Today I had to craving for a good steak. It just turns out that my friend Karen Pang works at a steakhouse called Saltlik, and she invited me to drop by for a visit. Who am I to turn down an offer like that! So I call my food review partner and online guru Stephen, and we make plans to head down for a Saltlik steak review.
Saltlik is located in downtown Vancouver on Alberni Street (between Burrard and Thurlow, adjacent to Kobe restaurant), although I’ve heard of it I have never been there before and Stephen had only been there for a salad. What kind of a nutcase goes to a steakhouse for a salad!? Stephen met me at my place and he hid his embarrassing Hyundai rental and we booted down there in my Stang. Found parking right out front too, it’s like winning the lottery for downtown Vancouver.
We arrived around 8:30pm and my first impressions of this restaurant was of an upscale Cactus Club, with black-clad attractive waitresses and all. The muted lighting, extensive use of wood furniture and stone tiles with red highlights create a soothing, almost lounge-like atmosphere. There was, in fact, a lounge side where the bar is located with an attractive glass and wood partition separating the two rooms. There is also a neat little seating section located between the main floor and the second floor seating area. The mid and upper floors would be great for medium to large private parties. The washroom is located on the second floor, which I found unusual that I had to climb a large flight of stairs to open my lucky envelope 
They should have a small washroom downstairs too.
Met with Karen at the front and we settled in a large booth. Karen had called me earlier and she was gonna get off early to hang with us as soon as she finished with her one remaining table on the lounge side, so we had another young lady serve us on the restaurant side.
Stephen and I started off the dinner with a half bottle of Chilean merlot (Casillero Del Diablo), one of my favorites and at a reasonable $20. Was surprised when the waitress arrived with an actual half bottle, never seen a 375ml bottle of wine before, at least not at the liquor store. Usually they pour from full bottles into separate decanters, the smaller half bottles are a great idea. I usually enjoy the occasional glass or two but I hate having to seal up the leftover wine and they never really taste the same after a couple days.
Stephen and I passed up on appies cause we wanted to get to the meat. Received a very nice breadbasket with some delicious bread, the waitress told us what kind it was but I was too busy chewing to hear. Stephen ordered their house special California Cut New York steak with baked potato ($26) and I went with the Bodacious Ribeye with Caesar salad ($28). The food arrived quickly at under 10 minutes, basically the time it took for me to climb the stairs to the washroom and back, and boy it looked good! Stephen’s steak was incredibly thick and cooked to a perfect medium rare. My ribeye was equally appealing and while not as thick, was one hell of a big steak. Usually the higher end steakhouses tend to have steak sizes ranging from 8oz regular to 10oz deluxe. My ribeye was a nice 15oz steak, true medium rare, still mooing red in the center and turning a gentle pink as it turns into a nicely baked brown exterior. So tender my steak knife cut with the force of gravity alone. Moments like this make me glad I’m no longer a vegetarian (was one for 6 years). Dead animals just taste so good.
When we finished our meal poor Karen was still waiting for her table to leave, but they appeared set to waste her time as they were only on their third drink in as many hours. Stephen broke and had to order a cheesecake with an Americano. Damn peer pressure! I had to get a cheesecake too and went with a regular coffee. The cheesecake was up-to-par with the steaks, it was a generous size and had a true, thick texture with a nice cheesy flavor. A true New York style cheesecake, the fresh raspberries were a nice accompaniment. Sorry for the poor pics, my flash is far stronger than I thought it would be.
All in all, it was another great dining experience. Liked the ambience, good, fast service, great food at what I felt was a reasonable pricing. Stephen and I had discussed that we could have had an equally tasty steak at other high-end steakhouses like Morton’s, Gotham or Hy’s and paid twice as much for the steaks
After finishing our meals and wines, we were working on our coffees and poor Karen was still waiting on the table to leave. Around 10pm they finally left leaving only $16 as tip 
Should have just served us Karen, we were faster and tip better too
Posted on March 29th, 2007 by Leo
Filed under: Reviews
I can’t remember the company that owns Saltlik…but it’s some company that owns other chains of restaurants. I went to a Saltlik in Banff years ago and thought it was great!
Saltik is owned by Earl’s, who also owns Cactus Club. So it’s not surprising that Leo thought the place looked like an upscale Cactus Club. Their steaks are on par with The Keg, which is pretty good.
Ah, I didn’t know that. Kinda puts things together. I didn’t know Earl’s owned Cactus Club, always thought they were competitors.
Earl’s owns 50% of Cactus. The other 50% is own by the two founders, Scotty and Richard (Richard has since brought out Scotty), who use to work for Earl’s. Earl’s put up all the money to start Cactus Club. Scotty and Richard ran it. They were both in their 20’s at the time when they pitched their idea to Earl Fuller to open a Cactus Club. Whatever made Earl put his money into two 20 somethings, nobody knows. But he saw something in those kids no one else did. The rest is history.
Was in Vancouver last summer. Really enjoyed the ambience of the city. So expensive though. Had wanted to eat some dim sum, but inlaws though its too expensive. Ended up going for other options.
Poor Karen. The table from hell?
Looks good and the prices seem quite reasonable.
I hate bad tippers. If my waiter/waitress does their job I gotta hook them up. If my bill is under $100 it wouldn’t be against my policy to tip 50% really if the service is great. I think it is customary to tip 20% now, but I can’t do it. I can’t tip someone $4 for a $20 bill if I have been there for an hour. They make like $3 an hour without tips. They gots kids to feed man :).
Based on your previous post about Karen, I think that other table was just trying to get as much time as possible with her helping them. Sounds like you guys had a nice meal though.
You all should head down and ask to sit in her section, just leave a good tip
Haha…thanks for the plug Leo! Saltlik is owned by Earl’s who also own’s Joey’s as well. Here’s another table from hell story for you…the earlier camper table wasn’t that bad. I was serving a table of 3 middle aged ladies, and right off the bat, they were super snooty & high maintenance. Even my coworkers noticed. Anyway, to make a long story short, they were bitchy to me & left a 10% tip. Oh yes, i over heard one of the ladies say the guy she was dating was “committment-phobic”. Gee…I wonder why.
Let’s not forget, Middle Aged and Still Single…probably all three of them. No wonder they are bitchy and bitter
Great meeting you Karen!
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