Tina Cake Desserts — Restaurant in Vancouver

=== Update to reply to the owner === Staff name: Chi Nguyen We arrived on Feb 24, 2024, around 8pm - 8.30pm

Bạn CHI đó nói giọng bắc, trang điểm đậm, lông mi dày. Mình hi vọng manager training lại cho bạn CHI nhé, vì attitude không thể chấp nhận được. Bạn cần thì cứ để lại thông tin liên lạc, mình sẵn sàng 3 mặt 1 lời!!

I just had an extremely terrible experience with the service attitude of a staff member named CHI here.

Our group of 6 arrived during peak hours, so I sympathetically agreed to wait for 30 minutes to be seated. There were 2 tables (one for 2 people and one for 4 people), but they were not adjacent. Because we didn't want to wait any longer, our group agreed to split up (CHI didn't suggest this idea initially, despite the available tables).

The story takes a turn when a table for 2 next to our table for 4 became vacant, and two of us wanted to move there. Because I understood that the staff were very busy, I didn't want to move without asking CHI first. The first time we asked, she completely ignored us. The second time, she said to wait a moment and never showed up. So, after a while, two of us decided to move to the empty table by ourselves. Right at that moment, CHI hurried over and bluntly told us that the table had already been reserved by 2 other customers who insisted on sitting there. Then we asked when the customers had made the reservation because we had been waiting for nearly 1 hour, she couldn't provide an answer. When I asked why she didn't help us hold the table, she gave a ridiculous reason, because those two are her "regular customers", so she wants to prioritize them. Instead of responding like that, why didn't she try to persuade those two guys to switch tables with us? It's not about whether those two agreed or not, what I need and want to see is her enthusiasm and willingness to help, not the result.

By now, perhaps everyone has seen a disrespectful and unprofessional attitude. CHI even challenged our group to write an online review - a very disdainful attitude towards customers. Could it be that she feels empowered by some "backing" within the restaurant to behave like this?

There are many other specific details on that day, but because the review is already quite long, I'll stop here. This is a very minor incident if CHI could handle it more tactfully, but she didn't choose to do so. I am extremely frustrated and really want to talk to the store managers, but I couldn't meet them that day, so I hope the restaurant will contact me to resolve this situation and to improve their service and provide adequate...

Another review from “guy eating his way through the Vietnamese restaurants in the Lower Mainland”.

Vancouver needs more Vietnamese dessert places and I’m glad that Tina Cakes opened on Kingsway. There’s so many tasty and fun things to eat when it comes to Viet desserts and the menu at Tina Cakes is quite extensive. Not only pages of desserts but also delectable cooked food items.

I’m sure you can find something to your liking here from the fruit shakes, fruit crepes, flans, and various jellys. Everything is very reasonably priced too with most desserts coming in under $10. When I visited though they were in the process of updating their menus so we had to ask the server how much certain items were. Service was friendly and cheerful but they may need a bit more help as the place was packed and only a few servers to attend to everyone.

My wife had a mixed durian dessert which she quite enjoyed as the fruits were very fresh. I opted for the bahn mi which was quite tasty - bread was crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Also had a great fresh mango shake which was on special.

Will definitely return to try other items.

UPDATES: We’ve been back a few times now since my first review. This is still one of our fav places for Vietnamese style desserts. They’ve expanded their cooked food options and there’s some really good stuff on there. Don’t be afraid to try something new!

UPDATE Sept 4, 2024 Menus have been updated - easier to navigate, some prices look to have gone up slightly. Service can definitely be improved. If the owners/operators are reading this please take note. Some customers may be put off by the quality of service. They could use a little more training and perhaps some extra help. Our server brought our order over and didn’t even know what she was bringing to us. And half the napkins that she brought were wet already.

Ray’s Tips: Cash or Debit only for payment. Free street parking out front. Also parking on...

I visited here 2 times in the past 2 weeks to try out different things.

If I could, I would rate it more of a 3.5 than a 3 star.

1. The dessert here is good. 100% for sure. Try out their Vietnamese Che Desserts. Didn’t miss a beat on flavor and texture. The first time I came, ordered their Che Dac Biet, Sponge Cake with Pork floss and salted egg, Flan with mixed jelly and Durian Crepe rolls. The second time, I ordered again Che Dac Biet and Mango Crepe Rolls. Really enjoyed these.

What really brought the score down is their food. On my second visit, I tried their snacks. I had ordered Vietnamese Style Chicken Nuggets, Vietnamese Calamari and Fried Frog legs.

Vietnamese Chicken nugget were cold - the taste was okay witn their dipping sauces but for a “fried” nugget, you’d thing it come out hot if it was just cooked. It felt like they had some left over nuggets from a previous order, microwaved it slightly and then brought it out to us.

The Vietnamese Calmari was decent, albeit a little oily (there was a little to much oil pooling at the bottom so you can tell it wasn’t really shaken off after frying) it was hot at least and not bad.

The fried frog legs were a dissapointment for sure. Lacked in flavor, same issue with oiliness. I ate one and and after a bite, I could tell it was quite tasteless. I asked for salt and pepper to least finish the piece I started eating. It was really plain.

3. Also on my second visit, we ordered 3 drinks. My Cafe Sua Da was a little watered down and quite bitter, a little extra condensed milk wouldn’t have hurt. We also ordered their Mango Fresh Fruit shake and Manga Ice Cream Shake, the kids enjoyed these.

Overall, definitely come for desserts. Take a chance on food, maybe your experience would be...