Ovaltine Cafe

Ovaltine Café is a solid diner. They have the entire selection of foods you’d expect, the aesthetic you’d expect, plus a very clean establishment and happy staff eager to make your meal enjoyable.
I ordered the classic breakfast which did not disappoint. The potatoes were fried expertly, the eggs were a perfect sunny side up, sausages were as greasy as I’d hoped, and toast was buttered. All in great proportions for a filling experience.
The only thing that bothered me was the coffee. It was regular coffee, nothing to return for, which they not only charged $ 2.50 for the small cup (cup, not mug), but they charged an extra $ 1.00 for refill. I can walk a block away and get a much better bean, more coffee, for less money. As a passionate coffee person, this is big.
Also, it’s hard to not be a bit bothered by drug-​related debris along the sidewalk out front of Ovaltine, but rest assured, it’s quiet, clean, and enjoyable inside.
Oh! And their music selection couldn’t have been better!

If heaven and hell are diners, then the Ovaltine exists in both places.
Filled with the hungry, the drug-​addled, the hung over, the hipsters yearning to appear real. The food is greasy but honest and cheap. Service is terrible, but when it comes, it comes with the smile of an angel. The ambience is sticky linoleum, bare tables and smudged wall mirrors that give you surreptitious views of women with two-​pack-​a-​day voices swapping tales of loser boyfriends and drunken men moaning in vain for a menu.
It’s perfect.

Finally!
Went in the other day, for the first time. It wasn’t the last Wednesday of the month, so I went for it… yes I heeded the warnings. Like walking back in time. Thank God (yes GOD you loser Libertards) the place is still in business.
I played it safe, by ordering the grilled cheese and substituting cheddar .for another dollar. Brought it to around $ 5.99 I think. Much cheaper than those other joints that go charging $ 6.00, right? I really hate that desperate 99 cent shite… I should knock off a star just for that alone. Anyways, the prices have no doubt gone up, with the new owners. But still good prices as far as I’d noticed. Just as long as the menu is improved also (?). I asked for gravy with the fries, and was a decent sized ramakin…99 cents.
Walked around a bit while waiting for the food. I had a booth, but naturally had to sit down at one of the stools for a bit and take it all in. Cool. Stainless steel everywhere behind the counter. Dark stained wood, coat hooks and grey bevelled glass mirrors everywhere outside the counter. Most with cracks. A red neon-​encircled clock on the back wall. This place was very old and even beautiful to look at, however it did seem a bit bare.
OK, food came. It was actually good! Enough gravy to dip my sandwich in, too. Or into. Can’t decide which. I also had dessert. They only had apple or blueberry pie, WOW ice cream (my lame attempt at an abbreviation for «with or without»). I had the apple… also good. I politely asked that slightly chubby asian waitress (probably the one that gets yelled at a lot) for a glass and spoon. She actually didn’t give me a rude-​assed stare *GASP!*. And yes, there was enough ice cream, so… I made a Float out of my can of coke. This all had me somewhat impressed by the way. Then I left. A little too quick, so turned around and went back in for a moment. It was fun zinging a $ 2 tip 15 feet across the side counter to that lady, and seeing her catch it. Although I can’t help but wonder if I actually was hoping for a bit more adventure.
I’ll be back. On a Wednesday.

T.O. was the man! Went back two nights in a row to hang with him. We were seeing a show at the Rickshaw across the street and security suggested we try the Ruben there. The guy nailed it. T.O. was our waiter the first night and was really personable and made some great beer pairings for the Ruben. We stayed at the Patricia Hotel while in Vancouver and the Ovaltine is walking distance so it was an easy choice to get dinner there the second night as well. T.O. was working his first night helping in the kitchen and suggested we try the Meat Loaf tonight. That too was freaking delicious. We would have come back the third night but they’re closed on Sunday’s. Hopefully he’ll still be there next time we’re in Vancouver!

