Yeah made it to my firm event. My firm Admin, went to Urban Fare and bought two cakes. Urban Fare is owned by Overwaitea Food Group (known as Save On Foods). Their cakes were ok. Urban Fare is a higher-end grocery store. They can mostly be found in downtown or higher-end or very urban style living neighborhoods. They are somewhat like Wholes Food. Prices tend to be higher here. Quality is better that is for sure. We had two different kinds of cakes: Chocolate and blueberry. I am not a big fan of the fondant on the blueberry cake. But I mean... I scan just scrap that off and I am good. I only tried the blueberry cake. The blueberry cake was freshly made on the day (and can easily taste the difference). Not bad... I do like shopping at Urban Fare once in awhile. I don't anymore because I don't live in Vancouver downtown. read more

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I stopped by Urban Fare because the TransLink website said I could buy a day pass for public transportation there. After waiting in a pretty long line, I was told they didn't offer it. That was frustrating since I walked over from my hotel specifically for that. I ended up using Lyft for most of my time in Vancouver instead and I'm not above riding the bus when I'm on vaca. Before getting in line, I asked a gentleman in the produce department about it, and he was very friendly and helpful. The store itself was clean, well-stocked, and had a nice bakery and deli. If I lived in Vancouver, I'd probably shop here sporadically. I saw some prices just to see while I was there. My only complaint is the outdated information that sent me there in the first place...or if it wasn't outdated, the worker not being properly informed. Who knows... read more

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Don't bother with happy hour food I tried the poke nachos and sadly it was meh The nacho chips are not even close to restaurant quality and the toppings are no where close to anything restaurant quality even though it looks good in the picture read more

Urban Fare - Poke nachos - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Stopped in for breakfast while visiting downtown Vancouver. Ordered the oatmeal. It was a large portion, very filling, and delicious. I'll be grabbing a few groceries from this upscale food market. read more

Urban Fare - Oatmeal with fresh berries - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Giant store, here is everything: big vegetables and fruits area, fresh fish/meat, freshly baked bread and cakes, different cheeses, milk products, snacks, gluten-free zone. There are ready-to-eat food like sushi, sandwiches, pizza and poke and cafe zone with main dishes. You can also seat inside the restaurant and have a meal. read more

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I went to buy a birthday cake for an office colleague but they only had smaller ones. I saw two nice rectangular chocolate cakes and I asked the Lady in the counter if she could join them together to make it look like 1 big one - her name was " LIPPY" She was so obliging and she did such a wonderful job even adding icing and strawberries around to make it look like one big cake. That is what t I call excellent customer service . Lippy went beyond and above to satisfy this customer read more

There was a lady named Suzanne working in the deli today who was absolutely amazing. She gave us a really good opportunity to try some meats while we were setting up our charcuterie board. And made the experience, warm, friendly and connecting. We are from the north and greatly appreciated. Such a wonderful city experience. Definitely we will be coming back! read more

The quiche, lamb shank and butter chicken samosa were poor quality and tasteless. The spinach salad was decent. The service was friendly and helpful but the prepared food really disappointed. read more

This place was a Godsend on my recent visit to our Vancouver office. On our first day, we wandered around downtown for 20 minutes, trying to decide what we wanted for lunch. But when you don't know the area, it can just be overwhelming. Urban Fare was right across the street from our office, and we ended up wandering in. I didn't check out the groceries, but did grab lunch from here 3 days in a row. The first day, I had poke - which was really great. Surprisingly good for a grocery store, actually. I would get this again for sure. Over the next couple of days, my coworkers and I tried quite a few things and came to a very important conclusion. Anything that was pre-made (poke, salads, fruit/cheese plates, etc) was really great - but anything that had to be served to us from the deli really missed the mark. Nothing from that section was all that good. Prices are also quite high. It was doable for a few days, but I would have to stay away if I worked nearby more often. I can't really speak much about the staff - they seemed quiet and not overly friendly, but not rude necessarily. I'll go back because of the convenience and selection! read more

