Oscar’s Cafe

Worked here 18hrs and got paid for CASH$ 100CAD
The owner told me that it’s because I wasn’t helpful at all, and they had to teach me from the beginning .
THIS HAPPENED LAST YEAR, and I cried because it wasn’t fair for me that I had to stand for the entire day (13hrs+)on a training day. It was my first job and I didn’t really know what’s the rules for working.
The owner Jenny first told me that I would also get pay for tips .
That was TOTALLY A BIG FAT LIE.
Worked 18hrs for $ 100, I leaned a lesson .
I wasn’t aware of the risk of working here because there wasn’t any paper contract between me and the owner in the beginning. I was so naïve.
I suggest them to cut down their hours instead of hiring more people to help them, and pay them like shit .
I mean a job is a job .
You hired people and people have the right to be treated and paid equally as other workers in BC.
Why would you ask me to be considerate about your small business and pay me like shit ?
Besides this ‚
The food I had no comments.
But I noticed that the wasabi pipping bag tips at that time already got a bit rusty, and Jenny didn’t do anything about it.

I’ve been here twice, both quite recently.
Once for breakfast. Which was decent, I mean I could make the same food at home for cheaper and better quality, but considering their isn’t a place to get eggs and bacon in Sapperton anymore you make due. My main problem with the breakfast was the hash. It was literally just chopped potatoes slightly simmered in a pan. There was no flavour, no sustance, nothing. You know how easy it is to make decent hash? A cheese grater and a pan. Voila, decent hash.
The second time I came back to try out the lunch and dinner options. I started with a milkshake. Not going to lie, probably the best thing in there. Pricey for the size, but made with real icecream and made thick. Can’t complain about that.
I opened the menu and realized something strange about this place. It was trying to do too much all at once. Chinese, Japanese, and North American options. Uh, talk about too vast of a menu. Any time you have a menu this big the quality of food is going to go down.
I ordered a burger and fries. My friend ordered sliced roast with gravy.
You’d think that be hard to mess up. Where do I start. Okay, frozen McCain store bought fries cooked in an oven. I mean sure, they’re the best frozen fries, but… its not hard to make fresh fries in a deep fryer. My burger was bland, clearly a frozen patty. It was charred black burnt and I didn’t finish it. It was just… too bad.
My friend got frozen deli meat with instant powered gravy on top of two stale bread slices. The best part was it was somehow cold. Cold gravy? Are you kidding?
The food took nearly 30 mins to come out from order. Considering I’m pretty sure a microwave was used for most of my friends dish that’s just sad.
If this place wanted to improve I’d tell them to drop the Chinese and Japanese menus and focus on wholesome fresh cooked North American classics.
The reason I say this is because the area doesn’t have competition for that market. It already has a great Chinese and Japanese restaurant not even a block away.
Drop the identity crisis. For a café it sure looks like a sushi bar. Change the look and tighten the menu. I mean the cooks can create a cool niche market too by offering North American classics with a Chinese or Japanese twist ontop. That’d be pretty cool, but shorten the menu. Some of the options on here suffer because they’re probably rarely ordered due to the sheer size of the menu and the cook just can’t keep up.

Terrible Alaska Roll. Phewy spit it out argh darn it. Not wild salmon and very very little of it and way to much rice, Yuck. And a whopping $ 5.95. Not on my return list. Sorry

Worst breakfast in town. Would not serve french fries with my bacon and eggs because they said fries were not served until 11 am? It was 10:55 when I sat down to order. Not friendly either

What a great place with a huge menu. You can get sushi, great chinese and great regular food. The owners, Simon and Jenny have owned a variety of restaurants over the years and this place is the best one! You won’t be disappointed with whatever you order! One of my favorite places to eat!

Soo good! We found this place on a hunt through the lower mainland for an all day breakfast. But not the type of breakfast you get at Denny’s, we were looking for a good home-​cooked tasting, almost like your mom made it in the kitchen breakfast. And this is EXACTLY what I got at Oscar’s. I ordered the Big Breakfast which consisted of toast, hashbrowns, bacon, and eggs. It was the perfect portion and it was delicious! (way better then anything at Denny’s.) My boyfriend decided to get the chicken donburi and was very pleased with it. We loved how they also had sushi here because much of the time we crave different things and this would be a great solution. Service was good, the place was empty when we got there though, so we were the only ones to be waited on. The cook came out and served us our food and he was very happy and kind. The place is very casual and there is a lot of canucks memorabilia all over the walls but no tvs. After finishing eating I decided to get a milkshake to go, and that too was absolutely yummy! Ive already highly recommended this place to all my friends and family, and will definitely be going back.

We went here after reading some of the reviews that it was decent sushi, but it wasn’t that decent.
–futomaki roll did not have the correct ingredients
–the food took a long time to come
–had to ask for water and tea
–all the rolls fell apart when picked up with chopsticks, b/​c they were cut too thin and not wrapped tight enough
The service was alright, I would not go there for sushi again EVER, but I would go there to try their chinese food, or regular café picks.

