Nosh

3 stars for the salad bar for sure… would’ve been 5 but I also got that nasty tofu wrap which I ended up throwing in the garbage because it’s 90% wet cabbage (and yes, I know what kimchi is, that part was equally gross) that you can’t even bite through. Needless to say, my lunch was $ 20 but worth approximately $ 7.
The line-​up idea they have is poorly executed, but the baked goods bar looks amazing.

Great salad and the right choice for people like me who never can decide on just one topping. You choose from 2 sizes, select the typ of greens and all your toppings… and in the end you are not charged by weight, but just on the size of the box you choosed. Great concept, delicious, and resonable pricing.
Seating is also nice, very bright even on a rainy day because of the windows all around. The cakes also looked fantastic but I have not tried this time.

My experience with Nosh has always been very pleasant. The food is delicious, fresh, and reasonably priced.
Breakfast: I have tried carrot muffin and cheddar & chives scone. They are both very delicious. Every time I buy them they’re still slightly warm, which is how I like my morning baked goods. The cheddar & chives scone is something I always come back for. Scone is light, moist on the inside, and crispy on the outside. The cheddar and chives are well incorporated into the dough so with every bite one can enjoy the heavenly flavors.
Lunch: the buffet-​style salad is bang for your buck. Nosh generously packs in whatever available toppings of your liking. Do not under estimate Nosh’s salad. They are notoriously filling and may put you in food coma. Sandwiches I’ve tried so far are Turkey & Provolone, Ham & Brie, and Tofu Wrap (vegan). The former two are pretty standard, always piping hot from the panini grill and cheese is always gooey (love!). The tofu wrap exceeds my expectation. The Asian flavored wrap is slightly spicy from the kimchi. The texture — texture from blanched cabbage as the «wrap», and crunchy carrots, broccoli, cauliflower makes this vegan lunch option irresistible.
Service has always been fast, professional, and courteous.

I come to Nosh at least 2 – 3 times a week! I work just across the street so often times it is the easiest and healthiest choice around while being fairly priced.
I highly recommend the salad bar where you get to build your own salad. You get to pick from a huge range of ingredients and things you wouldn’t even think of to put in a salad, which is great. Staff are also not stingy in how much they give you either. Often times it looks more like a big bowl of stuff and a few leaves for here and there than it does an actual salad. I’m not a fan of salads but this really doesn’t make me feel like I’m eating anything healthy. It tastes too good!
The only thing is, however, that you need to come at the right time. I’ve been there when there were only a few ingredients left and none of my usuals were there so it turned out to be a pretty lame salad.
They also have irresistible sweets that they make you line up in front of for the salads. It drives me crazy every time.
Stew, soup, sandwiches, paninis are also available.
Service is alright, could be better. If you eat there you can sometimes catch a manager going around to the different tables asking how everything is, which is a nice touch.