I love this Urban Fare location! Mainly because it's not as busy as the Yaletown store. It's just so nice to be able to walk down the isles and not bump into anyone. It's not as big and doesn't have as much selection as other locations, but its still such a nice place to shop. Prices are higher than your average grocery store, but its Urban Fare what do you expect? Great produce section and lots of specialty items that you can't find elsewhere. I'll be back. read more

No diversity and inclusion here and the food seems to be from.2 days prior. Ordered a sandwich to be heated. After waiting minutes it was still stone cold. read more

I have gone to the Urban Fare many, many times since they are very close to me. I'm giving them a 2 for this review since I have found, like many other places, they have gone down the proverbial hill during Covid and afterwards. Their prices continue to skyrocket but the quality and selection gets worse. What I have really noticed however is the upkeep and the service there. By service I mostly mean that they don't have enough staff working at any time. A lot of things have fallen through the cracks, not least of which is the cleanliness. Basic considerations, or what I think should be basic for a grocery store, like having carts and shopping baskets available at the door, don't seem to be important to them. At this point I only go there when I happen to be walking by and only grab things that are on exceptionally good sales. read more

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Everything you will need for a downtown stay. Fresh and really good sushi. Tons of produce and great chocolate shop.

Went in. Purchased $32 in grocery they asked if I wanted a couple bags I said yes. The charge was $8 per bag. The biggest single scam I have ever seen. Even their paper bags were .80$ this coming from a company that already marks their prices up 30% based on where we live. You guy are trash read more

Upscale market with Best peanut butter cookies ever , good food and healthy lunch and dinner choices

(This review is solely for the cafeteria inside this Urban Fare store.) The cafeteria here offers a large variety of dining options, ranging from a hot food bar, a salad bar, a pizza station, boxed sushi, to pot pies and other set combos that you can order from behind a counter. I've tried a variety of items from the options I've mentioned above, but I particularly enjoy their hot food bar, charged by weight. The daily themes for the hot bar rotate based on a fixed schedule. (See pic below for current themes, accurate as of today.) Seating area is spacious and clean, but be warned - it can be extremely hard to find a seat here during regular lunch hours! read more

Urban Fare - Urban Fare's daily hot food buffet themes - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

As I sometimes say, the high-end Save-On Foods (or the Banana Republic of the Gap), as our downtown grows, so do these Urban Fare's. And this one is located/connected with the Shangra-La. A great location, and when you go inside, a great setup. This place is not just for groceries, but for some good meals from time to time. When you want to get away from those crazy food courts, or just don't want to deal with a restaurant, come here, you'll get some great cooked food. I have always said that this vicinity of the block needed a grocery store/supermarket to make it complete, and obviously Jimmy Patterson thought the same, and is now reaping the rewards. An area filled with retail and residential, a perfect mix of people coming into one of his creations. The standouts at this Urban Fare are the cheese and the dessert sections. On the weekends they usually have taste test here too. Just know that you will be spending a little more going in here, but it is always a nice experience in this place. read more

Urban Fare - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I ordered from the deli and the clerk used tongs to get the chicken cordon for me. I also requested the lobster cake, but the clerk used her gloved hands instead to get the lobster cake. Why not use the tongs? The clerk also used her gloved hands to push the glass and touch other areas, along with grabbing my crab cake and lasagna by hand. Why not use the available tongs? This was unacceptable especially during the pandemic. This was unhygienic and unexpected from Urban Fare, a brand that supposedly has standards. She also appeared very mad throughout and unfriendly. The customer service was disappointing and there was obviously a lack of proper training for the staff. P.S. The food was not worth the price. The Stuffed Chicken Corden Bleu and the Stuffed Chicken Apple Brie were not what it was supposed to be, and they were smaller than usual. The filling was minimal; you could not really taste the ingredients. Also, you might not be able to tell if they had real lobster for their Lobster Seafood Cake. read more

