The Cannibal Cafe

I saw on TV — ANW «Chicken Buddy Burger» Today, I went and order 3 of them to go. When I came home open the bag there was 3 hamburgers. I don’t eat beef. I was so disappointed.
It end up in the garbage. I repeated to the waiter 2 time «Chicken Buddy Burgers».

Went for lunch with a friend and ordered the grilled cheese and tomato soup.
the sandwich tasted very bland, and the soup more of a paste, did not taste well, took a few bites and got the rest packed up only to throw it in the trash.
Milkshake was decent though.

Had the best burger and fries I’ve had in a very long time here this afternoon, and my friend had the onion rings Benny, which she said was scandalously good. Will definitely be back!

Short version: cool wall décor, mediocre food, cranky waitress.
I walked into this joint thinking ‘I like the dim, casual feel of this place… and look, there are so many things to look at on the walls!’ Sadly, things plateaued once our food arrived. I had their classic American Burger and everything from the bread to the patty tasted quite average. My side of poutine wasn’t great; the gravy was too salty (I am hosing down water still as I type, and I’ve had a lot of salty Chinese food in my day) and the fries were cooked in old oil.
My friend’s Big Blue burger tasted essentially like my burger with some blue cheese in it. His side of mac n’ cheese tasted pretty delicious with a smokey flavour, but if you’re looking for the stuff with lots of real cheese, this might not be suited for you.
Our waitress let out a sigh and got snappy with us for asking to have the bill split into two, and lectured us about how we should have told her in advance because apparently bills are difficult to divide by two.
All in all, it’s a decent casual place to have a casual meal after a long work day. I would suggest going on Milkshake Mondays for the free shake. ;)

Decent place and cool experience but probably wouldn’t come again unless I was in the area.

Food is still great but gotta drop a star due to general cleanliness on a Thursday night.

Dad had the day off work a couple weeks ago and asked if I wanted to do lunch. Usually he opts for Asian food, but I wanted to try something different. So I searched for places along the Drive since he enjoys that area and hasn’t been for a while, and came across Cannibal Café.
Burgers, old school diner interior, cheap beer — perfect. I ordered the Classic Jr, smaller version of their Classic, and Dad had the Asian special (chicken, carrots, hoisin sauce, can’t remember what else). He ended up getting his Asian fix after all! We also split a side of onion rings.
I enjoyed my burger and dad liked his. He said they should shave the carrots instead of chop them so it’s easier to eat, but it was tasty overall. I would suggest that they toast their buns or at least warm them up. It’s weird having hot filling and a cold bun.
The interior is funky. Checkered flag floor (there’s a name for that but I can’t remember), posters all over the walls, but despite the grunginess it’s very clean. I don’t know how busy it gets but we went on a Friday around 1 and it wasn’t too bad.

I’ve had the Cannibal Café bookmarked for a while now, but rarely do I venture to Hipster Drive. You know, with having dreadlocks and everything, I fit in even when I’d rather not…
But alas, a friend needed to go out this way and I thought it’d be a good chance to finally try it out. We arrived during happy hour, so instantly we were pleased with what we wanted being on special. To start: Free fries with a check in on Unilocal.done. Free milkshake with a burger and side purchase. Done. My kid’s meal being $ 5. Done. Double highballs for $ 6. Done. Without having anything in front of us, we were already happy!
Two of us opted to build our own burger, and our friend got the Belle Province. I got mac and cheese, they got poutine. Upon arrival of our food, my boyfriend spilled an entire cup of hot sauce into his poutine. The waitress promptly offered up a new one even though it was entirely his mistake. A good tip was already in order.
When it came to the food, it was all delicious. My mac and cheese was a little more bland than what I make at home, but I make a kick ass mac and cheese so it’s unfair to compare.
For two build your own meals, two specialty sides, mini corn dogs, 4 double highballs, and the free fries + milkshake, it only came out to $ 69 bill. I deem this more than reasonable.
If I find myself in the area again, it’d be hard to resist coming here.

Came here for late night dinner after an exhausting day at work (standing in heels for seven hours… yep). Husband and I have been here before, with another friend a few months ago. We had a great experience so we decided to pay the Cannibal Café another trip.
Ordered the Big Blue but changed my mind when I saw their burger of the month: Good Morning Vietnam! I instantly was like, «I HAVE TO TRY THIS!» Husband got the Big Blue instead. Heads up: you get free fries here if you check in with Unilocal!
My burger was delicious… Haha, I dug into it so fast I forgot to snap a pic until I was half way through. It looks kinda bad though, so I didn’t upload it. I mean, half eaten food isn’t that good lookin :/​the GMV was packed with lemongrass chicken, a fried egg, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumbers, hoisin (?), and some other things I can’t exactly recall. It was like eating a Bahn Mi but in a burger form almost. The one thing that I didn’t like though was that it was really messy because the egg yolk was runny and dripped everywhere.
The fries are probably the best fries I’ve ever had. They were fried to a perfect crispness and burst with flavour. Usually I sub fries because I can’t stand them but holy crap does Cannibal Café do them good! I almost ordered another one but I decided I had enough artery clogging goodness for that day.
Also: husband left his wallet there by mistake but they kept it for us! A big thank you to whoever found it there, it would have been such a pain to replace all the ID.
Overall, excellent service and the best spot to go if you just want some greasy burgers. ⁵⁄₅ will visit again!

