Caffe al Mercato

Great coffee, friendly staff– highly recommend the pizza evenings. Great meal and nice atmosphere!

There are 2 sides to this place. .. the café and the pizza in the evenings.
The café is great, one of the better places in West Van with food beyond the typical muffins and all that.
The pizza in the evenings. .. . go here ! Seriously, it is proper good brick oven Italian pizza. Don’t do take out, eat it in with a bottle of Peroni or a glass of white wine.
Tough to find good pizza in Vancouver, this is a great place for pizza, if you eat in.

It’s mid-​August, the «Caff» is fast approaching its second anniversary, and they continue to offer excellent coffee, gelati and other goodies as they have since they opened. We go there frequently, for the above reasons, and for the friendly service and pleasant ambience.
I’m writing this after coming home from an evening meal there. In late May they started offering an evening meal service Wednesdays to Sundays from 4 p.m. The menu is simple: half a dozen types of pizza (30 cms wide, fresh toppings cut in four, and baked in decent Italian style), several types of salad (again, fresh ingredients and a good size) and a reasonable number of wines and beer.
This is a place I always enjoy going to, for good food at reasonable prices. They deserve continued success in this venture!

This place is a great stop and alternative to Bean at the West Van Rec. Café is Italian owed and the staff know how to make a proper coffee. Great for an event, long friendly communal table to read the local press.

I am hovering my mouse over the fifth star, debating, but I didn’t give Crema 5 stars, so Mercato will have to settle for 4. The two places work in tandem for me. But it’s a high 4.
Mercato is one of my favourite cafes in Vancouver and hands down my most frequently visited as I live almost across the street. If I’m not in there, there’s a good chance my partner has already been in earlier that day. The café opened nearly to the day I moved to this neighbourhood and I bonded with it like it was my mother duck. I can’t quit you.
I think I’ll dive in with what I find to be it’s only real fault. but even that I don’t mean strongly.
I find the quality of my coffee depends on the barrista (my favourite being the brunette woman ((manager? owner?))), so while I usually take my cappuccinos without sweetener, if one of the others makes my order I dive right for the honey to mask it. When it’s off it’s a bit acidic tasting and I prefer the smoothness of Crema’s coffee to Mercato. Though my family members will fight me to the death in Mercato’s favour, I think it comes down to preference. It’s not BAD coffee, it’s just not my favourite.
And when I delve into other drinks, I’m rarely excited about them. Their chai latte is damn good, but also a little bland — I wish it were spicier. I wish it competed with my beloved (and closed) Bojangles’ chai. I find that’s my common theme with their drinks — I really enjoy them, but I can always think of somewhere that does it better. And it loses a star for it. Maybe that’s unfair. I don’t know. Fight me. I’ll be at Crema.
…I’ll be at Crema AFTER I eat, though, because OH MY GOD THE FOOD. THAT is the main attraction here. It shows it’s restaurant roots.
From the bacon and cheddar scone to their Italian wedding soup to their grilled vegetable panini to their Muffolata sandwich. the decadent pizza slices. and then the salads (Caprese! Everywhere does Caprese well as it’s impossible to mess up but they HAVE it in a CAFE). and then the goddamned gelato.
The menu doesn’t rotate much, outside of the soups (which not only change in offerings but in price based off ingredients). But there are so many different and strong flavours I find it doesn’t get dull.
The main event here is the food. Come for a coffee and you’ll return for lunch.
And you’ll return to find that, though it hosts your usual West Van clientele, the atmosphere is not stuffy at all. Maybe it’s the often young and bumbling teenage staff setting the tone by laughing and smiling through their shift, but the vibe is very relaxed. It’s a great place to read outside, or meet friends for lunch. It’s a lot more relaxed than the average hustle of Crema. and so the war for my heart continues.

I love the open bright ambiance here. Big windows — comfy red chairs on the patio, coated cement floors — give it a cool casual modern vibe.
My husband goes every week — it’s on his rotation — one of his favorite lunch spots. He usually gets their soup or sandwich and often brings home pasta and pizza sauces which we use when cooking at home — they are cheaper than the sauces I get at WF — nice and fresh/​tangy tasting.
I’ve also been with him several times, enjoyed a delish chai latte with almond milk — handmade (from as scratch as they come these days). I’ve had their ice creams and gelattos — delish. I enjoy the baking too — the thumbprint cookies are perfection. We usually park 22^nd street or there is underground off 22^nd.

Purchased a small latte to go and a «Forza Energy Bar» — coffee was ok but not great. Too acidic for me. The energy bar was really bad — tasted like someone accidentally put Mr. Clean in it. I’ve definitely had better.
I will say that the café has nice atmosphere and big windows letting the light in. Looks like they might have good sandwiches.