Kozak Ukraїnian Eatery

Update: After trying a few more items including the breads I have to change my review

I mean no disrespect but the Kyiv cake was awfully sweet and devoid of any taste, left me feeling very displeased.

Review 5 months ago:

The babka and wafer are great
Awesome options and helpful staff

IF YOU THINK YOU CAN CATCH THE BUS AND GET A LATTE FROM YOUR PLACE, YOU'RE MISTAKEN.
I have no idea why it takes them AT LEAST 10 minutes to get a latte out. I've essentially watched two buses pass by waiting for a latte to be made.

NEVER AGAIN AM I GETTING ANYTHING FROM HERE IF I NEED SOMETHING DONE EFFICIENTLY

The baked goods were good, the service is so warm and kind, it’s a small place, very cozy.

Amazing service and delicious fare! Thank you Alana for the exceptional customer service. The garlic sourdough bread was to die for and so was the chocolate babka!

Nice little bakery in downtown New Westminster. Good selection of Ukrainian baked goods and bread. They also have a few hot dishes, such as latkes. The dine-in area is very small, so it's best to order for take-out. I went there for the Cube Croissants during the Croissant Crawl event. I was not disappointed. All 3 flavors were amazing.

I got them to cater our event of 30 people. The food was wonderful, had reasonable price and on time delivery. I recommend them.

Delicious, great quality food. Be sure to try the combination to get a taste of everything. The sweet crepe was a nice finish for dinner.

Dad and I stopped by around 8pm for a piece of dark chocolate babka bread slice and it was delicious! We enjoyed it outside on the cute street patio. But what we were most impressed with was the cheerful service and exceptional kindness of Anastasia.

Thank you and all staff at Kozak. Great food and friendly place!

It’s good I don’t live nearby… they have everything I love in amazing quality (pastries! Beer! Coffee! Perogies! Fresh bread!) and I’d be there for every meal!

Fantastic European breads. This is our new go to place for breads. They got variety of pastries as well, and other items.

Incredibly delicious! Both as a bakery and cafe. Their bakery has amazing items its hard to choose, but highly suggest the chocolate babka. Have tried almost tall their breads and the are hardy and traditional. Their cafe food is consistently delicious been many, many, many times. Have a lot of choice from traditional Ukrainian items to simple ham and cheese croissants (so good). The goulash is amazing but only served in winter, thankfully the borscht is perfect. Make sure u sign up for the points system as you do get a lot of treats for free!

Normally Kozak is good but today was a off day staff were slow dealing with customers and when my turn came up I put my order in and twice I had to tell the girl no you getting the wrong items finally I got my beautiful treats home and realized on my receipt she changed me for 3 items I never ordered plus didn’t give me my points

Me and my husband love the food here, it’s delicious comfort Ukrainian food. The cottage cheese crepes & potato pancake lakes are the best!
PS: Please bring back your green onion & cheese buns ️
Very nice family owned place as well

Tbh.not sure with super high ratings. I had 6 pergoies and borsche.and the honey cake. Perogies were good, they were lil bit on the greasy side, but ok. Borsche with bean has a scent of a medicine which makes me feel like I want to throw up. It might be just me. Honey cake is good, but I know other desserts place that offers much more flavour amd variety.

To sum up, I might not be liking it because I'm not used to Ukraninanfood, but def not top eateries for me.

We came in last night (a Sunday) and we were sat right away and no one ever came back. They served two other tables that were sat after us. There were only three tables in the place so it’s not like it was busy. The one guy kept looking at us giving us Eye contact but he nor anyone else ever came by to even get drinks. We waited 15 - 20 min and finally gave up and left. The hostess was kind enough to say thank u on the way out we said well thanks but we were never even served lol Not sure what was going on there but we found that very incompetent.very disappointing.

