Artisan Eats Cafe & Fine Foods

I’ve read a lot of hype about this place and was pretty excited to go when they opened again on Tuesday (arrived too late on Sunday with a 4pm close). I’m not entirely sure why a location like this closes so early? It is so spacious, it would be a great place to work. We were there at 2pm, so missed out on some options it seemed. I had a caprese panini which was good, but not amazing (too much sauce was dripping out). I was hoping for more treats and desserts too (I have a problem). I’d most likely return though and try something else (particularly the breakfast menu), I really enjoyed the space.

Great coffee and plenty of options for breakfast and lunch. Atmosphere is very welcoming and relaxing. This island is fortunate to have this restaurant.

We just had this amazing meal here. The Kale stir fry is to die for. An amazing value, healthy and they made us this dish right before closing! The staff was helpful and friendly. I definitely recommend this place. I also like that they know the life work balance and close at 5. Good for them. :-)

Closed at 4pm on a busy Sunday in tourist season. Wtf? Rude staff, overpriced and uninspired cuisine. A few cliched French foods on the menu but in no way authentic. V v disappointing.

Recently went to Artisan Eats for brunch on a busy weekend.
As vegans in small places, we always struggle to find enjoyable options… But not there, as the server or owner were so useful in stating our options. I opted for the papaya salad and they made a separate sauce for me. My husband had the taco salad, veganized. Both were excellent. I was drooling at the pastries that they had and everything looked wonderful. We got some delicious tea lattes to go, with original flavours that I had not seen before and both were delicious. Vegan or not, a place to try on Bowen for sure!

Excellent café in the Artisan Square area of the Island.
We came here three times on our recent trip, once for coffee and pastries, I had the apple turnover and my wife had the chocolate crossant. Both could have been made on a street corner café in Paris. Coffee was great and we sat at the back where th wide open windows provide fantastic scenery.
The second time was for lunch. I had a yummy burger with fresh made buns and my wife had the ham sandwich. Again both were perfect.
The third time was for breakfast. I had standard breakfast plate with eggs over easy, ham and home fries. The ham was cut fresh and the potatoes were expertly crispy.
There was often a bit of confusion at the cash register but not enough to spoil a perfect rating. If you’re on the island, this is a great breakfast/​lunch destination.
…oh, one more thing for dog owners, we brought our dog to lunch. He sat outside with us and there was a good amount of shade and a friendly bowl of water. I would consider this whole Island to be very dog friendly.

This was a repeat offender for us, as we visited two out of the three days we were on Bowen! The first day we stopped for some baked goods; a baguette, a double chocolate cookie, a pistachio bar and a lemon ricotta muffin. We enjoyed all of the items and they were demolished very soon after left the shop. We particularly liked the cookie. It was chewy and the white and milk chocolate combo was so delicious!
Today we had lunch and split the burger with ‘parm fries and truffle mayo’ along with a sausage roll. The burger was delicious, the patty was juicy and the bun was fresh. There was a small fight over the last fry, but I won! Neither of us really cared for the sausage roll, finding it a bit too greasy, but other than that it was a very good lunch!
Needless to say we took a double chocolate Cookie to go and threw in a peanut butter gluten free one for good measure. Both were gone before hit the main drag back to our B&B.
Highly recommended!

Only come here before 3 if you want food. Although their website says 5 you can only get old sandwiches or soup. Travelled all the way from Vancouver to check them out and what a disappointing waste of time. Save your time and money and just avoid them entirely.

Not recommended, worst place on bowen. Food is terrible, service is terrible. not recommended. I have been there a few times and the food is always so so .
Get rid of the foreign staff who are clueless what service is in Canada. The owner doesn’t have a clue either.
Better places to eat, not worth your time or money.
Ordered a burger and yam fries, yam fries were burnt and they charged me $ 23, seriously?

