Sanctuary Cafe — Restaurant in Richmond

This review is a bit late as life has been chaotic but this cafe deserves my time for everyone to know how wonderful they are. About a week ago I locked my keys, phone and wallet inside my car and didn’t know what to do. I went in the coffee shop and asked the 2 kind and friendly gentlemen behind the counter to see if there were any tools I could borrow or offer and advice to try to get my door open (there was a slight crack open on the door). One of the gentleman even came out to take a look and was trusting enough to leave me with the items as he went back and in to work. Unfortunately I was not able to get the door open and went back to the shop and asked to borrow a phone so I can call BCAA. By this point I was upset, already having had a bad day and had no way to find the phone number. One of the employees found it for me, dialled the number and handed me his phone while him and the other gentleman proceeded to help customers (it was getting quite busy) I got through to BCAA and they were on their way out to help. I returned the phone thanking them for saving me and was even offered a cup of coffee. I promised to come back in to pay once BCAA arrived to open my door. He graciously declined saying that it looks like I was already having a bad day and hoped the cup of coffee would help. The latte was AMAZING and definitely helped relaxme and it put a smile on my face. BCAA arrived and opened my door, so I was able to retrieve my wallet. As I was about to go in to pay for my coffee and thank the kind gentlemen, I saw one of them outside rolling out the recycling bin to the back . He again declined my offer to pay, I thanked him profusely for him and his colleague helping me out with a smile even during a busy time. He was so nice for going the extra mile I asked if he was the owner, since he was so gracious and went beyond the scope of his role. He said he was not so I am hoping to share my experience with the owner of this cafe and to the public. I believe anyone who displays such random acts of kindness should be appreciated and acknowledged. The fact that these two gentlemen were helping while also working makes them exceptional. I did not get their names unfortunately but I just wanted to let them, the owner and the public know about these 2 gentlemen (I am sure the regulars know who they are) and how their random act of kindness went a long way in turning my day around. Thanks again, Sanctuary, you have THE best coffee in town and 2 of the best staff any employer can...

Hello, I was a bystander today getting a coffee while a woman came into the Sanctuary coffee shop. She politely asked a man of Asian descent if she could bring her dog in quickly as she ordered a cappuccino, which he replied yes that was fine. From my and my husband’s perspective she was brushed off and wasn’t treated with dignity or respect. I go online to look at the reviews of the coffee shop and see she happened to write a review and the owner replied with a lack of professionalism and unpleasant response. I understand both sides of this situation but for the owner to write back in such a petty and degrading matter is childish and and again completely unprofessional. The response reminds me of what someone in high school would say to get their last word in. I would have gone back to this establishment but seeing how the owner of Sanctuary dealt with this matter is quite disgusting given his response and lack of knowledge that his employee “okay’d” the dog to come in at first. My family and I will not be...

My friend and I tried out this cafe a couple weeks ago. I got a cappuccino and my friend got an iced vanilla latte.

The coffee was good.

My friend's iced latte was served in a covered togo cup. Half way through her drink we noticed a strand of hair on the inside wall of the cup. We decided to let the staff know. We walked back in and talked to a lady and told her about the hair. She took the cup from us and started scratching cup a few times and asked us: are u sure it's inside the cup ?

She went to talk to a man who took our orders at the front. They both looked at the hair and scratched the cup as well. Then the man looked up and asked if we wanted another drink.

At this point, we just wanted to leave and did not want to deal with them anymore. First, there were no apologies. Second, the way we were spoken to sounded like we planted the hair in there. Third, we were not offered the option for a refund.

This service was...