Back to bar basics with It’s Okay

This is a continuing series on neighbourhood restaurants. Today we look at a neighbourhood bar. 

Movies and TV idolize the neighbourhood pub. Before my time, and I’m sure many of you, Cheers symbolized that communal bar experience. The local bar is where the How I Met Your Mother friends spent their evening. In my most watched movie of all time, Shaun of the Dead, a merry band of British locals set out to journey to their local pub, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. They reckon it’s familiar, safe and of course, stock full of beer. 

The neighbourhood bar, more than just a place to drink, serves a critical function. A melting pot of different people, you’re likely to find college students, neighbourhood locals, sports fans, people off the street and tourists, all looking for comfort in a glass of cheap lager and comforting bar food. 

Pub culture in Vancouver isn’t always like the movies or TV shows. Instead of many independent places manned by an old local grizzled, well, man, the bar scene was, for over a decade, defined instead by the Donnelly Group, a conglomeration of semi-British pubs/clubs that rose to prominence over the last 20 years.

Lamplighter Public House and Library Square Public House had a vaguely small-bar vibe with their high-top chairs, sticky wooden tables, and stiff dark leather booths, reminiscent of what you’d imagine you’d find in Britain. While I and many others have late-night memories, most Donnelly bars felt derivative, dark, and difficult to tell apart. Stay too long, and the bar transformed into a rowdy club. Cheers, it was not. 

The Donnelly Group’s announcement earlier this year that it had filed for creditor protection felt like the end of an era. Shocking, sure, but there was an air of acceptance and inevitability, a feeling that their defining approach to bars was rooted in a time long since past. 

Every trend has a countertrend. And It’s Okay is both a glimpse of the past, but hopefully the future, for local Vancouver bars.

Where Donnelly Group pubs were highly concentrated in the downtown core, It’s Okay, which opened in January 2023, is out near Nanaimo and East Hastings at 2481 East Hastings St., almost a 20-minute bus ride from downtown. Rent is undoubtedly cheaper. The proximity to a distinct neighbourhood, Hastings-Sunrise, feels intentional, reminiscent of where many people are moving to as downtown prices skyrocket. 

It’s Okay is unpretentious in the best possible way. The standard bar top is there, the booths set against the wall to easily watch the TVs, partially carpeted floors hiding who knows what sort of stains. Short pink drapes droop down from the ceiling, black and white pictures adorn the wall, a creased lamp and its loose unhidden white cord frame the bar. It’s not showy, it’s not fancy, and unlike Donnelly, it’s intentionally not trying too hard.

The daily specials speak to the local appeal. Mondays have $22 sandwiches and a beer, Wednesdays all tap beers are $5.50, and Saturdays and Sundays have canned beer specials. 

Speaking of drinks, the beverages are robust. You’ve got standard cocktails for $16, the house special pints starting at $7, and a range of cans from $6-$9. It’s not super cheap, but it’ll do. The It’s Okay Lager is what you want in a beer — light, crisp, easy to drink more than one, and pairs perfectly with any of the bar’s food. It was better than okay. 

Their happy hour from 3 pm-6 pm isn’t bad either. You can score $6 curly fries, $15 wings, $5.50 lagers and $8 wine. Sadly this isn’t the best place for non-alcoholic drinks.

Along with bacon, sausage, and mushroom breakfast sandwiches for a downright steal at $8, their main menu leans towards classic pub sandwiches and meals. Grilled cheese ($17), It’s Okay Smash Burger ($20), and Roasted Cauliflower ($19) are mixed with heartier meals like Mac and Cheese ($21). Not hungry? Pickles ($6) and Bar Mix snacks ($7) have you covered. Classic stuff. 

We ordered the Cubano ($20), featuring pulled pork, smoked ham, mustard and Swiss cheese, along with the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich with pickled jalapenos and hot honey ranch. And of course, curly fries. Don’t let these sandwiches fool you, the menu is vegan and vegetarian-friendly. 

Cubanos are all about balance. Too much meat, too little cheese, and it can all fall apart quickly. This was not the case, with nicely portioned ingredients allowing the sweet meat, salty pickles and biting mustard to come through.

Chicken sandwiches can easily become problematic, dry meat and brittle hard crust. The chicken was well cooked, the batter crispy and not overdone, and all the toppings excelled together. But for the record, my favourite was the curly fries. Bars don’t often serve them. In this case, you could order just the fries and be happy. 

All those signs of a good neighbourhood pub were there. The friendly if slightly indifferent staff, locals coming in from work, long-time friends meeting up for a beer, sports fans screaming and moaning as the hockey team loses, the faint hint of cigarette smoke wafting in from open windows. It’s a TV show in the making. 

We lose something when neighbourhoods have no local bar. Maybe it’s the familiarity of becoming a regular, a cheap place to grab a beer and relax, an opportunity to get out of the house and meet others in a relaxed setting. Gentrification has a way of stripping away the beaten-up bars and replacing them with other cookie-cutter ones. Fun, sure, but missing something. 

Maybe, hopefully, that’s starting to change. It’s Okay is a refreshing addition, with a back-to-our-roots, no-nonsense appeal, a welcoming place for anyone who wants a sandwich, a cheap beer and a place to spend a few hours. 

Noise Level: Not super loud, but also not quiet. No one will overhear you speak. 

Recommended: Curly fries, any of the sandwiches. 

What I wish I had ordered: Campari ribs, wings, grilled cheese. 

Drinks: $7-$8.50 beers, $16 cocktails, $12-$14 wine.

Price: $$, not super cheap, but pretty good for Vancouver.

Other details: Vegetarian and vegan options, 30+ seats sharing plates, booking available online.

Similar places:

• For neighbourhood pubs, you can’t go wrong with The Brickhouse. If you know, you know.