after what felt like climbing mount Kilimanjaro jr. we needed a pick me up. from the ferry to artisan square is quite a hike. initially we were going up for cocoa west but decided to change our mind after seeing what A.E.C.F.F. had, plus they had the better view.
initially we got their iced hazelnut latte and their orange chocolate chip cookie. I don’t know if it was the view that made it so good but their iced hazelnut was something else but what made the whole trek up worth while was their orange chocolate chip cookie. we’ve had this cookie before but nothing like this. it was chewy-​moist with just enough chips and the orange zest inside the cookie dough i could feel in my tongue, what a killer cookie. what made it so amazing was their right balance of flavors. some orange chocolate chips we’ve had tasted more like orange cookies with chocolate chips, theirs certainly wasn’t the case which made us get another one.
Unilocal: Outdoor Seating (Hell Yes)

Maybe because I didn’t have to sweat up the hill to get my lunch, I wasn’t as overjoyed simply getting a morsel in my mouth as other hikers seeking food rewards.
I must have stood there for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to place an order, after watching a conga line of servers and regulars cutting serpentine across eachother’s paths mumbling nonsensically at one another, never recognizing some semblance of a system. Regulars cut me off like Hwy #1 drivers at the pass, until I finally I spoke up, and asked/​begged for help…
«Oh you just jump in anywhere and order… then if someone takes it from the deli you get that first, then we order your entrée from the kitchen, then you go over there to pay, unless your getting a salad, then well give you a placard for your table and we will bring you your meal… Ok?»
Huh?
Translation: I was handed a bowl of the yellow roasted beet, feta, almond and cranberry salad, I found the pay/​coffee line, I sat down and ate my salad, which was very nice and tasty and waited 25 minutes with my placard and finally got my burger delivered on a side plate.
Great burger by the way… was ground in-​house and had no fillers… now that’s a tasty burger… but what a completely unnerving and disjointed experience.
Also, I must mention the insane amount of wasps at this place… not a few, but a swarm… No one could sit down outside without being attacked by the colony and they were inside as well crawling all over the baked goods. You had to eat with one hand fast, while using your other arm as a smacking hand, and they still ended up whacking against you. While we were there, most people ended up packing things up and leaving, and the atmosphere was one of extreme frustration.
If this place wasn’t such a clusterf%&*k, it could have been a high point of my weekend there as the food was quite good.

Wow. Choices! This was a great spot on a rainy day end to our glorious stay in the Artisan Square area of Bowen Island this weekend. The salmon eggs benny (pour moi) and the pulled pork eggs benny (for the wife) were the perfect choices and were devoured. I couldn’t decide right away though, there were so many delicious treats in the cases and the menu on the chalkboard above boasted a wide variety of brunch and lunch items. A really nice atmosphere and great customer service topped it off.
*Note: take a walk up there from the ferry, there’s a cute but steep little trail from the highway and makes the experience that much more islandy :)

On a wimp to discover Bowen Island, we rode the 20-​minute ferry from Horseshoe Bay to the island as foot passengers on Sunday morning to check out the local flavours.
After cruising through the farmers’ market near the pier, we took a steep hike up to Artisan Square — a small recently developed cul-​de-​sac perched on top of a hill overlooking Howe Sound with shops, galleries, studios, restaurants and cafes.
This restaurant is probably the biggest one on the square tugged at the end of the cul-​de-​sac. The casual dining room with timber furniture and communal tables offers a great view of the Sound while the patio seatings evoke memory of breakfast in a quiet alley in Notting Hill. I had their Bowen Island breakfast with eggs, toast, sausage and crispy fired potatoes. Every item on my plate was nicely done, particularly the golden potatoes, crispy and soft.
This a perfect place for city folks looking for a weekend brunch slightly out of the way followed by an easy hike on well maintained and quiet trails from Snug Cove to Killarney Lake before heading back to town to do grocery shopping for the up coming week.

This place is totally a gem~ The same owners of Tuscany Italian restaurant down the street decided to open this wonderful eatery in a spot that was really having a hard time keeping businesses alive. Tucked away up the hill from the ferry you will find the Artisan Square. A little quaint area with the local gallery, and other shopping stores.
Artisan Eats has a little bit of everything, and it’s like being a little kid in a grown up candy store though it’s not all candy but savory yummy treats.
My parents would take us here Sunday brunch (it’s the only day they do brunch) a lot so i became very familiar with there rich pancakes. Eggs were always awesome as well. Anything from the deli section was always perfect. Coffee and Wine both compliments to anything served in this place. The location is gorgeous. You can sit inside or outside and enjoy the vast views over Snug Cove. Open seating let’s you start conversation with tourists or locals alike.
What i also like is that they do movie nights and also do events where the feature foods from certain regions. This to me is a great way to be involved in your community.

