James Street Café & Grill in Burnaby

Much better food after a funeral. Service was good, very accommodating to last minute requests and changes. Good job!

i love the food here so much the masala chai was so good that i dreamt of it Food

Amazing food! Amazing staff!

Best samosas

I got the take out chicken choma and it was completely dry tasteless burnt and uneatable. Basically threw 18$ down the drain .

Yummy food

Food and service provided was good.

Bollywood music , dancing and bit of food, good place to be out of blue.must visit

Last night was my first visit to James Street, I attending a singing show. I found the atmosphere very warm, welcoming and pleasant. There was just enough space for the right amount of coziness when enjoying a nite out with beloved friends and family. The food was tasty and the service was amazing. They were all smiling and it really gave the place a positive vibe! I look forward to the next singing show, its such a fun place!!

THIS is the place to go when you re working in the area or choosing a place to dine out for lunch or dinner. It s really an amazing restaurant. It s because of the feel, the food (fish and veggie pakora ), the exceptionally friendly staff, and the owner s awesome and super nice to talk with too. The chai! Perfect every time. Great location, easy parking, great prices, great menu. - Kyle, 40, Burnaby

Food is mainly East African style. Slightly higher prices than I expected. The barbecue items are exceptionally good. I just wish they had better variety for single eaters without having to do a doggy bag.

Food was excellent as was service. Wheelchair accessibility: Good access and parking Food : 5/5 |

Food was amazing but expensive

We were there last night for a large dinner party.The host was very nice and welcoming everyone as they entered. The food tasted very good and there was quite a variety. The service was excellent and the servers went beyond.Samosas and lapsi were excellent. The restaurant looked clean and the lighting was good. The washrooms very clean too. They let us enjoy and we didnt feel pressured to leave. I definitely recommend eating there or having a party Kid-friendliness: Kids has their own table and having a lot of fun Wheelchair accessibility: Easy access

Great food, dedicated parking lot. Very nice server. Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will return.

Had the chai, curry chicken with rice and naan, it was delicious. Large pieces of chicken in the curry. Chai was so good, the server was so friendly and gave me an extra cup! Would come back here to support local restaurants.

Loved this place

Service was great!! Food was exceptional especially the beef kabobs! Thank you

Great place to go when you have people who do not appreciate the good east Indian food, they can select from the many other dishes that they serve. So a great place for larger groups with varying tastes.

Fantastic hole in the wall

Literally the best. From the service to the food, I could not have asked for a better experience! Normally, I don t leave reviews but this place blew me away. I will keep coming back, I hope to see you there too!

Best food Ive had. Their service is amazing, the restaurant is very clean and the ambiance is very welcoming. The food is delicious. The choma, chicken samosas, butter chicken, biryani; literally everything on the menu is absolutely delicious.

This place was sooo good. My fave was the choma platter, bombay biryani and chicken samosas. Can wait to go back on my next trip to Van.

We have been regulars at James Street since they opened their doors. Their food is always so fresh and delicious. My particular favourites are the Nyama choma platter, butter chicken, black fried kebabs and samosas. The staff are always so welcoming and create a comfortable and pleasant environment each time. The restaurant is clean and spacious giving enough room to accommodate you, your guests as well as the elderly, disabled and young kids. They are a great spot to host parties and even host their own music parties from time to time. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are looking for a great spot for Indian-African fusion cuisine.

Very decent and tasty food good stuff very friendly just a little bit pricey

The chicken samosas are excellent. The chutneys are decent and theres plenty to try on the menu.

Have been a regular customer of James since they have opened their doors. Great cafe, with good food and great and friendly staff always.

Love this place. My mother is a difficult person to please and she absolutely loves the lamb.

Was a long time customer, but the service has been slowly getting worse and my last visit was the tipping point. My family ordered a deluxe nyama choma which ended up being bland chewy and overcooked and took one 1:30 minutes to get and when told our what we were offered was a plate of those same bland flavourles ribs that we got with the platter the only difference they took 5-10 minutes to get

They use to have the BEST Butter Chicken Ive ever had! But last month and today, the butter chicken tasted like tomato sauce. I was hoping last month was an accident but unfortunately the new butter chicken recipe is here to stay Time to search for best butter chicken again ... Staff is nice and friendly though! Parking: Lots of parking.

