Combine Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Surrey

When my partner and I moved from Downtown Vancouvers West End to Surrey last August, we said goodbye to neighbours, friends and departed every sense of home we had built up over 5 years.

We chose to move for practical reasons, but were left fearing that we would not find community in our new neighbourhood.

Combine proved us wrong.

TLDR: Versatile menus! Sweet study spot Wifi and outlets (yay) Genuine, kind customer service Fantastic food Great matcha! Chill vibes

Combine is a welcoming and versatile space.

For students: As a full time student I know finding a great study spot isn’t always easy. Beyond store-hours, outlets, and wifi, sometimes it’s difficult to find a place that will let you stay more than a couple of hours. I was so used to coffee-shop-hopping in Vancouver that when a manager came to my table on my third day of studying at Combine: I started packing my bag and apologizing for staying so long. To my surprise she thanked me for coming in, offered me a loyalty stamp card, asked what I was studying, and told me I could stay as long as liked.

For friends and family: Combine is quite unique in that it is not just a cafe by day but also a lunch spot, dinner spot, drinks spot, brunch spot, etc. It can be hard to make time for loved ones in our busy lives, but Combine’s versatility means I can go there with friends at just about any hour of the day.

For community: I never expected myself to walk into a restaurant and have multiple staff greet me by name. And I certainly didn’t think I would enjoy such a thing, but this has really helped make Surrey feel like home. Honestly, once you goto Combine enough, it starts to feel like you are a part of something.

FOR FOOD: As I mentioned the menus are very diverse and so you can often find something for everyone. I have found the food here to be reliable for not only fancier dine-in meals, but also for practical take-out options.

The Turkey Brie sandwich is unlike one I have ever had- The mustard and the tomato jam completely level up the experience!

Their matcha is amazing! I have tried matcha at other cafes close by and Combines has been my favourite by far. It doesn’t taste too sweet like some do.

I find the charcuterie boards to be quite filling and reasonably priced. (The cured salmon is so good!) I’m also a fan of the goat cheese dates for an evening snack with wine 👌 As well as their VEGAN black forest cake (also sometimes...

I don’t usually write reviews unless they’re positive. But I had possibly the worst dining experience I’ve had in a long time here. I’ll start with the pro: the restaurant itself is very pretty and stylish, great ambiance and well designed and the coffee and the croissant cube we got were good. The cons: the service was slow despite the restaurant being empty, she seemed new/inexperienced though, so not a big deal. The worst part was the food. Multiple people ordered eggs Benedict, the hollandaise was so sour and vinegary and inedible. The Korean chicken was dry and tasted like it had fajita seasoning on it. The salads that came with the Benedict’s were so soggy and overdressed. All of the eggs were cooked so soft they were pretty much raw. I personally ordered the pulled pork Benedict with poached hard eggs, it was served to me poached soft with raw egg whites. I sent it back to be remade. I was told it would be “3 minutes” waited over 15. To be served soft poached eggs with raw egg whites a second time. I again kindly requested it to be remade with poached hard eggs. I waited another 20 minutes to be served for a third time poached soft eggs with still raw egg whites. At this point I’m starving and all of my friends are done eating. I have to request another remake with poached hard eggs. I wait another 20 minutes. This time I get fully cooked through yolks, but somehow the whites are still raw. At this point I just eat it. The pork itself was saturated in bbq sauce. In addition, the Benedict comes with salad, we asked the server if we could get potatoes instead of salad, she said that’s fine. We get the bills, 7 dollars to add a side of potatoes. We were not warned that there would be a charge. And if they were going to charge for a side of potatoes then we should have still gotten the salad. It should also be noted that the potatoes we got were 5 tiny nugget potatoes that were basically raw and inedible and not seasoned at all, that works out to $1.50 per tiny nugget potatoes. An absolute rip off. And after waiting for my food for over an hour past everybody else got their food. And to still have it be incorrect, which the server knew as when she checked the last time I told her there was still raw egg but I would have to eat it at this point as my friends needed to leave, nothing was done for my bill. Not one person out of 6 enjoyed any aspect of any...

Had lunch with friends on March 16, 2025. The menu selection was great. The food was ok. Unfortunately, the pasta was cold and was really disappointed that my turkey and brie sandwich was served after everyone has already eaten and it was serve on the ends on the bread making the sandwich very bready. The downfall of our experience was the service. The friends we were with arrived before we did. They were seated but took a while before they were given the menu or water. When we arrived, they never bothered to give us a menu not a big deal. Once our order was taken, it took a while for the food to arrive. Now, a table of four, one would expect that all our food to arrive pretty much all together. However, that wasn't the case. Our friends meal arrived in two stages. We had encouraged them to eat ahead as their pasta was getting colder by the minute, since it was already cold to begin with. 10-15 mins pass, and the rest of the food for the table still hasn't arrived. We asked the server and they explained that it is a new menu and service and they were getting use to the whole set up and timing. I can understand some hiccups with the service or it being slightly slow but the couple we were with, has now finished their meal before one of our dishes arrived. As my husband was eating his Pho it took another 15 mins before his salad arrived - this was after we had reminded them again about the missing dishes. The salad arrived and we are still missing my turkey and brie sandwich. We asked and they stated that it will be coming in 2 mins. 15 mins later after asking again, server told us again that it is a new menu and they are getting used to it. By the time, my sandwich arrived, everyone at the table has now finished their meal. I completely understand a new menu and service is something that they need to get used to. However, this restaurant opened almost a year ago and serves dinner. How is it that it was such a hardship to serve lunch in a timely manner. The food itself wasn't bad, as mentioned they had a great selection but they need a lot of work for their service. Very disappointed that the manager on shift did not even bother to come to our table after such a disastrous service. I don't and didn't expect any compensation but it would have been a sign of good faith for such an abysmal service for them to comp something or offer a...