My favourite Ukrainian bakery! They also recently opened a new location in gastown. The pierogis are to die for omg. My friend and I got the onion and bacon/ potato and dill, both were delicious. I also highly recommend the bortsch, absolutely worth it. Also cannot forget about their amazing baked goods! They also sell some prepackaged food like sauerkraut, crepes, and cabagerolls, it always changes up. It's quite a small cafe with only 4 window seats. Be prepared to wait in line during lunch! I come here everytime I'm in New West:)

I need to stress that this review is just based on the apple strudel I had today. It tasted off. At one point I thought there was ground beef or lard in it. I've been a vegetarian for two years now, so meaty and fatty flavours really come out on my taste buds and that is what happened today. I asked my mom to taste it and she said the same thing. She even compared it to an Empanada. We concluded that they either didn't bake it long enough and the butter that they used didn't melt/cook enough. It was so bad that we tossed it. Unfortunate. Their hot food is pretty good though. I've had their pierogies a couple times and I have no real complaints.

I've ordered the mama's combo and a wildrose oat latte. Very delicious food. Very friendly staff.

The only thing is the menu is different when you order online and also different in the shop, it's hard to find the drink menu.

Amazing pierogies! The potato and dill ones are so savoury, my favourite way to get them is boiled!

I have been living in New Westminster for few years and didn’t know about Kozak Until my friend surprised me with Napoleon cake for my birthday. All I have to say is wow, this is my new favourite bakery. I ordered Napoleon for my mom’s birthday everyone loved it. Also big plus is the staff is so pleasant ️

I remember when this place first opened and watching them grow has just been amazing. Sweets, savories, perogies, borsch- everything here is to die for. You've gotta try it all!

Cant say more praise for this place. Organic, non-gmo, sourdough. Their desserts are a serious treat to have.
Their napolean cake is arguably the best in greater Vancouver.

Latkes were overcooked and under seasoned.they were not `golden brown`, but dark brown.they were very oily, and tasted bitter.i was really expecting more for $15

With a larger place now on 33rd and Victoria Drive, this is our go to place for pierogies and borscht …& awesome baked goods… PLUS They have a large space to dine in also

Amazing and delicious food here. Their staff is alway friendly. Had the best borsch soup here. Sourdough breads are well made and very tasty. The bread pared with our soup has herring spread which give a special flavor to them.
The chocolate babka is very chocolaty with reasonable price. My son is crazy for their honey cake (medovyk). The cinnamon roll has very strong cinnamon aroma and is so good with coffee.
The place is not big and not quite for dine in, but surprisingly, their food is served with stainless knife /fork, porcelain plate, and white cotton napkin. During the pandemic, after seeing so many places provide disposable cutleries, paper napkins, Kozak does give us very unique and pleasant dining experience.
Another thing I like is the way they pack their food with paper bags and twine, very environment friendly

Kozak has wonderful customer care and delicious babka. I really appreciate their selection of freshly baked items! I can’t wait to go back to try more!

Amazing food (great portions for the price). Amazing service. Lady who served us was very hospitable and attentive despite being the only one out in front.

Definitely do not forget to get one of the Babkas.

The oat milk latte here was a delicious surprise

The baked goods are great as well. Our daughter loved the chocolate croissant and we enjoyed our babka roll (albeit the outside was a smidge too dry but went well with the coffee)

I could have given one star, but the second one is added for Kozak's amazing care for the customers to stay fit by eating less (for the same money or more).
Stopped by today after a couple of months to buy some of our favorites. The person, who was originally accepting our order has bounced us to another manager in the middle of the process - which was still okay, as we were deciding upon one item. Apart from the pastry I've ordered cream of wheat (manka), as it's always been a delicious thing to try. As my order has been prepared, I've checked the bag and there was only one instead of three I've ordered. Then I was surprised that the bag is quite small, so I've pulled out the cup with manka and found out it's been twice as small compared to the previous ones (see the pic attached). Although Kozak bakery now charges more for it, $7 before tax, there's no note to the customers that the portions were reduced significantly (all other items displayed looked exactly the same except for cake slices - also reduced in sizes but with higher prices). I've cancelled the rest of two ordered.
At home I've also noticed that there was no jam for which I have asked to be put on the side.

