Crema Cafe Bar — Restaurant in West Vancouver

I'm not a vegan. I'm about as close to being a vegan as a fish is to climbing a tree and eating a banana. I'm as carnivorous as it gets.

This is my Vegan Story at Cafe Crema.

Stepping into others' imprinted snow footsteps trying not to slip and fall onto the newly fallen snow, we made it into Cafe Crema in West Vancouver. The first thing with this place that gets you is the vibe. Mood lighting, lovely high tables and plenty of space. You can sit there, and daydreaming in this place is highly encouraged preferably with a glass of bold red and a slice of Margherita Pizza.

I didn't really know what I wanted, which rarely happens, but this was one of those special occasions where you just let spontaneity take over. I was going to just have a coffee, but as I approached the register area to order my Americano, I kept seeing this glimmer in the corner of my eye. It was quite bright, but just a glimmer, so I looked over and it was just this muffin sitting there in the display. I asked the cashier what muffin that was, and I was told that it was the Vegan Banana Chocolate Muffin. "Vegan?" I asked. He said, "Yup." I almost walked away trying to find something else, but the damn thing looked so good. So, reluctantly I decided to try a Vegan Muffin. I said to myself, "well, what's the worst that could happen? I'll just throw it out if I don't like it."

That winking-luring Vegan muffin was so good that it actually trumped many of the dairy based muffins I've had in the past. I'll tell you how and why.

First, it was rich, creamy, dense, moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. You could taste the Cocoa and hint of Banana and nuts throughout. As much as all the ingredients together gave the muffin its wonderful taste, you could also taste each component individually.

I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and it's rare to find me ordering desert or eating muffins. I ate this damn thing like I just discovered the taste of sweet for the first time.

Between this awesome Vegan muffin, the great Americano and this cozy little lamp on the table and the beautiful glowing white snow on Bellevue Drive, this indeed was a memorable experience and a one time love affair with a Vegan Muffin. (No, I hadn't smoked...

My wife and I have been loyal patrons of Crema for years, visiting two to three times a week to enjoy a break in our workday. We truly appreciate the delicious pastries, pizzas, and diverse drink options. However, we have noticed some challenges that are negatively affecting our overall experience in recent months.

We’ve observed a growing number of non-paying customers occupying tables for extended periods—often doing homework or using laptops. This has limited seating availability for those of us looking to enjoy a meal and conversation with friends or family. Many of the higher tables, which are designated for patrons and have signs stating “no laptops,” are frequently occupied by groups who are not purchasing food or drinks, or by individuals solely focused on their laptops. At the time of writing this review, 16-18 spots are taken by people working on devices, mostly with no purchase, including tables meant for “no laptops”, and some whole tables are occupied by a single person with a laptop. Some tables are even occupied by individuals eating solely OUTSIDE food (ie not purchased from Crema)!

We are concerned that if this culture continues, it could negatively impact Crema’s reputation, viability, and its ability to serve loyal customers effectively. We have seen several people come in only to leave due to the lack of seating. For instance, groups of four or five often have one person who purchases a coffee while the others simply ask for water and occupy tables for leisure activities.

We have noticed that some cafes limit laptop users to occupy tables for up to an hour to ensure there are opportunities for other patrons. The culture of mutual and collective respect seems to be disregarded.

We want Crema to thrive and hope that by sharing our observations, we can foster a constructive discussion on how to create a welcoming + well-managed environment for all “patrons”. Thank you for considering our feedback. We look forward to many more enjoyable visits in the future!

Additionally, there are suitable venues for laptop users, students, and professionals, such as the beautiful libraries and community centers in both North and West Vancouver that are...

Shocked at the horrible lack of hygiene control during food preparation. Completely grossed out with what I saw. Ordered coffees and a scone sat by a lovely window seat and enjoyed the ocean view and noticed there is an open food preparation area where a worker was making some type of dough for pasta and also working with bagged lettuce. Curious to see what he was making I could see him working with the dough not wearing gloves and didn’t see any hand washing station there. Handling the dough, then stopping to scratch the side of his neck, touch his shirt, touch his personal coffee, touch a cell phone, then back to working with the dough. Made the pasta strings. Then was onto the lettuce, bringing the lettuce out of the bag (would have been a pre washed sealed bag) this time he was touching the coffee, cell phone and then lifting his hat, running his fingers through his hair and putting the hat back on and back to working with the lettuce. Completely out in the open. I looked around for a manager to alert and didn’t see anyone, lots of young workers there this afternoon. Posting to let people know there obviously is no education or hygiene control in the food preparation standards in this business. The standards are so low if people preparing food without gloves are allowed to touch so many things while preparing people’s foods!!!! Today is was fresh pasta and lettuce what else is this worker touching and all the others too. There was a worker behind him that I saw grating something and actually put a piece of it in his mouth as well, he was wearing 1 glove on one hand and the other hand wasn’t gloved. Very eye opening, as a first time customer in this business....