In ngOnInit, my component obtains a list of users like so: this.userService.getUsers().subscribe(users => { this.users = users; }); And the implementation of userService.getUsers() looks like this: getUsers() : Observable<UserModel[]> { return this.http.get('http://localhost:3000/api/user') .map((res: Response) => <UserModel[]>res.json().result) .catch((error: any) => Observable.throw(error.json()