We really enjoyed our dinner. The waiter was awesome. Great food.

Great service limited option but great food

very pricey not really worth food is okay

This is the best Butter chicken !!! I love coming here. I bring my mom and dad here to have breakfast and butter chicken. Friendly staff. Always room for everyone!! Kid-friendliness: Family happy place

We dinned in here and ordered butter chicken and burger. As you can see I am giving them 5 stars because the portion was really great that I had to take half of it to go because it was very filling. I accidentally spilled some of my food because of how full it was and I asked our server (I think he is also the owner or co-owner) to give me some tissue so I could clean up my mess but he insisted on cleaning it himself and told me not to worry about it as it happens more often than I think . I felt bad but I m glad he was nice and very accommodating. This was our second time coming here because the first time was during pandemic when they used to open around 11 am. So glad we enjoyed the food. I totally recommend.

I love this place! My friend introduced me to this place and I come at least once a month. The food, service and atmosphere is great. I love the patras and bhajia, my favourite! Ive bought many of my friends here and will continue to do so.

I did order a briyani through door dash sorry to say but one of the worst I ever had. Very soggy, odd smell and very sweet (a lot of tomatoes).

We were looking for a coffee shop and came across this place, it was a little before opening time, but we were invited in anyway. The Benny was amazing, and the potatoes were also fantastic. Very friendly staff and old school attentive service.

Ordered the fish and chips was told it came with 2 pieces of fish. Actually came with 3. They were actually small fish sticks similar to the frozen ones from Costco. All 3 might have equalled 1 piece of fish from an actual fish and chips shop. Reminded me of a kids meal. Chips were okay. Beware of the salt and pepper shakers as they are adjustable and if you dont check you will get a very unpleasant surprise. My coworker had the sandwich with the Pili Pili chicken and enjoyed it, however due to the salt shaker incident he was unable to enjoy his fries. In house menu different from online menu.

$20.50 for lunch butter chicken, rice and naan bread. Went for lunch at noon - 1pm, 5 people in total in for lunch in the whole restaurant. They had bad press a while back so Iprobably why the low numbers. I will revise if I have diarrhea later.

Delicious meal! Everything we tried was amazing, great service too. Best butter chicken ever!!!! Will definitely be back!

The place was good to hang out with friends. Butter chicken and tandoori chicken were so good at reasonable prices. Even milkshakes are good in the end. Pretty good place to hang and chill. It was a great experience.

The owner wasn t friendly and the food has no flavour

Excellent neighbourhood restaurant, great prices and great food.

An OK place to eat, but none if the dishes we had really stood out. Curry was OK but not the best Ive had. Burgers were probably from pre made patties based on their shape, which tasted fine. Not somewhere I would go out of my way to get, but not the worst choice if you are in the area.

Food was very good for authentic Service was polite and courteous Restaurant was clean and comfy Food : 4/5

The food is definitely great here. I had the beef ribs with a special spicy seasoning (cant remember the name of the dish). It was fantastic! The potatoes as a side dish were different and tasty too. Not cheap, but not too bad either. The establishment is a bit antiquated but that gives it charm and personality. Not everything needs to be modern right? It was clean too. Service was fine and attentive. I will definitely return if I have the chance to. Vegetarian options: Present Wheelchair accessibility: Accessible

Tasty East African Indian cuisine. Prices have increased a lot over the last couple of years Service was rather slow as only 2 servers with a full house for entire Restaurant. Food took a long time to be ready and served. Parking: Limited parking at Restaurant. Wheelchair accessibility: Ground floor wheelchair accessible

Great place for live Indian music on Fridays. The food is great too. Keep it up!

This is the worst food Ive had in Vancouver.

Very good burgers!