This is for the new downtown location at Granville + Hastings which I don’t think has a page yet?
This burger was jacked. This burger does CrossFit and can snatch 315lbs. This burger was huge and juicy and dripping like Chris Redfield in a Resident Evil fanfic. This burger was so masculine, it has gay friends and hugs them often, without irony. It was so beefy that it physically repelled its own vegetables, which literally ran for their f’ing lives as soon as I unwrapped it.
Made it a little hard to eat though.

You’ve got to give some praise to a restaurant that goes out of its ways to right its wrongs.
Earlier this summer (see previous review), I went in with a group of 10 and our experience was less than great (³⁄₅ star rating). Many of the people who attended shared my sentiment. The restaurant reached out to us, apologized and invited us back for a meal on the house.
The go back experience was great! It was better than great, it was the best fast (ish) food experience I’ve had in a long time. The waitress was attentive, fast, exact, and made sure that we all had a great meal. The food, as always (I like their burgers), was without fault.
I’ve always liked Cannibal Café and now I’m looking forward to eating there on a more regular basis — as they’ve opened a second location downtown a couple of blocks away from work.

Burgers and fries? Sign me up, please! We went to the restaurant based on Unilocal reviews. The burgers are mouth-​watering. The beef patties are fresh and hand-​made. The toppings & sauces are excellent and the fresh bun is perfect. On top of this, the fries are outstanding and super crispy. My husband had the Reuben-​esque, after clarifying with our waitress, «Wait, there’s a beef patty AND smoked meat on top?» He can’t wait to order this again. I had the American classic, which comes with two patties. Next time I would order the burger with one patty so I can also have room in my belly to order a chocolate shake (didn’t get to try this time… I was too full). Service was helpful and friendly. Beer was cold and tasty. Can’t wait to go back!

The food was amazing! And the service was great. And better yet, we found parking right outside! Our only complaint was the fruit flies that seemed to really enjoy our company. We will definitely be back!

Mmmh super les hamburgers au Cannibal café. Je n’ai pris que le classic jr et j’étais déjà rassasiée! Super bon! J’ai hâte de goûter les autres! Les onion rings sont parfaits aussi. Le personnel est super sympa, dans une ambiance Halloween. Bön rapport qualité prix! Je recommande vivement!
Plus, La bière au potiron (malheureusement je né me rappelle plus le nom exact) est excellente!!!

Every business should respond this way.
Cannibal gets 5 stars for customer service. The last time I came, the food took a little while to come out. I wasn’t particularly perturbed by it, but a know a few peeps were. So we were invited back on their dime.
Anywho, true to my word I did come back for the blue cheese burger. I did like this burger more than the bacon bad. I know, blasphemy. How can anything be better than bacon??? The swine didn’t survive my taste buds this time. $ 13
I also had a bit of the cannibal fries. Not bad at all. Quite tasty.
Hats off to the crew that worked our table that evening. They were very attentive.

After our large-​party slow-​burger disaster last time at The Cannibal Café, management invited us back for a re-​do. Only 8 persons from our original party could make it this time, but for the persons who showed up, The Cannibal Café let us have our food (but not alcoholic drinks) free.
Honestly, I thought we’d just all get a free burger, so some of us went ahead and ordered an appy to share. But holy moly, they gave those to use for free as well.
So, BIG DISCLAIMER — I paid $ 5 for my order (as tip) and I got to try some appetizers other people ordered.
Maybe because we were a smaller group, our burgers came in a timely fashion this time. Mine was dead last and they made a point of reassuring me that it was coming shortly (and it did). So, service seemed normal this time.
Diablo Jalapenos ($ 9.95) Battered jalapenos stuffed with Manchengo cheese, served with a side of smokey red pepper mayo
–Despite «diablo» in the name, if you’re looking for anything spicy-​hot here, it’s a waste of time.
–Cheese doesn’t harden as quickly as mozzarella, so you don’t have to rush and swallow a mouthful of lava just to have fun melted cheese.
–Definitely use the mayo.
–Even so, this was only so-​so and I think there were only 5 fritters, working out to about $ 2 per jalapeño.
Cannibal Fries ($ 11.95) Hand cut fries, two 3oz patties, American cheese & shredded cheddar, Cannibal sauce, carmelized onions
–Get this instead of a burger — serioulsy. It’s cheaper, plus you’re not missing on much meat, plus all those fries are filling.
–Really nice touch with the caramelized onion. That and/​or the special Cannibal sauce added a nice sweetness to the sauce for the fries making this tasty and a hit with your table.
–Don’t even bother with the tomato sauce provided (which was therefore wasted, so maybe ask for the bottle instead of the pre-​portioned amounts and use only when necessary).
Cannibal Wings ($ 10.95) A full pound of hot, S&P, BBQ or Black Dragon wings
–Get these on Wing Wednesdays for a discount!
–Decent sized wings and drumsticks. Not super-​tiny and bony.
–We tried «Black Dragon» and I really liked it. Slight spicy-​heat in the not-​too-​honey-​sweet black sauce. You can safely pass on the sauce they give you.
Burger of the Month — Parmegedon ($ 14.95) crispy chicken, marinara, lettuce, basil, tomato, provolone, parmesan, garlic mayo, picked jalapeño on the side
–Felt like there was a smallish and negligible portion of everything except chicken and a passable slice of tomato. So it felt like you were just eating fried chicken in a (really tender and nice) bun.
–Generous slab of chicken.
–Chicken was totally ace. White meat. Not dry or tough and definitely moist enough. Really crispy on the outside and not too salty.
–The Cannibal Café should totally consider selling this chicken separately.
–It’s sort of pricey to pay $ 14.95 for a slab of deep fried chicken with no sides.
I totally forgot to get my Unilocal check-​in freebie, which was a free side of fries. You only get this offer if you order a burger, not just any order (the Unilocal check-​in doesn’t really specify burger-​only).
There is guest wifi, but our server warned that it wouldn’t work well, and it didn’t. She offered the staff wifi password, and the staff wifi worked much better. If you like neither option, head up the street to Starbucks to mooch their wifi.

