River Maiden — Restaurant in Vancouver

Hubby and I have been here one time before, to get pastries only. We had the lemon poppyseed scones, and boy, they were delicious! 👍 We decided to come in a second time, (Sunday 7/17/2022, 10:10am) to try their most basic coffee drink, a mocha; just to see how they taste. If a place can't get the most basic of drinks right, then you can pretty much figure their other drinks wont be good either. I have to say, for me, the mocha was excellent! Hubby said he couldnt really taste the coffee much. Well, we ordered through the drive-up window. The girl rang us up, and gave us our pastries, but then directed us to park in spot #3 to wait for our mochas. 🤔 Coming from a barista/restaurant background, I thought "why would we need to pull up just for two 16oz. mochas"?? So, I proceeded to pull into spot #3, BUT, low and behold, some lady pulled in and parked... in spot #3! 🙄 So I had to park in #2; no biggie... Well, she came back out, food and drink in hand, got in her car and left. 🤔 That was rather odd; considering were there before her. I then pulled over to spot #3 after she left. I noticed cars that were behind us in drive thru were getting their orders, and leaving. Another car, probably the 5th car to come through after us, had also parked, next to us, to wait for their food and drinks. By this time, we had been waiting 10 minutes, and still no mochas! 😮 The people that parked next to us finally got their food and left! By this time, I'm wondering, did they forget about us? We didnt order anything spectacular that would take this long. What's the hold up? So I decided to get on the phone and call inside; which by that time a young man came out with two iced drinks. 🙄 That is not what we ordered. We ordered two hot 16oz. mochas; no whip. He apologized, and went back in to get the correct drinks. By this time we had been there 15 minutes! The young man brought out our drinks, apologized again; which was nice, but it still doesnt explain the 15 minutes wait time, and 5-6 other cars behind us who were served before us! 🤔I told him to not waste his breath trying to explain something that there basically is no excuse for! (That's a long time to wait, and a hefty price to pay at $28 for pastries and two mochas!) I dont know if we will ever return to this place; considering the poor, careless service that was given. No compensation of any kind was even given to at least accomodate the long wait time for two basic mochas, and getting the drinks wrong to begin with. As far as service goes for this place, the "River Maiden" has sunk faster than the Titanic! I gave ⭐⭐ rating for the pastries and mochas, but hospitality/service needs to step...

Just the name evokes magic and romance. For me it is the dark of night on a black river with lanterns swinging and the giant paddles sluicing into the water in a never ending circle. Down river we hear the foghorn calling as if missing lost love.

The place itself reminds me of certain hippie haunts from my youth. Some along trekking roads in the far east and some in my home town, filled with a bustling of people meeting and talking and eating real food… but cleaner. Those establishments were always filled with the well traveled dust from the road.

With a touch of hesitation I got a turkey sandwich and a large hot mocha. You order at the counter, which feels a little confusing, with the jumbles of plants and the shape of the station. There seems to be a feeling of impermanence and loose organization which I suspect could grow on you. Not this place for corporate meetings or feet which do not leave the beaten path.

It seems in fact to be the antithesis of corporate America and the ever present plethora of generic chains. River Maiden is a story unto itself.

So the sandwich went beyond expectations. Turkey has never been a huge favorite of mine, probably because as a boy I killed my own and delivered them to my sainted mother who worked absolute kitchen witchery on them. Nothing else can compare.

I was pleasantly surprised! It rang all the bells and satisfied all the hopes. Central to the architecture were the red pickled onions which reminded me to rush home and start chopping. You know they have you when you automatically want to try and reproduce it.

The chips of course are just chips, thick and crunchy though they are. I wish they were fries instead, but the sandwich was enough. The mocha was perfect even without a pretty design on top. Most importantly it came hot, I am so tired of lukewarm coffee drinks.

And then, there is the fulcrum of the place. The very spot where effort and dedication move something so much larger than itself. Where it raises up an ethos within the community. Where something magical happens and an edifice becomes part of the community, where the sum is greater than its parts.

This is what I feel as I sit there with my sandwich in hand, the buzz of community, a place essential to a wide matrix of diverse people.

Or maybe it is like river full of disjointed seemingly random parts that ultimately flows together towards the same goal.

Good food, good people,...

Couldn't be more disappointed today. I've been recommending River Maiden ever since I moved here last year, but I can't anymore after today. First, it took a couple minutes for someone to come to the drive-thru window to take my order. That person was very nice. They told me to pull into one of the waiting spots, which while it is annoying that this is a regular thing with their drive thru, I've come to expect it and plan for a couple minutes longer wait than other coffee spots. As I'm waiting for my chai latte and morning bowl (yogurt with fruit and granola), I noticed people who arrived after me are getting their orders. I waited over 20 minutes and finally had to go inside. The chai was ready, getting cold on the counter, but the bowl of yogurt and fruit still wasn't done. Finally, as the person at the counter was trying to find out the status, someone else came from the back with my order and another order. I don't know what part of their process failed today - was my order sitting in the kitchen ready to go but no one went to check for 20 minutes or did it really take them 20 minutes to put yogurt, fruit and granola in a bowl? It'll be a while before I give them another chance because the waits in the drive-thru were already becoming frustrating, but this was unacceptable. The experience was even more irritating when I got home and opened the yogurt bowl, and there is NOTHING special about it. What on earth took over 20...