I ordered to go pick it up and when I got to the restaurant I ordered chocolate cake which they put in a take away box. I got home and there was a strong incense smell and I couldn t even swallow the cake. I called them to let them know and they told me it s the candle they burn. I wanted my refund so I told them am coming to drop it off and get my refund. They were very rude and started swearing at me on the phone and in the restaurant. The manager is very rude and s swearing at customers. Am never ordering from them again.

Was there for lunch, had an amazing meal. You gotta check it out!!

1st time Ben to this restaurant and the last time . The food was horrible. They called their buffet luxury buffet? I don t see nothing Luxury about it. Too much colouring in the food. . I do not recommend to go there.

The food is amazing at James Street! I had chicken Bombay biriyani, it was so delicious. My Aunt had Butter chicken, she really enjoyed it. However the most extraordinary fact about this restaurant, is how kind they were! Our family member had a medical incident while dinning. The owner and staff were incredibly attentive. We are forever grateful to them! Sincerely, Mark & Renee Hill

Did not like anything about this place except for the service. Food was terrible for the Indian palate. This place was suggested by my wife and we were extremely disappointed.

Great food all around. You have to try their kuku paka.

A warm and family focused environment. Excellent prices, delicious food, and a must visit.

Delicious food and very good customer service

Great ambiance with even better service! The owners were very sweet. You have to try the chicken samosa s they were amazing!

This place is one of the best places I have been too. The food is amazing, the staff is amazing, and the owners are just really service oriented. I would definitely recommend them to everyone to go and try their delicious food. Thank you for such a great hospitality and service.

The best place to be for good food ! The place is amazing and the taste of the food is absolutely delicious

Nice food and Service .

Very tasty meal. Good service.

Great atmosphere and tasty food. A nice place to take the family for dinner.

Worst taste ever for main course food

We were in the area and stopped by to have nyama choma. We ordered it with mogo & it was good! The meats were well marinated and tender; the mogo was crispy, not greasy. Only minor complaint is that there was no salad included in the price, but I suppose we could have paid extra to have salad separately. Also had lassis and an ismaili style falooda for dessert - I had never tried this type of falooda before and it was not bad, with a strong saffron taste.

Good live music with family

A little gem. Food was excellent and service was friendly and fast. There not much else nearby so this was a find

This Is A Pretty Good Place To Eat At

Staff is awesome. Rating is for the western breakfast which was passable. Will try their Indian menu next time and update this review

Good service, friendly staff and a great atmosphere.

Will not visit again. Long wait for food, dirty restaurant and lack of customer service. Owner was talking on the phone with speaker on in the restaurant. Like seriously.? Couldnt wait to be done and leave. Food wasnt good either.

Great personable staff

EXCELLENT SERVICE! Delicious food! We went on a weekend. Place was a bit busy. Our server, ( whose name is) TD, was very friendly, yet respectful. He made good suggestions and took the time to explain the food and taste. He made sure we were never lacking in anything, and anticipated our needs before we even asked! What a great guy! We ordered the ground beef samosas (ground mild spicy beef in triangle pastries that are deep fried) and daal Wada (lentil fritters) for snacks. Quite filling! For main, we had the Beef Akni, a blend of delicious Basmati rice, potatoes, and beef cooked in a very special way with special spices, garnished with caramelized onions and cilantro.It comes with pickles, and an Indian salad called kachumbar - cucumber, onions, tomatoes in vinegar. We ordered yoghurt with it. A very generous portion! And delish! For drinks, we ordered the masala chai (Indian spicy tea, made with ginger and spices) with our meal. In all, a very pleasant and satisfying experience. Makes all the difference when you have a great server! Thank you, TD! Going back next week!

Food is amazing tasty. Friendly service too. Bbq to die for.

Great food, South Asian fusion

Great food! very tasty! service was great!

Great food. I love coming here. The owner Anish always greets us warmly. The food is always delicious and fresh. Chering and Abhishek give awesome service.

Food ordered was excellent quality and good prices. Family owned business excellent customer service.

Incredible food and service! The food was fireeeee! Highly encourage anyone who hasn t tried this place to give it a try. You won t regret it!

