49th Parallel Café & Lucky's Doughnuts - West 4th — Restaurant in Vancouver

TL; DR: Staff needs to be more careful and empathetic with gluten allergies. They weren't this time around and were not apologetic for it either, so I didn't personally have a good experience at this location. The donuts were fine though--not super outstanding, but enjoyable enough in general.

Now, the detailed version: First time at the W. 4th location. I'm with a friend, and it's both our 1st times trying Lucky's donuts. We're unfamiliar with the flavours, but ordered 3 donuts for here, and 1 gluten-free donut to-go, to be packed separately for my partner with celiac disease. I emphasized that it's for someone with a gluten allergy, to stress the importance of having it separate from the others. We're handed 1 donut packed in a to-go box, and 3 in bags to try in store. All is well.

Then, midway through splitting the donuts, I realized the wrong donut was in the box and the GF one was now cut with a cross-contaminated knife. I reflected this to the person that took our order, and she responded in a patronizing tone, pointing out the different donuts to me like, what don't you understand?? "THAT one is GF, THAT one isn't." There was no apology, no suggested resolution. I was baffled by the attitude but didn't want to hold up the line, so I dropped it. My friend, dissatisfied with this outcome, tried to speak to the staff herself. I couldn't hear the exchange but she came back upset, telling me the supervisor said a refund can't be issued when nothing's wrong with the product, and that I had admitted to miscommunicating my order. That got to me. Freshly glazed donuts in my mouth, hells yeah! Words I didn't say in my mouth, not cool. Probably should've just let it go like that Beatles song, but I couldn't resist clarifying myself before leaving: "We gave back the uneaten donut, and I get that you can't refund us, we're not asking for anything here. But I was specific with my order, I did not miscommunicate." In response, the supervisor indignantly stated this: "A miscommunication was made, but there was no mistake, it was nobody's fault. Company policy says I can't refund you, I don't make the rules, and I don't appreciate being hounded for something out of my control. We're in the service industry and there's lots to do, you're not our only customer. I don't have the time to keep repeating this. If you still have a problem with it, you can take it up with management." So that was that and we left.

Anyway, that was the experience in its entirety. Despite everything, it was a calm exchange and no real harm was done in the end. I originally didn't intend to post this review, but then thought to myself, what if I hadn't noticed? What if I trusted they got my order right and wasn't aware the wrong donut was boxed? I never had their donuts before, I didn't memorize the flavours. I would've brought that donut home to my partner, he would've eaten it thinking it was safe. Then he would've suffered the effects of consuming gluten for at least the next few days if not longer--upset stomach, diarrhea, general fatigue. All of that because a gluten-free order wasn't treated with care. A refund wasn't issued, neither was an exchange of the product, and the staff didn't have the best attitude when handling it. They made me feel like my friend and I were wasting their time, and at no point did anyone apologize for a mistake that would've caused really unpleasant health-related consequences for somebody else. I think that was the worst part, just feeling like they were callous and dismissive about something that would've affected another person's wellbeing. Sure, symptoms may be temporary, but every effort should've still been made to avoid it. Any place that serves food and drinks should be very careful with allergies, and at this location, they simply didn't seem to care.

I won't be coming back here. I know it's just the individual people that were involved that contributed to the negative experience, and it's not the coffee chain itself, but hey it's Vancouver. There's way too many coffee shops to choose from. Onto...

TL;DR - if you live near by or could order online and avoid in person contacts around Sunday noon when they are busy, better skipping the line and saving your energy for other things with higher priority.

I came here with the knowledge I could have access from online (yelp and google reviews mainly) since I intended to do some school work and had some chat with my teammate. He arrived about 20 minutes before me (10:10 ish a.m. on a lovely Sunday) while I was still on the bus experiencing the traffic. The moment I opened their main door and saw a long line ahead of me, I knew that I might cause any trouble.

As a first time visitor of this local cafe at BC, I wanted to try their seasonal beans instead of the classic ones since I just spotted their beans at save on foods yesterday doing grocery shooping (the last picture if you would like to check them out). However, I was also not in the mood to go for any hot espresso shot cuz I did not need that much caffeine early in the morning, after I just hit the gym with some functioanl strength traning.

I probably spent around 10 minutes with the staff who helped me taking order and when I finally decided I wanted to have a taste of the decaf espresso which was exactly written on their menu, they grabbed a whole bag of beans for me... I ended up getting their iced latte which was brewed using the exact same beans as my teammate with a sandwich that is French baguette based.

Remembering the long line I mentioned before? yup I also apologized for all the ppl behind me. My time was not precious at that moment but someone could be short at time budget.

According to yelp, this should be a laptop friendly cafe in van...... except that my teammate's laptop could only have one hour battery life and there is no power outlet or sth similar neither inside nor outside.

And the thing is, I thought I already did my research and homework before I was here. Still not enough (sigh)

Oh and for someone who read until this line, their new sandwich is cold and it does not taste bad with around 10 hr outside travel time. Might be safe to conclude that they control food security strictly ;) have a...

I gave a 3 star overall due to unfriendly/unhelpful staff. Two individuals in particular. Two young woman, one in a dark long sleeved shirt and one in a striped red and white shirt.

I came in today around 3pm for a coffee and a pastry with a friend. They were chatting happily behind the pastries, dark shirt came to the front and immediately dropped her friendly expression and avoided eye contact.

I ordered a coffee and a pastry, she put it through said it'll come up on the machine and went to get my pastry. It wasn't put through, so I waited while she continued her friendly conversation with red/white shirt and got my doughnut. When she returned and realized she hadn't put it through, her expression immediately changed and it felt disingenuous.

So anyway, I waited at the bar and a young woman in a green cardigan with winged earrings was making my drink. When she put it up, the flat white wasn't topped all the way up. She explained that it doesn't fit in the Togo cups, but fits the small cups and showed me the for here cup. Totally plausible, I accepted the reason.

Well red/white shirt walked up to her and proceeded to coach her, advising that the milk does need to be topped all the way up. I'm literally standing in front of them during this and she doesn't once look at me or offer to fix it. So I spoke up and asked for a redo

Green cardigan said she would steam more milk and top it up. I appreciated her doing that. Of the 3 people I interacted with, she was by far the most helpful/approachable, so her service was great.

As my friend and I sat with our coffees and chatted, I occasionally looked up and saw how dark shirt interacted with other customers, and her demeanor was inconsistent with them as well. If someone is having an off day, perhaps they shouldn't be the first point of contact.

The coffee/pastry/atmosphere were just fine, but I don't feel encouraged...