Lear Faye

Lear Faye was temporarily closed but has reopened as Wishes & Luck. Smiley Dolly is still there!

Fantastic! Good is excellent owner and staff really care about there clients comfort and enjoyment. Wonderful love music in evenings and amazing brunch!

Okay I went last Saturday for brunch and the girl singing and playing guitar had the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard! And she played acoustic Taylor Swift covers. A+
Love the menu! Great selection of GF options and the food itself was awesome! I also loved the airy décor, very west coast.
I took a star off for the service, our server (the owner maybe?) was super friendly and nice but seemed a bit run off his feet. I asked for cream with my americano and had to ask again after he brought it and it sat on the table for a few minutes because he forgot, and our waters were never really refilled, until our meal was over. And another server asked us «how is everything tasting» when we both had about 2 bites left.
I would definitely come back though!

Cool vibe with fun music. Wonderful bennys and the ceasars kick ass. The owner is such a sweetheart and it translates to the ambiance. A real jem on the drive!

Excellent bennies — great veggie and gluten free options. Fantastic Americano and the server was lovely to our toddler. The pumpkin chair muffin was also first rate. Great addition to the Drive.

This not just another Commercial drive café. They are passionate about providing great food and coffee. The breakfast sandwich I had, served on a hand-​carved wood platter, was delicious with lovely presentation, and my dining partner ordered the Cuban style pulled pork sandwich that was equally scrumptious. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, while still being decorated with loving care. One of the owners had just hung up 12 cloth stockings for the Xmas season that she herself had made by hand. Overall, I highly recommend this awesome addition to the Drive. :)

The food was pretty tasty and fresh. Which was the best part of the experience.
Ambiance wise, it’s good tapping into a wooden-​hip, good looking place.
The customer care was very varied. We had a first greeter who was rather diligent at first. But then we got another server that would ignore (literally pretend you’re invisible) and forget orders.

Great place, nice people, clean and new room, nice décor, great attention to detail and awesome retro DJ station!

ambiance kicks… food is a bit bland. but hell… they have beer and a covered patio with great music playing. I’ll come back all the time.
the prices are fine for a great time out with friends.

Stopped in here on a random dinner date after having walked by more than a few times. The little patio was comfy and awesome for people watching, always a fun thing on the Drive. The service was ridiculously friendly and welcoming. Assistance choosing an enjoyable red wine and navigating the menu was superb and warm. We ended up enjoying really tasty beef, baked potato, a cheese and charcuterie board, and spinach dip. Dolly was an outstanding feature in our experience. I can’t wait to go back and try their brunch!

This place. THIS place! I’ve been walking by it for a while now, thinking it was ‘just another coffee shop;’ well, how wrong I was! I popped in yesterday to grab a decaf Americano after seeing how many rave reviews it was already getting on here; for any of you who drink decaf you’ll know how hard it can be to find one that doesn’t taste like 3 week old reused coffee grinds! Lear Faye’s coffee was — dare I say it? — the best I’ve had in an extremely long time! The coffee was smooth and had very light bitterness to it, and I drank it way too quickly because YUM!
I have yet to taste their food, but I had a great time watching the chef work through the glass partition to their kitchen. The food that was coming out was beautifully presented on wooden boards, and made with great care. The manager served me, and he was friendly and clearly really cared about the coffee he was making.
The interior is beautifully decorated, with a lovely West Coast chic vibe to it — lots of wood, soft lighting, and clean lines. They’ve just started serving dinner, and they have live music on Saturday nights… what more can you ask for? Lear Faye, you’ve stolen my heart!

I just enjoyed a nice healthy breakfast sandwich from this place. Webpage says they use organic ingredients. Sandwich had egg cheese spinach tomatoes. Really tasty bread and cheese. The cappuccino was very nice as well. Plus people working were pleasant.

