Marulilu Café — Restaurant in Vancouver

This café is unassuming from the street, but the inside is charming! They have local art on display and some antique accessories. The music choice was so soothing. It’s a small, quiet place, and the largest table is for 4, so not a place to go with a big group. When I entered I was greeted very cheerfully by one of the staff members who handed me a menu and explained that I could sit anywhere and come to the front when I was ready to order. This person and the other staff I saw were both so sweet but gave me plenty of space while I ate, which was much appreciated, yet they brought out my dessert shortly after I was finished with my meal and were quick to clean up when other customers left, so they weren’t being inattentive. I had the Japanese Style Breakfast with natto. It came out faster than I was expecting. Everything in this was very simple but it was all good, and put together made for an excellent comforting meal. I’m usually indifferent to miso soup, but this was one of the best I’ve had! It was flavourful in a way that I didn’t know miso soup could be. It was my first time trying natto and I really liked it! If it’s your first time too, I would suggest taking your first taste before mixing in the mustard, since I found the combination of the natto and the pungent mustard to be a lot to process at first. They go well together once you know what to expect. The breakfast is priced very well for the amount of food you get (~$10), but it’s an extra $1.75 to add oshinko on the side, which seems a little steep for the 5 pieces, but since the base price was so low and because having the oshinko really elevates the meal for me, I didn’t hesitate to add it. The Tiramisu for dessert was cute and the different layers were very balanced. Finally, I had an Iced Hojicha Latte to drink. Originally I wanted to get the Lavender Latte, but I wanted an unsweetened drink, and the person taking the order told me they don’t recommend the lavender unsweetened and suggested I could try half sweet, but I just decided to go for something else. The flavour of the hojicha was very pleasant, and I was also glad the almond milk they used wasn’t one of the sweetened kinds. The desserts and drinks are also pretty inexpensive, which is especially nice to see for the desserts since they seem comparable to the stuff you see at boutique dessert/coffee shops around the city.

I would really recommend this place for simple and hearty Japanese eats in a calm atmosphere. I think if you came here expecting a gourmet culinary adventure you might be left underwhelmed, but (based on what I had) it’s a perfect execution of straightforward and unpretentious comfort food, and they offer something unique from other brunch spots, coffee shops, and Japanese restaurants in the city, so I’m very happy to have...

My boyfriend and I used to love this spot and have always supported their business. However after my experience on Feb 26, I will not be returning anymore.

I visited the location a bit past noon on Feb 26 with my boyfriend for brunch, I went up to the cashier and ordered my meal and a drink specifically saying the details - regular, hojicha latte with oat milk, the cashier told me :"oh thank you, you told me everything I was going to ask". Then the cashier went to make my drink. When my latte arrived, I took a sip and immediately felt that the milk they used was regular milk, I took a few more sips and asked my boyfriend to confirm. I am lactose intolerant so I had to order the oat milk substitution. I waved and asked a server to come by to confirm what milk they used, server went to the back and confirmed that it was regular milk and said I did not indicate I wanted oat milk. I told her that I definitely told the cashier it was oat milk and I am allergic to regular milk so I cannot drink it. She took the drink away and said they will make me a new one and asked me to go pay $0.75 at the cash for the oat milk surcharge, she asked if I can pay in cash or not and I said I do not have cash on me, unwillingly to use the credit card machine. They remade the drink but at that point I was already almost done my lunch and I asked my boyfriend to help me get a paper cup so I can take my drink to go. He went up and they also asked him if he had cash, he said no and instead of $0.50 cup fee they charged him $1.00 indicating that it was the lowest fee they can put on the machine.

This experience truly made me feel that all this place care about is themselves. As a consumer I do understand that there is inflation and fees associated with operating a business but I do not understand why you have to go above and beyond for every single penny...

When a customer indicated that the order was wrong, this business automatically assumed that the customer was at fault, even after learning about a dietary restriction, still asked the customer to pay for oat milk.

When it was already made aware of the incident, not being understanding about why the customer needed a to go cup and then having the audacity to surcharge 2 times for a paper cup because the customer has no cash?

We left as we did not want to be there longer to explain as honestly we do not need the extra $0.50 but it is just a horrible experience for a place that we...

This little café used to be one of my very favourite place to eat breakfast in Vancouver. My family and I have been going there for years, and I was always raving about the food. Today Friday morning, some friends from out of town are visiting Vancouver. I told them I was going to take them to an amazing little place, and yes, there are a lot of construction, it's noisy, dusty and very hard to park but worth going.

I show up 5 before my friends who were looking for parking.

The waitress tells me that I only get to sit at a table when my 3 other friends are here. I thought it was a bit weird... I show her their location and they are about 5 minutes walk away.

I wait standing up, while there is a table of 4, empty right in front of me.

2 minutes later a party of 3 comes in and the waitress gives them the last large table.

I was pretty upset. I'm right here at the restaurant, my friends are parking their car and I can't sit at a table while they are walking to join me. I have never heard of patrons not able to sit until everyone in their party shows up.

Although I love their Japanese breakfast, I was also disappointed to see they do not have eggs benedict anymore.

I wanted to support a business that has been affected by the Broadway construction, but instead I will never go back and let people know about their refusal to sit patrons who arrive before the rest of their party.

What a shame, used to...