Jerusalem Cafe

One of the most under-​rated restaurants in Vancouver, Jerusalem is my go-​to lunch place. My only criticism is portions are small and therefore I find it to be expensive.

So delicious!!!
Authentic food. Schwarma is my favorite!
Service can be a bit slow, but worth it.

I had the best gyro sandwich here. My mouth waters as I recall the taste. Would love to come back for this, and try many other things on the menu, which offers many healthy options. The chef was very nice & friendly. Very good, respectful service. I feel very lucky to get such good food right here in downtown Vancouver.

Went out tonight for dinner and ended up here. Great service, relaxed feeling, great food. I had the garlic chicken my partner in crime had the lamp with humus. Good fresh food at a reasonable price.

Only somewhat negative thing about this place, is if you’re in a large group, the food comes out somewhat slow. If you come in with a few people or just a friend, your order comes out in like 10 minutes. I’ve never had to wait on a togo order like I have on many other places downtown.
I work downtown & this is my go to place for lunch! Delicious, cheap, and great quality food! The staff is always so friendly! One of the best gyros I’ve ever had!

Not impressed, the small dishes given at the start of the meal set a tone of odd and underwhelming. Lamb dish as main was good but not great. Everything thing was meh at best cold mashed potatoes with pickles at worst.

Stopped in for a quick lunch. Asked for a recommendation got the Jerusalem special… amazing. .great atmosphere and the people were great too!

Loved their lentil soup! Pita bread and babaganuj wasn’t the best I’ve had though. Owner was very friendly

This is one of my favorite restaurants. People are friendly, courteous and food is consistent and great!
I have tried a number of items in the menu and have never been disappointed. I’ll be back…

Incredible service. Staff is always happy, eager, and pleased to make the experience great! Food is always fresh, hot, delicious and keeps us coming back. We cannot recommend this place highly enough! So glad to have it in downtown Vancouver!

Small place and not fancy but don’t let that worry you. Their food is so delicious and authentic. (my husband is Arab so he knows :) The service was really quick and friendly. We had some questions while ordering but that was dealt with patiently.
What keeps me from giving five stars are just a few complaints that make the difference:
Ice water should be served without asking for it.
The meat was spicy enough that my mouth was on fire in between drinking Pepsi to cool down. I should have asked for the ice water!
Hummus should be decorated with chili paste, paprika, sumac… any of those, not just parsley.
We will definitely eat there again. Make sure you order pistachio baklava or walnut baklava.
It is insanely good!

I have been to both Jerusalem cafes multiple times, I love Mediterranean food! But the evergreen location tonight was an extreme let down. It was not busy, when we arrive and throughout our dinner total of maybe 10 people in the whole restaurant. We ordered our drinks we had to wait almost 10 minutes to get the attention of the waitress to get sweeter for the tea. We didn’t have utensils for us we had to wait some time to get them, I was feeding my little girl with a kebab skewers. When we ask for a refill of tea they said we were out to I told her I would except diet Pepsi or something else, they brought neither and still charged us for drinks. I told them that I would not pay for the drinks because we did not get refills, at that time she let me know that lemonade isn’t refillable, but they did take the 1 drink off. because of the poor service, I will not be coming back which is a shame because I love Mediterranean food!

Great shrimp. Friendly and authentic. Baklava could have a touch more honey. Waitress was not great. She forgot plates for appetizer and was not dressed well. The white wood lattice that is over the kitchen is covered in dirt and spiderwebs.

Went here one night for dinner, we would not go back. Falafel wasn’t great, nothing seems freshly made. Hummus was lacking in flavor, and pita bread seemed like something from a grocery store freezer section.

Wonderful food and great service.
I had the falafel plate which included potato salad, hummus and pita. The falafel was green with herbs on the inside. They had a perfect light crispy outside and then a melt-​in-​your mouth softness inside. They were just perfect.
The ambience was dark inside and a bit formal. I felt underdressed but the wait staff treated me nicely.
I will return.

Excellent food! The owner welcomes everyone with a hello and a smile. He loves his job/​bisness and it shows in his restaurant and his fantastic food!

The server was EXCELLENT, 5 stars
I had a gyro — it was okay but I have had better many other places
I had baklava and it tasted like flour and did not have enough honey and nuts.
We had an appetizer that was a sampler and it was good.
Had to park about 3 blocks away and pay to park, worrying about parking limit cramped the dining experience.

Awesome food!!! The baklava is a must! Weather you are a vegetarian or a carnivore you’ll love the food

Please please PLEASE, don’t let the fact that it’s not crowded deter you from this place. ‘Couve dwellers just seem to forget that there are some great places to eat that happen to be west of I-​205. I have been here 3 times and all of my experiences were wonderful.
I’m not going to bother you with a lot of details on what I chose; more experienced reviewers can do that for you. In a nutshell, they are 3 for 3 as far as providing me with wonderful food. The 2 things that I will say are that this is the best hummus I have ever tried and they had a cabernet from Israel that was great.
GET YOURSELF IN HERE

Solid five stars on delicious food. Also solid five stars on service at this family run Mom’n’Pop restaurant. Admittedly not a total five star look if you’re gonna judge a book by its cover, but don’t! Don’t judge this book by its cover. It’s a simple, clean neighbor hood café with a modest décor, because they’re putting all their love and attention in their food. And you know what… That’s totally worth it.
My husband and I stopped in here after rock climbing around the corner on a Friday night. Little did we realize it was close to closing time by the time we popped in. Actually funny cuz for a second we felt bad like «oh are we their only customers?» Then quickly we realized it was 8:31pm and they were going to close at 9pm… Then we felt bad, but for a different reason, cuz then we were like «oh man, we stumble in as they kitchen is closing down what a pain we must be… We’re ‘those’ people.» Luckily the waiter (come to find out, one of the owner’s sons) was so nice he was like «you’re okay, grab a seat, we can make it happen.»
Excited we ordered quickly, easy choice b/​c we’re very familiar with the cuisine. Shrimp kabobs for me and kofta kabob for hubs (it’s seasoned ground beef), and two glasses of Israeli Cabernet – excellent recommendation by the owner’s son. He even brought us a tasting of the other wine we were deciding between for our own future reference.
He also brought us four dippings with several pieces of warm pita bread. One better than the other! Beet/​Cabbage mixture, creamy slaw, potato and peas salad, and zesty salsa like dip. To wrap we got two pieces of baklava to go (the walnut one was extra amazing, I could’ve ate three of them, all by myself, even after all that food… But the pistachio one was pretty good too – less sweet).
We will definitely be back!
P. S. Loved the restaurant and family history written in their menus. They’ve been around for a while, and opened two other locations, for a reason… They’re nice people and make some delicious, authentic home cooking from Israel.