High end downtown supermarket. Pretty good selection, lots of produce, warm ambiance inside. Easy location next to the major downtown hotels. Would come here again. read more

This is the Urban Fare location that I frequent the most. I don't buy groceries here very often because of the price premium on the product, but I digress. I come here for the food. You can order food, sit down and eat inside the store. The caveat is: Not all of the food is good. The only thing I like here are the sandwiches. When grilled, they are quite good and relatively inexpensive for what it is. I have tried other items in the heat trays before, but most of them were underwhelming. If you're hungry and need something, sure go for it. read more

This store is amazing ! It's upscale, carries many specialty products, great location. The produce is spectacular ( see photos ) I have never ever seen market have such photo ready displays of goodness! Staff leaves a bit to be desired... But they are not hellish...just not overly friendly. Return visit ? Of course ! read more

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So I finally had the chance to try some of their deli food, as part of a dinner. 1 word: Ugh. Whole roasted chicken - I tried both the Italian and Cajun varieties. The spices were good, but every single pieces was freaking dry. Including the drumsticks. Is that even possible? Chow mein (fried noodle) - soggy and bland. Mall food tastes better than this. Fried rice - also super bland, and also soggy. Spring rolls with broccoli (this isn't even a dish!?) - broccoli was covered in oil, yet the veggies weren't stir-fried. Very curious. The only thing they got right was the spring rolls, and those were about as authentic and tasty as something you'd get at Wal-Mart. I was rolling my eyes at the food selection. Leave it to a yuppie place to screw up the ethnic food. I think I'll go to A&W across the street. read more

We came here for dinner since we had a coupon (BOGO) for their carvery dinner. Anyways, the carvery meal for that night was steak ($15.99?) so we decided to get that and it came with two sides each. The rice was extremely hard and we couldn't really chew through it so we ended up switching it for the mashed potatoes after, which were fairly good. The mixed vegetables were excellent as they were still crispy and not over seasoned. The steak itself was far too hard and cooked well done. However, we cannot really blame them since it was already very late (8:30pm) and the lady had carved us the ending bits of the meat. The staff at the counter were really nice though and accommodated our needs! (I asked for extra carrots heh and our rice was switched for mashed potatoes) Anyways, I might come back to try a different day's special, but only if we have a coupon! read more

Urban Fare - Carvery steak dinner - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I admit upfront that I'm not a big Urban Fare fan, as I find their prices, overall, exorbitant, and I've purchased ready-made meals here in the past that weren't worth their high price tags (although I DO regularly get their sushi sampler platters for my family and they're consistently fresh). That said, I have to admit that I was blown away when I recently visited this grocery store simply because of the gorgeous interior aesthetics. Seriously, it was like entering a grocery store museum or high end foodie boutique, it was so beautifully laid out. All the produce was displayed perfectly, and the various departments really highlighted the best (i.e., priciest and highest end) products in the best possible light. It's as if they used an interior designer and a social anthropologist and a psychologist to fully maximize the sensory pull of all the various foods. Each department, each aisle, each section was truly lovely and invited browsing and lingering - and ultimately, buying. I LOVE how there's a Starbucks here, too! Bonus. read more

