Greta, new summer menu

I learned recently from @monkeyeatsworld Joyce that when you act like a child it is not because you are immature, but because you haven’t allowed your inner child to heal… so in the spirit of that we decided to let our the kids out to play today.

And there is no better place to act like a child then at an arcade with games, especially one that serves alcohol and snacks like Greta does.

We came on a weekday to avoid the lines and overflow of bodies during their busier Friday nights and Saturdays. When walking in I always take time to appreciate the “no assholes allowed” sign at the entrance.

Similarly I like their outdoor, but inside theme done with colourful graffiti on the brick walls and a food truck facade as their kitchen pass.

It is self serve seating, so we helped ourselves one of the booths surrounding the island bar and settled in. We ordered their new summer menu drink and food items, which included plenty of cheese, and dishes we remembered from our childhood (in keeping with the theme).

Margaritas are a regular on the menu, but their newest flavour and one I haven’t seen elsewhere is the cassis margarita. Although that promised flavour didn’t really come through here. I just found it salty and spicy, finishing off tart. I didn’t get much of the red ruby fruit, but I didn’t miss any of the spirit.

To match the colour above we also tried their new Purple Negroni, basically a regular negroni with Starlino Rose, Lillet, and Campari, but given its colour thanks to Empress Gin. This was as flowery as it looked, and heavier on its herbaceous botanicals.

Other new cocktails that we did not get around to trying included a Metropolitan with peach/orange vodka, the Bamboo Sunset featuring bamboo infused brandy, a espresso pom-tini mixed like a regular espresso martini but with the addition of pomegranate syrup, and an adult boozy iced tea.

For food we stuck with bar classics and tried some unexpected dishes from this arcade restaurant.

Their new pizza taquitos are a must. This is everything you like about pizza, but as a convenient mini burrito-like wrap. Flour tortillas, cheddar, mozzarella, pepperoni, and marinara sauce with buffalo ranch for dipping into. This was doughy and delicious, as a different way to enjoy familiar flavours.

There are two new flavours of the Greta Wings and we had them both. A Sweet and spicy gochujang glaze and a Sichuan salt and pepper. Both had a strong layers of salt with the greens atop to add to it a nice freshness.

The gochujang was sticky syrup sweet, whereas the Sichuan wings were more dry and peppery. I expected a tingling and numbing spice from anything that is described as being “Sichuan”, and I didn’t get it here. Meaty and tasty enough, but no standouts.

Another new must order dish for me is the Pull Apart Grilled Cheese. Buttered bread given a healthy dark toasting. It is patterned with lines you can bend and pull the bread apart at, as its name suggests. Pressed potato rolls stuffed with chorizo queso and cheddar.

As is it felt like it was missing something. A dip to help change the taste and to add some acidity, where as the thick cut potatoey fries had a similar sensation to the sandwich. Here I would have liked a tomato bisque or a tomato-based dip as the classic pairing.

Instead, they have a Beef Birria dip you can add on, and I suggest that you do. This came out thick from a nice gravy feel, which was also great with the fries.

The Indonesian Nasi Goreng was something we did not expect and therefore something we had to try, not to mention that this is childhood for me. This was Indonesian style fried rice, chicken, sweet soy fried egg, and chilli. Similar to what I am familiar with in appearance. They also nailed its more intense heat, which I wouldn’t expect from a Canadian bar, let alone one with an arcade. It made me wonder who is in the kitchen. It wasn’t authentic but it was familiar enough for me to enjoy with nostalgia, especially the cucumber and tomato needed for freshness, plus the trademark egg crowning it.

Their new BBQ Chicken + Rice Bowl was also unexpected. A healthier menu option with cumin rice, cabbage, corn, black beans, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, salsa verde dressing, feta cheese, guacamole, cilantro, and hickory sticks. There is a lot going on and it all can be best described as their take on Earls sante fe bowl, with the snack sticks for garnish and crunch. We found the chicken meat tough, and the dish in need of more sauce. Here, I looked to the excess taquitos dip above, and the Buffalo ranch. But of course adding the two, did make things less than healthy.

The other new menu items we didn’t get to, and I wished we did given how strong of a presentation the above was, was a mac and cheese with chorizo queso and crumb, a chicken parm sandwich, the classic nachos done Greta style, and beef brisket quesadilla birra tacos. If the latter was as good as our birria dip above, it is worth trying.

Once fed and full, we burned off some calories playing in the arcade. They have one of the largest selection of classic and modern games assembled together, with minimal “out of service” machines. With a variety of joy sticks, wheels, and guns to handle; and balls to shoot, throw, and roll. I just wished that the staff came around and sanitized the instruments more often, or at all. And/or mopped up spills from the drinks dropped during game play. The guitar hero plastic guitars were especially greasy.

We enjoyed the more physical games the most like the shoot out basketball, skeet ball, and target practice with quick fire shooting. But true to the movie and television stereotype you needed so many tickets to claim one small prize. We played all night using a combined collection of 4 game cards, only to earn a little over 100 credits. Only to learn that the closest level of prizing we would be able to reach was a Greta pin that would set us back 500 credits.

All in all, we had fun night and I was very impressed by the quality of food coming out of their in house food truck facade. Not what you’d expect from an arcade, and leagues better than most pubs.

GRETA Bar YVR
50 W Cordova St, Vancouver, BC V6B 1C8
gretabar.com