Cactus Club Cafe — Restaurant in Burnaby

Used to be a nice low key nice spot for a mid range dinner when they moved here. However I think the Dine-out Vancouver has pushed them through more than they can handle.

Recently however we went for a reservation and there was a line of about 20+ people, waited about an hour past our reservation time, only to be awkwardly led to a table that still hadn’t left by staff (lol). That unfortunately wasn’t the worst of it as it continued to be disappointment after disappointment.

The waiter lady originally seemed nice however did not make any eye contact and seemed to be in a rush to get drinks, we were still looking through the drink menu so told her to come back. Was not offered water nor given it and had to ask for it from a random passing waiter.

We placed our drink order, we asked for one of the new spiked frappes which the server promptly returned and said they ran out of (at 7pm on a Saturday lol) thought nothing of it at the time and ordered a Bellini and a beer, which there were no problems with either. Would not recommend paying $12 for 5 sips out of the ever shrinking Bellini glass..

We waited for the server to return and ordered our appies, partner had the dine out menu and I had a wagyu beef carpaccio. Dine out hot chicken and pickles was admittedly good, but wagyu beef carpaccio was overpowering and not balanced at all.

Onto the mains we had a bacon burger and steak frites. Fries and sides were ok, burger was soggy like it was sitting in the window for a while and unnecessarily over complicated. Steak was just ok, not a steakhouse so no surprises there.

During the dinner we saw our actual server maybe 3-4 times and other times just had to flag down the manager and other servers who were very friendly and fast, not sure what was going on with our server.

When our server finally returned she informed us that the cheesecake from the dineout menu was out of stock and offered us any desert from the menu at the same price. We ordered the chocolate lava cake and waited about 20 minutes for it to arrived cold and congealed together like it had been sitting in the window for too long. Promptly sent it back with the first waiter that we saw who apologized and had it remade. It came back better the second time with a different waiter again.

We saw our waiter and flagged her down for the bill. After waiting another 15 minutes and it now being past 10pm we were tired and frustrated so flagged down another waiter to ask for the bill who came immediately with the machine and bill. Was considering not tipping after such a tumultuous night but decided to give something for the staff who actually seemed to care aside from our waiter.

I remember this location being way better than any other we have been to in the past, so maybe it was an off night? However simply not acceptable food quality or service for the price on a dinner menu for Saturday night service.

The menu has also seemed to have gotten rid of a lot of the good stuff like calamari etc.. not sure if it’s like that at...

There was a time when we used to really enjoy coming to Cactus Club... The service was pretty good for a chain restaurant and the food dishes were inspired.

Over the years, they've gotten rid of many of the dishes that we enjoyed and replaced them with "healthy"alternatives (note the quotation marks because you can't judge the healthiness of a dish just because it has kale in it or because it's vegan)... Really miss their ahi tuna club, Thai chicken wings, short rib sandwich, spinach salad and bbq duck clubhouse.

Anyways, they do still have a few good dishes... The Hunter Chicken usually doesn't disappoint with perfectly juicy and tender chicken and their burgers are good for a quick bite.

Update: December 2024 - It's been a while since we last visited this location. Service started out a bit off as we seem to had been forgotten after we were seated. Although seeing other tables being seated after us and getting water and their orders placed, I eventuality had to physically flag someone down to ask for water and to order.

Got the Hey Hibiscus and Little Pearl for drinks. Unfortunately, the straw that they give you is too small for the Little Pearl as the popping bubbles don't really fit through it. We tried really hard with the straw, and, while you could eventually get a bubble if you tried really hard, it would shoot in the back of your throat due to the force applied and could potentially be a chocking hazard. Instead, we left the bubbles at the bottom of the drink. I'm guessing they've heard complaints on this before because when we mentioned it to our server, they agreed and said they've had problems with it.

I ordered Rob's crispy chicken sandwich. Unfortunately, they brought me out the mini crispy chicken sandwiches by mistake. When I mentioned this, they did take them away and apologize and rushed my correct order through (and didn't charge me for it).

The calamari was actually good (better than previously).

When my chicken sandwich finally arrived later, it appeared to be stacked a bit messily and I found that it quickly fell apart. Had to knife-and-fork it eventually.

I appreciate they took ownership in the order mistake and taking the item off the bill even though I didn't...

I wanted to write to this review in hopes of improvement for others customer experience, as ours was poor and left us disappointed and unsatisfied for our annual birthday dinners. Firstly, this was booked as a “special occasion” (for two birthdays, Dec 25 and 29) and this was not acknowledged once at our check in at entry or by our server Upon seating our party of 6, drink orders were taken approximately 10 minutes later, and our server brought 5 waters (one short for the table… and these were placed at the edge of the table, next to the visibly oldest member of our party who is 96 years old, then the server walked away.) We were unclear if the expectation of Cactus Club now is for guests to distribute their own drinks. When the alcoholic beverages were brought, 3 Bellinis, 1 frappe, 1 rum/coke; but the lager for the head of the table was not brought until 5 minutes later The server did not check on us once during our meal to see if things tasted fine or if we would like additional beverages (our drinks were all empty, including our waters) At the end of the meal, the waitress came by, asked if we would like anything else (as if the meal was done), we ordered more drinks, dessert was never offered (and we wanted this to complete our birthday celebrations) our drinks were served (to the edge of the table) and the waitress informed us she was now off and would like to settle up the bill and would send another server over if we wanted anything more No other server ever approached our table; we intended on ordering another round of beverages and desserts but this opportunity was never given to us Overall we enjoyed our meals and drinks (they all tasted amazing, the bar staff and kitchen staff are doing fantastic) but the servers appear to require further training and support to meet what we have always thought Cactus Clubs...