Nice place to stop for a light lunch with amazing views.
I was a bit disappointed with the deli style offerings, I had wanted to come for tapas but we were heading back before dinner time. I stared at the deli case and the chalkboards, and couldn’t really find anything interesting that I could eat, so I just ordered the ceaser salad.
It was a damn good ceaser salad, with capers and perfect housemade croutons. Paired with the inspiring view and a nice glass of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, the simple salad made a perfect lunch.
It was a bit on the small side though, considering I ordered the large, so I grabbed some dolmades to go. They were good as well, later, sitting by the lake.

Great view, good food
We went here for dinner when Tuscany down in the village was full. «Just 10 minutes if you take the trail» they said. Well its more like a 15 to 20 minute walk with quite a bit of uphill.
The tapas was very good — especially the flank steak and tempura prawns. However from the perspective of our 11 year old it was all very exotic — even the fries were garlic fries.
Nice views and away from the ferry traffic.

* A wonderful little gem on top its high perch *
After a brisk uphill trail walk this was a wonderful spot to grab lunch. They have a nice variety of baked in house items as well as a full kitchen. They were touting their Artisan Burger as one of the best items of the day so I figured I would give it a try.
It was a generous burger served with the meat cooked the way I like it — still towards the rare side. It came on a whole wheat bun and was topped with roasted tomatoes (nice touch roasting them), truffle mayo (couldn’t taste much truffle though to be honest), and hand leafed lettuce. I would have liked the meat to have a little more seasoning, but it was a nice burger overall.
The fries which it came with were pretty bad though as if they were fried about 30 minutes ago and then kept in a lukewarm warmer. So skip the fries if you can.
Also got to try the smoked salmon tartlette which was served as an open faced sandwich. The salmon was nicely smoked, and the capers had been lightly fried to give them interesting texture and soften their saltiness. Nice dish.
The pain au chocolat looked underbaked and very skipable (which we did by not ordering it). The freshly baked morning glory muffin was extremely moist and flavorful though.
I noticed they had a small but well chosen selection of wines by the glass including one of my favourite BC vineyards (La Frenz) which you don’t find in many restaurants/​cafes.
Oh, and I have to mention the view. Beautiful view of the water and the mountains. The window side seat gets a lovely breeze and ups the star rating to 4 from the 3 on the food!

This place is a gem on Bowen Island. It was the perfect place for lunch when we went. We were so hungry by the time we got off the ferry but we didn’t want pub food. We found out about Artisan Eats in the guidebook and noted that it was located in Artisan Square. So we walk walk walk and found the sign that said «Artisan Square 300 metre trail (left arrow) or 1 km road (right arrow).» As hungry as we were, we opted for the 300 metre trail. But we didn’t realize the entire trail was up hill! By the time we reached there, our meal and wine/​beer were well deserved.
I guess in the evening they have small plates like tapas. But during lunch it was a delicatessen type thing where you can order a sandwich or something plus salads or soups and whatever niblets they have in their case like olives etc. I ordered a Soprano (meat lovers) panini and a tomato bocconcini salad. My friends ordered the bacon and egg on panini and were thoroughly impressed. My tomatoes in my salad were the best tomatoes I’ve ever had this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific for that matter). They were sweet, meaty and juicy. The bocconcini was the perfect complement. The panini sandwich I had was really good to. I paired them with a glass of Joie Rose, which was probably the most expensive glass at $ 10/​glass. The only thing that bothered me about the whole thing is that the server took my wine glass away when I had gotten up to order dessert, even though there was some wine left in it.
For dessert I got the raspberry tart and it was soooooo delicious! It wasn’t too sweet. The raspberries were perfect. I was so happy. It was the best 300m uphill hike I ever did!