I went to the Ovaltine Café for the first time today. The new owners have now been in business for seven months. I’m giving the diner four stars because the quality of the food was surprisingly good for both the price and the location. We had two cheeseburgers, I got fries and my partner got potato salad. The burgers are homemade with lean ground beef, which is more than I can say for a comparatively cheap restaurant in the neighbourhood (to remain unnamed). The fries are handcut in the back and the potato salad was nice and fresh. They even threw the bun on the grill.
Yes, the place is plain, quiet and a little run down but I’d rather support the mother-​daughter team owning this business than someone trying to build an empire of cheap restaurants filled with annoying college-​age drunks. If they can keep the place going, I’m sure they will bring it back to life.
Oh, and they are open later now and serve cheap beer, so that’s a plus. We’ll definitely be back to try their breakfast.

It’s NOT hard to imagine that this place existed since 1942… NINETEEN FORTY TWO!!! I mean, you walk in and the wood paneling on the booths, the tiny mirrors with the tiny glasses and old dishes… it’s not retro. It’s ORIGINAL! Seriously! Just go here and look at the old dishes and you can tell it’s something that your grandma (especially if they were Chinese) probably had! And the glasses. They are TINY! Compared to today’s glasses of whatever, the glasses that they have are really probably 8oz. No one serves a glass of milk or pop in those sizes anymore. Wow, it makes you realize why North America is so obese compared to the 1950’s. The serving sizes were literally smaller back in those days!
But I had to come here. To at least try it and because I remember seeing Will Smith in I Robot sitting here along with Agent Maulder from X-​Files. I remember being a little kid with my mom waiting for the bus across the street noticing the neon sign of the Ovaltine. And yet, all these years, I’ve never come to eat her. Maybe it was because of the way Main and Hastings has become, or that I thought it was dirty. But not today. I had to get this off the bucket list and since I was in the neighborhood I came in for their breakfast special.
$ 5. I had two slices of toast, sausage, potatoes and eggs. My friend had the bacon. Tip: Order the sausage. The bacon… didn’t taste right. Maybe it was too fatty or something, but my friend couldn’t finish it and neither could I. But the sausage was OK. The eggs, nothing special, nor was the toast. To be honest, the breakfast special was only passable and barely at that. But to be able to sit at the Ovaltine, and enjoy a meal with a friend here and just inhaling 74 years of history was something in itself. I’m sure this place needs a reno, but that would take away the charm. (But something in the ceiling needs to be fixed based on the stains in the ceiling that’s for sure.) But just imagine, your grandfather was probably just a little kid when this place opened. And it still exists!
I wouldn’t come for the food. To be honest, the food just needs to be cooked better for me to come back as a regular. (All this place needs is a better cook, and it would attract more hipster. s…I mean… customers.) But to experience what it would be like to be in an ORIGINAL diner from the 1940’s and 1950’s is worth the $ 5 admission.

Walk through the doors and you’ve arrived circa 1943. Take a look around. Enjoy the retro atmosphere. If you feel like you must experience more be careful what you wish for. Basic choices are best.

This is definitely in a seedy part of town. Site of Mulder’s pie-​eating scene in the X-​Files episode ‘Jose Chung’s From Outer Space’!

Your requisite greasy spoon in the «seedy» part of town. The food is not good at all. It’s full of grease. But it is cheap. The only problem is they aren’t open late night (when you’re most likely to crave grease laden food). For $ 3.95 you can get two pieces of toast, two eggs, hash browns, and a meat.
The décor is kinda cool, and there were some interesting characters dining while I was there. Don’t expect too much from this place, but it’s worth a visit. The place looks like it could use a good scrub down, but perhaps that would remove some of the charm.

I can’t rate a place above one star, if I’d be afraid to recommend it to my Mother.
David L.‘s review basically says it best, «the food is passable, the service is stiff, the clientele is barely parollable.»
The food is «eh» but the prices are really low — I guess the fact that you’re likely to step on a used needle, get accosted by a transient, mugged, shanked, then left for dead in an alley are all factored into the low prices.
I made the mistake of hitting this place up on «Welfare Wednesday» and I was «privileged» to eat with Vancouver’s «less privileged.» My friend suggested it (since we were in nearby Chinatown) and I only agreed to go because I’m up to date on my vaccinations.
I seriously don’t recommend this place for anyone squeamish, or if you carry more than $ 20 in your wallet (or a lot of jingling change in your pocket). I’d only go at night if I was an active-​duty U.S. Navy SEAL (or whatever the Canuck equivalent is).
FYI: Cash Only.

