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    Café Zen On Yew

    3.5 (185 reviews)
    Closed 8:00 am - 4:00 pm

    Café Zen On Yew Photos

    Business Info

    CAFÉ ZEN ON YEW ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - Café Zen On Yew

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    bacon, eggs, and waffles
    Armita P.

    One of my favourite spots for breakfast and brunch in Kitsilano. It's steps away from Kits beach and is a 10-15 minutes drive to UBC. The portions are big and the food is made fresh and fast. Their fries are exceptionally delicious and crispy. We ordered: Farmer's Crepe (Bacon, mushrooms & mozzarella cheese) $17 Lumberjack Breakfast (Three piece buttermilk pancakes, Belgian waffles or French toast with two eggs any style, hashbrowns and your choice of bacon, ham, sausage or avocado) $21 Iced Latte $5.50 Food 5/5 Service 5/5 Ambiance 5/5 Parking 3/5

    Top: Cali benni, Botttom: BC benni
    Mel J.

    Cafe Zen used to be my favorite place to get a delicious egg benedict. I recently visited here again after so many years and left a bit disappointed. Their hollandaise used to be very good. It had distinct creamy and savory flavor but recently, it tasted like any other sauce. I also noticed the portion was smaller. I used to get stuffed by eating one of the two pieces of the bennies. - BC bennies: the smoked salmon was good but the pieces was kinda small. The crispy capers taste was very subtle on my dish. - Cali bennies: it was ok. The tomato & avocado tasted fresh. The hollandaise sauce tasted good.

    Chorizo eggs Benedict
    Chelsey H.

    Cafe Zen on Yew is definitely a brunch spot that might be unbeknownst to people around Vancouver. I walk past this cute little restaurant all the time on my pilgrimage back to my apartment from the beach up the steep-ish Yew hill while walking past the bustling businesses flourishing with young people but it's usually not open as I hadn't clued in to it being a breakfast place. Their breakfast menu is extensive with options for every picky eater out there and the place is bumping on a weekend morning. The interior was not what I expected - it really looks like a cozy little breakfast place with checkered table cloths. My mother in law got a vegetarian omelette. No commentary was shared - I assume it was "good". I got the chicken waffles and the chicken was great but my waffle definitely tasted like it came out of plastic packaging from Costco. It was stiff and really sugary. I guess they don't make their own waffles? I'd give it a 3 out of 5 because of the waffle. My husband got the chorizo eggs benedict and it was "OK." A 3-3.5 out of 5. It was good but the chorizo was underwhelming and would definitely get something else next time. Happy to have more brunch places in Kitsilano - maybe we just didn't choose the right items. We would go back but my first experience was just an "ok" experience.

    Chicken and waffles
    Barry W.

    One-line review: Generous portions, okay food. I've never really been big on breakfast, but it's apparently a thing in Kitsilano and perhaps in Vancouver more generally. Who knew? I came here with a friend for a breakfast meeting. It was good enough. We ordered: - Pulled pork poutine - Chicken and waffles This was a lot of food -- ample portions. Don't know about the poutine, but my chicken definitely could have used more salt and more seasoning in general, at least for my palate. The service was... leisurely. There was no one in the restaurant when we arrived first thing, but they took their time seating us, and food came out relatively slowly as well. It wasn't a problem for us, as we were not on a tight schedule, but it was noticeable. They did check vaccination passports, which I appreciated; COVID safety is a premium for me as an immuno-compromised person. We parked for free a couple of blocks away. Bottom line: Would come back to try again, if I need breakfast in Kits.

    Hot chocolate with baileys
    Hailey B.

    Server was really nice, didn't catch her name. She made us feel welcome and not like we where a bother like most places do. Food came quickly and tasted good. Drinks where good as well. Price is average for the area as well. I would definitely recommend.

    Lauren F.

    We rented a condo about six blocks away from this cozy and cool café...and we ended up eating breakfast here 3 of our six mornings. It is quaint. It has some unique breakfast choices. Their coffee is very good. And each time we had a different waiter or waitress, but all three were friendly and attentive. They have excellent gf bread, and they were willing to make me some french toast with it. My only suggestion is to also offer gf pancakes!

    Outside of restaurant~
    Edward L.

    So apparently there's an entire mini-ecosystem out on Yew (between Cornwall and 2nd) that I never knew existed. We went for a hipster's breakfast, and chose this location out of several choices in the immediate vicinity. There was a lineup that steadily grew. Parking isn't too bad but you may have to walk a bit on the street. The menu isn't bad at $10 for eggs benedict or $9 for an omelette. For extra eggs, add $5, and for sausage/bacon/ham + hash browns, add $2.50. I had the Italian omelette (chorizo sausage, tomato, cheese), with sausage and hash browns. It was actually larger than I expected. The sauce was just right and not overwhelming, and there were large chunks of meat. The hash browns were fresh and crispy, but not drenched in oil. So were the sausages. I was pleasantly surprised. Ambience is definitely hipster-like. It has a bit of the "vintage" diner" feel (anyone remember Bino's?) but trendier. It looks like they T-shirts with their restaurant logo (a Chinese character that is unfortunately written incorrectly *cough*), and the walls are covered with framed photos of people going to random places such as the Equator or Malaysia with the T-shirt. Talk about street cred. My only complaint is that the service is slow, and that the tables are set too close. But one could argue this is part of the charm. Definitely one of the better and more reasonably priced breakfast places out there. Recommended.

    Komal U.

    My cousins took me to Cafe Zen when I went to visit her. We came here around 2pm and there was not a line up at all and the restaurant was not busy. We were told to seat ourselves wherever we wanted. Around this time it was just us 3 and a couple sitting on the other side of the restaurant so it was fairly quiet. It is a cute little place for brunch. We all ordered bennies and the best part was that we could order 2 different kinds of bennies and mix and match instead of having to get 2 of the same ones. We ordered mix and matched bennies which included the California, Chorizo, Benjamine, and Flo- Mushroom with feta. They came with a side of potatoes and they were delicious. The service was quick. There is also outdoor seating with a nice view. We a great experience here and I would definitely come back to try the other bennies!

    Breakfast special - over easy eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and bacon
    Eliza L.

    I'm not normally a fan of eggs Benedict but after looking at the photos from the Cafe Zen Yelp page, I decided to give bennys another shot! Maybe the one I had initially tried at De Dutch was just a miss (which, it probably was). I arrived at 9:40am, just in time for the morning special. The morning special came with 2 peices of buttered toast, 2 eggs (any style), bacon/sausage/or ham, and hash browns. Refills with my coffee were free as well! I was pleasantly surprised that the coffee was actually quite good, since coffee at most "diner" type places tend to be a disappointment. Also, I liked how our server came back frequently to make sure our cups were topped up :) 5 stars for service in my opinion. She was very pleasant and friendly! I was fully impressed by my chorizo benny that came with a side of grilled tomato. However, when my bill came, I noticed that a half order was $7.99 and a full order was $10.50... only a $3 difference which I thought was a little bit of a rip, so if I ever come back here I'd order just the full order of bennys and nothing else. I noticed that near-by customers were ordering mix-matched bennys. This is great cuz I always love to have more of a variety to try! Overall, it's a cute place and it since it got pretty busy I can tell it's a popular spot. I'm not sure if I would come all the way to Kerrisdale again from my neighborhood but in case I'm in the area I wouldn't mind ordering the eggs Benedict again!

    Benny

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    Underwhelming food, $16 for something I could've thrown together in 10mins at home. Meh

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    Notch8 Restaurant & Bar

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    Café Zen On Yew - breakfast_brunch - Updated May 2026

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