Finally, a Chance to be Uncouth: Rogue Kitchen & Wet Bar in Gastown, Where YOU Decide What You Pay

By Marisa Woodham
I don’t know about you and your friends but in my group of twenty-something year-olds I am finding that cheap, easy and booze-fueled birthday club nights are becoming increasingly rare, only to be replaced by more ‘tasteful’ and ‘refined’ birthday dinners. No more dancing, no more excessive drinking – just a pricey meal. Perhaps, this is a natural phenomenon born out of our ripening soul’s need to proclaim to the world “I am older, I am wiser, The Royal shut down over a year ago, therefore, debauchery has expired from my vocabulary.”

In any case, times are tough and there are only so many overpriced Yaletown lettuce leaves a girl can afford! Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy an expensive meal as much as the next waif, but if you also frequent upwards of three birthday dinners a month and habitually think “Christ! All this dough for no dough?” then you’ll share in the dilemma I face. Luckily, Gastown has come up with a solution for all us gals finding ourselves repeatedly violated by Yaletown, et al.: enter Rogue Kitchen & Wet Bar.

With its ornate ceilings, hip décor and pumping base, Rogue echoes the likes of Cactus Club and Joey’s, and is most definitely next in line as a dine-out hot spot for future birthday girls. The difference, (and saving grace, I might add,) lies in the fact that at Rogue you literally go rogue: YOU decide how much to pay for your meal. With this responsibility, patrons are asked to abide by the Rogue Oath: “I promise to pay what I believe is fair market value for the dish I’m about to eat. If the price I decide is less than the printed menu price, this is what I’ll be charged for. If I think it’s worth more, I will pay more and the difference will be donated to charity.”

Bottom line: goodbye lettuce leaf, hel-lo dine out free-for-all!

Formerly the lavish TransContinental Restaurant of Waterfront Station, Rogue has reinvented itself with a laid-back, no-fuss attitude: in addition to their carefree pay policy, waiters roam tables clad in jeans and t-shirts and patrons can chow down on comfort-food favourites like mini corn dogs and pot stickers. I went for a cross between old-school and modern, trying the Monster Meatball Linguini and the Albacore Tuna Tataki, both of which impressed me with portion-size and taste.

When it came to bill-time, I could not help but wonder what awkward situations these servers must find themselves in. Although I was half-tempted to drop a toonie for my meal just to see a reaction, I quickly came to realize that at Rogue every order comes with a side of guilt: do you really want to be that girl who puts down five bucks for a steak dinner? With this in mind, perhaps the chance to be uncouth really doesn’t exist in this town and those pricey dinners will continue to haunt us …

… But at least the choice is yours at Rogue.

Address: 601 West Cordova Street, Waterfront Station, Gastown