I’m giving this 5 stars as it is up there in the pantheon of my fave places to eat around the city. I don’t give a rat’s ass that the servers don’t smile at you and the place looks run down. I come here for basic, filling, tasty diner food and i never leave disappointed. I don’t need service with a smile, i need service that is fast and doesn’t give me food poisoning later. Bingo!
Unlike a few other places that have one particular cheap special on their menu, EVERYTHING here is priced well and i always feel like i get great value for my money. The portions aren’t disgustingly huge but that doesn’t mean they’re tiny! I have yet to finish one of their $ 3.50 breakfasts, although my bf never has trouble polishing his off (then he’ll spend the next hour complaining that he ate too much!) I also never find their items lacking in the good stuff: Their grilled cheese never skimps on the fromage, and their bacon is regular bacon, not that creepy paper-​thin stuff you find in a lot of diners.
You’d think i’d have some interesting stories about the place considering how often i’m here and what the Main and Hastings like but… none! Everyone is always on their best behavior and minds their own business. Screw Denny’s with their screaming children and people cranky about their lives, i’m going to Café Ovaltine where everyone is dead inside or wants to be left alone!
note: The ladies washroom has a sign on the door that says ‘out of service until further notice.’ The sign has been there since i started going there two years ago.
And one more note: When you use the men’s washroom, there is no soap. You have to get some from the pump at the station in the middle of the restaurant where the coffee is. Soap is a big responsibility in the DTES so you’ve gotta play by their rules i guess.
Can you tell i’m a bit of a regular?

I love this place. The food looks like something your mom would make you on a rainy Sunday afternoon if your mom was trailer trash and you were an unplanned pregnancy. The bathrooms are repulsive. The service is mediocre and the waitress always seems surprised (not quite annoyed, but definitely surprised) if you try to get a second (or third, or fourth) cup of coffee out of her. This is a great place to go alone on a rainy day and just feel depressed and romantic as hell.

This place actually wasn’t nearly as horrifying as you might think. I was early to meet a friend there, so I was just leaning on a wall outside, and there are some downtown east-​side places that actually have a pretty steady stream of decent folk going in and out.. . this was not one of them. It was crackhead after crackhead and I started questioning our decision.
However, it was basically clean, the service was fast, the food definitely passable and super cheap to boot! Definitely worth checking out if just for the novelty. Some patrons shouted «Thanks for nothing, you fat f***ing cow!» on their way out. It’s like dinner and theatre all in one! :-D

The food is passable, the service is stiff, the clientele is barely parollable and I’ve yet to visit the washroom out of sheer terror, but despite all it’s flaws I LOVE THE OVALTINE CAFE. I try to get here at least once a year, have a burger and a coffee and reminisce in the history of a time that once was. (I also like to think about the time I got dumped here too.)
A huge room with insanely high ceilings, a long low lunch counter and creaky private wood booths that have cracked mirrors in each of them. It’s under appreciated by the people that run it, but hey at least it’s still here. Long live Ovaltine forever. Someone has to do it.
Oh, and on that note. If it was me. I’d decorate it a bit more in period, play some decent music, stay open later than 4pm and offer a late-​night menu, serve cocktails and utilize the little candy shop counter area where you pay your bill, like the original design allotted for to sell cool stuff.
Done.

Once in awhile I’ll come here. Breakfast is cheap and it’s an old old institution. You can smell the age and it’s a very cool thing.
Be warned, this is not a fancy schmancy diner. This is the original thing that will take you back to the 1920’s. Or the future if you happened to watch I-​Robot.
My father first took me here in the 70’s and I took my kids here in the 90’s.
Even if you just come in for a coffee and a pie and experience what it was like back in Chinatown back in the 60’s.
It’s a piece of history.

