Bartholomew: Cocktail bar in Yaletown
Bartholomew is a cocktail bar located in Yaletown. I came here as part of a girls night with 5 other girls to check out their happy hour and small bites.
Interior
We were seated in the back in a very comfortable booth. They added 2 chairs so that we are sitting in a circle and we can all see each other, which was nice.
The space is small, kind of like a narrow hallway but it felt very cozy and intimate. I really liked the decor and the overall feeling of the bar and I thought the bar area especially looked really cool. So even if you were just sitting at the bar, it would be a nice experience.
Drinks
We order some cocktails from their happy hour menu. After that, we mostly ordered bottles of wine so I won’t review on the wine since we were drunk lol.
Holy gimlet ($10) and Ernest in Bermuda ($10)
Cocktail specials are $10 during happy hour. I ordered the holy gimlet (green cocktail on the left), which has Tanqueray, cucumber, basil, lemon, oleo cordial. It is a nice and fruity drink and I think the little clip with the basil is so cute.
My friend ordered the Ernest in Bermuda cocktail (red cocktail on the right), which ahs Gosling’s, Luxardo sherry, grapefruit and orange bitters. Hers was also quite fruity and had a beautiful red colour.
Bart’s margarita ($10) and Malum lemonade ($10)
The other cocktails we ordered were also on happy hour special so they were all $10. My friends ordered the margarita (left picture) and the lemonade (right picture). The margarita used El Jimador tequila, lime, honey and bitters. The lemonade had Old Forester bourbon, apple cordial, lemon and soda.
All the cocktails we chose were quite fruity and very pretty. I can’t really drink tequila so the margarita tasted a bit strong to me, but it’s what a margarita is.
Food
We order some bites to go with our drinks. Note that Bartholomew specializes in small plates to go with cocktails, so it’s not like a full menu.
Butcher’s Bread Basket & Chicken Butter ($6)
We order this appie from the happy hour menu because we were intrigued by the chicken fat butter – spoiler, it is very rich and creamy haha. Pairs great with the bread and they give you quite large pieces. But without the butter, this appetizer is really just bread.
Baller board ($215)
We balled out and ordered their most expensive charcuterie board – the baller board for $215! I didn’t realize how big it is and how filling it is. We definitely DID NOT finish this between 6 girls and alcohol. I can’t even list out all the things on this board because it’s not written down anywhere and the server just explained everything. Essentially, this board has all of their cheese and meats of the day.
Some standout parts of this charcuterie I really loved was the burrata cheese, rabbit meat, the foie gras parfait, the terrine and the smoked cheeses. Everything else was also really good but I’ve seen it appear on other charcuterie boards (like salami, prosciutto, goat cheese, etc.). They also offer this board with a side plate of bread – I love the cheesy bread btw – so it is definitely very filling and there are enough crackers/carbs to go along with all the meat and cheese. They also have a small pickled veggie area in the middle to balance out everything.
Overall, really great value for this board. Just sharing with 6 other people, it’s only around $35 a person and it can feed more than 6 people so the more you share the lower it is per person lol. Really beautiful presentation and very appetizing to look at, and it pairs great with any of the cocktails on their menu.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญโญโญโญ
We had a really fun night at Bartholomew. Their happy hour is only from 5-6pm, so it’s a short time frame but you can get a discount on some of their drinks for a bit, which is nice. Their cocktails were all really delicious and very pretty. They also change their cocktail menu quite frequently, so there is always something new to try.
Food menu is limited but if you get the baller board you will be full lol. Again, I highly recommend the baller board if you have a big group and you love charcuterie. Really easy to pack home and eat the next day again too. But after ordering the baller board, I did regret ordering that random chicken butter appetizer because we really couldn’t finish everything and there was just a lot of bread.
Bartholomew is a bar so if you are looking for a nice sit-down dinner, I recommend going to an actual restaurant where you have more choices for food entrees and desserts. I loved the atmosphere, service and the wide selection of drinks so come here on a date night or girls night and have fun! Definitely one of the best bars in Vancouver.
Sincerely, Loewe