Symphonie Restaurant

This is one of my favourite little hole-​in-​the-​wall cafes in Vancouver, and I go here often for breakfast and lunch. The owners (husband and wife) are very friendly, and you will always get great service.
The Symphonie has a good mix of Filipino and Western food, and features two daily special menus (one of each) that rotates. The portion sizes are pretty good, too.
I like that their bake their own muffins and scones, instead of buying it from one of the major suppliers. I’d also recommend the chili (lots of meat!), Thai chicken soup, and, if you are lucky to be there on the right day, the Pancit with Empanada (light and fluffy). They also do a good breakfast sandwich.

Nothing beats a quaint family owned restaurant. Even more so when that restaurant is in the heart of Downtown! The moment you step in, you’ll feel immediately at home in the cozy setting with the family that owns the place greeting you with a smile.
Aside from deli sandwiches and breakfast offerings, they also have daily Filipino lunch specials. For today (Tuesday), I tried their Kare Kare (Beef/​Pork Stewed in Peanut Butter Sauce) and it was tasty! Wasn’t a huge fan of the super pungent shrimp paste on the side, but I guess that was meant to be mixed in with the rice and sauce. Overall, not a bad place to try some Filipino homestyle cooking!
Watch out though, this place closes at 3:30 PM

Homely little Filipino café tucked inside a large office building.
Had a few of their lunch specials before; under $ 10 for a meal downtown is a good deal.
The Filipino special Pancit with Chicken Empanada is my fave here. The empanada reminds me of Cornish pasties.
Most of the daily Filipino specials are pretty authentic in taste.
They also have all-​day breakfast specials at pretty affordable prices. I personally like the 2 eggs + sausage + toast combo. Not super filling, but you can always add on more eggs at additional cost.

Symphonie is a cute little Filipino restaurant that seems to have a bit of a following. I was staying at a hotel there and decided to try a restaurant outside of the hotel just a bit of the local flair. It was pretty early but there were a few people coming in and out. The restaurant itself is a really small café type restaurant with some pre-​made food.
I dove right in and went with the Filipino special for the day, which is sweet spaghetti with fried chicken, very interesting indeed. The spaghetti sauce tastes like ketchup with hotdog bits in it, and the fried chicken was alright but nothing special. I can appreciate that it is what Filipino eat at home, but I was not digging this over an eggs benedict dish and I was also not digging the ambience of the place.
It really brought me back to my high school days where I ate a lot of fried chicken in little café places, and it made me fat. So, maybe it’s a bit of my own personal bias.

The curry was not bad, not really my bag but my son seemed to like it. The portions were certainly big. The owners were friendly and the service was swift. The tv seemed unnecessary though.

I ordered the chicken curry and it didn’t taste that great. What do you expect when you order Indian food at a philipino restaurant. Guess it’s my fault. lol
Came back and Ordered the Thursday special Pork Adobo, tastes ok, I’ll come back again to try out their other specials later.

What a great find! My partner and I came in from our cruise at Canada place and stayed downtown. The Unilocal reviews for breakfast pointed us to this gem. Being Filipino, I was excited to find a place with Filipino breakfast. I was not disappointed.
I ordered the longanisa (Filipino sausage) which came with garlic fried rice and two eggs. My partner ordered an egg sandwich on an english muffin with a side of hashbrowns. They were so sweet to give us a side of soup (the Bulalo which was the lunch special for the day).
I wish I had a place like this close to my home in Los Angeles. The place looks unassuming but it has good food and a lot of heart. When I visit Vancouver, I’ll definitely be back.

I’m a visitor to Vancouver and came here since I was up early and no other restaurants around were open. I ordered the longanisa, and grabbed a day old cinnamon bun on the cheap. Besides explaining all the filipino dishes to me, they microwaved the cinnamon bun for me, and gave me a free sample of one of the other filipino dishes (the sausage one), all without asking, which was super nice. They were also very patient with me considering the menu, and gave a nice sit down area with TV news. I saw about 4 people stop in to grab something while I was there. Prices are a wee bit high for the portions, a bit under $ 10 for a medium sized plate, but I think it was definitely worth it.

