Feature · 7 min read
Where should you eat and drink in Lower Lonsdale between the Quay and the Shipyards?
Lower Lonsdale packs most of its eating into the blocks between the SeaBus and 3rd Street, and every stop on this walk sits within about 800 metres of the boat.
By Adam BognarPublished
Start at the Lonsdale Quay Market Food Hall when you step off the SeaBus, walk a block up Lonsdale Avenue for breakfast or a seafood dinner, then head east along the water through the Shipyards and finish at the taprooms on East 1st Street and East Esplanade. The whole route stays within about 800 metres of the terminal. The Lower Lonsdale Business Improvement Area lists close to 60 places to eat and drink in the neighbourhood. Watch the clock at both ends of the day. The cafés shut in the afternoon, and on Sundays and holidays the last SeaBus leaves the Quay at 11:00 pm.
We picked 15 restaurants, cafés and bars plus the Quay's Food Hall from North Van Guide's files on Lower Lonsdale, each built from the restaurant's own menu and hours pages as our researchers read them in October 2026. Nobody ate a meal for this piece. Prices come from those 2026 menus and sit before tax, and hours change with the season, so check the day you go. Distances are measured from the SeaBus terminal.
The City of North Vancouver acknowledges this ground as the traditional and unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Which places sit where along the walk?
| Stop | From the SeaBus | What to order | When to go | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strathcona North | About 135 m, in the Quay building | Strath Lager-battered ling cod and chips, $26 | From noon daily | Closes at 9 pm Sunday to Thursday |
| Pier 7 Restaurant + Bar | About 270 m | The $20 weekday lunch with a Pier 7 Lager | Weekdays from 11:30 am | Dinner features run $49 to $65 |
| Anatoli Souvlaki | About 300 m | Charcoal-grilled souvlaki and mezze | Dinner | It books online as The Greek by Anatoli |
| Fishworks | About 430 m | The saffron paella | Happy hour from 4 to 6 pm | Seafood mains cost $32 to $38 |
| 49th Parallel Lonsdale | About 440 m | Coffee on the way to the boat | From 7 am | Closes at 5 pm every day |
| Streetcar Brewing | About 480 m | A $5 lager at happy hour | Before 4 pm Monday to Thursday | Pizza and snacks only |
| Jam Cafe Lonsdale | About 500 m | Fried Chicken French Toast | Weekdays from 8 am | Weekend tables go to the line at the door |
| La Cerveceria Astilleros | About 630 m | Two tacos and a beer for $16.50 | Weekdays from 2 to 5 pm | Food stops at 7:30 pm Monday to Thursday |
| North Point Brewing | About 800 m | A $6 pint before 5 pm on weekdays | From noon | Food runs to pizza and snacks |
| Beere Brewing | About 800 m | Very Cool, Very Chill pilsner | Afternoons and evenings | Opens at 2 pm Monday to Wednesday |
Where do you eat right off the boat?
Stay inside the Quay. The Food Hall on the ground floor opens at 10 am, runs until 9 pm from Sunday to Thursday and until 11 pm on Friday and Saturday, and its long tables face downtown through tall windows. Order siu mai or the spicy dan dan noodles at Heritage Asian Eatery, or fresh pasta from La Mano. The Mainstay Bar pours BC wine and beer from 16 taps. The market stalls around it close at 7 pm.
Strathcona North is the sit-down plate in the same building. Strathcona Beer Company opened it as its second taproom, and the fall 2026 menu runs from $5 house pickles to a $32 grilled salmon. The mussels come in Strath beer with chorizo for $29. Pick up cans from its bottle shop on your way back to the boat. It closes at 9 pm from Sunday to Thursday and at 10 pm on Friday and Saturday, so treat it as an early evening stop.
What's worth the short climb up Lonsdale Avenue?
Breakfast is. Jam Cafe Lonsdale on East 1st Street bakes its own cornbread and buttermilk biscuits and puts its fried chicken on the French toast. It opens at 8 am every day and closes at 2 pm on weekdays and 3 pm at weekends. Lonsdale is the only Jam that takes reservations, Monday to Friday outside holidays, and on a Saturday you join the line at the door, so arrive close to opening. Down the hill at 93 Lonsdale, 49th Parallel pours coffee from 7 am in the Keith Block, which the Register of Historic Places dates to 1908. It closes at 5 pm.
For dinner, Fishworks at 91 Lonsdale cooks West Coast seafood in a heritage building one block up from the Quay. The 2026 menu starts with BC oysters at $2.50 each and runs to Haida Gwaii sablefish, and it marks the dishes whose seafood carries Ocean Wise certification. Come between 4 and 6 pm for happy hour. Groups of eight or more pay an 18% gratuity, so read the bill before you tip. At the foot of the avenue, Anatoli Souvlaki has served Greek food since 1984, two years before the Quay opened. Its family now books and takes orders under The Greek by Anatoli, so search that name.
Where do you eat with the water beside you?
