Fête Ice Cream & Coffee — Restaurant in Winnipeg

I recently moved nearby and was thrilled to discover this coffee shop. Their coffee has a gentle, delicate flavor—the kind you typically find in Europe, which is hard to come by in North America. I'd confidently say it's the best coffee in town.

Unfortunately, the service has been poor. On two separate occasions, I was refused service well before closing time.

The first case was this Saturday at 8:06 PM, with the shop open until 10:00 PM. The staff, who was apparently working alone, told me they couldn't serve me because they needed to wash the coffee machine and didn't want to stay until 11:00 PM to clean up. They had essentially washed the coffee machine two hours early.

A couple of days later, today, on Monday I tried again at 7:08 PM, with the shop open until 9:00 PM. Once more, a staff refused to serve me and others, including a couple in front of me who had waited in line. This employee had again decided just to stop serving customers two hours before the posted closing time. I am wondering if management is aware of this and approves this.

It's understandable to start closing up 15 or 20 minutes before closing, but shutting down two hours early sounds exaggerated. I understand this may be staff’s way to protest against her management, but under no circumstances it should impact your customers. Many people, including myself, are forced to go to nearby places like Fools and Horses to get a coffee during the posted business hours.

Really hoping that management will address this issue or at least make sure their hours of operation align with...

Went here so we could have ice cream just made of milk, cream, eggs and sugar as few places sell ice cream without guar gum, carrageenan, manufactured oil products etc. Two single scoop waffle cones were close to $15.00. We've paid close to that in France and Germany and as long as it's got flavour and simple ingredients we don't bat an eye. We were very disappointed in the flavour. Not sure what was used for the moka or vanilla flavoring but it wasn't very satisfying. Sorry but this wasn't worth the 15 kilometer trip to try. We had high expectations I suppose. Please work further on your product and source great ingredients for the flavoring. If any body enjoys spamoni ice cream and are headed into Chicago please try Pizzaria Uno at 29 East Ohio Street...it's in a class by itself....our subjective opinion, of course, but we've traveled extensively for 50 years and have racked up good memories eating in a variety of venues. Also Via de Gusto Restaurant on Vaugirard in Paris has homemade vanilla ice cream with a couple of ounces of fresh hot espresso poured over top...simple, satisfying and memorable!! Somebody in Winnipeg has to offer something of that quality...

Pro Tip: They will let you sample any flavors you want as well.

Everytime I've come here I've always ordered the smoking cigar which was a limited time flavor. I heard its no longer available. It had an exceptionally complex flavor that tingled my taste buds. My friend hated it because he also felt it tasted like a smoking cigar and he dislikes smoke. Sounds like next time i go in I'll need to find myself a new flavor as I think its at the end of its run.

Service has been very friendly every time I've come in. I recently found out they are tied to the abiding citizen drink which I thought was cool.

I like that they have a wall for dogs. Unfortunately you cannot bring your dogs inside, but they have things so you can tie it outside. They have large windows you can look out at your dogs.

Next time I go in I want to try the party platter. Its $9 with 4 kinds of flavors which seems like a good assortment.

Fete is located on Assiniboine avenue, kind of behind the Fort Garry place. There is a dog park just nearby, and around the dog park is limited parking (metered). Not that many spots, but so far I haven't had too much issue with...