The Gray Olive Cafeteria — Restaurant in Burnaby

A bit pricey for the portion size but very delicious breakfasts. I would have gave 5 starts if it were more budget friendly Coffe: 2/5 Spanish Latte: 4/5 Braised Beef Benny: 1/5 Chicken and Waffles: 2/5 Poutine : 3/5 Side Pancake: 5/5

Two years ago I gave them 4 stars, sadly I had to update this and remove two. It is still a very high priced menu, and given the quality this time round, and lack of consistency. I had to lower the grade.

We ordered a few things, one more disappointing than the next. Also, I understand that they have a "cafeteria" vibe, but the food is served on these gray trays. They are not very suitable though, as they don't have enough space on the tables and the food spills over.

The coffee was not great, I believe if all you serve is brunch you have to have solid coffee. I ordered a Spanish Latte, that was my favourite thing ordered, a drink.

We were starving and excited and usually that means, whatever you are served, you will enjoy. It was not the case.

Here were our mains:

Braised beef benny - the main ingredient being beef, was dry. How do you get away with that? Not just dry, lacked flavour. If you want braised beef to be your star, it has to be perfectly juicy. It was not. The cornbread served with it, equally dry. It required more hollandaise to blend the ingredients together. Additionally, the egg under seasoned. It was super bad, as a meat eater, we walked away not having eaten the entire dish.

Chicken and waffles - the waffles were super crunchy and were not as fluffy as one would expect. They also did not have a unique flavour, under seasoned. They way it was served was very awkward, and given the small trays it was hard to pick it up and cut into it. The chicken was juicy but not very flavourful, nicely fried but still lacked flavour. It really required the sauces which were underwhelming.

We ordered a side of pancakes were frankly very good. I only one for a side, and wish I ordered more. It was fluffy, and not overly sweet.

We also ordered a side poutine. My partner enjoyed it, but I think the gravy was bland and it was not hot enough to melt the...

It was our first time to come here for brunch today. We realized that there was a lineup and at least a few tables in front of us. We came all the way here to try their brunch, so we decided to put down our name, ordered a couple of latte and waited outside the restaurant (because the space is very small and tight inside).

Once we had put down our name, a server offered a small sample of waffle with syrup. The waffle tasted great! It was good that we were drinking the latte and waiting for a table. It was about 10-15 min wait. Not too bad waiting outside the restaurant on a sunny day.

When we got our table, we placed an order at the counter first. The servers would bring the food to our table. It was great that the food came out quickly. We ordered a cup of Thai iced tea, the kitchen sink and smoked ham hock Bennys. All these food and drinks were delicious! We tried their crispy potatoes first. They were very hot and crispy outside and soft inside. It was perfect when we ate them with some ketchup. The crispy potatoes were placed in a bowl separately from the ham hock Bennys. The portion of the potatoes was quite big. The kitchen sink was so good that each ingredient mixed well together to become a better dish. Two poached eggs on top of the kitchen sink were so soft and tasty.

The portion was quite big overall, so we had to pack some of the leftover home. I saw some people's reviews here that they felt the pricing was a bit high. Indeed I personally felt the price was average with a bigger portion. I would highly recommend eating brunch here instead of lunch (i.e. sandwiches and burgers).

There is a public parking lot near the restaurant or people can park on the streets (on Hastings). Overall, the eating experience here was quite good other than the wait. Due to the small space, I felt the restaurant had already tried their best to take the people into the restaurant as fast...

It’s a disappointing and very unpleasant experience. My crab cake benny was good but the green salad was horrible. In the photo you see there were many pieces of rotten leaves. The Thai ice tea with coconut milk looks like they were overnight drink. The waitress explained that because they were cold. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I visited Thailand many times and never had it look like someone puked in my tea cup.

When I talked with the waitress about the rotten leaves, they only said that “ oh the kitchen didn’t prepare it well. It’s something unusual. “ they didn’t provide the solution so I told them that I’d like to return the tea and take the salad out of my bill. They didn’t even say sorry.

My bf stopped his food too because we believe this experience is from very unprofessional and inattentive kitchen staff team which also may not prepare his food right.

When I returned back to home, a friend who works in the restaurant told me that, they should take my meal out of the bill. Salad with so much rotten leaves is not something acceptable. Sure there were much more rotten leaves in the bowl.

My bf was very unhappy because he wanted to have a very nice brunch time with me after I recovered from a surgery. He found this place but I guess he didn’t read all the Google review ! I went over the review and saw other ppl’s Thai ice tea with coconut milk, they didn’t look the same as mine. After ordering, never had any staff came to the table to check. So for the first time in my bf’s life , he didn’t tip. I told him that I wouldn’t too.

The price they charge for each dish doesn’t match with their food quality...