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Sophie's Cosmic Cafe is a family friendly restaurant in Kitsilano on west 4th near Arbutus. They have their own hot sauce and have an all day menu which includes breakfast.
I couldn't wait to come here for breakfast at dinner time and when we arrived, we were told breakfast was only served until 5! Not off to a good start but maybe it gets better...
Food: Burgers were just ok, minestrone soup was blah and my salmon burger was wet and drippy. Fries were nice and crunchy. Overall, I was disappointed with the food as I heard this place was supposed to be a great cafe. I don't see the appeal.
Service: they greeted, seated and served and nothing else. No questions asked about how the food was, no smiles, nothing. I could have been served at a fast food joint and wouldn't have felt any difference.
Value: Price was average for the food but I guess less pricey than some of the joints surrounding the place.
Ambiance: I like the ecclectic mix of souvenirs, trinkets and junk on the walls and it gave the place a real nice diner feel. Love the comfy booths!
Overall, I will not be back as the food was not interesting in any way and the service felt mechanical. I thought this place might get better with the food but I was wrong and although I loved the diner-ambiance, it isn't enough to pull me back. Ciao!
They won't shortchange you on the portions at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe (what makes it cosmic, you ask? Not too sure. It certainly isn't the theme or the decor, which is kind of retro and very much tacky), and although they've got great toast, the rest is pretty average.
The eggs are super small, the hash browns are simply ok, and the bacon is... bacon. Nothing really stands out, and although you're getting a lot, you'd expect that at the price you pay. It's about 10 bucks for a standard breakfast with toast, eggs, bacon and hash browns, and the service is nothing special either.
Feel free to check it out, but there are better breakfast options on the same block.
I eat here about twice a month as it is affordable food and the portions are so big I rarely finish my plate. You get exactly what it says on the menu and the food arrives fresh and quickly more often than not.
The other day I had a tuna sandwich. For $10 I received a sandwich that was over three inches in height, loaded with fresh veggies and cold tuna that was easily less than 10% mayo. The fries were golden and very fresh - piping hot. The chicken burger is also good. For $12 you get a whole chicken breast. Food is basic fare, no frills, but I emphasize: fresh.
Breakfast and brunch are not that great, though their organic oatmeal is very good. The traditional brunch foods tend to have weird ingredients mixed in, or arrive with strange sides like beans. They don't allow substitutions and are really anal about seating "the full party" only. Meanwhile half of their four-tops have only two people at them.
The service, as you might have guessed, is mediocre. Whatever, if a waitress wants to be condescending I just tip 10%. It's not like they bother to remember you. Also, who would want to wait tables in Pee-Wee Herman's hoarding mother's basement? Because that is what it looks like in there, but I'll be darned if I bother going to Romer's or Brown's or Hell's Kitchen and pay twice the price for twice the wait, half the food and if I'm lucky, about the same level of service for a little bit of eye candy and, well, sane decor.
My last visit to Sophie's had a unexpected surprise. Sophie's was known to me for huge breakfast portions at an unbeatable price. They used to have a daily special on the board for under $7. No more. My favorite thing on the menu was the 3 egg ham and cheese omlette for $7.95. Complete with a whooping mound of homefries and toast, it was a meal no one can beat. Now it costs $10.95. The quality has gone down, but the prices continue to rise. We wait a long time to be served and our breakfast took extra long to arrive. The sausages tasted weird. Really mushy on the inside like it was either extremely fatty or not cooked. The decor is still fabulous though, but I wouldn't wait 1/2 hour for it.
Slow, indifferent staff. Food is sub par. Overhyped. Though it still seems to get enough business to stay busy. Nice decor. That's all that's nice about it... well, the hrs, too.
I didn't actually eat breakfast here; I had a turkey sandwich that was made with real turkey and pretty good although I wish it had some cranberry sauce on it. My friend had sausages and eggs and they gave a generous supply of hashbrowns.
Overall, the decor was interesting with walls covered in pictures and strange objects such as kids toys from the 50s. The food was good as well but I still don't see why people line up for hours on the weekends to eat breakfast here.