Edit: I found this black plastic thing in my egg after my initial review and left immediately without finishing my food. Went in on a Monday during lunch time. Waited 35 minutes for my lunch to show up. Lady who came just before me ate and left before my food was even served. Asked for napkin when I first sat down and never came. Not coming back. Better ways to spend my money and time elsewhere. Stay away!

Food was ok.

Great place for going with old friends

Excellent food and service and nice live music

Have to experience the food at least once.

I had a pleasure to visit this place. I was surprised to find out that they have a large selection of hot foods on their menu more like a restaurant then a cafe. I only had a coffee since it was a client appointment but the food smelled delicious and the staff was super friendly.

Absolutely amazing environment and service highly recommended

My breakfast was average but my wife had some gastrointestinal distress from her meal. Popped in on a whim. Should have kept driving. People were nice enough though.

We love the China platter. Has a variety of delicious meat items, well seasoned, includes potatoes and chutneys. Well priced and delicious food

Sambosa was OK, they recommended the lamb which had gum texture and couldnt finish 2 bites. I told the manager and I still had to pay for the dish even though i left it behind nearly untouched. I wouldnt recommend to my worst enemy

Wont recommend to anyone nor do I plan on being back

African owners and African asian cuisine love it

Reasonable prices good service

Was a great place to randomly stop in for lunch at. I d come back for sure. Great service great food. Clean restaurant Recommended dishes Burger, Butter Chicken

Good food and service.

Nice menu with a nice blend of Indian and western cuisine.

Great food and service

Always so accommodating

Teddy, the host is wonderful, competent and friendly. But that s where the experience ends. The food has gone downhill significantly over the past few years. I ordered a lamb biryani. The meat was tough, the dish bland and it was NOT biryani but a generic bland lamb curry on rice. Awful. Avoid this place at all costs! Overrated, overpriced and underwhelming.

Food was good as expected.

Always friendly and prompt service. A delightful place to dine in.

10/10 been coming here for years, even when they were on boundary. Highly recomended.

Food is always on point. Great customer service. Never a disappointment. If you havent been there I highly recommend to either go dine in or make and order to go you definitely wont regret it.

Good food. Reminds me of East Africa

Best Indian food.

Funky it

Before the shut down again, I was there with my friends. The food was excellent and I do believe the owners/hosts Anish and Pari are fabulous people who know the food industry. I can also go on about the food with reviews to the moon however one must try the butter chic, the choma platter and veggie samosas. I have now been forced to get takeout and all I have to say is WOW! The takeout I had was Chic Mogo and they have these new grass fed 100% lean beef rolls in a wonderful pastry + the owner recommended this mini coconut cake ??? called a Vithumba AMAZING! I so recommend this place. Portions are huge, prices are very reasonable and takeout is fast and efficient.

Excellent food. For me, I enjoy the good because a lot of it reminds me of home (Kenya).

I went to this James Street restaurant yesterday about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. My scooter for the handicap was out of battery, and I asked them if I could plug my scooter in to charge. And the staff there was so nice and helped me with plugging it in, and was so nice to us while we were there. I would definitely recommend this restaurant because besides food they are very helpful.

So this place turns out to be all about the barbecued meats and curries, and its amazing. Prices are super reasonable and portions are great. The owner is friendly, wore his mask and made good suggestions. We sat on the patio and felt totally comfortable with things despite the COVID situation. We will definitely be back to try other dishes.

Wait time till stuff came to our table and then till they brought us our meal was way too long, even though the restaurant didn t have any other guests. Food was not great not terrible but it didn t impressed us.

Easily accessible location from Canada Way. Good menu and service.

The food is good,but the service is really slow and bad,in my experience I would recommend the owner to get more waiters and to train them better

Service is slow, and not attentive, but the food is decent. Food used to be better, not what it once was. Theyve also reduced the menu (I imagine this is a covid thing). hopefully when things open back up these guys can pick up their quality again, its definitely a staple of this part of town.

Meals from different parts of the world made it a unique experience! Service,food,and price points...very good! Well go back again!