Lear Faye’s staff are all very nice, genuine and outgoing, with very patient temperaments. A very family oriented place for sure!
They recently got voted #1 in the Eat and Drink Magazine for their Cappuccino, I can tell you from my personal experience that it deserves to be #1 in Vancouver.
The food is full of flavour and super unique. I recommend trying their beef dip!
Dolly, one of the owners, has told me they are working really hard on creating a friendly, communication atmosphere for people to be able to sit and chat. I really believe in putting away laptops and phones and actually socialize. The main goal for their restaurant is to serve the highest quality coffee along with their made-​from-​scratch food menu.
I would not hesitate to go by for a visit and become part of their family :)

This is exactly what the drive needs! love this café, the staff are so lovely, the coffee and sandwiches are delicious. No WiFi which is fantastic you can actually talk to each other

Fantastic new addition to Commercial Drive. If you want the short review, here it is:
Great staff, cares about quality espresso and coffee, family run, serves Elysian Coffee (probably brewed better than Elysian themselves!) and the interior is refreshing and different from the usual Drive interior.
The longer review:
Typically, seeing a Synesso espresso machine is a sign you might be in for some good coffee. These aren’t cheap espresso machines, but more importantly, they are never given as a «freebie» to a café in return for a long term crappy coffee contract (if you see older Nuova Simonellis, Faemas, Astorias, etc in a café, that’s a sign they might be buying crap coffee and locked into it for a long time)
They have what some consider to be the best espresso grinders in the world (debatable), the Nuova Simonelli Mythos — two of them, running for espresso. Another good sign (btw, Mythos grinders are never given at no cost in return for coffee bean contracts, just fyi — Nuova Simonelli makes a few really great machines, and many really cheap, low cost machines — the Mythos is in the former).
So two good signs.
Then there’s the staff. This is a family run establishment — father is the owner, his two kids are the main staffers and management. They put in 12 hour days, but you’d never know it, they’re always so friendly and welcoming to… everyone who comes in the door.
A third good sign.
The proof is in the pudding however. Taste. They use Elysian Coffee (local café /​roaster) in this café, and if I have to be brutally honest here, they’re pulling better shots of that coffee than Elysian themselves do. Drinks are correct sizes. Milk is steamed right. Serving cups are perfect. It’s all good.
I haven’t really explored their baked goods, and they’ve only just rolled out their beer program, I’m just here for the coffee, and I am so happy we have another quality driven café on the Drive, instead of the old school, «hey, I’m Italian, I know espresso!» places serving crappy shots.

Love this place! The staff, the food, the coffee, the beats, the atmosphere. My favourite spot on the drive.

I’ve got a few favorite cafes on the Drive where I go to hang out, do a bit of «work» and socialize. I was away for a few weeks and when I got back I noticed this place had just opened so I popped in to have a look. Loved it, the family that own Lear Faye are genuinely friendly people as well as the staff. Great coffee, yummy food (all made in house) and lots of great hip-​hop, soul, R&B and jazz spinning on the turntable. I feel at home there after only a few visits and look forward to chatting with the crew and the occasional stranger sitting next to me. Check them out, a great addition to the neighborhood.

Saw this place opening up and thought, «the last thing Commercial Drive needs is another coffee shop.» Wrong. Commercial Drive needs THIS coffee shop. Hip-​hop beats spinning. Honest atmosphere. Doesn’t look like a set for an Apple commercial. Money where their mouth is («Free drip coffee for striking teachers» on their board earlier). Good product. I enjoy my tea as much as my coffee and their tea selection has variety and quality. I don’t know how to pronounce their name, but I like what they do.
Good stuff.

I stumbled upon this place on the way to meeting a girlfriend of mine for dinner on The Drive. They made my latte to order the way I liked it. Prices were very decent for what it was and the staff were super chill, friendly and social. The place is small, therefore, seating is limited. They do have a decent selection, not a lot, but decent selection of pastries. There is a large selection of vinyl records and a turn table on the side. I love vinyl. Two things I’ve been loving in this world lately… vinyl and lattes (that are done right).

What an amazing addition to Commmercial Drive! Not only is it a family run business — they are 100% hiphop lovers that play all vinyl all day. We had a great time posted up in there working independently and sipping fine teas and coffees, eating brownies and sandwiches!