Bon's Off Broadway — Restaurant in Vancouver

On August 15, 2025, around 12:00 PM, I visited Bon’s on Broadway with my mother, my young 11yr old autistic son, and my two siblings. I have been a loyal customer for years and have never once had an issue there — until this day.

We went specifically because of the low price for breakfast, as both my mother and I are low income. I am currently on government income assistance, and this can be confirmed by the government.. and I could only afford to cover my own portion and my son’s meal. My mother, who is also low income, was paying for her own portion as well as my two siblings’ meals, as they do not work or have any income.

I ordered: • 2 breakfasts ($2.95 each) • 1 coffee ($5) • 1 apple juice ($5)

My mother ordered her own separate items and covered my siblings’ meals. When the bill came to approximately $40 in total, we each went to the counter to pay for our own portions. I had the exact amount for my share, and my mother had the money for hers and my siblings’. Unfortunately I am broke until family tax day and could just afford this meal for today and outing.

The staff member who served us, came at the front counter — Asian man — immediately raised his voice in a way that made the entire restaurant turn to look at us. In front of everyone, he told me that bills for groups of five or more cannot be split, claiming he had said this when we first arrived. Not only was this embarrassing and completely unnecessary, but we were not even “splitting” the bill in the usual sense — the full amount was being paid in full, just by two different people.

I calmly explained that I simply did not have enough money to pay for the entire bill. I told him my mother was covering the rest. Still, he continued to speak loudly, with a tone that felt condescending and judgmental, making it very clear he looked down on me for my financial situation. It was as if I was being shamed in front of an audience for not having more money in my wallet.

The way he looked at me and spoke to me made me feel small, embarrassed, and humiliated. I did not raise my voice, curse, or disrespect him in any way. I stood there quietly, feeling more and more exposed, as other customers openly stared. By this point, I felt like I was going to cry. Instead of resolving the situation discreetly, he escalated it and, in the end, told me never to come back to the restaurant again for “not respecting the rules.” I just said back that’s okay we won’t ever come back.

But this could have been handled with basic empathy and respect — a quiet word, an exception given the circumstances, or simply processing the payment as we had requested. Instead, it turned into a public spectacle that made me feel degraded and judged for being low income.

I believe this treatment was unprofessional, unnecessarily confrontational, and discriminatory toward me as a low-income customer. Its is unfortunate I didn’t have much money to go out to eat but I thought today would be nice since it was affordable to get by until family tax day next week.. I am requesting that this incident be reviewed, that the business clarifies its policies, and that a formal apology be issued for the way this situation...

I’ve tried to eat here twice and both times were a fail. The first time I tried to eat here we were sat at a table and we ordered from the server, it was not busy but not slow either, and so we waited patiently for our food.

1 hour went by and we never saw our server again, all the tables around us had eaten and paid their bills and they started leaving, we tried to flag down other staff but they were all zooming around not really paying attention to us, I finally got up and went to the counter and told them to cancel the order we had to leave and couldn’t wait any longer, the guy was really nice and apologized but that was about it.

We went back again today to try again, I wanted to give them a chance at redemption. I’ve heard good things about this place so I was thinking maybe the service was just an off day or it was our servers first shift training or something, and we were turned away.

It’s not the this servers fault they didn’t realize what happened the last time we tried to eat there, and are just following the rules. but we both had a coffee from Starbucks, i have allergies so I usually bring my own coffee places because I know a lot of places don’t have the kind of dairy alternatives I can have, and I don’t drink my coffee black. I have never yet in 20 years been turned away from a business for having a coffee, but He told us we can’t bring drinks from outside, which is fine. I just explained to him the last time we tried to eat there we sat for an hour without anyone bringing us anything and we won’t bring drinks from outside next time. He told us to eat outside but we would have to pay first before being served and you can understand after what happened why that wasn’t really an option.

I work in the restaurant industry and just 100% my own personal experience no where I’ve worked would stop guests from bringing coffee from outside the restaurant because often times restaurants don’t offer very many options for drinks like decaf tea, milk alternatives, iced coffee, etc. Each place is different but It’s not against the law for people to bring their own food or drinks to restaurants but it is up to the restaurant to decide what is an appropriate situation to make an exception if they have a policy prohibiting bringing outside drinks and food, like if you suspect someone is bringing alcohol or not purchasing anything and only using the table to eat their food. I would never stop someone from bringing something if they have allergies and are worried, or have kids that are picky eaters, etc.

He told us it was illegal to bring drinks from outside the restaurant so there was nothing he could do. So I was disappointed in this case they would not make an exception But that’s totally up to the restaurant to decide so I respect their decision.

I just won’t be returning here in the future I feel like trying twice was enough of my time wasted, and I feeling like my first impression was correct.

Finally summation; this place offers a 3$ breakfast but it looks like you get what you pay for, if you are looking for good service try somewhere else. If you do go here really manage your...

The cheap greasy food was not worth the rude service. Even the outside doors were filthy. Any character meant to be created by the old movie posters has been destroyed by excessive graffiti all over them. You can barely make out what they once were. F--- Off was even scrawled on our table lamp. It took fifteen minutes to even get a drink request in after they seated me (no they weren't full and it takes seconds to say would you like something to drink before you walk away), and when I asked if I could just have a tea to start I was mocked in a condescending tone from the waitress, in front of my two other guests. The tea was cold and never refilled. They filled the plate with sub par food and never bothered to come back. We had to seek out a glass of water for ourselves. the cutlery for three people was tossed on the table in a pile with a bill by a waitress with her back already turned and already walking away, and was left for us to sort out. Instead of telling us there was no point in waiting for a machine or waitress to pay the bill, or that we needed to line up at the chaotic front bar to pay, or that we'd have to split the totals on one forced bill ourselves, we were rudely told we'd been long enough and needed to leave (despite the fact that I was still nursing my cold tea and having conversation, finishing our hour long meeting over breakfast ( and over dirty dishes) with my companions). "Youve been here long enough, you need to go." I have been a google map maker and reviewer for five years. Despite telling them this at the onset of bad service, they did not change their tack. I have never left less than three stars for anyone. I figure if i have nothing good to say I will say nothing, but I can't, in good conscience, leave this without an honest review and psuedo-warning; Buyer beware... Ikea has a cheap breakfast with less grease and...