We've been trying to give this place a chance for quite awhile after we spent ALOT when it was decent over a year ago. But honestly we have only been repeatedly disappointed.
It's sadly been a hit & miss the last year as there’s no real consistency with several items we have tried. Their quality control just doesn’t seem to be there unfortunately. At least the customer service is good!
Just as some other customer wrote about on Trip Advisor: ‘I went in wanting baked good and bought the poppyseed roll last week. This was my second attempt here and found both times for the baked goods to be really dry. Either they were day olds or lacking in how to make baked goods delicious. I had to throw out half of it’. Totally AGREE with this review as their baked items we’ve tried look far better than they taste! The apple strudel & poppyseed pastry is dry like how can they even sell this? ! We’ve tossed it away just like the other reviewer. Some pastries like a croissant 2nd time around was overdone, then apricot danish soggy (not crunchy, flaky as the last few times).
We used to purchase the tray of takeout crepes which aren’t as good as they used to be. The borscht with beans is still good. We also purchased a lot of the take out pork cabbage rolls for $18.95 but stopped as they were so cheap on the tomato sauce for 11-12 rolls. The sauce was salty sometimes then became mildly spicy which is ok but most of all it was so disgustingly mushy inside filled mostly with rice hardly any pork so no solid texture. At least with some tomato sauce it would help make it better! The chicken soup was terrible too as a few days before the expiry it went sour like baking soda so not sure if they're using it to tenderize the chicken in it but had to throw it out.
You earn RESTRICTIVE points but can't use them for anything decent! Why bother to offer points when you basically can only use them towards the select terrible baked goods or their promotional items like a T-shirt or cap. Ummm I don’t think I’m going to be advertising for them.
Give it a shot but if you're accustomed to decent pastries & food you may experience what we have which is HIT & MISS!

Really delicious food. Their stuffed peppers are sublime. Nice staff. A little bit slow, though. They're opening a place in Gastown, also. Well worth the visit.

Great place to get some Ukrainian food and pastries. We dined in and it took a while for us to get our food but the server was very apologetic. It was understandable as it was a busy night for them. Will definitely come back again for the food.

Wonderful staff, exceptional service, we enjoyed the food as much as Baba's! Definitely the real deal.

Divine Goodies! Picking little of everything any time I m in the area.
Now with 2 table patio.
Missing your Europian style coffee and pastry? Drop in to check!

Excellent Eastern European food and bakery with stellar service! Staff was knowledgeable and very kind.

Excellent bakery! Try their lunch / dinner meals if you haven’t next time as well. Almost saved up enough points for the hat:)

Babka- reminds me of a cocoa cake, also quite nice, not too sweet, would be tasty with a cup of tea.
The honey cake is simple, not too sweet, I enjoyed it.
Sloyka- it's like an Apricot Danish - delicious, my favorite pastry so far. BUY IT you will not be disappointed.
Sour cherry bun - can't say I was a fan of this one, it would have been great with more cherry inside.
I've also tried their cabbage rolls (veg& meat), pierogies and borscht. All tasty. Its pricey but the quality and ingredients are worth the price.

Always delicious and lots of vegetarian/vegan options. I highly recommend the rogaliki for a sweet treat.

Probably the best Ukrainian food in the province. Everything is made without compromising quality of ingredients. Tastes better than my grandma's.

Strawberry croissants are the best. You should try their sourdough bread, the acidity and sweetness are really balanced. I am just a bit tired of the tiny space and delivery guys standing everywhere in the store. Overall, good experience.

I had a wonderful experience with the staff, quality of the food and the service! I ordered Manka and Syrynki. Although they were gluten free, I had no problem after eating! Which means the quality is great and the food is not processed! Definitely will come back!

Had food from Kozak for the 1st time last night (Chocolate Babka) and twice today (French toast using their challah & tonight their lamb perogies).
I was a bit disappointed with the babka. Having been brought up on Montreal babkas, these are drier and not quite as chocolatey. Great challah for a reasonable price and the lamb perogies... Well, let's just say, I'll never go back to store bought perogies! Yuck! I can't believe what I was eating! Kozak's perogies seem a bit pricey, but they make for 2 very good helpings if not 3 decent ones or even 4 small sides. We'll be back!

