Maxine's Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Vancouver

🌟🌟🌟/5 for Happy Hour - came on a Friday night for happy hour - we ordered the espresso martini, his dudeness, steak tartare, tuna crudo, fried chicken and chicken liver parfait.

Both the drinks were both a major disappointment. The espresso martini was better than the dudeness. It has a lot of coffee flavour in it but lacked smoothness. The dudeness tasted like watered down Kahlua.

The steak tartare had way to much parmesan cheese on it. It makes the flavour of the beef completely.

The fried chicken was the highlight of the meal. It was super crispy and the honey butter flavour was a nice touch. The house pickles also went really well with everything.

The tuna crudo - couldn't taste any smokiness, there was a lot of melon. Would not order this again.

Chicken liver parfait - tasted over-whipped almost like the consistency of whipping cream but with the flavour of chicken liver. Very light. It went well with the sourdough. I would rank this higher than the tuna crudo and the steak tartare but not as good as the fried chicken

Overall: happy hour was pretty disappointment. Most of the flavours didn't hit the mark. I would stick to their brunch. Also if you don't like restaurants with machines that prompt you with a 18% tip as their first option, you should probably avoid this place.

🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 for brunch - Came for brunch on a Monday at around 12. The place was packed and we managed to snag the last table. I ordered the smoked salmon benedict and the chicken sandwich to share. I also tried the breakfast sandwich with bacon. The smoked salmon benedict was very delicious. They give you a good amount of smoked salmon and the egg was poached perfectly. I wish there was a bit more hollandaise sauce. The hash brown was nice and crispy - very addicting. The salad wasn't too heavy with the sauce and acted as a nice inbetween between the hashbrowns and the Benedict. Would recommend the smoked salmon benedict.

The chicken sandwich with fries was quite large. The chicken was crispy and juicy. The sandwich is quite tall. The bun held the fried chicken well, didn't fall apart or anything. They are very generous with the French fries. They are the skinnier type but I don't mind it. I ate them when they were kind of cold so they weren't as crispy as I liked. Might have been better when hot (like most fries). Would recommend the burger.

The breakfast sandwich with bacon was equally as tall as the chicken sandwich. I liked the addition of the alfalfa sprouts - gave it some contrasting crunchiness. The bacon was a bit too chewy for me but other than that it was a decent breakfast sandwich. Different from the usual breakfast sandwich from other places. Would recommend the chicken sandwich over the breakfast sandwich.

The service was really attentive. They noticed that we were sharing so they split our salmon Benedict onto two plates and cut our chicken sandwich in half. They came to check on us a few times to make sure we had everything and to refill ketchup etc. I would definitely recommend this place for brunch. Would like to come back and try their happy hour and dinner menu as...

I live in Kitsilano and returning from the city center, passing this cute cafe many times, I told myself that I definitely need to visit this place.. moreover, as a connoisseur of reviews, the first thing I did was check the rating and read the reviews. And then the day X came - the stars aligned, I came to brunch-dinner with my husband. The atmosphere inside is quite cozy, but I wanted to sit outdoors. There were free tables on the terrace, but as it turned out, they were all reserved and we were seated near the entrance group. Before the visit, I went to the establishment's Instagram, saw a nice dish and immediately decided to order it - smoked salmon rősti to vol. 2 (the photo, like the description of the dish, made me hungry), but what a disappointment it was when they brought me the ordered dish.... It's like in the meme "expectation-reality"! In the photo, the dish has already been started (since I was hungry - in fact, it was my very late breakfast), but I did not touch the smoked salmon. That is, a dish whose name lists smoked salmon first contains at most 10 grams of this salmon! I thought that maybe under the piece of (dry) fried salmon there was also smoked salmon (since I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this ridiculous amount of fish that the dish was called (and the cost of which, mind you, = $38!), but no - it was all the fish. When the waiter came up to ask if everything was okay, we brought the problem to her, to which she politely replied that she would try to figure it out and come back a little later. Then the manager of the establishment came up and said that he had spoken to the chef - the dish was fine and "corresponds to the gram weight". When I showed him a photo from their Instagram (where there are at least three large twisted fish roses on this dish - the answer was: "this is a presentation photo especially for social networks". Curtain! The issue was of course resolved - they offered to bring the fish (for some reason, a piece of fried salmon was put with 2 small smoked salmon roses, to which there were no complaints, and there was no desire to eat it also, since I prefer fresh), but ok. Moreover, there was a small black hair in my dish, but I decided not to publicize this moment and even decided not to tell my husband, because he would definitely freak out and not eat anything there, and I was too hungry (since it was my very late breakfast that day *) As a result, I did not get any pleasure from the food - the situation with the portion of the main ingredient itself was very upsetting, but the taste of the whole dish did not please me (the fried salmon, as I already said, was dry, the potato hashbrown was hard and tasteless) - I absolutely do not understand how such a dish can cost so much money and for such dubious quality. It's a shame, because the place is nice, but the kitchen was...

The chill vibe of this updated French bistro is phenomenal. The staff are on point, and know how to take care of customers. The kitchen knows exactly what they’re doing, and if you need to check it out, if it’s clean, just peek in from the sidewalk! My brunch mate had a nice glass of red with the Dutch Baby; I had a macchiato and the omelette with Boursin cheese and frites. The ketchup and mayonnaise for the fries, and the hot sauce for the omelette were the perfect condiments. We were at the corner of the bar, and Claire took great care of us. It was a perfect choice to celebrate our birthdays in style. I will return to taste some of the other menu choices. It seems brunch on weekends can be extremely busy with long waits at peak times. Update: May 5, 2023 Another perfect brunch- I had the omelette, my buddy had the Benny. Their Hollandaise is incredibly layered with an herb vinegar. Awesome oat milk flat white. Service was flawless on the heated patio, and they are now taking reservations before 17:00. Truly wonderful value for the quality. A neighbourhood gem! Dec 12: Birthday lunch update- Another incredible meal from the welcome to the food and service. I had the falafel bowl with quinoa and it was delightful. Just the right hint of spice. My friends split the smoked salmon benedict with added avocado. Nicole took great care of us, but each staff member was lovely. Lauren from MAN adds to the friendly management team. If you’ve never tried the frozen slushie with Baileys and Whiskey, it’s a boozy kiss! Update: Mar 15, 2025 Very warm welcome. Large, loud group at back patio (probably would have been better if seated in glassed off room inside), music volume high, lowered on request. Food quality excellent, portions of puttanesca and meatballs big, Risotto very small. Falafel and carrots, eggplant parm delicious. Party with a happy pekingese dog seated nearby, removed from the carrier by diner; table next asked to be moved. Brunch menu more complete for vegetarians. Service by Lili was very attentive. this was a one off noisy visit. Still one of my favourite places for a special night...