The two stars are for the convenient location and the friendly service. Otherwise, I've shopped here many times and find the selection, from snacks, to oil, to condiments, to be lacking relative to other places nearby like the Marketplace IGA and T&T Supermarket. I live right next door and shop here for fruit and dairy due to the sheer convenience. When I hop over to grab some dairy or juice, I really need to check the expiration label, as there have been many times when the dates were one or two days shy of expiry. In one case when I was selecting eggs, some of them were past the date- which is outrageous, especially for a high-end chain. Buying berries in this location isn't ideal, as some of the display stands aren't amply cooled to preserve the fruit, and in some cases, especially when the fruit is on sale, they are in terrible, shriveling condition. I agree with many of the last reviewers that by the afternoon, most of the vegetables are browned from improper care. I've tried their hot buffet several times, on days when there was a different cultural focus for the selection, and have been sorely disappointed. The Chinese cuisine selection consists of cliche items like sweet and sour pork, spring rolls, salty bok choy, and the usual fare you'd see in a food court booth for stereotypical "Chinese" food. Similar things can be said about the saltiness, blandness of the meat, or lack of tasteful options for their "India" flare etc. For what you pay for, the food isn't worth it in portion and taste. Overall, the Urban Fare on Alberni St is awesome for its convenience and service, but subpar on important things in terms of produce and preservation. read more

Urban Fare - The dining portion of Urban Fare, facing Alberni St. - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I love checking out local grocery stores when traveling. This was located smack downtown on the Pride Parade route which was blocked from traffic. So it was nice to dash across the vacant street to check it out. As soon as we entered it was a feast for the senses. Not only was there a gorgeous floral market inside, but there was a huge section of cheeses, olives, baked goods and fresh produce. The cured meats are located right in the center of the store. This is what heaven must be like! If I had a kitchen on this stay I would have stocked up. Our bags were already at capacity so I couldn't make any purchases. People were shopping and eating at the in-store café. I wish we had one of these markets in SD! read more

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This is the high-end brand of the Save-On Foods chain. I don't come here for the groceries, just for the Hot Food Bar (pay by weight): + MON Mexican + TUE Italian + WED Asian + THU Indian + FRI West Coast + SAT American BBQ + SUN Grandma's Sunday Dinner I like the wide, crunchy fries on Fridays. The soups are good too. read more

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This place is great when you need to quickly grab a decent lunch with no hassle from a waiter or waitress. I like their grilled chicken plate with two sides. Just make sure you avoid the chicken that's been out for too long and how do you know??? ASK! read more

Urban Fare - Half chicken plate with veggies and mashed potatoes and beef pot pie. - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

If you want to go into a grocery store and just grab the first produce without picking through a bunch, then Urban Fare's great. The unfortunate thing is that you have to pay big bucks for it. When I am in a hurry though and I need great quality fruits or specialty oils, I definitely stop here. Now for lunch... the food is average. They look better than they taste in my opinion. I had the citrus quinoa salad today and there was little bit of sand in it. When I asked to exchange or pick something else, they gave me a funny look. Sorry, if I'm going to pay $9 for small salad, it better be close to perfect. I do want to state that the quinoa salad is usually very good though, but not this time. I ate some grilled vegetables another time and it was a little rubbery tasting. read more

I LOVE LOVE LOVE checking out grocery stores, even pretentious looking ones that sell small bags of jalapeño chips for $5. My motto is see more, eat more, learn more. We had to board the cruise ship at 11 am and stayed at the Shangri-La the night before. It was 8:30 am and we were bored and hungry, both of which do not mix well together. The hubs and I wandered around until we found Urban Fare. I'm sure I could've whipped out my phone to find a well-reviewed breakfast joint on Yelp but we decided to explore. The store itself is well equipped for any health nut. You can get pretty much anything in it's healthy/organic form. They also had some exotic items like yuzu vinegar which I really wanted to get. Like any healthy, downtown grocery store, the prices are more expensive than at Safeway or Superstore. We explored the cafeteria and saw lots of people at the sitting area eating full traditional breakfasts. Close by was an employee making fresh sandwiches and boy, did they look good!! I saw that the self-serve hot soups were out and ready, so I picked up a fresh bowl. The breakfast menu was extensive and you could get a full breakfast with eggs, toast and bacon for $10. Hubs got a bowl of hot oatmeal with seasonal berries. The oatmeal was creamy and comforting, not too sweet and was cooked just right. The portion was quite large for $3.99. My minestrone soup was hot and delicious with tons of veggies. I was surprised they had it ready so early in the morning. And yes, I eat soup for breakfast. We leisurely enjoyed our breakfast at a window seat and watched the weekday hustle and bustle of Vancouverites going about their day. I wouldn't go out of my way for Urban Fare, but it's convenient, healthy with great choices. We did a walkthrough of the store one more time before we left and picked up a bag of pretentious, $5 jalapeño chips. For the road. Nom. read more