This here’s a rant. You been warned.
This place is run by the putzes who own Glowbal. I was hired to photograph them for one of those glossy lifestyle magazines when they launched their first restaurant in Yaletown. Here’s what happened.
I arrived early, loaded in all my gear and proceeded to be ignored by everyone there.
«Excuse me are the owners here?» The server was nice and left to fetch one of them. I waited. And waited. Eventually Shannon arrived «Did you need something?» «Hi, I’m Dan from ***Magazine.» I stick out my hand to shake hers. She ignores it. (How polite. We’re off to a good start.)
«Who?»
“Dan. From – «
“What are you doing here? Oh yeah yeah ***Magazine. Okay let’s get this done.»
«Well I’ll need to set up my lights and do a few tests. I’ll be ready to shoot in about half an hour. What time do you open toda – » She walks away without saying anything.
I look around and decide to shoot at the bar. I begin to set up my lights and the head chef comes barging out of the kitchen. «You can’t do that here! What are you doing?»
«I’m –I’m setting up lights. I’m here to shoot Emad and Shannon. And you I think as well.» I say cheerfully. (I THINK he’s the head chef I’m supposed to shoot. I’d know for sure if he had the courtesy to introduce himself.)
«Well you can’t do it here!» he grumbles.
«Oh. uh –Sorry.» I stutter, startled by his belligerence. «But I do need to shoot somewhere. Where can we do this?» (Great, now a chef is art directing this shoot.)
«I dunno.» He says and storms off without elaborating. (Hey dummy, you coming back with an answer for me or what?) I wait some more.
He comes back 15 mins. later and yells at me from across the room. «Back room. Louise! Tell that guy back room.» (I look at Louise behind the bar and smile. She rolls her eyes. Not sure if at me or Cheffy McYells-​a-​lot.) Trying to ingratiate myself to him I call back. «Thanks! I’ll be ready for ya in about half an hour.» No response. (Did he hear me? He doesn’t seem to get how conversations work.)
I enter the back room. It’s too small, the ceilings are low, there’s a conference table in the middle and there’s junk everywhere. Cardboard boxes. Glassware. Bags of garbage. Lumber. (Nice work Douchebag McChefenstein.)
I start clearing the table and struggle to move it aside far enough to squeeze three subjects and myself and lighting into this puny shit hole of a room that is lit like an insane asylum and smells like a hobo.
I leave the room to look for my lovely subjects. I find Shannon. That grimace on her face will look so beautiful on camera in that lovely back room. «Any idea where Chef is?» «He’ll be here.» She replies.
We wait. And wait. «So the restaurant looks beautiful.» Empty platitudes on my part. I couldn’t care less about her or her stupid restaurant at this point. «Yeah, we’ve got a great team here. We’re pretty excited.» Ooh, she talked to me like a person. «Yeah, I noticed tha…» «Hello?» She picks up her cell phone and starts yelling at someone. Cheffy McJerkface finally shows up. Ooh matching grimaces. Perfect!
«All we need is Emad. Is he on his way?» I ask Mr. and Mrs. Sunshine. She’s still yelling at a supplier on the phone. Rainman McCheffy ignores my question and stares into space. I turn to him. «By the way. My client also needs me to get a shot of one of your cocktails.» Shannon stops yelling. «Chef can you take care of that?» He grumbles and storms off again. (No! AFTER we’re done shooting. Stay here –fuck! It’s like herding cats!) «No –uh I mean after we – » Too late. He ignores me again and leaves the room. Emad shows up.
«Hi, you must be Emad.» (Maybe HE’S nice.) I reach out to shake his hand. He brushes past me, glances over his shoulder «Hi.» Then turns to his wife. «Where’s Chef? Why isn’t he here? Here, let me talk to him.» She hands him the phone and he proceeds to yell at the supplier. Forrest Gumpenchef arrives. With a stainless steel martini glass filled with cranberry juice. Good work again numb nuts. That’ll shoot beautifully. While you’re at it why don’t you stick a used bandaid in there for garnish.
Anyway. I managed to get the shot and these idiots got published despite themselves. If this happened to me today I’d have packed up my gear and walked off the job. And my publisher would’ve backed me up. But they saw an eager somewhat obsequious 25 year old kid and decided to treat him like shit. And something tells me they behave this way toward staff. These are the people who run this business and I vowed I’d never patronize them.
So I was mad when I discovered they owned Nosh. Because the pastries are good. And I work across the street and have been using them to feed me and my crew on a regular basis since they opened.
So minus 999,996 stars for the owners and how they treat people. But plus one million stars for the staff who make me delicious pastries despite working for such awful people.

Their custom salad ingredients are incredible — you can choose from about 40 high-​quality ingredients like blue cheese, candied salmon, etc. The lineup is crazy, but it’s a testament to how good the products is. The macarons are perfectly made, with perfect consistency, but a little on the sweet side for my taste. The prices are pretty reasonable. I really liked this place! After the serious disappointment with the full size sit down restaurant right next door, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this place. I will definitely return.

Lunch: the line up for their amazing salad bar is insane. Expect to wait awhile as it could get slow but I love that they don’t charge by weight and just 2 sizes for whatever you want.
Happy hour: they are promoting European happy hour to get a drink and tapas free but it’s not a great deal as the tapa is only one tiny little brochetta with a topping and although menu says $ 6 cocktail it ranges from $ 6-​$ 12.
Value ³⁄₅
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅
Service ³⁄₅
Quality ⁵⁄₅
¹⁵⁄₂₀

Came here on a Saturday morning with a function going on at Telus Garden so it’s busier than usual. The 3 of us ordered 2 sandwiches, 2 waffles, and 2 pastries. Needed to wait a while for everything and when the server brought the food over they were all cold except the sandwiches. Alright, maybe we didn’t ask to heat it up. Also they forgot our 2^nd sandwich until we went ask them 20 minutes later after we finished everything. Good thing they quickly made one for us and also gave us 4 extra macaroons, for free!

Nosh is a very convenient place to have lunch for those who work close by. The packed salads come in very fair amount and the quality is good enough for the price. They also have small portion of other salads which is half of the price and half of size too.
One thing that I didn’t like when I try Nosh for the first time was the two lines they have: one for the salad bar, the other for packed salads and small ready salads. I got there and ended up in the long line while I could have taken the short one.
They also have a bunch of nice bakery stuff but I haven’t tried yet.

Passed by and the setting caught our eye. We decided to check it out on our walk back. We stopped in for brunch on a Sunday and were pleased to be given a table on the patio beside the warm fireplace.
The service was exceptional as were our dishes. The pricing was reasonable. We really enjoyed the patio.
We ordered the french toast and wild salmon with poached eggs (hold the hollandaise). Is was delicious.
Will return again when in the downtown area.

