soups and salads, grilled fish and shellfish, sandwiches and Joe’s Classics. Not being oyster fans, we have never tried the Oyster Bar but often see most table in the restaurant enjoying them.

On this long-lunch Friday we were accompanied by my Aunt and Uncle who are often our companions on downtown lunch dates.  They both ordered Joe’s Seafood Linguine Carbonara ($19.95). There was a good portion of bay scallops, shrimp and chorizo and the white wine cream sauce was very good.

Jeff ordered Joe’s Turkey Clubhouse ($17.95). The sandwich had oven roasted turkey and double smoked bacon and was served with a side of sea salted house made fries. The fries and sandwich filling were very good but Jeff was not that impressed with the bread which was too big for the sandwich. 

I ordered the Salmon Cakes ($19.95) which was a very good choice. The cakes had lots of chunky wild sockeye salmon mixed with onions, other vegetables and bread crumbs. They were nicely fried on the outside and very moist inside.  The seasonal vegetables included asparagus and pureed yam (one of my favs) with carrot and mashed potatoes. The tartar sauce was delicious.

We ordered a bottle of 2011 Dessert Hills Gamay which we knew that we liked already and ended up drinking two. The only downside to Joe Fortes, like other downtown hot spots is the over-priced wine menu. We often purchase Desert Hills Gamay and know that we can get the 2011 for about $20 but the Joe Fortes menu price was $49. The wine list prices were softened by the fact that the March Madness 2 for 1 special is such a good deal (and runs until March 31st).


Jeff & Tara Ciecko of CK Golf Solutions write two blogs on their website, one is their 19th Hole Blog where they share personal experiences and the Biz Blog where they share business best practices and golf industry related opinions. They have owned CK Golf Solutions for 5 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries. 

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