Waves Coffee House - Steveston

As a frequent customer of this coffee shop in my neighborhood, most of the staff are well trained and nice. However, I have been served by a new staff, Rheanne this morning, no greeting, no smile and very cold face. This is the coffee she made for me. Extremely overflowing and impossible to move. When I told her about the situation, no sorry at all. Very bad service manner. I understand that the head office has taken over this location recently and needs to take a serious look at this.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 1

good food and good coffee

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Love this place for a treat. My favourite is the sasuage, tomatoe egg mcmuffin. It's delicious, and the nanaimo bars. Also the egg bites, I love that you can just buy one as sometimes, you just want a quick bite. The coffee is good as well, I usually get a cappuchino, the caramel macchiato could use a bit of smoothness as the flavour is a bit harsh with the caramel and coffee together it might need a bit more blending. Either way, great atmopshere, food, and staff. Also great seating area for working on your laptop. Thank you Waves, love your coffee shop !!

Excellent coffee, top-notch barista! but the architecture sucks. Super noisy, all hard surfaces. Three aging seniors all straining to hear amidst the background clatter

Was good until they laid off all employees and brought in their own people because it was doing good. The previous staff was nice and the new staff are not personable. Shame on you waves.

I walked into Waves hoping for a peaceful morning coffee. Instead, I got the acoustic experience of yelling my order across a Costco food court during Christmas rush hour. It’s echoey, it’s loud, and it feels like the building is actively punishing you for wanting caffeine in peace.

Morning café ambiance:
What I expected — mellow, cozy, quiet.
What I got — “Welcome to the United Nations Climate Summit. Please take a seat and scream.”

Last visit, the coffee was serviceable. Not bad, not thrilling. I’m a Nespresso snob, so my espresso standards are obnoxiously high, but still — I don’t think “forgettable” should be the highlight of a café experience.

Then came the Too Good To Go order. I was optimistic. That optimism died faster than my sandwich's moisture content. This thing was stale-stale. Hard top bun, weird slightly sour “end-of-life bread” flavour — like it had survived some ancient carbohydrate war and lost. Toasting wouldn’t have saved it; CPR wouldn’t have saved it.

And the taste? Imagine licking the inside of a hemp satchel at a drum circle after everyone’s been talking about chakras and kombucha for eight hours. That’s the vibe.

Overall?
Coffee: meh.
Atmosphere: airport departure lounge energy.
Food: tasted like a philosophy major’s gap year.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 4

Poor value TGTG surprise bag. The ad says $21 value for the price of $6.99. Ad also hinted at a drink being included, but none was given. Retail value for the food given (breakfast sandwich, egg bites, and a scone) is only around $13+. Definitely not $21. Would not purchase here again, better value elsewhere.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

More space, bright area & nice people who work there.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Tried Vietnam coffee last time and dumped the whole thing (looking nothing like the photo and tasted REALLY bad)… today I tried Tiramisu here and it’s the worst tiramisu I’ve ever had… and it costed $8? Super sweet, tasted like gum, even a bit dried out meaning it’s not fresh… ahhhh

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 5

Haven't been here for years but coincidentally came in because it started to rain. What caught my eye was the selection of drinks from around the world, like a passport for your taste buds. I had no idea they offered Vietnamese coffee, so of course I had to try it! I also chatted with the owner, who was super friendly and knowledgeable. I asked him how the chocolate frappe was and he mentioned it's made with real chocolates! So I asked him if there's dark chocolate option and he said he does. DARK. CHOCOLATE. I haven't had a dark chocolate frappe for years! The Vietnamese coffee had that bold bitterness you’d expect, but balanced with less condensed milk than usual, which I actually enjoyed. The dark chocolate frappe, on the other hand, was pure indulgence. Rich, icy, and loaded with chocolatey goodness like a dark version of Vanilla Ice. Honestly, it felt like being a fat kid diving into a pool of frozen chocolate bliss.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Coffee is good but the manager was not up to his job. Our order was lost even it was not busy, we had to wait 15 mins!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 1

So disappointed. I ordered a regular size Kyoto Latte priced at $7 after the tip. This drink didn't live up to its price. Foamy and there was nothing special about the coffee. The barista making this used his finger to level the coffee before plugging it into the coffee machine. The seating area is bland and nothing special. There is so much potential but the owners don't realize it. Over priced coffee in a prime location. I won't be back.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 2

I had a very disappointing experience here today. I ordered a hot coffee, but when I picked it up and started drinking, it was only warm. I politely asked the staff if I could use the microwave to warm it up — I wasn’t even asking for a new one. The answer was no, and instead they offered to add more hot milk. I declined because that would just water down the coffee.

What really bothered me was the response: I was told the coffee was hot when it was made and that it was my fault for picking it up late. The truth is, only about 2 minutes had passed from the time it was made until I picked it up. There’s no way a properly prepared hot coffee should turn lukewarm that quickly.

The staff’s attitude didn’t help — very poker-faced, simply repeating there was nothing they could do. No apology, no solution, just blame on me. I didn’t want to argue, so I left.

Sadly, this is not the kind of service or quality I expect from a coffee shop.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Nice coffee, friendly staff

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

UNSANITARY SERVICE!!! I normally go to Starbucks or Tims, but today I thought...you know what, let's try something different. So I ordered Waves Coffee online and went to pick up. BUT...When I came in to pick up online order, the lady there was sweeping the floor. Coffee was not ready yet. She went right from sweeping to making the coffee. I noticed she did NOT wash hands. I thought she'd put on gloves, but NOPE! I had to sanitize my cup with a napkin with some sanitizer on it. I can only hope she did not touch the ice or the inside of the cup with filthy hands. Disappointed. NOT GOING BACK!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 2

Service: 1