Easy 4-​stars for this one! I met a friend here for lunch during the week, after having walked past about a million times :) The Telus building is gorgeous, open and bright, with lots of seats, though I can imagine it gets quite busy. There’s a buzz, but quiet enough to carry a conversation. We headed straight to the make your own salad bar — so many options! And you can pick them all! A giant salad for $ 9 downtown? Ah, yes! Mine had chicken and bocconcini, grilled peppers and strawberries. Many, many delicious options to choose from. After salads, we headed back up to the counter for coffee and treats — my raspberry cheesecake was delicious (enough for two servings, and in a cute box to take home!), and my friend’s macaroons came with rave reviews. It can get busy, but that’s to be expected. The staff are friendly and helpful, and I’ll definitely be back!

Need a quick coffee and a muffin? Do this first: count number of people in line. If greater than two, budget your time accordingly or go elsewhere, like the place across the street, coincidentally named, «Nosherie». (who noshed first?)
Nosh has yet to figure out queuing. In spite of a noted, «hot item express» line (that is seldom staffed), they do not prioritize quick service patrons (just the coffee, please) over full service («is that quinoa organic?» «No, but we can whip some up for you!»).
By the time you get to the exposed, likely sneezed-​upon, baked goods, open for molestation by idling patrons, you can rest assured that refreshment is just around the bend. Maybe sample a crumb or two from the tempting tray before you. After all, you may still be waiting for a while.
What they need here are Disney– style, queue management signage. «From this point, estimated wait time: 20 minutes».

Great Food but the service is horrible.
The last 3 times that I’ve arrived at 7am to get a coffee, I’ve felt like I’m upsetting the workers by being there and ordering a drip coffee. Its like its a bit of a stretch for them go over to the coffee dispenser and dispense coffee. Very annoyed at the service there. Lunch is good but service is horrible.

2.5 really.
5 stars for the salad bar. You can pick up small pre-​made salads like the Moroccan chicken salad or beet salad for $ 4.50 which are really delicious. I’ve also enjoyed their delicious tapas bites which I bought for an event. However during their happy hour, a complimentary plate is provided with every drink purchase from their bar list.
Based on everything above, I would’ve given them 5 stars hands down. However as some have mentioned, the service is really inconsistent. Some days you’re made to feel like a nuisance when you ask (maybe try displaying prices to avoid this) to other days when you get the warm smile from that one staff who’s trying to liven up the ambiance and make a difference — those are the MVPs. Thank-​you for saving the day!

Passed by on Labour Day and went in for some macarons. There was a wide selection of pastries and dessert cakes/​tarts. They also have custom make to order salad bar. A display full of wraps and sandwich to choose from. What they lack is a proper menu, name boards and prices. It was hard to know what all the items were and what would be the total of bill. So when I ordered, the server had to repeat the flavors of the macaroons twice. The reason for this was because the flavors of the macarons were based on the filling and the color of the shells were not of matching color. Like the peanut butter flavor had brown filling but a lavender colored shell. Normally, macarons with such color is lavender flavor with a lighter filling (eg. vanilla), namely lavender vanilla.
I ordered one of each flavor; eight in total. At the time they had, coffee, caramel, pistachio, lemon, peanut butter, mixed berries, strawberry and earl grey. My least favorite was the pistachio. It tasted a bit artificial, in my opinion. The colors of the macarons were very bright and attractive to the eyes. I must admit, these are one of the best macarons I’ve ever eaten. They definitely come close to Pierre Herme’s macarons. The shell of the macarons had a thin layer which gives a little crack before you sink your teeth down into the pillowy-​texture of the macaron. They are a bit larger in size compared to the regular macarons I’ve had. But I’m not complaining. They’re so good. I’d hope to see more (inventive) flavors. Will definitely be back for more.
I browsed around and also ordered the apple kouign-​amann and kouign-​amann with glazed peaches on top. Also had to ask the server what this was. It was my first time trying kouign-​amann so I can’t really give a proper review to it. It hard on the outside from the caramelized sugar. Had a bit of a puff pastry with a cake base. I, personally find it a bit on the sweet side and was too hard for my liking. It was a bit hard to cut. If I would get this again, I would pair it with a cup of espresso or coffee without sugar and minimum cream. These were a bit more pricey than I thought as the online menu said that pastries were for $ 2.50 each but when I checked my bill, they charged me $ 3.95. It’s not expensive but I like to be informed before I make my purchase and not ask a million questions while there’s a line behind me.