A great team always ready to offer great suggestions according to one's palate. I was on a self-imposed chocolate-ban and they recommended the honey cake - light to the bite and satisfied my sugar cravings.
Will be back when my ban ends!?

Love love love this place! So authentically Ukranian (all the staff in fact) with fresh bread, pastries, soups and more. They sell frozen pierogies and now even have an outdoor patio serving drinks (yes alcoholic) and full meals. You can also take stuff to go or order from home. Their new hours are 8: 30am-10pm every day of the week (!). Staff is suuper nice and helpful, they really go the extra mile. You should definitely visit!

Love that they have vegan options! I tried the sauerkraut perogies and the potato/dill perogies and both were delicious. Can’t wait to go back and try more!

I am a regular customer despite the small portion sizes i still go this place.would like to give 5star but I am forced to stick to 1.
Taste is amazing but portion size is very small for the price $16. I was very disappointed.
I have ordered chicken cheese.got tiny chicken.like baby food.
Not just chicken with cheese any item that we order comes in small portions.
Would highly recommend to increase the portion size.

My ukrainian coworker thinks highly of this place and convinced me to try it. I love! That was my first borsch ever and it was delicious. Came with a piece of nourishing piece of bread. And those cabbage crepes were tasty, perfectly cooked and something completely new to me. They don't use ingredients that contain dough improver, msg, preservatives, etc. I must say that I'm a conservative when it comes to food but Kozak got me. I'm a fan now. What else? That ukrainian tea was another thing worthy of mention. I recommend people to try it.

Fantastic bakery. It is more than just a bakery serving up proper borsch and blini. Authentic flavours. I am from Moldova myself and more than half Ukranian so I feel entitled to properly judge this place. The food gets a thumbs up from my family and me. Keep it up Kozak

The OMG place. Loved everything from Purizhkis to Latte. They even have a great rewards program where after just one purchase I’m qualified to get a free Babka on my next visit. Not just a “Sovok” place - your takeout order comes in a trendy package. Loved it.

If you love Ukraïnian rye bread, piroshkis, varenyky (pirogies), and chocolate Babka to die for, you must visit Kozak Ukraïnian Eatery in New Westminster.
My husband loves it!
I am gluten intolerant, so cannot join him in eating in this gustatory heaven.
Instead, I enjoy my luscious Ukraïnian latte and watch him smile his way through his plate of varenyky.
I highly recommend that those of you who can partake, to avail yourself of their freshly made on site, delicacies as soon as possible. Hubby's go-to place in New Westminster.

Everything is great here but they have outgrown their setup and need a bigger place.

It's so popular that it's usually a ten or fifteen minute wait to get to the counter for service.

Too many customers is a nice problem to have but if people have to wait too long they will stop going.

Great place.needs a new location

My experience with you is as follows:
I applied for a job. You invited you to meet.and that day you saw I had a little boy there. Then you sent an email to get started. To start on Tuesday
there was no detail. I emailed you about the details, but I did not get an answer. I went to his officer in New Westminster, I couldn't get a postal refund again. I have said many times that I will print my child according to today's nursery. I did not get any feedback. I still don't know why I couldn't understand, and that was a disrespect for me. I think I was as gentle as possible. In return, I had to wait 3 days with the stress I received. I saw that you are aware of what you are doing with this answer.your response while waiting for your apology is very rude.

Your mail:
Hello Dilek,  

Thank you for coming for interview, we are thinking about offering you a prep/cookie-maker position.

I can schedule your first training at Victoria Dr location to start and once you will become independent, I will be happy to schedule you to our New West location.  

I have an open shift next Tuesday, Jan 7th from 9am till 5pm.  

Please let me know if you are available.  

My email
Hello Irina.

