James Street Café & Grill

We came on a Sunday afternoon and it was pretty busy but not insane or anything. It took us 55 minutes to get two breakfasts and we saw others who arrived after us receive their food first.
The food was decent but not worth that kind of wait.

Worst butter chicken and chicken curry I’ve ever had, you’d think since the owners are Indian that the food INDIAN food would taste better, the butter chicken might as well been soup. I use to eat here in the past before the new owners took over and it was good, now it’s just garbage.

Had to attend a party there… he charged 22 $/​person catering fee and the food was horrible… almost everyone at our table of 9 agreed… I’d not go there again.

A great place for lunch, lots of entrees and sandwich options and there is a different special every day. The halibut burger is excellent, the portions are large here from the salads to the sides, you leave feeling full.

What a little gem! More people need to come here and hopefully they can market a little more so people can see what they are missing! Great lunch, dinner and especially breakfast options. This may have been the best breakfast sausage I have ever had. 100% beef and 100% flavourful! The Pannekoek was a treat. Fresh strawberries and whipped cream to pair made this dish a delight to eat. Move over IHOP, James Street Café & Grill is coming for ya!

James Street Café & Grill was the only place I could have lunch at since I was looking to purchase a car next door. They recommended I go there to eat.
Like some of the other reviewers have mentioned, they try WAY TOO many things and don’t seem to get anything right. The menu is jumbled up together with random dishes. I am not sure if this place is Indian, Greek, Canadian or fusion of all three.
I ordered a beef curry dish with naan, salad and rice. I immediately noticed the food didn’t look right. Yup, it was microwaved. The vegetables were soggy and the bread stale. I left my food half eaten and just wanted to leave. No one came to check if I wanted to pay or needed anything. So I just went up to the till, paid and left.
Definitely a place I will not be going back to anytime soon when I am in Burnaby.

My friend and I visited this place at the begining of March 2015. We ordered a few appys, two dinner items and two desserts.
Appy:
Chicken and Veggie Samosa: the veggie one good as well as the chicken one. The chicken was a bit dry as they used chicken breast.
Pili Pili Tiger Prawns: this was good. I love the hot sauce that came with it too. If you like prawns order this.
Lamb Sheek Kabab with masala potatoes: the kabab was not bad. The lamb did not have that gamy taste nor the smell. The masala potatoes were not seasoned enough. Lack of salt and flavour.
Dinner:
Karai Chicken: this was not bad. way better than the lamb curry we ordered.
Lamb Curry: this tasted gamy and had that lamb smell.
Roti: this was costco’s pita bread/​naan!
Dessert:
Cheesecake: this tasted horrible. yuk! thats all I can say.
Ras Malai: This was good. we were surprised.
The service was not great. I asked the waiter 3 times for a refill on my pop. Did not get it. Nor did he fill the water in our cups. If you want to try this place I would suggest take out.

I love this place and the only reason that we don’t go here more often is because it’s hard to get parking. They have a big parking lot but they get busy! (It’s because they’re that good.)
The first time we went here we had chai and appies with clients. The service was great, the chai was great, and the food was great.
Their lunch specials are really good too. The prices are excellent and we’ve liked everything we’ve had there so far. Definitely a favourite.

Lots of parking and seating. Nice décor and generally clean.
Decent food: a mix of western food with Indian. Nothing special.
Service is usually poor-​to-​ok (at best).

My work had their Christmas party there. It was very nice the food was good but i think the wings were a bit undercooked. They serve really good samosas! The only downer was slow service i dont think they are used to such a big group in there restaurant. I would definitely come back just for the samosas but not a place id go anytime soon.

We went here for lunch the other day and it was decent. It was a bit busy and we had to wait a little longer to place our food orders but when the food came, it was tasty and good portion size.
This place has an extensive menu of western food, indian food and big breakfast platters.

