Small Victory Bakery — Restaurant in Vancouver

As Fairview residents, we have been customers of Small Victory since it opened and it quickly became one of our favourite coffee shops and bakeries in the neighborhood. The service was always friendly, the food portions were generous, and more importantly, very tasty. Generally, Small Victory Granville is still a very enjoyable place but we feel there's enough points to note so that management and ownership actually improve consistency in service and quality. It's been so much of a yo-yo and every time we think they've bounced back, service and quality slips again. This is the case recently.

FOOD: We have been regularly ordering the avocado toast, clotted cream scones, turkey sandwiches, brioche and breakfast sandwiches, their croissants, pistachio donuts, and cinnamon buns. All some of the best that Vancouver has to offer. The food is absolutely delicious and we have gone out of our way several times to thank the staff and compliment the kitchen on their baking and cooking. Our first few years or having the toast, you'd get 2 slices of avocado toast and the size of the scones was greater. We've watched these go down to 1 slice of toast and considerably smaller scones, for example. Several times, we've ordered hot/warm sandwiches only to have them cold inside or inconsistently heated. Staff has always corrected the issue by re-heating or remaking if necessary, but it's happened more than a few times over the years of going here. You used to be able to get sparkling water from the tap too but that hasn't worked in over a year now. We've noticed an increase in prices too. Understandable to a degree given their size, location, and food costs, but it's getting tougher to justify.

SERVICE: Unfortunately, this is a significant drawback here but not a deal-breaker on many days. It used to be a place of such warmly-greeting staff, happy that you were a patron and so we would almost always recommend SV as THE PLACE to go. Over time, it feels less like they're less joyous and that customers are almost a frustration at times. Now, there are many staff there who are warm, friendly, and interested and whom we've recognized over our many visits while still being efficient at their work but service overall seems inconsistent. Interestingly, we feel like the bakery part and coffee bar are almost two different places or levels of service. We have rarely felt any warmth at the coffee bar and I cannot recall a smile, thank you, or laugh from the coffee bar staff in the many years we've been going. Granted, they have many customers to serve but it's feeling less friendly with each visit. Service improves for a while but then it goes down after a few months and at the time of this review, has seemed to have fallen again in general. On Saturday, one of the drinks we ordered was an oat milk vanilla matcha latte. When I received the drinks, the barista seemed frustrated like they didn't want to be there and did not respond when I said "Thank you."After we left, I took drank some of my beverage and noticed it was neither vanilla or sweetened nor oat (or at least tasted VERY different from the same drinks I've had in the past). Since I'm lactose intolerant and we were already a ways from Small Victory, I basically had to dump my drink down the drain, wasting $$.

ATMOSPHERE: Understandably busy. Well laid out but odd waiting area is wasted space. Long overdue for adding more tables. We've since seen one appear. One visual observation is it still feels very austere with lots of brass and large, open walls. It's not a warm, inviting environment (that comes with the patrons), but rather cold-looking. However, it's always very clean. Lots of space between tables and the furniture is friendly. It's also very cool to see the bakery in operation and the how your drinks are prepared at the coffee bar. One visual improvement that we think is about the walls above the table. Perfect for showcasing big, bold artwork or florals. With a shortage of gallery space for artists in Vancouver, those walls are lacking some bright color to warm...

It was my first time to visit Small Victory on Granville Street. I tried the one in Yaletown. The one on Granville Street is very spacious and it is bigger than the one in Yaletown. The pastries and cakes as well as placing orders are on the right if you are facing the coffee shop. The coffee pickup and baristas stay on the left.

I ordered a latte, almond croissant and lemon tart. The latte tasted great. It was smooth; the coffee and milk balanced well; and the temperature was too hot that wouldn’t burn my tongue. The almond croissant was good too. It was crispy outside and sweet inside. However, I still love the almond croissant from Thomas Hass more 😊. The yellow cream in the lemon tart tasted very sour and the pastry outside tasted sweet. Whenever I swallowed once, the sour flavour made me shivering. 😅 I was not sure why the pastry portion was really really really hard that I had to use a lot of energy to cut the lemon tart by fork.

In general, the coffee here tasted great. They have a wide variety of pastries but it depends on which one you choose. I may like to try their chocolate pastries next time and other coffee beverages.

This coffee shop is located on a busy street. It is hard to find street parking. It is good for people who walk or take public transit. I drove, parked far away and walked all the way to the coffee shop. If you are going to park on the street, you may find some parking meters, street parking with two hours free or free parking in residential areas (which are further away from the coffee shop). But watch out on the time limit on sign. You don’t want to get a parking ticket just because you want to...

I went in the middle of a stormy day and wanted to eat in. The staff who took my order, a woman in her 20s, said that there are two groups ahead of me waiting for a table. She said that I cannot stay inside while waiting for a table and told me to wait outside in one of the wet chairs -- out in the damp cold. I am visibly pregnant (about to give birth in a month so my stomach is as large as a whale) and I pointed out that I will get sick if I do that. They have a waiting area inside the cafe for those ordering take out, and I asked if I could wait there instead so I don't get sick. She said no, sorry. I was appalled -- especially because there weren't a lot of people waiting for their take out.

Where is the empathy there? I'm just asking if I can sit and wait, it's not like I'm causing any harm, right? How incredibly inhumane of this individual to do this to a pregnant woman. The nerve she has not only to refuse to help out a customer who is clearly uncomfortable, but to ask me to wait in the damp cold, knowing well that I am vulnerable. This experience makes me think that with the shortage of customer service staff, Small Victory would simply hire anyone off the street, and not bother giving them proper customer service training.

By the way, the item I ordered (chicken roll) was so incredibly salty and dry, I ended up throwing it after the first bite. Terrible. What a waste of my money,...