Breka Bakery & Café - W Hastings — Restaurant in Vancouver

The positive, the sandwiches and snacks are pretty cheap and though there are small they're very good. The Sasuage rolls are great. They are open 24 7 at every location which is awesome.

The bad, the coffee is very meh. I'd take a Starbucks over Brekka any day. This goes for lattes and cappaccinos too. The pastries and deserts are pretty good I guess, but too expensive. They aren't worth it in my opinion.

The very bad, their staff. Not all! But I would say 80% of them are snobby and impatient with customers. They hand you the bag, you say thanks, they scoff and walk away. Seriously almost every time this is what happens. It's bizarre. Almost like they are trained to be uptight and pretentious. They all never seem like they want to be there or want you to be there. This goes for every Brekka location. It's rare to get a smile. Occasionally I will run into a very friendly, warm employee I should mention.

They also treat delivery drivers like trash. Being a driver myself, who's done 1500 deliveries, Brekka hands down are the rudest staff to drivers compared to any restaurant. It's almost like a corporate culture they adopted that has spread throughout the business to despise delivery drivers. And I'm not even sure why. Maybe that had bad experiences but not from me.

They come bring you the order, open the window, hold it out, you grab it and they slam the window shut before you can even get a "thank you" out. And this is going to sound made up, but half the time they give you a look of disdain lol, or it's almost like a scoff as I mentioned earlier. It's so odd. Sometimes a certain attitude can permeate throughout a business and I guess they adopted one of hating delivery drivers. (as for the window, they make drivers wait outside and go to a pickup window Also sonething entirely unique to the pretentious Brekka Bakery. Doesn't matter if its busy, quiet, sunny or pouring rain. And the get SO uppitty if you forget to use the window and go inside. Can't have lowly drivers messing up their classy bakery. Like y'all sell friggin cake, it's not a Louis Vuitton lol but whatever the window idea is fine. It makes zero difference to your business whatsoever m, but whatever I'll indulge your window policy.)

I'm pretty tolerant of rude staff, I will continue to be polite to them, but I had to write this in a review just because it was so beyond anything I've ever experienced compared to any retailer of any kind in my life. Between being a customer and driver I've interacted with their staff probably 30 times or so. So it's not just a couple one off experiences. See my Davie street review for an absolutely ridiculous experience I had there.

If you go to Duffin Donuts for example, it's day night difference. The staff there is so warm and friendly and welcoming the vibes are just so chill and everyone seems happy. You should all take w a field trip there. Compared to brekka, which feels cold and clinical, unwelcoming, they seem to want to rush you out the door and seem to hate being there. The Hastings location is the worst offender for this. The Davie and Bute locations not far behind. But even uptown locations this vibe exists, though to a lesser extent. I'm sorry, I didn't want to lump any of the friendly employees and with this review, I recognize you exist. You should apply at...

Extremely Disappointed – Poor Customer Service & Zero Accountability I placed an order on Breka’s website and noticed the receipt said “card unpaid,” so I immediately called the West Hastings branch to confirm whether they had received my order. I provided my name and the receipt number. At no point during that call did anyone mention there were two orders under my name. The next day, I unexpectedly received two bags. I tried calling again—no response—so I sent an email. Eventually, the manager called and informed me they couldn't issue a refund because the order amounts didn’t match. I was completely blindsided. How could I have placed two orders 14 minutes apart without knowing? I received only one confirmation message, one receipt, and no duplicate notifications—until the delivery day, when I suddenly got two “your dasher is arriving” texts. That’s when I realized something was off. The only difference between the two orders was two parfaits. When I questioned this, the manager told me to bring back the food to get my money back. But I had ordered this for work—am I supposed to carry around extra food from the day before just to prove a point? She was incredibly dismissive and told me, “We have lots of customers, we’re not here to track your order.” Seriously? That’s the level of service you offer to a loyal customer who’s been ordering for corporate events for over two years? She also claimed she sent me a receipt for the $118 order—but if there were two orders, why didn’t I receive both receipts? No explanation. Just blame-shifting. The worst part was the complete lack of empathy, professionalism, or accountability. No effort to understand my situation, no acknowledgment of a possible website or system error—just rude responses and refusal to take ownership. Breka may be popular and relatively affordable, but if this is how they treat regular customers, it's not worth it. Once businesses get too big, it seems they forget the basics of customer service and respect. My advice: fix your website design, your payment and receipt system, and most importantly, train your staff to handle issues with empathy and professionalism. This was a disappointing experience, and I’m seriously reconsidering giving Breka my business...

The first Breka I reviewed was the one on Bute, and my experience was dicey, to say the least. Therefore, I didn't go into this Breka with any expectations, as I knew the pendulum could swing either way.

One look around and I had to wonder if I had walked into a fine dining establishment as the golden ringed lights, varying hues of blue curtains and seating, and high floor to wall mirrors belied something other than a simple bakery. But giving it a second look, I saw Canadian Patriotism abound in the form of Canadian Flags and Maple Leaves strung and hung about the place. I'm not dissing Canadian Pride, but it was kind of a jarring juxtaposition to see this classy looking place sharing the spotlight with pedestrian flags and leaves.

I got in line with everyone else and waited for my turn to order. My beef with the other Breka had been the workers, but it didn't exist here, as I received friendly service ordering my Kahlua Chocolate Mousse, Black Forest Cake, Chocolate Banana Loaf and Chocolate Walnut Babka.

There was a lot of signage advertising Soups of the Day, Chili and Chowders, and Summer Drink Specials. Didn't have enough time to assimilate it all, so I'll go back another day for myself, as this trip was for my mom. High on my list is to grab a Chocolate Pecan Muffin, Beef Chili, and White Peach Iced Black Tea.

You can get baked goods anywhere, especially downtown. But if you want to get them at a nice location with professional service, go to this Hastings Breka.

I'm not sure if there's a slow time to go to this Breka, as when I got there, it was close to 1:00 p.m. and every single booth, chair, and table was occupied. Maybe when they first open? Otherwise, plan to buy what you want...