Café Portrait — Restaurant in Vancouver

Let me ask you something.

When you go out to eat, do you expect the food to arrive at the same time? So that everyone can enjoy their order and eat together? Yes? oh..ok. So, I'm not crazy. Just checking.

Now here's my experience of this place.

We had actually just come from an amazing breakfast place when we stubbled on Cafe Portrait on Denman, and it literally stopped us as the interior and its cozy atmosphere grabbed our attention. So, we decided to try it a few days later.

Even though the atmosphere is artistic, cute and unique if you like your personal space....this place may be a bit cluttered for you. So, you order at the coffee bar then sit at your table...yeah, it's one of those. No problem, we ordered an Espresso and Latte, and the Espresso was really very good. We also ordered the Monet Plate and the Kokoschka Breakfast. Waited about 40 min and the Monet Plate arrived thinking that the other was on its way, but it didn't arrive. We asked one of the staff and she said.....it'll be about 5-10 min for the other one. Hmmmm.....ok. I can either start eating my meal while my company sits there watching me, or I can wait for his to arrive while mine goes stone cold. I told her....well we were kind of hoping to eat together....you know the whole point of a dine out? What was quite fascinating was that she looked at me like I was from outer space, and then she proceeded to tell me that the orders come out in the order they were place and I reminded her that both orders were place at exactly the same time. The response to that unfortunately was.....well...that's the way the kitchen does it. Ok...so we waited and waited and waited and the food didn't arrive and we had to cancel it. No explanation or follow up from management, no expedited process to get the meal that was missed out to the guest....a complete lack of gesture to indicate concern or care.

With the food that did arrive, I noticed that it didn't look like the pictures and the two eggs were cooked inconsistently....while one was soft the other was done medium....and too oily (see pic). I would say this is a perfect example of "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover".

We got the dish that never arrived refunded onto our card, left hungry and went someplace else...

This is an absolutely fabulous spot near English Bay Beach and the start of Stanley Park. My wife Andreea and I went for a quick drink (excellent Turkish coffee and iced mango hojicha latté) a few days into this Vancouver visit. We returned today for a proper breakfast, and were beyond pleased to enjoy a fantastic meal. My wife had a perfectly made and presented shakshuka, which was hearty, delicious, and extremely balanced in its flavours and textures. I had çılbır, often called Turkish eggs, which were prepared exquisitely, to my specifications. I had a very tasty oat flat white, and my wife had a refreshing Turkish apple tea. In terms of food and drink, it was an impressive and memorable meal.

Beyond this, the service was impeccable. The team of servers/staff was attentive and welcoming, and the owner, Deniz, made it a point to check in and he also shared in the work of taking orders and attending to the needs of customers. He came and introduced himself to us during the meal and made sure we had everything we needed. It was a small gesture, but extremely appreciated.

Another interesting and unique feature of the café is that the walls and tables are adorned with the portraiture artwork done by Deniz’ father, Engin (hence the name of the establishment), and Deniz’ mother works and oversees activity in the kitchen to make sure her recipes are prepared correctly. This is the very definition of a family business, with a clear outpouring of love into every part of the place (from the decor to the way seating is maximised in the small booths as well as the outside terrasse). With such outstanding quality in the whole experience, we have nothing but positive feelings for Café Portrait.

Worth noting is that the space is small so entering with a stroller/pram might be a bit hard (as it does tend to get busy at usual meal times). Also, inside the booths are typically reserved for 60 minutes to allow for others to rotate in to enjoy as well.

A real gem in downtown Vancouver! Very much worth it to go out of one’s way to have a meal here....

I was so excited to try this restaurant as I had read good things. Unfortunately, we had a terrible experience. First, they forgot my girlfriend's order, so her dish arrived about 15 minutes after mine. That would have been alright is we hadn't discovered that its eggs (in the Eggs Benedict) were partially raw! When we showed the young man who was serving us, he said "I'm sorry - we always do our best to try to make sure the food is completely cooked." I was shocked! He then offered to make her a new one, but because she hadn't noticed that the eggs were raw (as they were completely covered in sauce), she had eaten almost the entire dish and wasn't hungry anymore. As a result, we simply asked for a refund for that dish (about $17). What followed was unbelievable!

Once I went to the till for my refund, the young man accosted my girlfriend and told her that next time she should "inspect" their food before eating to make sure it was cooked, and also told her that he would "never give her a refund again". He was very rude and condescending towards her, even though she had just finished eating a full dish of raw eggs at his restaurant. In addition, he accused her of trying to scam them in order to get a free meal! That is absolutely not the case. We are both young professionals, and all we wanted was to go out for a nice Sunday brunch at a good restaurant. To be accused of lying after being served raw eggs was just not the relaxing weekend experience we were hoping for.

I do not recommend anyone visit this restaurant unless they would like to either experience, or witness, the owners dressing down their customers and accusing them of lying (after being...