Holy Nerdgasm, Batman! This place has been advertising itself as Vancouver's Nerd Bar for a few months now. I thought I'd seen a nerd bar when I went to EXP, but no, this place is definitely nerdier. Luckily for all involved, I'm a world class nerd. Storm Crow definitely takes the geek cake, and then runs home with it, eats it all in the closet, and then loudly insists that its mom still thinks that it's cool. One thing about nerd humour, it's easy to write. I'm having some fun with the subject matter, but I really like this place. Geek chic (oh, that felt painful to write), has never been cooler, and it's surprising that there aren't more places catering to this ever growing, and monied demographic.
The bar itself is a mishmash of sci-fi/fantasy nerdism. It's made up of one small room divided into two, and is done up to look like a medieval tavern. That is, if medieval taverns were known for having a collection of rayguns on the walls, action figures hiding behind the bar, a massive bookshelf full of games, and a massive tv screen playing classic sci-fi movies. (During our session Bladerunner, and Aliens played quietly in the background). The place has a great, homey feel, but it is a little on the small side. I got wedged in between my table and seat by the people behind us. If you want to get in, get here early, it's a popular place, it's not very big, and they don't take reservations. The big draw behind this place seems to be the games. Nearly every table with more than three people at it was playing some sort of game. From the long roleplaying games that can take hours to finish, to just simple card games, they have just about any game you can think of. My group decided to try playing "Cards Against Humanity," a rather adult take on "Apples to Apples. I can't think of any other game that can do such an hilarious job of convincing you that you're a bad person.
Management seems to have made an interesting choice with food service. It's a very small, very limited menu. The food is excellent, and fantastically priced, but portions are very small. The decision appears to be to provide limited amounts of high quality food, instead of loads of mediocre food. I'm of two minds about the situation. The food is bloody good, no doubt, but I was still a bit hungry after the fact. I also think it's weird that a bar based around the idea of people hanging out gaming for hours doesn't have a good group food item on the menu. Treat the food as a light snack rather than a meal, and you won't have a problem.
The drinks list seems to be the same idea. Awesome prices for pints, and the pints on sale are the good ones, there just aren't that many of them. It's a good place to go to have your favourite session beer, rather than try 45 different kinds of beer. I spent the evening downing Red Racer's ESB, which has easily become one of my local favourites. For the non-beer lovers (shame on you), there's a healthy wine list, cider on tap, plenty of cocktails, and even locally produced mead. I meant to try the mead, but four drinks in my brain forgot what mead was.
Storm Crow is a fun, friendly, and perennially packed place. If you want a place to watch the Canucks, this is not the bar for you. If you want to geek out with some good friends, you could do a hell of a lot worse.
The Storm Crow Tavern
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