Baba Finks Canteen

I must of went on an off-​day. I’ve walked by this place a million times and I always thought it looked a bit grungy (perhaps because it’s on top of an LRT station) but I finally decided I would try it. Upon entering, I was excited to order a sandwich and some perogies. The person working had their ass crack showing, so I was somehow instantly turned off by this. I’m sure it was just bad timing. But they could’ve been better dressed (casual is fine but they should’ve looked cleaner and more put together). The place was tiny as hell but appeared to be clean. My sandwich was honestly really disappointing for the $ 10.45 I paid. I ate it but was unsatisfied. The meat was fresh but the condiments and bun were blah and cold. It tasted like something I could’ve easily thrown together myself. I didn’t end up ordering the perogies, since I was thrown off a bit once I arrived. I’m glad I didn’t dish out more money for them as well. This place wasn’t terrible. Maybe I’ll go again sometime and try something different. It’s hard though when Tres Carnales is right beside this place and I can spend the same amount of money and be way more satisfied. Sorry Baba Finks — I had high hopes and wanted to love you. :(

Great food but service has gone downhill. Took over ten minutes to get my single order. Customer service lacking. Daily offer is decent and the food consistently good. They have expanded their menu and it makes little sense. Stick to Ukrainian and deli.

2 ½ to 3 stars from us. It was perfectly fine food, but not standout in any way, and overpriced for what you got. We got delivery via Skip the Dishes, and the restaurant forgot the coleslaw and didn’t put in the pork rinds that were supposed to come with the Boss Hogg. They refunded the money, but still.
The Montréal smoked meat sandwich (medium with dijon) was fine, pickle was good. Maybe the coleslaw would have made it awesome? The Boss Hogg (basically a BLT with a thin slice of precut «aged cheese») was pretty tasty and certainly had plenty of bacon. I enjoyed the Blazing Saddle perogies, but I have an unholy passion for banana peppers, so they were bound to please no matter what. The weird fluffy crumbly texture of the bacon topping was a bit distracting.
We were excited to try Baba Fink’s and wanted to like it more than we did. It’s certainly not bad, but I’m not sure we’ll bother again, at the price.
Just a FYI: this restaurant charges a $ 6 delivery fee, and we tipped the Skip courier $ 5, so with GST we ended up paying $ 46 for two rather ordinary sandwiches and 9 perogies. I certainly wouldn’t go that route again. I might grab another Boss Hogg if I were walking by the storefront.

Been wanting to try this place since November and finally got the chance today! I loved the Perogies, so yummy and flavorful. I would definitely go there again.

I would rate this 2.5 stars. My only beef is that the meat is pre-​made, and doesn’t taste very fresh. For a stand where this is their specialty, I was surprised that they were heating up old meat with steam. It was ok, but I guess I just had higher expectations. I mean, any place can heat up old meat and turn it into sandwiches. Also, had a side of chips with my sandwich and it was hilariously small. Normally, I’m all for portion control, but this was more budget control, and the serving was less than a handful of chips. My chip bag was probably ¹⁄₅^th full. For ten bucks, this is a tiny detail that could easily be fixed by being more generous. Also, my chips tasted very stale. Wanted more of that wow factor and this place, though ok, lacked it.

In a word: underwhelming.
When I first saw this place, the Ukrainian, perogy loving side of me got very excited. I finally tried it today with two friends and we were all unimpressed.
The price point surprised me — $ 8 for 6 perogies and $ 11 (!) for 9. There are four options, all of the cheddar cheese filled, with different choices of toppings. For a place that claims to be «gourmet», I expected some more wild combos or at least some different options for fillings. I went with the classic Kool Kiev, topped with sauteed cabbage, garlic sausage and scallions. The cabbage was plentiful, but I didn’t even see the sausage in the container until I’d already eaten a couple of perogies. And it wasn’t genuine Ukrainian kubie. Just two and a half sad slices of sad sausage. What really disappointed me was that I saw the perogies being ladled out of the pot of water and into my container, which made them on their own quite bland. They were good quality, but tasted boiled and that’s it. For me it’s a MUST that they are cooked and sauteed or fried with the onions and meat to make everything extra tasty.
I think what made this a two-​star experience was the price. I can go to the Ukrainian market and buy two dozen perogies for $ 8 and do as good of a job cooking them up as they do at Baba Fink’s, if not better. The toppings were not high quality and there were bags from Lucky 97 hanging everywhere behind the counter. The food was not bad, don’t get me wrong, but I should have paid $ 7 for what I had, not 9.
Disappointed.

Baba Finkelstein’s serves top notch Montréal Smoked Meat sandwiches from a kiosk on top of the Central LRT station. There’s no seating inside, but there’s plenty nearby outside. Baba’s provides the option of three different cuts of Smoked meat — lean, medium, and fatty. And to ensure it’s nice and hot for you, they fry up the meat right before your very eyes. I’m a fan and when I’m in the area and craving a Montréal Smoked Meat sandwich, I will likely head there. I also look forward to trying their Matzo Ball soup, which they only serve on Fridays.
All sandwiches are served with kosher pickles.

Went with several workmates here for lunch. Really wanted to like the place. Cool location. A hip reuse of space with a cute small kitchen, and a good alternative to the lunchtime fare in the immediate area. It looks like a winner on paper.
I had the small Kiev plate, as did a couple of my friends. The rest had an assortment of sandwiches. Sadly no one was wowed by anything they had. Where an average take out lunch runs $ 8 – 9 right now downtown, you will spend $ 9-​$ 13 here and we overall found it less filling than most.
As far as taste, I wasn’t impressed. The small Kiev plate comes with a quarter of an over-​salted, over-​spiced Stawnichy type sausage ring, three or four rather bland cheese perogies fortunately made more palatable by the bacon (extra $ 0.25), a plainly stuffed cabbage roll, and generic big box brand type sour cream and mustard. It very much reminded me of bachelor meals I made from frozen packages back in school.
If the pricing was on the low end of the spectrum, all would be forgiven as it wasn’t bad, just very much meh.

BABA, I love your fare! I just chowed down on an authentic Montréal smoked meat sandwich and what a delightful taste. I love everything there is about this deli which is located at the LRT Entrance on the corner of Rice Howard Way and Jasper Ave. The first time this deli opened, I felt like I was walking in New York City surrounded by traffic, people and delis. Edmonton has to wake up and smell the growing roses in the garden, this city is expanding quite rapidly. This corner deli uses the highest quality meat, sumptious home-​made soft pillowy perogies, Ukranian sausage, along with Nathan’s famous all beef hot dogs. I have tried the cabbage rolls and the authentic tomato sauce bathes the hearty serving of meat held by a round of cabbage leaves. Everything about this deli speaks of the future to come, the rampant construction in the downtown area speaks of Edmonton’s future.