Used to love this place for breakfast. Have not been there for along time. I used to love the Eggs Benny there and decided to order the same. First of all I didnt like the hashbrown they are the ones that look like mashed potatoes that have been fried. They were both overcooked and undercooked I taste like I was eating the baked potatoe from the night before. The eggs were tiny barely any sauce and the muffin was cold. I asked the waitress if there new owners she said no the same owners as before.
For $12 the Benny was horrible to the point I will never go there anymore.
OK, so I recently came here twice within a week. First time with a friend for a late lunch, and most recently with my girlfriend since I wanted at least one of us to try the breakfast.
We ended up getting the later menu, with fewer selections. My deluxe burger was your standard, good and that's it. Fries were indeed excellent, with a great crisp exterior. My gf's eggs benny was borderline bland and soggy. No taste of feta. The home fries were partially burnt, however it did taste better than it looked (not saying much, by the way), with what tasted like seasoning salt as the flavouring agent. The onions were the burnt black culprit scattered throughout, I guess it's easier to combine all ingredients at once than to throw in the onions half way through cooking that hash. My rueben I previously had was alright, though the sauerkraut tasted a bit off. The slice of keylime pie was gargantuan in size and could easily feed 3, wasn't my thing after barely making a dent. Didn't like the sprinkle of granulated sugar on top, and the crust was so-so.
We had a perky and upbeat waitress first go around, but our recent visit yielded much less enthusiasm. It took a few minutes before someone finally noticed us to seat us down - mostly empty restaurant by the way. Cold shoulder rest of the way, though we did get one checkup. Zombie-like, almost sullen demeanor with this bunch. I miss the waitress we had during the first visit.
Ambience? Bad taste maybe but hardly pretentious. Either way I didn't really care for it so think of it as a free art exhibition while you wait, since you'd probably have to pay to see that kind of stuff anywhere else in this city.
While I find the non-breakfast items markedly better the food here is decidely average. You do get a 2 for 1 deal here, meal and an art expo, and that doesn't even include the sad clown impersonations.
We had breakfast here a couple of weeks ago.
The food is seriously overpriced for what they offer. The hashed brown potatoes served with breakfast looked like leftover potatoes that had been fried up but they were mushy and tasteless. I think my 5 year old nephew could make a better breakfast.
Definitely will not return. There are far better choices in Vancouver
It's pretty hard to mess up breakfast. The reverse is also true imo. Sophie's serves up solid breakfast dishes and some more brunch-like dishes.
The service is quite bad... I guess it's to be expected from a diner type establishment, but it just seems to irk me since this place markets itself as a trendy, up-scale(ish), non-diner, diner.. if that makes sense at all.
Value.. well it's more expensive than your typical diner that's for sure. It's to be expected though since it's in Kits.
Everyone seems to hate this place on here! Haha. I've been here four or five times and have always had a good experience. It's not too shabby for dinner either... and really cheap!
And it's definitely leaps and bounds better than ihop, whoever said that down there.
I went to Sophie's Cosmic Cafe for breakfast the other day and had french toast. It was perfection! Nice fluffy slices of tasty french toasty goodness served with a bowl of beautifully arranged fresh fruit (some of which was tropical which you never get in a fruite bowl). The service wasn't amazing but I've definitely had worse. I would defnitely return to this establishment.
For years I had heard great things about this place, but never tried it until recently. I was disappointed after my visit because I have been searching for a new regular breakfast joint.
Food:
-decent portions
-not well-made (the yolk of my sunny-side up eggs almost fully cooked and toast served was burnt--as in BLACK!)
Service:
-few smiles from staff/server, not very friendly
-server was not on top of things-- late delivery of beverages
-took a while to get our bill settled
Ambiance:
-cool memorabilia decorating interior walls of restaurant, but obviously not dusted regularly (sat in booth so had very close view of thick coat of dust on things hanging on wall- disgusting!)
-recommend sitting at tables in centre where you can still enjoy the view, but to avoid accidental sprinkling of dust onto your food.