Urban Fare - Hot oatmeal with yogurt and seasonal berries ($3.99) - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I have to admit that regardless (or maybe, because of) the glorious over-the-top gourmet items, I am definitely excited about there being a new Urban Fare in downtown Vancouver. I am completely unbiased in my review here, because I haven't had the opportunity to enter any other Urban Fare in Vancouver as of yet. This particular store is bright, shiny and new and therefore even more enticing than usual! I came in to satisfy my curiosity and to pick up a few items for dinner that night. Along with a good majority of what every grocery store in the area sells, Urban Fare ups the ante in all areas by offering irresistible international items and local specialties, all at exorbitant prices. I recommend going elsewhere for your everyday needs but if you plan to splurge on preserves from Scotland, pungent English cheeses, local poultry and bacon, exotic fruits and veggies, fresh pasta, bread from France (not French Bread, but bread shipped in from Paris...!), decadent house made gourmet pastries, cakes and pies, then Urban Fare is the destination of choice! Along with onions, rice milk and locally made sheep's milk feta, we picked up cheese fudge (yes, that's right, chocolate cheese....or cheese with cocoa, anyway you slice it, its ridiculous and tasty), spicy jalapeno sharp cheddar and a lovely little mini lemon meringue pie. I have to say that the pie was one of the best lemon meringues I've had to date and its my favourite kind! The 'meringue' was less 'meringue-y' and more of a toasted marshmallow topping. Fantastic! There are amazing already cooked, gourmet take-away items, from baked chicken, fish, lamb, beef, mash potatoes and a number of other salivating worthy deli options. Fresh made pizzas, both savoury and sweet (nutella pizza!) round out the 'i don't feel like cooking' options! read more

Urban Fare - photo courtesy of www.urbanfare.com - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Was too early for an appointment and decided to drop in for a snack. There is a Starbucks inside but I decided to go to the Cafe beside the deli. For $2.49, you can buy Coffee/Tea and Baked Goods, not bad for downtown prices. The staff was very friendly and efficient. The seating area is large and have tons of table, I love the banks of tables by the window so you can people watch. read more

Urban Fare - $2.49+tax Large Hot Drink and Baked Goods - Mint Tea and Banana Bread - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Sav-on's attempt to compete with whole foods. Store seems to be managed by someone with a lot of experience in a traditional market like Safeway and hasn't developed the correct strategy for what to do/create as food items and hasn't delegated enough authority to let the younger employees innovate. Lots of chocolate used as merchandising props. Asian items look like someone from a Safeway created the list of Asian/Hispanic food items to sell. Overpriced Japanese vinegar at $4.99/xsmall bottle. 3x normal price. Ridiculous. Salmon: $35.00/kg, about 2.2x price at costco Marinated Chicken Breast: @$26.43/kg. About $7.00/each Prepared foods, small container $4.99/each. Should e $1.00-$1.50 cheaper. They don't list the ingredients on the package so you can't figure out what to buy if someone has food allergies. Quinoa salad: good, not too salty, quinoa, orange & yellow peppers, green onions, edamame Red Quioa: bad, too dry, threw it out. Madras curry powder, red quinoa, cashews, peas. Portion of ingredients not correctly balanced. Asian slaw: ok, red/green cabbage, green onion, very basic. Dressing, vinegar, soysauce, sugar. Not worth the price. Sandwiches: bad, $6.99 for packaged sandwiches. Prepared salads: not competent. Usually only 1 version, spinach salad is latest example. They could add other varieties which are highly profitable like thai salad and southwestern salad. Very easy to do. Don't see many people buy these. Prepared hot foods: mostly sausage, mac/cheese, pasta dishes. Not innovative or healthy balanced meals like Whole foods. Bad; the cashiers don't give you the store discounts unless you have a frequent shopper card. They only ring up the discount if you actually ask them to use the "store " card. Not really ethical in trying to gouge customers, most of them who are visiting from out of the area. read more

