Dining in Vancouver – Acme Cafe

Hastings Street Diners
Who dosen’t love a good diner? And the revitalization of the Hastings Street Corridor and Gastown/Railtown areas has brought us some great community diners. Acme Cafe (51 Hastings Street) opened in 2010 and feels like it belongs in the neighbourhood and that it could be great until you look at the menu and the prices.

Diners in Vancouver
We love a good diner. And to me diners offer good food and good prices – the kind of stuff mom used to make for lunch when I came home from school. The Save-on-Meats Diner (just down the block from Acme) does just that. A basic menu, cooked well, average portions at a good price. In the case of Deacon’s Corner (one of our fav’s) you get a huge portion of really good food for a slightly higher price. But while Acme has a great atmosphere the menu which includes both italian and goat cheese/portobello paninis, smoked salmon and shrimp melt sandwiches and a breakfast parfait and proscuitto wrapped melon was not what we were expecting. The sandwich prices (average $12.50) also seemed out of place. 

We really liked the dining bar facing into the kitchen. It was a great place to watch the action. (And it is a wide enough bar to pop open a computer.)

 It was surprising how small the kitchen actually is and that they use some regular household appliances. Pop Shoppe pop is available in several flavours. 

 The food was OK. Nothing special and not what we were expecting. The Classic Grill Cheese ($9.50) is served on white or multi-grain with cheddar cheese and is grilled in a panini press not on the grill. All sandwiches are served with choice of daily soup or chips and broccoli slaw.

The Italian Panini ($12.50) included salami, proscuitto, provolone, banana peppers and basil mayo. It was served on panini grilled Ciabatta. The Mac & Cheese side was a $2 add on. The sandwich was good with lots of fillings but the mac and cheese was average.

 There is actually quite a bit of seating for a small place. About 10 seats at the bar plus large and small booths and a small window bar with a view of the street.

The service was good and the food OK but for the price we prefer the other nearby diner options that are available. And more seem to be opening every day. 

 

Jeff & Tara Ciecko of CK Golf Solutions write two blogs on their website, one is their 19th Hole Blog where they share personal experiences and the Biz Blog where they share business best practices and golf industry related opinions. They have owned CK Golf Solutions for 6 years and provide marketing, social media and business services to the golf and other industries.