Value:
-for the quality of food we got, definitely not good value at $12 for plate of overcooked eggs, burnt toast and only ok homefries and sausage/bacon
Not recommended.
This place is very popular here, mostly at breakfast. This is understandable because their lunch and dinner food is mediocre (not terrible) and relatively expensive.
I know a few people who love their burgers, but I think that their meet is poorly prepared, mushy and over seasoned and blended. Still, the combination of their own recipe of tzaziki and the vegetables makes for a good flavour on the bad meat if you don't mind it.
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The eggs benny are solid. Some people I know are crazy about the santa fe benny, which consists of eggs over guacamole and salsa over cornbread. definitetely different. Since I am a lover of the traditional benny, sophie's does it nicely.
For sophies, supposed to be famous for its american diner experience and good portions and tasty food, but I must disagree in every way. The main thing i did not like is our waitress, who is not good at all. She took more than even 5 minutes to greet us, so we were very very unhappy and wanted some water, but we didnt get it.
When she took our order, she seemed not to care about us and just want to talk to the other waitresses. and then, she find customers at another table that she likes very much, and maybe they are regulars, she talked with them for so long.
Our food was up on the counter, and we could see the plates. Other waitresses just look at the food, and because its not theirs, they just tell the other waitress her food is there, and still she did not serve it. I timed about 8 minutes that my food is waiting on the counter, before it is served. The food tasted of no flavor, and just very small size.
I dont like sophies, of all the restaurant I have been to, sophie is the worst service. Do not go to sophie, it is waste of money. Dont give tip to the waitress, because they just dont seem to care. Horrible restaurant
Really enjoyed this restaurant.
We went in and got greeted with a nice smile and waitress came to us in a couple of minutes to get our drink order.
Thought the menu had some interesting items on it, more so than the usual diner/breakfast place but we ordered something simple.
As other people have reported the servings are incredibly generous and I could only eat half my sandwich. Not only that was very large but also the side salad as well. It was enough for lunch and my dinner tonight!
The decor was really interesting, lots of nic nac's hung on the ceilings and walls, kind of like a walk down memory lane but done in a artistic way. I loved the painting with Mona Lisa with egg on her face, that was cute.
The staff were really friendly and helpful too. No complaints at all about this place.
The reason we went was the lineup out the door at Noon.
The food was pretty good. Portions were massive and everything tasted good. I must say that my girlfriend found a small hair in her food, but it happens I guess.
Service was pretty bad, although our food arrived FAST - like in 5 minutes or so. After that we had to flag down the server to pay however.
Value is fine, average prices. The ambiance is neat, it reminds me what I think a classic diner would have been like 40 or 50 years ago.
I'd return if in Kits and hungry - can't say I'd go out of my way to get there though.
I wouldn't stand in line for 5 minutes to eat here but did when I could walk right in. The breakfast protions were huge and too much. The french toast was bland and the hash bronws nothing to write home about. The eggs bene thing I has was ok but again not memorable. I found it quite epensive. The kids enjoyed the kitchy decor, but I foudn it kind of unsanitary. Would eat there in a pinch but wouldn'd go out of my way to.
I've been there a couple times both with the same experience. The food was always big in portion but not so well cooked. I found charred and blackened fries mixed in with my not so over easy eggs.
The service team may be too old for this trade. You can save any special request (standard anywhere else) to yourself because they won't remember. I don't eat mayo and told the waitress that but found lots of it anyway. My friend is allergic to tomatoes and sure enough her salad had lots of it when mine had none.
I have been to Sophie's a couple of times now, and I am still trying to figure out why so many people are willing to wait 30 minutes or more to eat there.
I have never had breakfast there so maybe that's what I am missing.
On my last visit to Sophie's I had the much touted veggie burger and frankly I was dissappointed. It was soft and crumbly and I was barely able to keep it in one piece, I ended up giving up and eating it with a fork.
The atmosphere is cool and relaxed and I think it's a good place to take out of towners, but I will go for breakfast next time.
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