Purple Perk — Restaurant in Calgary

EDIT: In response to your response, I can take it down if you want. I did not expect you to actually read this, or even want feedback so it was more for the public. But since you actually did read it, I can take it down, up to you. It's just frustrating because the cafe is great, but every experience I've had with you has felt hostile (including this one, but fair enough) and it's clearly not just me. The goal wasn't to hurt your feelings though. Just warning others from having similarly unpleasant experiences.

So I had a few bad experiences here. Essentially, I love the place and vibe, EXCEPT when the owner is around which is pretty much all the time. Luckily a lot of the time he's cooking in the back. Regardless, I stopped going there after a few encounters. So first bad experience was once I was sitting at a table and then the owner comes out of the kitchen for a break and to read the paper and sits at the table next to mine. Then after a few minutes, he farts very audibly and continues reading his paper as if nothing happened. Like everyone farts, but it just felt like territorial almost; like usually if you're going to fart, you try to make it quiet at least. Or if you do fart audibly, you at least acknowledge it. Anyway, I left almost immediately after that. Another time, I came in and he was working the register and so I ordered an americano and asked him if there were any vegan options; they have a pretty big array of premade items and also things you can order, so it's not that weird of a question, especially downtown of a major city in 2025. But he essentially laughed and mockingly said something along the lines of , "Go to VBurger we don't do that here." not only that, but it was very odd because he looked away from me as he said it and looked agitated that I would even ask. Then another time, a server was making a drink, and I was patiently waiting for the server to notice me and come to the till. It wasnt longer than maybe a minute. But the owner then yelled at the server to attend to me. It was a very low stakes situation, so im just like, i wonder how angry he gets when it's busy. And I guess that's the main thing, he just seems like on edge, and you get the sense that he's judging you. Im a person of colour so not sure, maybe he's more chill with whiter looking people lol. Anyway, I wasn't going to say anything but after browsing online and noticing most bad reviews are about him specifically, and then seeing his poor reviews on glassdoor (from people who have worked for him), and reading some spicy news articles, I thought I would share my experiences. Anyway, safe to say I won't be going back there. But yeah, basically if the owner is around, run...

I know it's a bit of a Mission institution and I keep trying this place, giving it a fresh start, but I end up leaving disappointed. There's something generally off, and while there isn't one big problem I can put my finger on, it's a lot of little issues that consistently pop up every time I visit. I really, really want to like it here for the convenience and that it's a locally owned business.

The food is fine but the prices are quite expensive. The baked goods are really hit or miss. Sometimes the peanut butter bar is great, other times it's so crusty and hard you can't get a bite in so we had to take it home and microwave it to soften it up. I've had an okay bagel or two there but more often than not one side is sliced so thin it could pass as a record and the whole thing is burnt to a crisp.

The lack of drink selection is odd. I mean very odd. It's a cafe and they only have the most basic of drinks. All the regular hot coffee options and basic tea. But the cold drink selection is really limited. They don't do iced coffee or tea. With so many coffee shops around competing it would be nice if they had cold drinks for summer. Iced tea? I've also never had a coffee shop that makes London fogs not be able to make an iced London fog. Weird.

I asked about cold drinks and the guy at the counter just said "I could make a milkshake or something maybe". I mean I just want an iced chai or some coffee on ice because it's 30c out. This often comes up and I've seen several other patrons ask and be disappointed by the cafe drink selection.

Lastly, there's fruit flies. Consistently. Quite a lot and enough you find yourself swatting them away trying to eat inside. They have you self return the dishes and dispose of your garbage, which is fine, but that area attracts and always seems to have fruit flies and flies. Maybe a deep...

Horrible experience. Rotten foods. Super rude service from the owner. My friend always wants to try this place, so finally we went last Saturday. The cakes look amazing. And I order Mango A GoGo salad. While my friend is enjoying her cake. Took them 25 mins to bring me the salad. Ok fine, and it’s looks ok. So I started eating. When 1/4 way through the salad, most of spinach on the bottom were black yucky rotten and the mango were slimy. I tried my best to picked out the good leave, but it was not enjoyable when you paid $15 for a salad and picking through rotten vegetables. So I took the plate back inside to show them the rotten salad, and the guy at the counter looked at it and said “what’s wrong?”. I was kind of shocked, I said I can’t eat this, can I have something else instead? So he brought the plate into the kitchen. Couple mins later, the owner of the restaurant came out with the same plate to my face, asked me again “what’s wrong with the salad? It’s spinach!” I looked at him, and looked the rotten salad, and said “I know it’s spinach, but they are rotten!” Then he said, “If that is the problem, why you ate most of it? What do you want me to do now?” I responded, “I didn’t know when I started eating, and I didn’t see the rotten part until I ate most of the top good leaves. I want to order something different. May I please?” I told him I want to BLT sandwiches meal instead(by the way, the BLT combo is supposed cheaper than the mango salad. And supposed to come with soup/fries) So he walked away. Another 20mins later, he came out with the sandwiches, throw it on our table, i didn’t even have chance to say thank you, but he already walked away without saying anything. No soup nor fries… I honestly feel really horrible how he treated me as a paying customer. I am not a beggar begging...