Forest Cafe (North York) — Restaurant in Toronto

Amazing Cafe! You owe it to yourself to pay them a visit! Excellent customer service and Experience!

For those that have the patience...here are my first impressions...

Bought an espresso during their soft launch in early August 2020. A truly exceptional shot which I tremendously enjoyed. Balanced, sumptuously sweet, the right amount of brightness, there was a sense of transparency/layering, with a medium finish. There was no bitterness. This is what an espresso from a "Third Wave Coffee Cafe" should taste like.

Kudos to the barista and more importantly the management for the selection of their coffee and roast profile...very, very impressed!

(Please note that this was a soft launch during the pandemic and I tasted the espresso from a paper cup...couldn't be helped...I can't wait to taste one form their angelic white porcelain cups in the future...).

There are 3 minute walk from me and I can't wait to try their Flat White, Americano and Latte over the course of the next few days.

The impressive Espresso machine (a Slayer Steam LP X) is truly a work of art and pulls amazing shots. Please read up on these hand made artisinal works of art which are truly a sight to behold. If you are sensitive to caffeine and will be enjoying non-caffeinated beverage...at least pay your respects to the Mazzer grinder and the Slayer...:-)

Customer service was exceptional! The staff were extremely attentive, patient, explained their menu and options (which were limited during their soft launch - it's all good) and just made you feel special, very personable this is your friendly neighborhood cafe.

This is a specialty coffee shop in my honest opinion which serves wonderful coffee...yes, yes...I know I have only tried one item at the moment.... but you can tell a lot of how a cafe pulls an espresso shot. There are so many variables when that shot is pulled, and a great espresso makes great espresso based drinks.

The owners, management & staff are passionate and truly care. They want to give you a wonderful experience to sample real coffee. The attention to detail of their menu, their machine/grinder selection...the little things that 99.9% of people don't notice were carefully curated to realize their vision of their perfect cafe...and I love it!

To anyone reading this review, please support your independent coffee shop. They deserve it. You can feel their passion and their positive energy.

Thank you so much Forest Cafe for a wonderful experience. I know you've not officially opened, but I look forward to many more wonderful visits in the future. I feel fortunate and blessed you are located in my...

Original Review. Ordered Matcha drink. Poorly made. Did not taste good. Skip.

Reply to Owner. The execution of this drink was poor. It was made so quickly and without care, almost as if leftover mix had been reused. The flavour was extremely bitter and overly milky at the same time. Based on the taste, I suspect that a low-quality or premixed matcha is being used, and even that wasn’t prepared properly.

I actually tried the drink at the store and raised my concerns at the café, but was simply told it was fine. Instead of offering to remake it, the staff seemed more focused on chatting amongst themselves.

To be clear, I’m not saying your café doesn’t serve good drinks. I’ve had the dalgona drink before and when it’s made properly, it’s amazing. However, the last two times I ordered it, the quality was noticeably poor. That’s what led me to try the matcha instead. Unfortunately, that too was disappointing.

Perhaps the staff would benefit from a refresher on drink preparation. I also want to note that I stopped buying your baked goods years ago as they were consistently stale.

I live in the area and have genuinely tried to support local, but the tone of your reply was frustrating. I didn’t write my review looking for a replacement drink, nor do I want one, especially after the way my feedback was dismissed. My review was honest and meant to help you do better. If my experience is hard to believe, I encourage you to look at your other matcha...

My husband had been wanting to try Forest Cafe for several years now and we finally got to today. The cafe was very cute, clean and with a good amount of seating. There was a self-serve station with water too.

We ordered a matcha latte, americano, and an almond croissant. After ordering, everything was ready within 1-2 minutes which surprised us.

Matcha latte: The colour of the matcha was off right when we saw it. It looked very watery compared to the vibrant green in usual matcha lattes. I also could not pinpoint what the taste was either. It was like a sugary milk. I understand a lot of cafes pre-whisk the matcha and put them in squeeze bottles because of the nature of the drink and its demands. I can't speak to how my drink was made since I didn't see the process, but it just didn't look or taste like matcha at all.

The Americano was quite tangy. Not great but not the worst.

The only thing we liked was the almond croissant. It's pretty big and was the right amount of sweetness.

We don't want to write off the cafe so soon since it was our first time. We'd like to give it one more try as we've seen great reviews and a friend recommended their dalgona latte, so we hope to return one day to give it...