Id rather not put a star to this place... all the dishes were dirty, the stuff was rude and long to wait.. and even I made a notice that my plate and glass were obviously unwashed the waiter did not bother to at least offer to change them... filthy wreck

The meat was tough, the dish bland. Awful. Avoid this place at all costs! Overrated, overpriced and underwhelming.

Bad service and rude staff

I have been coming to James Street Cafe for more than a decade. The consistency of the food is amazing. I love their beef samosas and many other food items are delicious. And the service from TD is outstanding. Love coming to this place time and again with family and friends.

This place is really overrated I would never go out there ever again You need to hire new personnel and cooks especially

This place is terrible I didn t like everything about it: waiters, the taste of food, the price of food. Don t make a mistake going there

I ve never been to Canada before and this cafe formed bad first impression. Food is tasteless , waiters are rude and unprofessional !

I would not recommend this place to anybody, 0,5 Star for existing

I thought this place gonna be good cause my friends recommended But im so disappointed Food quality could be better

Great food, always tasty and large portions. Very accommodating .

Amazing food and friendly staff. love the place and ambience.

Amazing food and customer service...love going there...best barbecue platters...and I have tried various items from the menu and never been dissapointed....this is always my go to place...owners are sooo welcoming and friendly...if you are craving authentic East African cuisine...this is the place to go

Excellent food & service. I love the chai & beef ribs there. So delicious

delicious food! the masala potatoes are amazing.

Thought it was a regular cafe (brunch b/fast, etc). So decided last week to go there for Brunch and even they advertise breakfast all day, when we sat down i asked for the b/fast menu and they told me the chef wasnt there and he didnt recommend me order b/fast with the cook they had in at that moment. That made me hesistate a lot about this place but decided to stay. Taking the order took over 15mins and the food came 30mins after ordered (i ordered a curry which was pretty good but mever imagined ibwas going to eat that). The decor was also very old and dark and the restaurant had a particular smell I , personally, not going back unless i feel like eating southeastern food as i saw other peoples plates and food looked pretty good (including my dish)

We got the Karai chicken and English breakfast. Wouldnt go back for the breakfasts foods after this cause overall the best part was the toast so sadly it doesnt say much. Might just be me but it didnt have much flavour (I added sooo much salt and pepper to it than I usually do)/tasted odd (the eggs were quite sweet?) and the sausages had the texture of cheap store bought veggie dogs and didnt taste good. Bacon was decent but rubbery and not much flavor which I thought wouldnt be possible cause Ive never had bad bacon. Revelation . I tried to finish it cause it wasnt horrible and I didnt want to waste food . But really couldnt with those sausages. Also just nitpicking at this point but it would make more sense for them to cut that orange slice in half for easier eating or for it to be a wedge the knives they give arent sharp so juice gets wasted tryna eat it. This makes me sad. For $15+, the portion makes sense but not the quality. That said, would maybe give their Indian food another go tho cause that Karai chicken was tender and yummy. Not too spicy for ppl like me too (Im weak and garlicky dishes are spicy to me so believe you me) so they got variety. For $17+ its still a lil pricey for its quality but its not bad either. Waiter was friendly.

Great food

Terrible. Ordered the steak burger and what I got was a frozen patty, a bun, tomato, lettuce and mayo, WEAK!! The fries werent even hot and crispy, just warm and soggy. They need to remove the burger from the menu, its a joke.

Just not an Indian food place !

This place has the friendliest staff and owners and the best food too! I can t stop coming back for happy hour and all the other food.

Indian food with some Canadian food options. You can get tandoori chicken and fish and chips at the same time. They have pretty good offers on their take out menu. My only complaint is that the restaurant is pretty dark most of the time

Went here for a late brunch since they do all day breakfast. Staff was kind and accommodated my complicated allergies. This is not a fast food restaurant or a large chain so service was not as fast as other places but we were pleased. Really happy with our meals, the eggs were perfectly poached and the mango lassi was amazing!!

I always come here for the Karai Beef and Chai. Consistent food quality and taste. Love this place and the staff here are wonderful.

Very good services, excellent choices of Sunday breakfast, good food quality and fair prices.

Awesome food and great service!