The energy is really great and they have good dessert selection but they supply other bakery’s inventory so there is no «fresh» baked goods. I work next to Pure Bread so I much prefer freshly baked pastries.
The salad has good value where you can make your own for $ 6. The hot food selection including sandwiches are limited. The line up system can be confusing during busy lunch hour.
Service is really poor. None of the staff are friendly. As I had poor experience with Glowbal as well, it makes me question how they treat their employees for everyone to be that unhappy.
The interior is really beautiful but the rest does not measure up.

Extremely attractive desserts are displayed right at the entrance. Extremely tempting.
Mediocre breakfast scones, croissants, and muffins. Nothing to rave about.
Delicious, freshly made salads. Pick your own vegetables, nuts, toppings, and dressing. They add it all together and mix it up. Two sizes available and I find the small was sufficient for me.
Average and standard coffees. Overpriced hot chocolate.
Service inconsistent. Depending on who serves you, some are friendlier than others. Some are pretentious.
Appealing seating area. Nice setup. Almost a Parisian feel. A novelty to sit at the patio by the fireplace.

Amen to that…
An another option then coffee shop chain…
I really like the vibe… Telus building rocks…
Flawless customer service.
And the pastries…
SO CHEAP 2.50 $… Beat that…
I tried so far their Croissant…
Da chocolate and their ham & cheese one…
Really fresh…
And WHAMMY pain au chocolat!
Also the truffles was sick…
WARNING this place cause an addiction…
Located right in my playground…
This place is a big hit!
I will come back over and over that’s for sure.

I do not recommend you eat at Nosh Bakery. This bakery has issues managing its inventory, so you may end up with dry or moldy baked goods (a cro-​roll), as I have. Their baked goods look the part, but don’t live up to their aesthetics. The macarons have no crunch and their flavour is thin. Similarly the lemon tart looks great, but lacks a lemony kick.
About the moldy cro-​roll:
I’ve had Nosh’s «cro-​rolls» quite a few times (~10). A cro-​roll is a cinnamon bun like roll made with rolled croissant dough. It has varied from being fresh and delicious to green with mold. More often than not the cro-​rolls are dry, but usually still tolerable. After receiving a stale, moldy roll I will no longer eat anything from Nosh. When I returned the moldy product they took it to the kitchen to confirm it was moldy (it was) and then said «sorry about that», feigning sympathy. As I walked away with my refund I saw the servers/​kitchen staff return to what they were doing prior! They didn’t discard the other cro-​rolls or check to see if they were moldy! This didn’t leave me with any confidence that this occurrence won’t re-​occur. Service is somewhat bi-​polar, often cold and unpleasant and sometimes friendly and upbeat (Roger is great!).
Hits:
— sandwiches are decent, and unlikely to be moldy as they turn them over fairly quickly
Misses:
— moldy baked goods
— baked goods aren’t always fresh
— ordering and receiving your food during the lunch rush is absurdly awkward (if you’ve ordered at lunch you’ll understand)

I guess I woudn’t expect anything but the best at the new TELUS Garden. Open to the public, Nosh offers breakfast, lunch, desserts and drinks. The menu runs the gamut, from breakfast, salads, hot pastas, wraps, sandwiches and a display case full of the most delectable pastries I’ve seen since Paris. Operated by the Glowbal Group — Nosh does not disappoint!
Service — Greeted warmly by the staff as I entered and I was encouraged to try a sample of their macaron — which was delicious. Friendly Roger behind the make your own salad counter advised me to have another. How could I say no? Placed my order with the girl at the counter who took my name and waited. Not 1 minute into my wait, I was approached by (Luke or Lucas?) and asked if I needed help. I advised I had already ordered and he asked for my name and told me he would check on my order. Ten seconds later it was in my hand. Fast and friendly!
Food — Here we get to the good part — Ordered the tofu wrap — not your standard rice wrap, it was full of carrots, tofu, cilantro, lettuce, kimchi and cauliflower. Then wrapped again in napa cabbage. It was delicious and I make it a combo for $ 10 (wrap only is $ 7.95) with a pesto and olive potato salad. Yes it all tasted as great as it sounds. Brought my meal back up to my desk and discovered that Nosh had come by the floor while i was downstairs and delivered a platter of desserts to welcome us. Sweet! (In more ways than one). Tried a Bombay Fruit Cup — mango, vanilla and chocolate chai pastry cream I think? Either way, wow. then a small piece of a cherry spice type mousse cake that melted in my mouth and hit many different parts of my palate.
Ambiance — Counter service or table seating, it’s an oddly shaped space (hint: if you are looking for the coffee accoutrements, they are behind the mirrored column) but inviting and modern. A great fit for the ground-​breaking LEEDS Platinum certified building it’s in.
Overall — I would absolutely recommend Nosh! They also have cocktail hour from 2:30−5:30 (which I haven’t tried yet since it’s only 1PM!) where if you order from the $ 6 cocktail menu, you receive complimentary tapas. I can only imagine they are delicious!