531 Yates St tel: (250) 382-3838
There’s a place for The Podium, the sports bar the fills the former Periklis Restaurant location on Yates St. Tonnes of seating if you wanted to watch a game, comfortable ambiance and decent service. For what the food lacks in execution, it makes up for in value: you’re not paying for a world class culinary team, when you get a full rack of ribs for $13 on Saturday night.
It’s been at least 15 years since I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, but they were on special and I was feeling festive, so I had four….they cost $3.5 each. Patrick and my brother drank the Sleeman’s draught special, also $3.5. That’s pretty awesome value for a downtown restaurant.
The menu is fun and has some interesting selections. The specials on this Saturday were mix and match sliders for $2 ea, the selection included Angus beef, pulled pork and chorizo sausage to name a few. The other special was the above mentioned ribs for $13. Accompanied by corn bread, thick cut fries and coleslaw - both couples spilt an order and it was plenty of food (I guess it’s possible the 600g of sugar I was consuming in the form of Long Island Iced Teas, might have sedated my appetite a bit.) The dish wasn’t perfect - the corn bread was tasty, but it was stone cold in the middle (ie. not completely defrosted), I would have liked more coleslaw and the ribs could have spent another hour in the oven. That said, it wasn’t by any means bad and if I was feeling cheap and hungry, I would order it again.
The service was attentive and they brought all requested accoutrement (extra napkins, hot sauce etc…), in addition to food and beverage, when requested. There were plenty of competent servers available and that’s all I need.
My expectations for the Podium weren’t set too high, but I was pleasantly surprised that they exceeded them.