First of all thank you a lot for this opportunity and your hospitality. I am available this weekend and next week. I have a question, these training will be which days, except this Tuesday or will it be random? Because i have a son, and he will go to the daily care for the these days.

Regards.

And again my email
Hello İrina. Unfortunately i am not coming tomorrow. İ waited 3 days your answer because i have a son who is 2.7 years old, and i have no any familiar in the Vancouver for care. İ did not understand, training just will be one day in the week or it will be continue like a work. İf it will be one day my husband will be take a permit from office, or if continue i will applied to royal child care for my son. And can you please tell me i took this job or it will be appear after the training.i want to learn this because both of them has a cost for us. Today i went to the new Westminster branch and i talked to Sergii but i did not understand some sentences because my English not enough for speedly speaking, and i dont wanted occupied to him. Finally if i have a chance for this job opportunity i can came to weekend.if it is not no problem i love your bakery. Thank you for understanding.

This is an easy review to share, so let me eliminate all the cliches and just say, BREADS, absolutely delicious, BABKA, best I've had, PEROGIES, yummy, CABBAGE ROLLS, incredible, PYRIZHKY BUNS, hearty and flavorsome, CREPES, delightful and you gotta try the UKRAINIAN LATTE. The staff are all about smiles and service, especially Olesia she's a true all star. A place worth the your time to explore.

Amazing little spot here in New Westminster. I've seen this place get mentioned a few times and decided to give it a try! I'm so glad I did because the food here is amazing and the staff are super nice too. Highly recommend checking it out especially on the cold days like today, the soups will warm ya right up.

Great food and friendly service:) This was my second time having Ukrainian food, and I absolutely loved it. I love their background music too. I would definitely recommend Tato's lunch.

Oh man, I am SO happy this place is in my neighborhood. The food is absolutely outstanding - I didn't know I loved borscht until I'd had it from here. I've yet to have any food from here that I haven't fully enjoyed from the first bite to the last. If you haven't been, you owe yourself a visit - and even if there's a wait (and there often is!), it's absolutely worth every minute.

Wow, I had heard Kozak was good but was surprised by how subtle the flavours are. The lunch combo was large but not excessive and every part from bread to borscht and in between was fantastic.

I was driving around New Westminster one gloomy autumn day when I glanced up and saw the sign for Kozak Ukrainian Eatery. Immediately, I thought about cabbage rolls and pierogies and how I haven’t had any recently.

On my first visit here in mid-October, I decided to try their Hungry Tato’s Lunch Combo ($14) which comes with your choice of meat/vegetarian borsch, your choice of meat/vegetarian holubsti (cabbage rolls), stuffed nalysnyky (a type of crepe), and 2 varenyky (hand-made pierogies) along a slice of your choice of freshly baked bread.

I was here at about a quarter-to-noon and it wasn’t too busy but that changed as it got closer to noon. They informed me that it would take about 15 minutes to prepare my lunch (but it seemed a bit longer). I had opted for the vegetarian option but don’t make any mistakes… this is a very filling meal. The hearty Ukrainian rye bread that I picked was perfect for dunking in the borsch and felt like it was really sticking to my gut.

I thought the nalysnyky was a bit overcooked given how burnt it looked like. Obviously, the real winner here were the pierogies and I think the next time I visit, I’ll just stick with an order of pierogies… which is pretty much what I did.

In late October, I came back and ordered the Meat and Onion Varenyky ($10). They said it would take about 20 minutes for the pierogies so make sure you have time to wait if you want to try these out. I was actually quite pleased with thess pierogies when they finally came out but the juicy filling is quite reminiscent of Chinese dumplings and the onions gives it a slightly sweet taste.

While I waited for my pierogies, I ordered a slice of Chocolate Babka ($3.50). OMG! This has got to be one of the best chocolate babkas I’ve had. It’s not overly sweet but the exterior has a nice crust while the layers pull apart to reveal the beautiful marbling effect. Think I found my new happy food… it’s even better if you heat it up a little.