Good, tasty, authentic East African food. Please they cater to all tastes but authentic East African taste is next to impossible to forget. Yum all the dishes from Africa. Indian flare, but very unique taste. You can have an South Asian cook the very same curry, the very same rotli, or the same Biryani but the taste will be very very different. Same spices, same ingredients, but that East African taste cant be compared. Awesome food.

The menu has gotten a little more extensive from the last time and it was all good. Will be there again when Im in Vancouver.

I regularly takeout from this place. Their Deluxe Niyama Choma is a very good item for a family of four. It has lots of different kinds of kebab (Chicken, beef and lamb). Dont forget to choose the masala potato as the sides. Another notable item is the Stirfry chicken Teriyaki.

Went to this place for an event lunch today (Dec 6, 2021). The food was terrific - The quantity and quality, excellent, as was the taste. They poured their hearts into this lunch, not just sweat and elbow grease. The LAPSI is to die for! Never been disappointed at James Grill! Got some take-out 2 weeks ago, was great too - as usual! Al Suleman, Burnaby, BC.

Mishkaki was tough.Pieces too big but other than that pretty good fare.(consistet )

Great place to eat tasty Indian dishes.

Amazing family

It was okay. Nothing special.

First time coming to this restaurant. Amazing food, amazing service! I cannot say enough good things about it. Check out the breakfast and the Nyama Choma is to die for. If you are looking for TASTY DELICIOUS Indian fusion food, this is the place! Atmosphere is a plus! Don t miss out, highly recommend!!! Definitely will be a regular here!

Food is always good with a homestyle taste. Lots of choices, portions are big and staff are like family. The chai is amazing and unlimited refills. Yummy East Indian/African food! The nyama choma platter and appie platter are great choices.

Just go there you will see why, the flavors and homemade hot sauces

First of all they like to pack you inside the restaurant like a can of sardines. Secondly the service is extremely slow because the waiters are overworked and underpaid probably. I was looking forward to the food despite the rest, but unfortunately that was disappointing too. Raw onions in the Karahi chicken and the mogo chips were stale . Dessert was no better, sloppy foul tasting gulab jamuns. Avoid .

Service is slow, food is tasty. Can be hit or miss.

Best black kabob place!

Had sushi after a long time! I only tried the all cooked sushi .. And everything I had was really good! Great quantity for the price.. You can choose from the kind of platter you want.

Great spot to grab lunch!

Usually a great place for meals. Good service.

Fantastic food, service, and always a great experience for takeout or dine-in. Food portions are very large and the quality of food is always on point. Always happy to support business like this, and I look forward to my next visit. Take care!

Actually this place isnt so bad. Service friendly. The food is pretty good. The only thing is we couldnt get in here one lunch hour because there was a wake scheduled for that afternoon. They nicely recommended that we go across the street to the Agra east Indian restaurant. The food was surprisingly good at the Agra and we havent been back to Jamest St since. The Agra is now my favourite East Indian restaurant.

Delicious food and friendly, engaging staff. Thank you for the boondi sample!!

We ordered take out for our team lunch today. Incredible! Everything, hot, fresh and tasty! We will be back.

Butter chicken was fantastic!!

Great food was impressed how good it was. Restaurant was super clean. Felt very comfortable being there

The food is amazing a good fusion of African and East Indian cuisine the owner is very accommodating - if you are in a hurry the take away is quick and fresh.

I have to change my high ratings unfortunately. The staff are wonderful but the quality of the food has gone down! Its too bad because I loved to go there.

Loved it

Yeah not a fan of bugs in my food. Found dead cockroach in my lamb biryani. I think it was in the rice and got cooked in there. I love watching kitchen nightmares but not experiencing it. I would highly recommend them to clean their kitchen and have some quality control. Food was dead. I mean bad.

It was good experience to eat African food. Especially the Nyama Choma was good. Server was friendly and nice. I will visit again to eat other foods

We started going there recently and enjoying all the good food.

Awesome spot! Great appies, good drinks and TD was awesome. Will be back soon :)

TD was our host and looked after us very well! Everything tasted amazing and was good value, will return very soon!