Cafe 106 — Restaurant in Burnaby

Cafe 106 is a smallish cafe on the corner of Royal Oak and Grimmer in Burnaby. When I first came across the name, I briefly wondered if there were 105 other similar cafes somewhere around town but quickly realized that “106” is their unit number.

Although the interior is a bit small, it’s bright and airy from the light streaming through the windows and they have some toe-tapping light jazz playing in the background. I wound up ordering a creamy 12oz London Fog ($4.45) and a Grilled Tuna Melt ($7.55). The tuna melt was on point with a cheesy tuna filling with red peppers and corn on a crisp ciabatta bun.

I dropped by for another visit in April and was surprised at how busy it was (as it was fairly quiet during my first drop-in). This time around, I ordered the Basil Pesto Turkey ($7.55) along with a 12oz Hot Chocolate ($4.15) and a Chocolate Chip Banana Bread ($2.80). I was a bit disappointed that my hot chocolate came in a paper cup instead of a mug but I was pleasantly pleased with the banana bread (love the way they made it into a banana shape). There were thin banana slices that were caramelized on the outside which had a nice light crunch to the exterior while the inside was soft and moist. It actually worked well dipping into my hot chocolate.

While there was nothing wrong with the turkey melt, I personally think the tuna melt was better. The sandwich had a couple of layers of turkey breast slices, tomato, and cheese on the basil pesto draped grilled ciabatta bun.

Undeterred, I returned for another visit and ordered the Basil Pesto Chicken ($7.55) which is essentially the same as the turkey version but with chicken instead and then paired it with a 12oz London Fog ($4.45) and a chocolate chip cookie for dunking.

Overall, it’s a nice little cafe shop for...

One star because service was extremely bad. I just visited and had an Americano and turkey breast panini. I've read some nice reviews before and thought I'd visit since Camellia Tea & Coffee was not yet open. I walked in and was greeted. Since it was my first time and not wanting to waste too much time looking around, I asked if they had sandwiches. She pointed to the board which was fine. They listed turkey croissants and I asked if I could have it with another bread instead. She said turkey panini. I concurred. Then I asked if they served pourover coffees but she looked puzzled. That's okay. I understood that not all cafes serve it so after using two seconds to describe that it was a type of coffee-making process, she told me that they have Americano only. So, I went with an Americano. Gave 12% tip on top of her unhelpful tone throughout the conversation - like I was a low class customer or something). Got the Americano and tasted it. Wasn't very strong. I don't mean the roast. When she brought the sandwich over, no expression on her face. Kinda just dropped it in front of me and casually threw some napkins. I said, "thank you" but no response. Panini was pretty good. If not for service, I would've given a higher rating (service is very important in this industry). After I finished, I shared with her that, for an Americano, I found that it wasn't very strong. She instantly thought I was referring to the roast. I guess she thought I didn't know my coffee. Oh, well. So, I came out of the washroom and as I passed the counter, I said, "thank you" again. She didn't respond. Well, that topped it off for me. Not sure I will ever return. Turned me off completely. Perhaps, she thought I was a troublesome customer. Or maybe I'm just a one-off...

First time to come here for a latte before I met up with friends.

The exterior of this coffee shop does not look outstanding but I reviewed this place on Yelp before visiting. The rating was quite high, so my husband and I gave it a try.

We ordered a large maple and almond latte. It is new on the menu. There was only 1 barista. It was good that there was only us and another customer; otherwise we might have to wait for a long time for the beverages.

The maple and almond latte did not have a flavour of coffee at all. But it tasted good. It had a strong milk and almond milk flavour. It was not too sweet, which was great!

We looked at the pastries at the front. They were not super attractive, so we didn’t try any.

The barista was very quite. He didn’t really smile or we didn’t feel friendliness from his face. He just served us and the other customer.

The interior was okay.... kind of contemporary. Comparing to other coffee shops in the same neighbourhood or ones in Vancouver, the interior could have been improved a lot. First time to come here for a latte before I met up with friends.

We were happened to be in this neighbourhood, so we tried this cafe; otherwise we might not come here. It might be good for the people who live in this...