The Gray Olive Cafeteria, Best Brunch Burnaby

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

This plate of beautifully presented pulled pork benny is plate-licking good. Everything on this dish is delightful. The hash brown is the best I have ever had. It’s fresh out of the fryer. The crunchy exterior that is not too hard to cut my mouth. The interior is so soft that it almost melts in your mouth. It is also perfectly seasoned. I already said the hashbrowns are the best I’ve had, but this pulled pork benny is also the best I’ve had. Seriously, I took a bite and can not stop myself from eating it. The pulled pork, coleslaw, and hollandaise sauce are in perfect harmony. Using cornbread as the base is genius. The cornbread crumbles to the touch, not lingering like English muffins. This takes away the frustrating part of eating benny away for me. The bottom is brown with a slight crisp. The texture variation makes this more enjoyable. The two eggs on top are perfectly poached.

Food Quality
Atmosphere / Services
Reasonable Priced
Summary

Strength: Fantastic Food
Weakness: Inconvenient Location

The Gray Olive Cafeteria is one of the newer brunch places in the greater Vancouver. They feature a cafeteria-style brunch place, but is also a coffee shop for grab and go coffee. Their food is fantastic, one of the best brunch places I’ve tried. The Gray Olive Cafeteria is located on Hastings Street near Gilmore Avenue in Burnaby.

The Gray Olive Cafeteria shares an alcove with the store next door. this makes their entrance very modest. Their storefront is very limited. It is very easy to miss this place.

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Sandwich Board Sign

The sandwich board sign helps with the exposure. I really enjoy the egg humor.

Cafeteria-Style Brunch Place With Lots Of Foliages

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Interior

The first thing we saw as we enter was the wall of green foliages. This is a Cafeteria-style restaurant. There is a sign to encourage customers to seat themselves. To our left, the entire wall is decorated with the menu.

Coffee Shop Cashier With Open Concept Kitchen

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Front Counter

We proceed to the front counter to order. There is no preset percentage of tips we have to pay, so no pressure. This kind gesture made us more willing to pay tips. The staff later delivered the food to our table.

Cream and Sugar Station

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Creamer Station

This cream and sugar station looks quite elaborate, but they stick to the basics. I like the retro faucet water dispenser even though it feels a little out of place. It is worth noting they use spoons instead of the disposable stir sticks. There is a bucket of water with dish soap for us to soak used cutlery.

Thai Iced Tea Has Beautiful Colors

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Thai Iced Tea

Best Hashbrowns Ever

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Hashbrowns

Pulled Pork Benny Is Unstoppable

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Pulled Pork Benny

I already said the hashbrowns are the best I’ve had, but this pulled pork benny is also the best I’ve had. Seriously, I took a bite and can not stop myself from eating it. The pulled pork, coleslaw, and hollandaise sauce are in perfect harmony.

Using cornbread as the base is genius. The cornbread crumbles to the touch, not lingering like English muffins. This takes away the frustrating part of eating benny away for me. The bottom is brown with a slight crisp. The texture variation makes this more enjoyable.

The two eggs on top are perfectly poached.

Avocado Toast Is Okay

The Gray Olive Cafeteria Brunch Avocado Toast

Avocado toast is served with balsamic vinegar tomato and an egg. There is nothing special about the toast. Balsamic vinegar adds an additional facet of taste, but I’m not a big fan of. I would prefer my avocado sliced rather than mashed so I could taste the freshness.

604 Food Critic Assessment

We had a very pleasant experience at The Gray Olive Cafeteria. Their food is really amazing. The bill came to approximately $19 per person. This is the average range for having brunch. The location is not very convenient, but the wonderfully crafted food is totally worth it.