Dulin's Village Cafe — Restaurant in Vancouver

I've been visiting Dulin's and taking family and strangers there for nearly a decade. Everyone walks out of there having had excellent food and a great time... I've never had one person ever complain and I've taken a lot of people there over the years.

It's got some of the best food in town. I don't think there is any other place that will ever beat Dulin's for Breakfast and Lunch... (it's a Brunch place really). The food is very healthy and always meticulously cooked to specification. I believe they locally source some of it too and it's delicious.

My mom loves the Club sandwiches... I normally always get breakfast because I'm a stupid creature of habit; I encourage trying both sides of the menu though.

They have great coffee (maybe too strong...) and a bar that my relatives have enjoyed (e.g.: Mimosas and Bloody Marys are excellent). I usually just get the coffee... because I have a problem like that...

They are very much known, at least in my circles over the years, for having excellent bacon. I know my cousin, ALWAYS brings his son in for their French Toast and Bacon. He's a picky SOB too, believe me... but he loves Dulin's French toast and bacon.

The staff is extremely friendly and very meticulous in service and accommodating.

I don't know what's going on in expo but I hear R2D2 screaming sometimes...

It should happen more often I like it when droids scream.

Don't judge me.

They do have a policy concerning Full Parties being present before seated... that's your heads-up.

Some of my friends/coworkers I've brought there, have found this weird too...

Having worked in the restaurant business like... back in ancient times, myself, it does have legitimate reasons. It's not to make people suffer. Probably just wait outside and stay in line until everyone's there... if you get bumped once it wont be long before you're seated anyway.

Quite frankly... if people are late to planned brunches, I yell at them... not restaurant staff. :D

Don't be late to my brunch if I so choose to invite you. I will erase you from such events in the future.

(Brunch is sacred).

In any case, I highly recommend this place... you will not, (should absolutely not) be disappointed.

It can be scary trying new restaurants but there is nothing...

A few of our group arrived just a couple of minutes ahead of us and had to wait to check in until everyone was there. Once everyone arrived, we waited outside because of the lack of space. I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to get people seated, especially if they are drinking.

Food and drinks were very well done, and portions are appropriate for the price. I would have definitely been back for the food.

Wait staff interactions are awkward throughout the meal and lack explanation on policies for payment. Apparently, one of the policies is to only allow two credit cards per group of people no matter how large the group. We had a group of seven people with a clear split of who was with who. Once asked to split the check was when we were informed of the policy. Once asked for an explanation when a table of two could use two cards but why we couldn't use more than 2 cards(three in our case), we were deferred to the owner. The owner was hostile, belittling, and questioned why we didn't ask about their policy. Saying that she would have to raise prices if they had to split up a table more than twice and all of the other large groups always only pay with one card. This was definitely a rehearsed response.

Because of this myself, family, and friends will no longer visit this establishment. Maybe you will have better luck. Just make sure you have cash, like we did, if you need to split the check more than twice and plan...

About the best restaurant we've been to lately. From selection, quality, atmosphere, and service. It just had everything right.

We look forward to going back. If we were closer, we'd be regulars.

My spouse's vegetarian bacon was the best I've ever tasted. Admittedly the competition is not very rough, but I would have enjoyed eating this even though I eat meat. I think it was supposed to be vegan as well, but I'm not actually sure.

Small update: Decided to look at other reviews... Figured I'd comment on a few negative comments:

One complained about small portions... They included pics which showed their meals which were the size of ours... I left quite satisfied, spouse had enough leftovers for next day's lunch (6'2" vs 5'2" will do that).

Another complained about bland, particularly the Hollandaise sauce on the eggs benedict... Quite a few places go for really salty Hollandaise, and the canned versions always are. Dulin's is a bit more subtle, similar to gourmet homemade. I prefer Dulin's but I can see if you're used to the other it'd be quite different.

And one complaint was about the ketchup, the fact that they use the fancy organic "Gourmet Style". I basically agree, I find the Portland organic ketchup to be a decent sauce, but it doesn't really taste like ketchup to me. I rarely use ketchup , so it's not much of a problem with me. But... Since Heinz is basically shelf staple for all of eternity, they might have...