I came back a couple of days later for the same order but I found the onions to be much more caramelized than on my prior visit.

If there’s anything that you wind up ordering here, make sure it’s the Chocolate Babka. They’ve also just recently opened up a location in Vancouver (on Victoria Drive) which has a much larger dine-in seating area.

My friend and I decided to try something new through Skip the Dishes, and ended up ordering two lunch combos and some pierogies from Kozak. Not only was everything packaged incredibly neatly (all recyclable containers and paper bags tied with jute cord) the food was delicious! I don't usually like sourdough bread, but I couldn't stop eating the one that came with the combo. The borsch mixed together with the sour cream was probably my favourite part. Everything just had a rustic and homemade taste. They also gave us a free slice of the dark chocolate bread to try and that was super tasty as well, not too sweet at all. You can tell that they really put effort into making authentic Ukrainian food from the heart. We will definitely be ordering from here again in the future. Thank you!

This is a good place for baked goods and/or a nutritious lunch. They have quality bread and sweets. They also offer a limited coffee menu which is ok, but don't expect it to be professional, specially if you are ordering espresso. My first impression was that in general is ok place, however customer service needs overall improvement. Staff should be trained to deal with the public in a professional manner to attract repeat business, cause first impressions are important factor, and not everyone is familiar with what to order when visiting for the first time. Thank you!

Quality, unique, homestyle Old Country baking and cuisine. Eat in or take out it’s like nothing you had before, unless you are Ukrainian. It’s been fun watching this business grow for the last 3 or 4 years. Everything is made fresh. The lineups and the waiting is well worth it. Not just your typical perogy and cabbage roll shop. Staff is fantastic

The best food in New westminster I'm yet to find. Everything on the menu is fresh and delicious. Everyone that works here is friendly and makes you feel right at home.
So glad to have found this place.

The food here is excellent! I especially like the vegan borscht (even though I'm a meat eater) and the pierogies with cottage cheese and dill filling.

Cute little restaurant, serves authentic Ukrainian dishes
Strongly recommend the Hungry Tato’s special which gives you a taster of all dishes. The Borsch was definitely a must! Portions are generous and food is full of flavours.
Only minus would be the small amount of space available and it gets crowded fast. Seating options are available but not very inviting

Absolutely delicious comfort food! I have ordered delivery from here a couple of times and have always been so impressed. I love the complete attention to detail, from wrapping of food in paper right down to the handwritten labeling on each item. They even included a free sample with my order and I was so lucky to get to try to the chocolate babka. The food is filling and high quality. I really feel you can taste the love and passion they put into it. Highly recommended!

Absolutely amazing! I haven't had authentic homemade Ukrainian food since my Papa passed away, it was like going back in time, and stepping through his front door on Ukrainian Christmas! Definitely will be back again! Thank you so much for the amazing food, and excellent service!

Nice little casual eatery with great tasty hearty meals for this cold weather.

I do wish they offered pan fried pierogies, but other than that, really tasty warm food with an even better chocolate babka to munch on as you walk back home.

Went to try their piroshki as I heard great things and this place didn't disappoint! Very authentic cuisine with a lot of variety. Their sour cream is so delicious and sour and goes really good with the Pierogi's. My new go to place for Goulyash!

My new routine destination. Coming from a Ukrainian, the Goulash and Borsch are nothing if not perfect. Everything tastes just like being with family. Excellent value as well. 5 stars all the way.

Delicious borscht and a great variety of baked goods, including my favorite: chocolate sourdough bread. They also make lovely meals to eat in. I can't recommend this spot enough.

Absolutely the best. I've never been to a bakery, tried everything and nothing disappointed me. It's normal to find something you don't like. But this place! I try new loaf, soup, sweets everytime, nothing disappointed me. Different but amazingly good. I wasn't even very much aware of ukranian food, but now, I'm def a fan. Must try place. I can't say what my favorite is because all of them are.

Great service and clean place. The pierogies had too much dough and the poppy seed pastry had a bitter after taste. The cabbage rolls were pretty good.