Cheap like borscht, as my Ukrainian grandmother used to say, and one of the best values in the city.
Basic is the name of the game, and I often order a grilled cheese with a side of hashbrowns — it comes to the astonishing price of 3.50
Sure, Hastings and Main may look unsafe to an out of towner, but it is one of the safest places in the lower mainland due to the rich sense of community in the area and VPD headquarters. I pop by here for lunch when I am in the mood to sit at a retro lunch counter, read the paper and admire the historically important authentic neon sign.
Live a little! Get yer greasy eats in a real part of Vancouver’s history.

The Ovaltine is your run-​of-​the-​mill greasy spoon, if there’s such a thing as a run-​of the-​mill greasy spoon anymore.
Twenty years ago, when this was still a working class neighbourhood and Vancouver was an affordable city there were lots of little greasy spoons like the Ovaltine, Chinese/​Canadian fusion joints with cheap prices, standard fare food, all day breakfasts, bottomless cups of coffee and counter service.
Since then of course, the working class have been replaced with the unable to work class and the along with the ghettoization and soon gentrification of the Downtown Eastside, most of those places have long since disappeared.
But the Ovaltine remains — I’m pretty sure for the most part because with its décor and neon, it’s a well used favourite of movie/​TV productions looking for a gritty diner — and thank goodness for that.
The Ovaltine is not trendy or ironic or kitschy — it’s real.
It is neither a drug front populated by junkies or a retro-​boho milleu of hipsters. It’s a cheap greasy spoon frequented by old timers living in SROs, working stiffs, cops and courtworkers. It’s the kind of place that will allow a regular with no money to go on credit. It is the kind of place that serves processed grilled cheese sandwiches on white bread with pre-​frozen steak fries and has liver and onions on the special — god bless ‘em.
I’m sure that soon enough the relentless surge of gentrification will see new owners repurpose this tired old diner into some fashionable caricature of itself. a simulacrum of a greasy spoon for people who don’t know any better — but for now, enjoy the Ovaltine while you can, for what it is…

When I was young, daring, and afraid of the homeless, I explored the downtown eastside with a real hesitation. My first time attracted me to the Ovaltine and it’s nostalgic exterior. It was a beacon of hope, a promise of an honest 50s diner instead of a downtown remake. I passed many times, curious but not interested.
A fateful afternoon changed it all. A friend moved in to a Chinatown apartment four blocks away. I moved in to the same building a year later. She called me to go exploring our neighborhood and we ended up here. We first noticed flickering fluorescent lights and cracked mirrors. At the booth there was a notice, «minimum $ 3 purchase to sit in booth, pay at front counter». The glass cases, once holding displays of food, had been filled with various odd knick knacks. Despite high ceilings, and plush, yet tattered, booths, we noted what a neighborhood can do to a «50’s diner,» sixty years later. Much like the other businesses in Oppenheimer, the Ovaltine was likely once a thriving, popular diner, but through years of neglect, it has fallen to the same dirty barren state as it’s neighbors.
I have an obsession with cheap breakfast for those days when you’ve spent too much money at the bar the night before and are way too hungover to cook. The Ovaltine seemed to qualify with a $ 3.50 breakfast. The Chinese waitress, cook, and cashier took my order with some difficulty, but at least did not degrade my first experience by insisting I pay up front. The meal arrived quickly, thin and tasteless bacon, eggs cold and overcooked, and toast semi-​stale. Despite a willingness to eat nearly anything I couldn’t finish the meal. In desperation I order the pie and coffee, a favorite dessert that’s difficult to screw up. I got lukewarm coffee and frozen pastry.
A year later, and some stubbornness with the menu, I would say the Ovaltine has some mediocre dishes and some horrible meals. Regardless of what you order it’s generally not worth the visit for any reason except the historical content and depressing interior. You may even end up leaving them a tip because you feel sorry for the place.