54th Ave Cafe — Restaurant in Vancouver

We ordered 3 dish combo which comes with soup, rice, and dessert.

The soup was great - very flavorful.

Paired appetizer dish - we chose jellyfish and bbq pork. Keep in mind, this dish is literally just bought from other stores and not made in house. The bbq pork was tough and flavorless. The jellyfish was the worst thing we have eaten. It was mushy and chopped up into little pieces. The good thing was that the waitress offered to switch it out. So we got bbq duck instead. The duck was also bad. Thin skin, flavorless meat. I don't know where they are getting their stuff from.

Sweet and sour pork - half of the dish is onions/bell peppers which should have been the accent. The sauce itself is not bad. The pork was okay. Mostly very lean pork so it was tougher than usual. First time seeing pineapple tidbits used instead of chunks or quartered slices. This makes the dish look really cheap since you can just pour the can into the wok.

Deep fried squid and tofu - very obvious there is more tofu than squid to save money. The tofu was fried well. The squid was over fried and rather hard/chewy and dry. The seasoned salt and chili pepper seasoning was good.

Considering these are very staple dishes and they cannot even do them mediocrely, I would not try their seafood dishes.

Dessert was sago.. something with taro. This dessert is supposed to be made with coconut milk dish but I had no idea what they used. It was so sweet so I suspect it was just diluted...

Food: In my opinion, the food is great, it's delicious and they come in huge portions.

Prices: The prices are average, decent and affordable, which is also great.

Service - The service is fast. As a result to that, I don't have to wait a long time for the food when I'm hungry, which is another good thing.

Waitresses - The waitresses are nice, friendly and caring. They're easy to get along with. That's why I love going there, because they're pleasant people to be around.

Environment - The environment inside 54th Ave Cafe is clean, neat and comfortable. This is another reason why I love going there.

Owner: The owner of 54th Ave Cafe is nice, friendly and honest. Last time, she accidentally charged me extra money on my bill. However, when I eat there again the following week, they gave me back the extra money.

54th Ave Cafe, in my opinion is one of the best restaurants in Vancouver. Therefore, I strongly recommend all of you to try it out. I've been eating there with my mom ever since they've started, which was 13 years ago, around 2003. I'm now 25 years old. In conclusion, from the very first day that I ate there, with my mom to as of now, I have no regrets, and I'm always looking forward in eating there. Keep it up...

I think this place deserves a second chance, most of the reviews I think are before 54th cafe changed chefs.

The 5 times I’ve visited 54th cafe over the span of a month they’ve been incredibly consistent. Every fried rice, pan fried/stir fry noodle, braised dish has been full of wok essence (鑊氣)

One particular dish that stood out to me is the braised tofu with roast pork belly on rice (火腩豆腐飯) it’s probably the best one I’ve had, compared to the other ones I’ve had at other Hk cafes around the neighborhood (sun tin day, the one bbq, Angel cafe) the dish itself looks great, with the green onions and carrot slices, not just a brown saucy mass, and literally the most ingredient full version compare to the other place I listed above, the pork doesn’t have that overnight smell/taste and is not drowning in sauce.

I don’t really care about the service or atmosphere, just as long as the place is relatively clean and orders arrive at a reasonable timeframe, this is a Hk...