Caffe Vincente

 Greetings once again!  I'm going on quite the spree of updates these days, aren't I?   For the next two entries, I'm going to tell you a bit about breakfast in Tofino, BC.  Eliza and I decided to take a short holiday on Vancouver Island, soak in some hot springs and just plain relax.  Now, you have to remember that Tofino is a tiny town on the coast of The Island.  By tiny, I mean that it's literally one main strip with a couple of four-way stops.  There are a tonne of tourists though, so there is a fair bit around, in terms of business.  You know what this means.... yep, there's breakfast joints!  The first of two is Caffe Vincente.  Located along the main drag, on the left-hand side as you enter the town (441 Campbell St), this place came off more as a coffee shop than a restaurant.  But, it looked like it had some good eats, so Eliza and I went for it.

As I said, Caffe Vincente appears to be a small-ish coffee shop from the outside.  As you step inside, you'll find that, yes, it is a coffee shop of sorts, but that there's also a bustling kitchen immediately behind the counter.  You grab (or are given) a menu as you stand in line, then order from the counter before sitting down.  There's a small dining room to the right, or seating outside, the latter of which we chose.  Who wants to sit indoors when the sun is shining anyway?  Oh, did I mention that Eliza went with a light, salad-driven option with a couple of eggs, while I went all traditional (eggs, toast, ham)?  Now I did!  The price was right on both too, aka, under $10, along with some coffee.  

We were warned that there would be a bit of a wait for our food, since it was quite busy this morning.  This wasn't a concern to either of us really, being on holiday and all.  After about 10 minutes, Eliza's plate of food arrived...

We both figured that mine would be on its way shortly, since it had the ham and toast, so Eliza elected to wait for my food to arrive.  The clock ticked by... minute by minute.  We began to notice people that had arrived after us receiving their food (some being the same meal that I ordered) already.  After about another 10 minutes I decided to see what was going on with my food.  Eliza's food wasn't really getting cold per se, since the sun was blazing, but it was still just sitting there.  I went up to the counter and asked about my plate.

"What was the order?"

"Just a traditional breakfast."
"Oh, it's coming up next."

"No worries, I was just confused since my girlfriend's food has been at our table for 10 minutes, so I thought you might have forgotten me."

"Oh, did you two order separately?"

"We sure did."

"Oh, that's the problem then.  So sorry!"

"No worries.  Thanks."

So yeah, word of caution, be sure to order food with your party or face the prospect of being leapfrogged by other people.  I went back out to our table and told Eliza what the score was.  About a minute after, one of the ladies came out with a plate of ham.  She apologized for the mix up and said that the extra ham was on the house.  Only a few more minutes went by until the brought my plate, with an additional bowl of fruit as an extra apology.

The food was quite delicious.  The ham was just sliced from a roll, which was a little disappointing, but it was still good nonetheless.  My eggs were cooked just right and the toast was full of grains.  The fruit was also flavourful.  Eliza was also pleased with her food.  I don't remember her complaining, at least.  So, I'd have to give this place 3.5 Bacons overall.  The mix-up with my food missing was inconvenient, but at least there was some sort of excuse behind it.  Plus, the fact that they were willing to provide me with several dollars-worth of compensation for it helped out.  The service was lovely (we ended up getting into a conversation with the one cook, as her dog was tied up outside by us) and the price was right, so really, how could I complain much more?

Stay sharp, kids

Jesse