The soup here was amazing and they had a nice variety of food. Very friendly staff looks like a family run place.

Very nice restaurant that serves both western style and Filipino food. Tried their lunch special of Kare Kare (peanut butter sauce beef) and it was delicious.
It’s conveniently located in the business distract so not far from coal harbour and burrard skytrain station.
If you email the owner or ask he will add you to the email list with the weeks daily specials.
I only gave it 3 stars because it was good but nothing out of the ordinary. The serving size is quite large and was good for lunch and my dibber that night. The daily specials are usually $ 8.75 so price is also pretty good. I will have to try it again sometime.

Don’t come here for a soup and sandwich — there are better options in the area. The butter chicken special was decent but lacked spice/​flavor. It seems like your best bet here are the Philippine dishes.

Great food. Friendly service. Had egg, ham and cheese in English muffin. Cooked perfectly using fresh food. Great price. Variety of hot tea choices

Great!
Value for money.
Food is excellent. Tasty, home made and authentic.
Outstanding service too!
I wish this family business good luck. We live right around the corner and will come her often from now on.

Great tapsilog (beef strips, fried eggs, and fried rice) and friendly staff. It’s nice to discover a Filipino restaurant very close to work.

This place offers all-​day Filipino breakfast. ‘Nuff said.
I came here for lunch during the week, at the beginning of lunch hour, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn’t have to wait in a long line to order food (per other Unilocal reviews). At first it was hard to find the Filipino offerings on the menu, as they offer other types of food as well (sandwiches, Western-​style foods). The woman behind the counter pointed to the two menus listing Filipino food — one showing the all-​day breakfast options, and the other showing the daily Filipino lunch special.
I ordered the Tapsilog breakfast — marinated beef, garlic friend rice, eggs with a side of vinegar. To my disappointment, they were sold out of the Tapa (beef), so I decided to go with the Tocino (Filipino pork) breakfast instead. The lunch special of the day was Niligang Baka, which also sounded tempting, but I already had my heart set on breakfast.
The service was friendly and quick, and it wasn’t too long before I was happily enjoying my Tocino with sunny-​side-​up eggs. At $ 7.75, the meal was a total steal. It totally hit the spot for a craving of home-​made Filipino breakfast food. I must have arrived at just the right time, because as I was eating, the business lunch crowd started to pile in.
The atmosphere was casual and low-​key, perfect for a quick lunch.
If you’re set on coming here for the Filipino food, I would have to agree with the other Unilocal reviewers and suggest getting here early!

A little café, which serves Western and Filipino food. The sandwiches and soup are always made fresh. The Filipino food, however, is most likely cooked from home and brought in. They only make a limited quantity so I suggest getting there early or calling in to reserve, or you won’t get any specials. Space is also limited, so get there early.
Home made cooking is always the best in small batches.

Their breakfast sandwich a.k.a. «Egg McTay» is TERRIFIC. Best joint in Coal Harbor for breakfast.

The line ups are a testament to food worth waiting for. The mom n pop owners offer hearty and healthy comfort foods. The personal attention makes me feel more like family than a customer. The breakfast sandwich is my favorite way to start the day.
I like that they are always trying new things and open to suggestions. Just recently, they did a test run of Chicken Cordon Blue. Perfectly cooked and professionally presented. I’m going to call it ‘Diner Surprise’ because no one would expect this kind of quality in a small café. Yet that’s what the owners and employees consistently provide.
Who knew downtown dining could be both satisfying and affordable!

Great little café, super friendly staff and top notch food. Regular rotation of daily special covers a wide range of lunch favourites. It’s amazing what they can do in the tiny space!

A good old fashioned Filipino breakfast served throughout the the day in downtown Vancouver?
Yes, please!
Symphonie is your typical small downtown café, but with a twist. In addition to the usual lunchtime fare, they also offer daily Filipino breakfasts longanisa (sweet sausage), tocino or tapa (cured beef or pork), all served «silog» (with a fried egg) and of course garlic rice! There is a daily Filipino entrée as well which changes throughout the week (follow them on twitter to see the daily special).
I can’t wait for sinigang day!!!