The Cambie General Store & Bakery Cafe

Just went here for the first time and had an extremely average experience. They were playing some heavy techno at lunch. My sandwich took 15 minutes to get to me in an empty restaurant. Though the person behind the counter was nice and communicated with me that the toaster burnt the first try so they were remaking it. Then they were out of the pre-​mixed ingredient so there was another delay to make more. In the end I had more bread than contents. I can’t say I’m in a hurry to go back.

Ordered the smoked salmon for $ 7.95, grilled on fresh wheat bread. Lack of bread options is a minus, otherwise very tasty. A nice little side would be nice. The regular sandwichs are $ 5.95 which is a good value.
They always seem to put your order on the glass, instead of walking 5 steps to give it to you.

* Lukewarm *
Lukewarm describes this place perfectly:
— Attitude of counter guy was lukewarm. He was clearly too busy to give a flying **** about anything.
— Care of preparation was lukewarm. The outside of the beef pot pie looked like a chunk had been taken out of it when they carelessly put it together. Photo of the outside:
— The pot pie was lukewarm. After ordering the lukewarm counter guy «heated» it up to the point of the outside being lukewarm and the inside still being cold. Lukewarm slightly greasy crust was not appealing. The inside which was cold was a goopy mess with almost no meat at all. Meh. Photo of the cold goop:
— My reaction was lukewarm. I won’t be back.

I’m split on this one.
I appreciate and prefer places like this, that aren’t trendy and expensive for no good reason. I like the quieter spots that have the best value. On the other hand, I want to know what I’m getting and for how much. Not everything here is priced up front. The chalkboard menu lists the daily features (without prices), the soup and sandwich combinations, home made chili, coffees and other items. But not everything. The items in the counter have no individual prices, and even though I’ve been here many times, I often find myself staring up and down the room trying to price out what I’m about to order. The food is good, solid and fresh, but on my last visit, for instance, I just wanted a small snack and I did not know that a small soup and small salad would be close to $ 9 with tax. The soup and sandwich combo is $ 6.25, so this seems to be a bit confusing.
+1 for the chili.

This place is a hidden gem, and I was hesitating on writing a review because I want it to stay that way. If you ever thought you should judge a book by its cover, this place will make you think twice. I had overlooked it for a long time because it looked kinda dumpy and was right by the Cambie hostel, and I can’t say I am a big fan of the clientelle at the Cambie pub, so why would I want to dine in a place that probably feeds those scrubs? Turns out, I was wrong, dead wrong.
I had occasionally stopped in for a cinnamon bun because they are so good, just the right amount of sweetness and still ooey gooey. I’ve also had the chili, which is vegetarian and has the perfect amount of heat to it as well as carefully julliened vegetables and tofu. The BF sometimes order the artichoke sammy, which he claims is delicious.
The staff are always courteous and the place is always clean. They have limited seating and real cutlery (not the plastic dispoable shit), and the prices are always decent. If you’re in the hood stop in and grab some lunch, it’s got a pretty good bohemian vibe, so you may want to grab a paper and chill while your tastebuds enjoy life.

Neat little local bakery with reasonable prices and a cozy atmosphere. 10% discount for students with ID.

Great lunch spot.
Great chili
Lovely sandwich
Fresh coffee
menu is large enough for choice, but not too big to bamboozle you!
Staff, very firendly and nice.
Price is good.

I work in the ‘hood and have attended the Cambie Bakery a number of times for lunch. If you can handle the lackadaisical staff and the cramped feeling of the place, the food is quite good. But the exclusively Australian staff act like they’re high ²⁴⁄₇ (who can blame them with the Amsterdam Café beckoning 30 steps away). One thing I’ve noticed is that no matter how close you are to the staff, they’ll always place your food on the glass counter. You could be standing immediately beside them and they’ll reach the other way and place your food on the glass counter (like out of the two of us, I’m going to be the one to pass a communicable disease!). But while the food is good, sometimes the synapse failure is all a bit too much to handle when you just want to give your order, get your lunch and get back to work. It seems to be the only place in town where it’s 4:20 all day.

This small eatery does a few things well, but is not for everyone. They take an anti-​glam, «DTES brothers» stance with a utilitarian décor and unglamorized food presentation, but some of their stuff is pretty tasty.
I often grab one of their cinnamon buns on my way to work and I think they’re terrific (nuts or cranberry/​apple, both great). Their other baked treats are unexceptional.
Their sandwiches and soups cater to a regular lunch crowd. Again it is alright and certainly on the cheaper side.
A couple of times I had their cheap, filling breakfast. When I returned from (Muslim) Turkey, I headed there and feasted on porc to make up my monthly quota: Breakfast of Champions with eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and shredded ham @ $ 9 with coffee. Sorry folks, but the Qur’an is not my Holy Book.
My recommendation? Steer your backpacking friends there if they can’t afford a $ 12 breakfast or want cheap lunch while trooping downtown.

I wandered in here with a 2 for 1 breakfast coupon…
The place is nice and quaint feeling but the 2 women working there were very unfriendly and agitated so my time there didn’t get off to a good start.
We ordered 2 breakfasts (The Original, I think it was called), London Fog, Orange juice and it came out to over $ 17. Quite expensive considering I had one of the breakfasts free!
The London Fog was good and the orange juice was just bottled Tropicana so good there too.
The breakfasts were sub-​par, my sunny side up eggs were quite underdone, the hash brown cubes were plain (I don’t think they had any seasoning) plus being undercooked they were very BLAH. The sausage was fine and so was the toast (good jam too!).
Think: «camping breakfast»
If you try out this place, maybe go for the baked goods…

So it wasn’t the TRADITIONAL Apple Pie. biut it was still ApplE Pie none the less :)
Orange — Cranberry — Apple Pie. It beat out the fig and pear which also sounded super interesting… but if you know me, you know I don’t say no to apple pie!
It was sweet, then sour, then sweet again… it was definitely a bit of a roller coaster in my mouth. … I wish it came with ice cream though.
I also ordered Chai latte… very surprisingly, it was not strong at all, almost a little bland, but I liked it. Downer for my dad — he got a self serve coffee and it was definitely luke warm. yuck.

Quick update
Had the chocolate cinnamon bun… is that possible no where near as good as raisins and cranberries. Also, had the almond croissant. not real there best. The sandwiches are fresh and good value, colleague always has the hot daily special. never complains. and he is grumpy normally.