Kareza Cafe — Restaurant in Oshawa

My overall opinion: this new cafe is a wonderful addition to this up-and-coming part of oshawa, and while it’s add-ons might be pricey, the atmosphere, drinks, and service more than make up for it.

My detailed review: I went with my sister and partner, so I had a few opinions to consult for this.

THE FOOD Both food items we tried were tasty, but the pistachio croissant did not taste like pistachio to me. My sister agreed, but my partner apparently could taste it when trying the cream directly. The butter croissant itself was tasty, though, so it was overall a positive experience. The date cake was tasty and brought warmed, and we got ice cream with it for an additional dollar.

THE DRINK I ordered the s’mores latte, and it was good. The specialty drinks here are not super sweet, so while I normally prefer half-sweet drinks, the original sweetness would have been my preference. The pistachio latte is a clear syrup, I believe, and tastes more of almond extract than the warm nutty flavour I associate with pistachio. It also was not very sweet. The three-shot cappuccino my espresso-loving sister order revealed to her that the espresso was good but not super strong. If you care about strong espresso, Bond St. Cafe can kick you in the face with theirs.

THE SERVICE The two owners, sisters, opened this on December 13(?), and spent months renovating this spot. I learned this through their openness to talk and learn about their customers! They’re open and proud of their establishment, and it made us all the more impressed. I wish them all the best.

DECOR/VIBE Their hard-work to make this place inviting and warm paid off! It’s one of my favourite cafes in durham region, decor-wise. There’s a bookshelf with vintage books along one wall, a soft yellow walls and brown tones put me immediately at ease. I would say, if you can, drive here, there are some unfortunate people without houses around this immediate area, and my sister and partner and I walked quite quickly to get here.

RECOMMEND? Yes! I totally recommend you come and try this place out, it’s espresso might not be for you, but there’s only one way...

Actually quite disappointed, this was my second time and I don’t think I would recommend which is very disappointing. My first time I thought maybe it was just off and slow because they were working out kinks, or just new. Today was my second time and after waiting almost 5 mins for someone to acknowledge that we were there, it took 22 mins for our drinks to arrive and while waiting the (owners?) I’m assuming were taking videos and photos which is totally fine.. but personally I felt that could have been done when customers weren’t there, and we felt in the way as she was up against my husbands chair trying to get the photos and videos..waiting just became abit uncomfortable. We sat and waited for our drinks which took 22 mins, with only one person ahead it just didn’t make sense to us, I could understand if it were super busy but there was 1 person ahead of us so I don’t really understand why it took that long for 2 drinks and a sandwich, the sandwich we ended up having to get to go because it took an additional 10 mins Ontop of the 22 mins for the drinks. So after all was said and done we waited 32 mins for 2 drinks and a sandwich. Just very disappointing. The drink I got was also very blan. It was suppose to be strawberry matcha but they ran out, so I had to get the cherry and I didn’t taste any cherry what so ever which was also disappointing considering the price of the drink was 9.99 plus the cold foam. If you have loads of time to waste and don’t have plans for your day maybe it would be great for someone, I thought it would be great to go for coffee before work but even an hour and a half early we had to rush because of the long wait time. It was not a good experience in our opinions and we felt rushed. we unfortunately won’t be back and wouldn’t...

For anyone unfamiliar with the Oshawa area, please read until the end

Adorable little cafe with fantastic drinks and food. We had a coconut and a chai drink and both were phenomenal. I’ve seen a few people complain about the price but the drinks were quite large, beautifully presented and delicious…so I think they were worth the price. The employee also said if I wanted more of the coconut drink, there was extra and she would top me up if I wanted. I absolutely loved this as most places would just pour out the extra rather than offering it to the customer.

We also ordered the pear brûlée toast and the Calabrese toast and both were absolutely delicious and well-worth the $10.

The interior and exterior was very charming and “instagramable”. However, it was uncomfortably hot when we were there and there needed to be a bit of air circulation in there.

The only reason I am not giving this place a 5 star is because I feel they could be more welcoming and greet you when you come in, even if they’re making other peoples drinks. We also had to ring the bell to get service because there was no one behind the cash when we were ready to order. Also, the location is in the worst part of Oshawa with a lot of questionable people that hang out at the church across the street. Both my friend and I had our babies and we were very cautious going back to our vehicles.

Despite the very poor location, I would still recommend people visit this cafe because the food, drinks and vibes are worth it. As someone who is very familiar with the area, I would just suggest that anyone from out of town please be alert when parking, leaving your vehicle and going back to...