Walk east into the Shipyards, where Alfred Wallace opened his shipyard in 1906. Pier 7 sits on the water at 25 Wallace Mews, and its patio over two levels stays heated through the winter. The weekday lunch from 11:30 am to 2 pm costs $20 for a cheeseburger or a prawn pomodoro with a Pier 7 Lager. On Monday nights from 5 pm the Shipyards Boil for two costs $65.
The three rooms on Victory Ship Way suit different evenings. Provisions Italiana in the Seaside Hotel bakes Roman pizza al taglio in big rectangular trays and serves dinner from Wednesday to Sunday, so come for breakfast on a Monday or Tuesday. JOEY Shipyards fills two floors and seats diners until midnight, or 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays, and its 2,450-square-foot patio faces downtown. The Lobby Restaurant in the Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier opens from 6:30 am to 11 pm daily, early enough for breakfast before a morning SeaBus. From Friday to Sunday its 8-ounce prime rib dinner costs $35.
Two blocks up at 119 East 2nd Street, Farina a Legna builds its menu around a brick wood-fired oven. Pizzas run from a $27 margherita to a $30 capicolla, and the kitchen serves family-style. The room is small and takes few bookings, so walk in at 4 pm for aperitivo hour if the tables are gone. Strollers wait outside unless the seat detaches.
The map
The map marks every place this piece visits.
Contours come from Mapterhorn, and the coast and water from OpenStreetMap.
Which taprooms make the best afternoon?
Head east along East 1st Street and East Esplanade, where the breweries share a few blocks known as the Shipyards Brewery District. Go in the afternoon, because that's when the happy hours fall.
- Streetcar Brewing at 123A East 1st opens its coffee bar at 9 am and pours a 17-ounce lager for $5 until 4 pm from Monday to Thursday.
- La Cerveceria Astilleros takes its name from the Spanish for shipyards. Its weekday happy hour from 2 to 5 pm pairs two tacos with a beer for $16.50, and the kitchen stops taking food orders at 7:30 pm from Monday to Thursday.
- North Point Brewing welcomes guests of all ages in a cabin-style room about 800 metres east of the boat. Pints cost $6 from noon to 5 pm on weekdays, and the pizzas come from NICLI Antica Pizzeria.
- Beere Brewing is the father-and-son tasting room at the far end, open since 2017. It opens at 2 pm from Monday to Wednesday, so save it for last.
- Copperpenny Distilling at 288 East Esplanade calls itself the first distillery in the City of North Vancouver. Its cocktail lounge is closed on Mondays and opens at 4 pm Tuesday to Thursday, with happy hour until 6 pm.
How does the walk change in winter?
From 27 November to 24 December 2026 the Shipyards Christmas Market fills Shipbuilders' Square with more than 90 wooden chalets, and entry is free. Most days it runs from 11 am to 9 pm and on Fridays and Saturdays to 10 pm, and the lanes fill after 4 pm when the lights come on. The City reopens the Shipyards Skate Plaza in late November, and the ice is free if you bring your own skates. Rentals cost $8 for adults and $5.50 for kids, and the desk stops renting at 7:30 pm.
Plan your boat home before the last plate. From Monday to Saturday the last SeaBus leaves Lonsdale Quay at 1:00 am, and on Sundays and holidays it goes at 11:00 pm. After about 9 pm the boats come every half hour.
Quick answers
Where can you eat breakfast near the SeaBus in North Vancouver?
Jam Cafe Lonsdale at 100 East 1st Street serves a long breakfast near the SeaBus, about 500 metres from the Lonsdale Quay terminal. It opens at 8 am daily and takes weekday bookings, and at weekends you queue.
Where can you get a cheap lunch in Lower Lonsdale?
La Cerveceria Astilleros on East Esplanade serves two tacos with a beer for $16.50 from 2 to 5 pm on weekdays in 2026. Pier 7 Restaurant + Bar's weekday lunch costs $20 with a Pier 7 Lager.
How many breweries are in the Shipyards Brewery District?
North Van Guide lists four breweries on East 1st Street and East Esplanade in Lower Lonsdale: Streetcar Brewing, La Cerveceria Astilleros, North Point Brewing and Beere Brewing. Copperpenny Distilling shares the district, and Strathcona Beer Co. runs a taproom inside Lonsdale Quay.
We write from operators’ and agencies’ own pages, open map data and published research, and we date every fact we check. How we research.
Sources (12)
- https://lonsdalequay.com/
- https://www.translink.ca/schedules-and-maps/seabus
- https://49thcoffee.com/pages/locations-north-vancouver
- https://jamcafes.com/jam-cafe-lonsdale/
- https://www.fishworks.ca/
- https://thegreekbyanatoli.com/north-vancouver
- https://www.pierseven.ca/
- https://www.farinaalegna.com/
- https://www.cnv.org/Parks-Recreation/The-Shipyards/Skate-Plaza
- https://www.cnv.org/Parks-Recreation/The-Shipyards/About-The-Shipyards
- https://lowerlonsdale.com/eat
- https://shipyardschristmasmarket.com/plan-your-visit/
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