Restaurant

Say Hey Cafe & Deli

Name: Say Hey Cafe & Deli
Address: 156 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC, V6A 1T3, CA
Telephone: (604) 564-4604
Price range: value

Sandwiches•Vancouver•value

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is one of the best sandwiches restaurants in Vancouver for dinner, especially if you want a strong option in Vancouver.

Say Hey Cafe & Deli operates with a clarity of purpose that most sandwich spots spend years searching for.

Editorial review•May 5, 2026

Say Hey Cafe & Deli operates with a clarity of purpose that most sandwich spots spend years searching for. Chef-owner Lina Caschetto brought seven years of French restaurant kitchen experience back to Vancouver, reconnected with original founder Zach Zimmermann, and in March 2022 relaunched the Chinatown hoagie shop through a Kickstarter campaign that itself signals something: people in this city were genuinely invested in seeing it come back. The result is a weekday-only lunch counter on East Pender that runs on a tight schedule — 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed weekends — with a focused menu built around housemade components and a proprietary 360 sesame seed bun. Vancouver Magazine's A-Z Best Bites guide took notice. That's not a footnote; that's the whole point of the operation distilled. The menu is built around hoagies that don't hedge. The Meatball Hoagie layers housemade meatballs and tomato sauce with provolone, roasted garlic mayo, arugula, pickled serranos, and parmesan — all held together by that signature sesame bun, which the kitchen clearly treats as a structural and flavor component, not an afterthought. La Bomba goes heat-forward: hot soppressata, fresh mozzarella, chilli garlic oil, smokey chilli mayo, hot banana peppers, and pickled serranos land as a deliberately aggressive combination that diners who want fire in a sandwich return to specifically. Both sandwiches reflect a kitchen that understands what acid and heat can do to cured meat. Seasonally, the Hot Vickie — roast turkey, buttery mashed potatoes, and gravy all compressed into a hoagie — is the kind of absurdly committed move that becomes a word-of-mouth phenomenon. The Doofer rounds out the regular lineup and maintains a cult following, though its full build remains something of a menu mystery worth solving in person. The move here is simple: go on a weekday, go early if you want the full menu intact, and don't sleep on the seasonal specials — the Hot Vickie has a way of selling out before anyone announces it's gone. Say Hey sits at 156 East Pender in Chinatown, and at a price-one operation that's landed in Vancouver's best-bites conversation, the math is obvious. Call ahead at (604) 564-4404 if you're planning a group order; the kitchen operates on a tight window and doesn't have the floor space to absorb chaos gracefully.

Carlos Mendez, Food & Drink Editor

Methodology•Vancouver guides•Editorial team

lunch dinner sandwiches

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Taste ID

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Rating (Google) 9.6

423 reviews

Vancouver

At a glance

The fastest read on whether this place fits tonight.

9.6

Rating

Based on 423 reviews

Best used for

dinner and lunch

Price and pace

Good value

Neighborhood

Vancouver · 156 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T3, Canada

Price

Good value

Google rating

9.6 from 423 reviews

Phone

(604) 564-4604

Watch

Say Hey Cafe & Deli on video

Video: Foodgressing (third-party feature) · plays on YouTube

What to order

Signature dishes at Say Hey Cafe & Deli

Meatball Hoagie

La Bomba

Doofer

Hot Vickie (seasonal)

Why go

What makes Say Hey Cafe & Deli worth the move

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is a strong sandwiches option in Vancouver when you want somewhere that already has a solid public track record. Meatball Hoagie and La Bomba also give you a decent sense of the menu. It also holds a 9.6 rating across 423 Google reviews.

What to know fast

Public rating

9.6 from 423 Google reviews

Best used for

dinner and lunch

Style

Sandwiches in Vancouver

Spend

Good value

Best for

lunch dinner sandwiches

Know before you go

Google rating: 9.6 from 423 reviews

Price point: value

Popular dishes: Meatball Hoagie, La Bomba, Doofer

Website linked on this page

TastyPals Reviews

What diners are saying

0 diner reviews · reviewed by Carlos Mendez for Say Hey Cafe & Deli

Google snapshot

9.6 from 423 reviews

TastyPals notes

Editorial review by Carlos Mendez

There's a small ceremony to eating here that most Vancouver hot pot rooms skip: the cloisonné copper pots, the charcoal glowing underneath, the sense that dinner is an event rather than a transaction.

group dinnerdinnerhot pot

2726 reviews

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Quick details

Visit Website Directions

Address: 156 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T3, Canada
Phone: (604) 564-4604
Price: value
TastyPals score: Coming soon
Google rating: 9.6 (423 reviews)
Cuisine: Sandwiches
Neighborhood: Vancouver

Frequently asked questions

What cuisine does Say Hey Cafe & Deli serve?

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is a Sandwiches restaurant located in Vancouver, Vancouver. Say Hey Cafe & Deli operates with a clarity of purpose that most sandwich spots spend years searching for.

What is Say Hey Cafe & Deli best for?

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is best for lunch, dinner, sandwiches. Say Hey Cafe & Deli is a strong sandwiches option in Vancouver when you want somewhere that already has a solid public track record. Meatball Hoagie and La Bomba also give you a decent sense of the menu. It also holds a 9.6 rating across 423 Google reviews.

How much does it cost to eat at Say Hey Cafe & Deli?

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is in the Good value price range (value). Google rating: 9.6 from 423 reviews

What should I order at Say Hey Cafe & Deli?

Start with Meatball Hoagie, La Bomba, Doofer and Hot Vickie (seasonal). These dishes are shown from TastyPals notes or restaurant data on this page.

Is Say Hey Cafe & Deli worth visiting?

Say Hey Cafe & Deli holds a 9.6 Google rating from 423 reviews. Say Hey Cafe & Deli is a strong sandwiches option in Vancouver when you want somewhere that already has a solid public track record. Meatball Hoagie and La Bomba also give you a decent sense of the menu. It also holds a 9.6 rating across 423 Google reviews.

Where is Say Hey Cafe & Deli located?

Say Hey Cafe & Deli is located at 156 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T3, Canada. Directions are available via Google Maps.

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