Small Victory Bakery — Restaurant in Burnaby

Well my wife said there's a new bakery in the newly renovated brentwood mall, so we had to see how good it was. If you park your car in the free for now 🤔above ground parking area on the north west side of the mall just go east for about a block into the mall on the main floor the bakery is just inside one of the main door entrances. There were a lot of people in the bakery! It's very open concept. There is a seating area for about 20 people. We had to take our pastry to go as there was no place to sit. Luckily 2 seats at a table came available just as our pastry order was ready. The pastry counter girls were very friendly and boxed our pastry. There is quite a large selection of fancy pastry and croissants. We ordered a 1/2 dozen of mini cinnamon and sugar croissants and one piece of carrot cake. Then my wife waited at the table while I brought the boxed pastry to the table and then approached the coffee barista area. There are quite a few people making coffee and someone asked if I was waiting for an order? I said yes and the girl said your name? It's john. She said this is your order and it was exactly right 2 Americanos. I ordered the carrot cake which was one of the nicest looking carrot cakes I've seen and was not too sweet. I think the icing had a bit of cream cheese but not that much. I still prefer the old fashioned looking carrot cake with a lot of cream cheese in their icing at main and broadway bean around the world coffee shop. My wife had the plain scone which was a little dry but still kind of soft inside not baked enough maybe but ok. The mini croissants were quite good and make a nice light snack that won't ruin your dinner. The place was very clean and there was someone cleaning the odd table before someone would sit down. The coffee was good and exactly what we ordered. We would have stayed a little longer had it not been for the 2 well dressed ladies sitting next to us talking non stop almost in a bragging manner they would be good for interrogation ha ha. It was a weekend on sunday maybe a weekday would be quieter? We will be back to try more of the pastry as the prices were reasonable. When we were leaving one of the baristas gave me a stern look and said your mask sir! I pulled it out of my front shirt pocket and showed her and said are you the mask sheriff? She said yes. Ha ha if she had waited about another 10 seconds my 70 year old body with both vaccinations was about to put my mask on.🙄 It's a nice bakery just make sure you wear your...

Taste 2/10 Interior 8/10 Price 2/10 (what if you bought matcha latte but got mostly hot milk?)

Unfortunately, I gave you 5 stars just before. But 1 was too much after when I saw a bartender dropped my hojicha powder when she was stirring in a small bowl. Moreover, another day and another bartender stirred the matcha powder in a small bowl only 2 times it apparently became sticky powder in the bowl that weren’t dissolved in hot water. I like sitting they’re making coffee. Then I saw the rest of sticky matcha powder were just thrown away in the sink. And what I got in my cup was hot milk with only green color for $7. No taste of matcha at all.

Horrible and won’t come back again.

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Below was my previous review.

Best matcha latte, too few seats that not enough for people who come to hang out with friends but I like that, not crowded atmosphere.

Nice clean coffee bar at the center, staffs prepared matcha which made me wanna try. I was enjoying hot chocolate that tastes good then tried their matcha latte which they told that no sugar added. It taste smooth, without any bitter taste at all.

I recommended this to a friend and she said like mine. After I had this matcha lattes here, I’ve been finding matcha everywhere and ordering from other cafe, but this place is my favorite.

cafe is always busy but foods and drinks are served pretty quick. Staffs seem nice. Good location just at the front door of Brentwood mall. Most customers also are polite and not staying at tables for too long because they have only a few tables and other customers are waiting for a free table...

I’ve been coming here since they’ve opened at the Amazing Brentwood and have been a regular customer for the past few weeks

I really enjoy the quality of their pastries and the coffee that the baristas brew are top notch. This is possibly one of the best cafes in North Burnaby at this moment in time.

However, while staff is friendly - there is a pretty noticeable chaos that goes on in the kitchen.

Every time I’ve gotten food here - whether it is on a weekday/weekend - morning or afternoon - there is a severe disconnect between the cashier that takes the order and the kitchen staff who prepared the food. Wait times to heat up something or pack/prepare something simple like oats can be up to 15 minutes and may require some prodding to see if the kitchen missed the order.

On today’s particular occasion, I was informed that phone-in ordering was actually not an option available despite doing it the last few weeks through several different staff members. My food and coffee sat at the counter running cold while a staff member informed me that I couldn’t just walk up and pay for my order in spite of having done it every visit prior. This presented a pretty confusing experience for me and left a slight distaste in my mouth as I paid $10 for lukewarm lattes.

In spite of these observations, they are purely organizational and shouldn’t deter you from trying the food and coffee at Small Victor Brentwood. I am confident that their service and efficiency will continue to improve over time but I am looking forward to this location being added to...