Thanks to Natalie, for inviting our group back to try their burgers! Last time, they were down a few people so there were a few bottlenecks, but service was smooth sailing last night.
It was wings Wednesday ($ ⁵⁄₈ – 10 wings), so we tried their Black Dragon wings (soy sauce, sriracha), which were pretty good. I really liked their Cannibal Fries, which is pretty much a version of In-n-Out’s Animal Style fries: cheese, special sauce, sauteed onions, and 2 burger patties on fries. Its a heartattack on a plate, but it was good! It was a pretty big plate so everyone dug in and tried it out.
My turkey burger was really good, it didn’t feel to heavy /​greasy but still hit the spot! I liked my burger, but I wish I ordered the Parmageddon (burger of the month) instead — spicy deep fried chicken breast, with cheese, marinara sauce, veg. Thanks again for a nice night out!

Never again!
This was such a terrible dining experience. I went to Cannibal for my first UYE (unofficial Unilocal event) on their Milkshake Monday! — Get a free milkshake (usually around $ 5) when you order a side (as low as $ 2) with your burger. I really wanted to like this place as the reviews seemed great and I love a good burger and milkshake!
We met at 7 and a server only took my drink order around 7:30. The restaurant was packed and it looked like there were only 3 or 4 servers. Granted we reserved the biggest table in the house-​about 14 of us– but I still thought this was unacceptable. We didn’t get our food until after 8 and though we pretty much ordered at the same time, not everyone received their food at the same time– the server said ‘we can only make so many burgers at a time’ Wait, what??? Poor service!!! We actually saw a couple walk out as the wait was too long. I had finished eating and was ready to leave by the time the rest of my table received their orders– terrible! Cannibal really needs to hire more people/​get more equipment/​downsize if this is to be a pleasant experience. That or don’t go in when the restaurant is packed.
My milkshake was delicious! My burger and fries, not so much! I ordered the big blue– its a blue cheese burger. I LOVE blue cheese but this was just overwhelming, I ate less than half of it. The handcut fries were nothing special. FYI though– you get free fries if you check in!
I hate to sound negative as there are soo many other great reviews about this restaurant but I can only rate it based on my experience…

Busy restaurant packed with lots of people last night. I got Strawberry Milkshake ($ 5.49) and Cowabunga Burger ($ 13.95). Milkshake was good in my opinion but too expensive. It came out fluffy than thick. I’d rather get one from White Spot along with refill.
I like how the burger tasted like pizza. It’s salty because of the sauce and pepperoni in it. Tomato sauce made the burger flavourful. Burger bun tasted good. Tried some fries and it was crispy. Little bit salty though. Price wise I don’t want to pay that much for a burger. That was too expensive. I wanted to give 3 stars at least, but it’s overly priced and the service was slow.

Good, not terribly memorable.
I’m with Marc D– good in concept but execution leads this to be any high average burger place in Vancouver.
Service is really lovely
But I wouldn’t think of this place again unless I was right in front of it and there was a specials sign doing some sort of crazy discount.

Such a darn good burger! I’ve been here a few times and they are always consistent. They have some really amazing appys. We always get the fried pickles and the mini corn dogs, so good! I love their specialty burgers but you can even build your own! They have a list of sauces, burgers and toppings to guide you along and help you create the perfect burger!
They have street parking here but sometimes you can find a free space. This area is normally pretty busy. They also always have the current hockey games rolling, in case you’re interested!
The customer service is great and the food is good! Just a warning the food here is pricey for being a burger joint but is definitely worth it.