As Michael H. has pointed out, there are both pros and cons with this restaurant.
First, a bit of background, as the ‘Umai’ moniker is a bit confusing. As of June 2010, this restaurant is no longer strictly speaking «Umai Sushi» any longer. The new owners (as of 2010), Simon and Jenny, has kept the old name on the records as a matter of convenience. The main sign on the front of the store front says ‘Oscar’s Café’ now, while they have also kept the one that says ‘Umai’. And I seriously doubt that they are even aware that there is an ‘Umai Sushi’ web site, said site being completely out of date.
As to the Japanese food: it’s been explained to me by the new owners that they used to have a ‘Canadian-​Chinese’ restaurant across town several years ago, but have been out of the business for a while. They decided to start a new restaurant at a new location, using the same formula that they had at their previous location, which was ‘Canadian and Chinese’ food. They weren’t really interested in making Japanese food, but took it on anyway, as they were hoping to keep as much of the current clientele from Umai as possible as they transitioned to becoming Oscar’s Café. I watched as the previous owner taught the new owners how to make Sushi and other Japanese dishes.
While I’m not big on sushi, and our small neighborhood already had two previously existing sushi restaurants, I have to say that for people who have never made any kind of Japanese food before, Jenny and Simon have done a decent job of picking the skill up. I have to admit that I’m a bit biased though, as I never really cared for the food prepared by the previous owners; it just wasn’t up to par when compared with the majority of Japanese restaurants that I’ve been to, although the owners before the previous owners did a pretty good job of running the show. Sapperton just really does NOT need three Japanese restaurants; what we really need is a good Korean restaurant, which the neighborhood lacks.
I have to take exception to Michael’s comment about catering to the local ‘idiot’ crowd. There is no denying that the food is primarily coffee shop fare, and there is absolutely nothing fancy about it. But it should be said that the neighborhood has lacked a decent coffee shop lately (there was one across the road, but it was converted to another Japanese restaurant, lol!), and so with the advent of Oscar’s Café in this neighborhood, I think a niche has been filled (or should I say ‘re-​filled’?)
Yes, as Michael has pointed out, the service generally is too slow, if you’re in a hurry. If you are part of the aforementioned ‘local idiot crowd’, like me, then the chances are that you plan to spend some time just hanging out for a while anyway; and if that is the case, then the 10 — 20 minutes can go by pretty quickly.
There is however, a flip side to the service equation. I’ve noticed that once the waitresses/​owners get to know their (regular) customers, they are very big on giving warm, personalized service. My wife always takes her coffee with honey, not sugar. Without having to ask for it, the honey is put on the table for her. And for my part, I“m fussy about milk shakes — I like ‘em thick and chocolaty; Jenny always makes my shakes just the way I like ‘em! This is the kind of thing you’re not likely to pick up on from just a casual visit to Oscar’s Café.
Mind you, if you DO like a good shake, make SURE that you tell the waitress (es), «Please have JENNY make the shake for me,» otherwise you may end up with one that is not very thick, as some of the part time waitresses there just don’t know how to make a good shake.
Long story short, those personal touches do make a big difference, if you manage to go there often enough to get to know the owners/​waitresses.
So, on service, at least from the stand point of waiting time, I’d have to give two and a half stars. 2 /​½ **
For service from the stand point of personal treatment and friendly service (at least for the locals), I’ll give them four stars. 4****
Most of the food at Oscar’s is NOT up to par with what you probably would expect from a more upscale restaurant; the food is simple and unpretentious. You are not likely to find much that will leave you with that «Boy, I can’t wait to have that dish again!» feeling. But the food isn’t bad. And their Chinese food is certainly a LOT better than Chopsticks Restaurant, just across the street (which is mostly a ONE STAR restaurant, no matter how you look at it)
Well, there’s my ‘local idiot crowd’ take on Oscars Café/​Umai Sushi. Try their house special chow mein, with one of Jenny’s chocolate shakes on the side; you won’t be disappointed.
Overall, I give this restaurant three stars***. You can certainly find far better restaurants, but this restaurant isn’t pretending to be one of them. It’s just a humble restaurant where the owners are just ‘keeping it real’ with the regular clientele.
On the ‘Good for groups’ box, below, think «small groups (4 — 8 people).

I wish I could give half stars. It isn’t a four star joint, nor is it a three star sushi bar. It has its positives and negatives.
NEGATIVES
— slow service. It took 30 minutes to get my order, the place was only a quarter full.
— the spring rolls were mostly wrapping with very little filling.
— the miso soup was a tad to thick for my taste.
— the chicken udon dish was bland and greasy.
— they try to cater to the local idiot market by also serving Canadian and Chinese cuisine. I think they’d be stronger if they just stuck with Japanese.
POSITIVES
— the sushi. Their sushi chef is skilled. The rolls were well made and cylindrical. The fish was fresh tasting.
— specialty rolls. I ordered the Crazy Boy Roll, and boy was it crazy delicious. A deep-​fried California Roll smothered in a yummy deep brown sauce (teriyaki?).
— the prices are very very reasonable.
I will return, but only for the sushi. Four star sushi if it is sushi you are looking for and nothing else.

Delicious sushi!!! I LOVE this place.
Best place to get fresh sushi in town. Every time I visit Vancouver, I make sure to grab a bite here. Prices are great, the owners are very friendly, and the atmosphere is pleasant. Any fan of sushi should try this place — you’ll never find anything tastier than this place.
Their sushi chef creates beautiful rolls with creative ingredients. AND he’s hilarious!!! he’s very friendly and he smiles a lot. Hot Night Roll is my favorite — it comes with scrumptious spicy tuna on top of the roll, for a moderate price.
Their agedashi tofu is to die for. It’s crispy, and their sauce is unique.
Enough of talk, go try for yourself.