We were on a business trip to Canada and was on our way to IHOP for some breakfast after a whole day of photographing a wedding when we passed by this place. On a whim we decided to stop and see what the food looks like.
First impression: WTF
It took us a few seconds to actually realize that they serve breakfast food because the menu right by the door listed only Indian food. The advertisement outside said that there would be breakfast food though, so we were not sure if we got into the right restaurant. Promptly seated, we looked through the menu and found the breakfast section.
Food: The coffee was EXCELLENT! Best coffee I’ve ever had at a restaurant. For $ 4.50 for 2 people with unlimited refills, it was a great value. We ordered the English Breakfast and the Loaded French Toast, and decided to share everything.
The EB was good, eggs were cooked to exactly as I requested, and the sausages! I guess I was expecting tiny little diner (frozen) sausages, but man the ones on the plate were huge and super scrumptious. Probably deep fried, but it was totally worth it. We looked at the pictures of the hash brown on the menu and decided that it just didn’t look very appetizing, so we asked to substitute it with the Indian potatoes. HOLY MOLY, it was sooooooo good. Surprisingly goes well with the rest of the Western breakfast too.
Service: Prompt, courteous, yet friendly.
Overall I would definitely stop by again if we ever find ourselves to be near the area.

Had a fantastic strip loin steak with peppercorn sauce, our sever Rosa was a delight! Will definitely go back!

This place strikes me as trying to do too many things and doing none of them particularly well. Their menu is very confusing. Some things are Indian, some things are not, some things are somewhere in between. I would hesitate to call this a «café» by the usual definition.
Several things about this place were irritating today:
— The place wasn’t busy but the server seated us right next to the only other occupied table in the place. Much nicer to have a little space. But fine.
— Said table had no cutlery. None was delivered by the time we received food so we got up and took some from another (empty) table.
— There was no hot water in the men’s room. Hopefully some in the kitchen.
— Ordered the «mix and mash» with ham. Do not order this. I made the foolish assumption that an item on their breakfast menu described as «Hashbrowns and vegetables, topped with cheese, with your choice of 100% beef sausage, bacon, ham» would include breakfast-​y ham like a normal breakfast platter does. The ham was thin, deli sliced ham. The cheese was torn up pieces of a processed cheese single (seriously?!). This was $ 9.95. Toast choices: white and brown.
On the plus side, they had good coffee, and the masala potatoes were delicious. But again, wtf? The cup I ordered came out in a nice big mug and I thought, oh, this is good. So my partner ordered one as well and it came in a little mug. Little details (cutlery, cups, seating arrangements, hot water etc) are clearly not a priority here.

My brother lives close to this place and regularly gets take out… decided to be spontaneous and have a sit down dinner with a friend… eh. Not my best decision. The food is always great, they have western food (never tried) and an Indian fusion spin. I was told its owners are Ismali so maybe that provides the Indian twist. Anyway no complaints about the food. But the service was supppeeeerrrr slow. The place filled up quick and I saw maybe only 2 waiters. Also the live music, I wasn’t much of a fan. I was happy when that guy took a break, way too loud. I had to yell to conversate with my friend across the table. Bottom line, def try the food. But I recommend takeout. Or maybe a mid weekday. Def not dinner at 8pm on a Friday night.

We came here for brunch one weekend and was pleasantly surprised to find out they serve Indian cuisine! It used to just be your typical Westerner breaky, but now it’s both! You can have your typical breaky or Indian fare which is excellent. I had the brunch special with pekora, puri, masala potatoes and a veggie omelette! I’m coming back again!