I really want to hate this place: their over priced fruits and vegetables, lack of value priced brands and how everything is 10x more expensive here. However!! They sure have darn amazing customer service. That's their differentiator. I tried to give my business to a small florist last month for Mother's Day as I love supporting little local businesses; however those people were so awful that I found myself stuck buying flowers at Urban Fare...and surprisingly they were wonderful! Not only were the flowers prettier and better priced, but the sweet florist also wrapped it in beautiful ribbons (and retied it three times on my requests) and tissue paper. My aunt and mom were beyond floored at the presentation. I wish they would sell things that were better priced, but I guess that's the price you pay for living in the downtown core! Overall a nice place to buy baked goods, cooked food (did I mention their daily special lunches? They're amazing!), and the occasional grocery item you forget to buy or run out of between grocery shopping trips outside of downtown. read more

Urban Fare - The lovely flowers Urban Fare wrapped for my mom and my aunt this past Mother's Day! - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

Not a bad place to stop in for a bite. The dining area feels upscale when you consider that this is a grocery store. The lunch buffet provides a good variety of hot and cold foods. Breakfast, however, is less impressive. Heat rack scrambled eggs, pre-made omelettes. There are plenty of places in the area that do fresh breakfast made to order, for about the same price. I gave the Scotch eggs a try. Hard boiled eggs wrapped in ground ham and deep fried. They were tasty. Two of them cost me $6.50. A bit more than I expected, but they were satisfying. From the bakery, I got a cinnamon knot. Not much cinnamon flavourful, but the candied pecan topping was excellent. $2.19 - a deal! read more

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Love their selection of fresh fruit and veg and to top it off they have cooked food. Pizza was good, sometimes it's nice to have a quick, easy and tasty thin crust. Those fries though! Beer batter delight read more

Muffin and coffee for $2 before 11 I love the muffins here, the muffin top is large which is the best part! They have a huge variety of muffin choices also. I've been coming here for years just for the muffins ! $3.99 for the oatmeal with berries, nuts etc. Another new favourite "fast" breakfast! The portions at the Alberni location are much better than the yaletown Urban Fare. Overall, I like their to go food. The thai sesame salad and the thai chicken curry salad are my favourites! read more

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We live on Alberni Street so we would love to use Urban Fare for our daily fruit and vegetable shopping; unfortunately, the display and quality of vegetables and fruit is appalling. Typically we find rotting celery, lettuce and broccoli, to mention a few. Often the display of strawberries and raspberries will show the fruit molding. My husband spoke to management a month and a half ago, but nothing changed. He then addressed the produce manager and invited him to view some of the rotting vegetables. He asked the produce manager if he would eat the vegetables and he responded, "No." It is extremely disappointing that the issue still has not been addressed. While we shop at the store, we never buy fruit or vegetables there. Not only is the sight is disgusting, especially at a store like Urban Fare, it could result in health issues for customers. read more

Great store not busy either huge cafeteria area but was terribly messy by the end of the day. Fruit looks beautiful lots of sushi and pastries wish I lived above this place so convenient it even has a Starbucks! read more

This is the second time I wait forever for the breakfast eggs benny. Which would be all good if they actually made them right. Waited 20 minutes for hard boiled eggs. If I wanted boiled eggs I would do it at home. They can't get it right. Disappointing to say the least. Don't order there. read more

Urban Fare - Who eats bennies like this? - Grocery Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia