Olympic Bites - LiveCity Downtown

I thought it would be a good idea to cover some of the food available at the Olympic venues and pavillions. After all, restaurants are all well and good, but when you're on site sometimes all you have time for is a bite from the nearest concession stand. How do the venues stack up?


The venue: LiveCity Downtown, near the corner of Georgia and Beatty.

The meal: BBQ salmon and salad with bun.

The price: $10

The impression: All right, first the obvious; this was definitely overpriced based on the portion and the quality. Having said that, it wasn't a total wallet-buster, and I didn't come away reeling in disgust over the price gouging, just mildly smarting. After all, it's to be expected that Olympic concessions are going to be a bit overpriced.

I was surprised to see a dish like this on offer next to the hot dogs, burgers and other regular concession fare at LiveCity. It's nice to see a heathier and fresher option, not to mention one with a British Columbian flare to it. Certainly it makes for a great alternative to the "usual" fried dishes.

My overall feeling was that it was okay. There wasn't anything wrong with it, mind you; the salad was fresh and the salmon wasn't rubbery or overly dry. It just didn't particularly stand out as amazing. The BBQ salmon was just short of being bland; it had a nice flavor but a bit too low key to really stand out. The salad is served with prepackaged Kraft dressing in either ranch or Italian. The bun was quite nice though, and as a whole the meal was of much better quality than I would expect from such a high-traffic concession area. 

The verdict: While overpriced, the food at LiveCity Vancouver is certainly decent enough to warrant a try if you're onsite and peckish. The chance to have something like BBQ salmon and salad at a concession is a pleasant change of pace, and certainly better than we could expect! If you're at LiveCity Vancouver and feeling peckish, give it a try!