I’ve been trying to have brunch with my parents more frequently and this time they chose James Street Café and Grill. It’s a little place tucked on Canada Way, but I’ve never actually wandered in.
The menu is completely unexpected and eclectic. They have burgers and curry, yes, curries. It’s an interesting mix to be sure. I’ve often found that places that try to do two different cuisines usually only excel at one. With all the choices available to us, we decided to go for the ethnic choices instead of your usual Eggs Benny.
Our appetizer was the Chicken Samosas. These were light and not at all oily. The filling was a bit dry and you couldn’t really tell that it was chicken (because it was ground chicken and rather dry) but a decent version of the real thing.
My mom, the lightest eater of us all, opted for a simple Dal, a simple lentil soup. It was very rich and smooth, but felt very healthy. The cumin wasn’t overpowering and complemented the soup very well. Hot with a very creamy texture, this is perfect for a cool spring day.
My stepdad, who is trying to eat healthier lately decided on the Weekend Breakfast Special. This features a Vegetable Omelet, some Masala potatoes and their delicious Naan Bread. I miss the tri-​fold omelette. I think the half moon (seen at Rocky Mountain) seems to be the norm now, and I was surprised to see the presentation here. He really enjoyed it and you can clearly see the abundance of vegetables here. The naan was a bit oil and flat in my opinion, but he seemed to enjoy it. But the best part of the dish was the masala potatoes. This ain’t your average hash, the spices permeated throughout the potatoes and really livened up the dish.
Oh, and what did I get? Well, 11:30am seemed like a perfect time for Goat Biriyani, wouldn’t you say? My parents were in shock when this huge rice platter was placed in front of me. The fluffy saffron rice pilaf was perfectly cooked and not a clump could be found. The goat was tender and there were lots of pieces with the bones still attached, my favourite. The spice was a bit mild but then again, this was early, so I’m sure that as the day went on and the flavours developed, it would have gotten better. And it did, because I ended up taking half of this home and can attest that it was better the second time around!
Take Note:
Very eclectic menu but go for the ethnic items
They pour their wine very generously (yes, I had wine at brunch, don’t judge)
Daily specials available for dine-​in or takeout. Just $ 11 and can feed 2 easily.

I’ve been here twice in the past ten years: Once for a cousins B-​day party and another just because. Good place to get ethnic as well as western american/​Canadian appies at reasonable prices. Service has been decent each time. Just don’t go on a Friday after 8 pm… there is a music party/​Karaōke. If you’re into those it’s awesome otherwise I always end up seeing everyone from Kanah there (friends of my mom’s) who I try and avoid or leave before the 20 life questions begin.
This is place is awesome for breakfast. It is right across Charlie’s Chocolate factory.

Not a bad alternative for breakfast, own big parking lot.
ordered the french toast, nicely sprinkled with sugar powder but though i knew it wasn’t gonna be the thick toast, still the good italian bread apparently. 4 slices for about $ 8, good value. even came w/​a few strawberries.
nice and clean, and prob. less lineups than a dennys or abc.
Did notice a table that ordered some chicken wings that smelled awfully good.

This is a really weird restaurant, but the food was good. Like the others described its pub food, indian and breakfast/​lunch.
First time I was there, I ordered food from here for a work potluck and it was surprisingly good. A co-​worker suggested it and told us to order the butter chicken. The menu was massive and it was the strangest assortment of food, but everything was delicious and gone before we knew it.
The second time, we had a sit down dinner. The décor of this place is as random as the menu. It looks like an old school italian restaurant. There were grapevines and decorative bottles of oil everywhere. Again the food was great and the portion were huge. We ordered a few appetizers (meatballs, falefals). We though that we would be splitting them to share but there like 8 of each on the plate.
I would definitely recommend the food here.

I came here thinking it was breakfast diner food. I walked in, then walked out because I was sure that I stepped into the wrong restaurant. James Street Café Bar and Grill is actually an Indian restaurant that also serves Western Styled lunch/​brunch. They have a MASSIVE menu and it’s really difficult to figure out what it is that you would like to eat. Many of the pictures of the meals are not actually described in the menu itself, which makes it all the more confusing. However… confusion aside, I would give this place a solid 4 stars based on the food itself.
After humming and ha-​ing, I ordered the Halibut Masala and my boyfriend ordered some dish with grilled beef, chicken, and Choma (?). I don’t think this is the same type of Indian food that I’m used to. It’s a bit sweeter and tangier and less cream. Masala potatoes and I had basmati rice and daal with my dish. I don’t even know what was on my boyfriends dish because it was massive and was too busy eating my own food to engage in a conversation about his. Both of our dishes could have fed two people, easily.
The masala was savory and tangy at the same time — the halibut was just a bit dry. My boyfriends grilled beef was made to perfection — it was medium well but still had just the right amount of char.
We also ordered these grilled meatballs. There were six of them, all the size of baseballs. They were glorious. You wouldn’t believe it but this dish was only $ 6.95.
We were glad to see that they do take out, and while their take out menu is limited. You couldn’t possibly fit everything that they offer into one form. If you do order for two, one dish and an appy really is enough. They have daily specials and often have coupons in the local community newspaper. If you live in the area or are in the area, I would definitely check this place out.