Urban Gate — Restaurant in Coquitlam

Warning: The owner is aggressive, arrogant, and doesn't know how to treat customers.

Out of the blue, I was attacked by the owner who implied that I was going to steal groceries, then ordered me to "GET OUT," and tried to threaten me with the police. If you wonder why that happened, here are the details.

I, my brother, my 1-year-old daughter, and my 2-year-old niece, came to buy some snacks. "The man" approached my brother from behind and asked if he needed a basket. My brother thanked 'the man" and answered that he was not planning to take a lot, and could carry goods in his hands. "The man" said, "Then make sure you pay for it!". This was said in a very rude and disrespectful way. Obviously, the man was already irritated and was already pretty "warmed up" before approaching us. I asked him what made him think we weren't planning to pay for groceries. "The man," said that I would put groceries in the stroller or in the bag, and I would go away without paying for them. Then he pointed to the stroller's accessories bag hanging on the handle and wanted to open it and show me "that I might forget something in there." I said that he could not touch any of my belongings and It was completely unacceptable.

After that, he grabbed two cans of chickpeas from my hand, saying that he would not sell them to me, and commanded me to "get out" pointing his finger to the door.

I asked the young man standing behind "the man," who he was, and the young man said, "he is actually the owner of this place."

I told "the owner" that he was not to treat customers like a piece of garbage. "The owner," said that this was private property and he was allowed to throw me out because he was "the owner", that I must leave or he would call the police, and it would end up very bad for me. I answered that he should definitely call the police because I was not the one attacking and insulting people there, but "the owner" was. I also told him that the store is considered a public place, not private property.

The next moment, my brother shows up at the cashier with bread, milk, and some veggies hoping to finish his shopping. "The Owner" approaches my brother, furiously grabs all the groceries, and shouts that he is not selling them to my brother. My brother turned around, surprised by the psycho behavior of the man who never introduced himself, and said, "You know what? I am not going to purchase anything from here, and 'the man' was "unstable"."

Then "the owner" and "the young man" both started to point their smartphone cameras at me and behind the smartphone, he "finally" started speaking, "Please, I ask you to leave", and "I apologize". I said this is exactly how he needs to speak to customers from the very beginning - politely. I headed to the exit, pointing out that in front of the camera, his behavior had changed dramatically.

So we left, being chased by "the owner" and "the young man," both pointing their cameras at us and saying a lot of "GET OUT" in the backs. All this was observed by other customers at the cashier and happened under the CCTV cameras.

My family and I went to this place almost every day to purchase bread, eggs, snacks, etc. We usually have very pleasant conversations with cashiers, deli, and bakery staff. They are usually very polite and friendly... none of the staff was ever disrespectful to us. Obviously, they are more grounded and humble people. The owner really thinks he is above other people and has an ego issue.

Anyone reading this review, let me know what would you do if facing this kind of aggression from the owner of any business you have been coming to...

If you were a customer like me you’d agree that this place has gone downhill. I had a couple of bad experiences with their bakery which I called about (misspelled names on cakes and sloppy designing) and the manager/owner Bita apologized for and offered our next order to be half off (which I might not even use cuz I don’t think I want another birthday cake ruined). But today was just awful. I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I went there yesterday (Sunday may 18, 2025) and asked one of the restaurant workers if they have any halim. The young gentleman said we have ones in the fridge that are from 5-6 days ago. I asked him if they’re gonna be making a fresh batch today (personally not a fan of having 6 day old food) and he said looks like they’re starting a batch which should be ready tomorrow. I told him great maybe we can come and get some for breakfast and he said sure. Fast forward to today (may 19th). I called at 10am asking if their halim was ready and they said not yet, but it should be ready closer to noon. I said great! See you then. Now I get to their store at 11:30 am asking about the “fresh batch of halim” and they said oh it’s in the fridge. Mind you the display had not changed since yesterday afternoon. So I asked oh is that the fresh batch from today? And the guy said no we made halim on SUNDAY. I told him I came in yesterday and called today and was told there was fresh halim around noon! What do you mean? And he said “I’ve been the only one working this counter all morning I didn’t get a phone call” I told him I spoke with a woman and he said “are you sure you called here?” I showed him my phone with their number dialled twice. He said well we only have the halim in the fridge. I asked him if he can warm it up for me (we planned our day and wanted to have a little picnic in lafarge before going out, hence why having warm food was a big deal). He reluctantly said yes and I asked if there was any bread he could give me on the side and he said no you have to buy a whole pack, he also told me that I have to pay for the food at the front counter which is ok. At the check out I spoke with Bita again and explained the situation and frustration about all this and how basically all my day is now messed up because of this. I asked her to speak with her employees and make sure they communicate openly and honestly with their customers. She apologized multiple times and I ended up paying for my $8 halim. When I went to the back to get the food, the man took the halim from the back (which was in a brown bag), took it OUT OF THE BAG, and handed me the hot container. Did not offer any utensils or even ask if I wanted a bag. He told me to go pay and I said I already did while he was warming up the food. With his demeaning tone AGAIN he said :you need a barcode to scan how did they get you to pay? 😳 I showed him the receipt and said they grabbed the barcode from the bakery…he refused to look at the receipt and said ok if you said you paid that’s fine.

I have never felt this disrespected and gaslit before! Bita, you really need to either change your staff or give them better training. I genuinely don’t think I can come back to the store and be treated like this again.

UPDATE I possibly had one of the worst Halims in my life. Bland, dry and the bottom of the container was caked up, probably due to them microwaving the container for several minutes before giving it to me. Save your money, time and mental energy and don’t go here. Seems like the customer service is only...

A while ago I went to this place to pick up an online order and went to the cashier and told them my name. They immediately said a different name than what I had just told them and then did it again and I had to tell them once again. After telling me to wait for them to call me to get my order I waited for more than 15 minutes standing very visibly in-front of the cashier and my online order on my phone said my order was ready. I only got one item which is french fries (which were soggy, excessively oily, and unseasoned when i tried to eat them) so I expected my order to be done fast because i ordered online before i arrived at the store and still waited 15 minutes. When I went directly in-front of the counter at the spot to pick up online orders, they never came to me. Both ladies that talked to me when i arrived ignored me, never looked at me, and had the audacity to answer new customers before coming to me, who was waiting for so long. And a big thing to mention is the insanely obvious favouritism. Every single customer that arrived while I had been waiting (about 5 different people) got their online orders, got talked to very nicely and the cashiers made small talk with them because they were from their country and spoke their language. These people waited barely 5 minutes before getting called by the cashier. They didn't even have to go up to the cash register to say they had to pick up an order. The ladies called them themselves. Clearly I was ignored and tried again to press the call button and get my order and someone finally came, one of the same ladies that talked to me at first, and gave me my order very fast like it was always ready. And that's probably why my fries were soggy. Because they had been sitting there for the 15 minutes I...