Greenroom Diner

To cap off our trip to Tofino, Eliza and I picked a little diner that had recently opened up.  We had seen the menu and an ad for it at the camp site that we stayed at for the last two days, so we figured that it could be a fun time!  Let me introduce you to the Greenroom Diner.  Located on the right-hand side of the road as you're entering town, tucked away a bit along the water (approximately 634 Campbell Street), it doesn't just jump out of you.  But, maybe that was part of the draw for us.

The view was quite nice, and the interior was plain and clean.  One of the two very pleasant servers seated us at a booth and gave us menus, while getting us each a coffee ($2.25 w/ refills).  Apparently it was the first day of their new menu, so score for us!  It was a collection of the usual breakfast suspects, along with a couple of specialties.

After mulling over our options, we came to our decisions.  Eliza decided upon a "Benny Gone Green", since she's one for the ol' veggie options.  Meanwhile, I had a serious desire for some pancakes, probably due to low blood-sugar or something.  The server asked whether I wanted my bacon crispy, to which I replied, "No please, I like mine a bit soft."  She laughed because she had just had a conversation with the cook about how everyone orders their bacon crispy.  I'm just going against the grain, apparently.  Anyway, we placed out orders and conversed about whatever happened to be on our minds that day.  We were brought regular coffee refills and the server stopped a couple of times for a bit of conversation.  It's always a nice touch when servers are genuinely interested in talking, as opposed to just rehashing the same crap about the weather, etc.  Regardless, it wasn't long until our food arrived...

Pancakes, topped with fruit and lemon cream-cheese, with bacon ($12)

Benny Gone Green (can't remember exact toppings), with fruit ($13)

The bacon was soft, just like I asked!  The pancakes were also and awesome mash of flavours, and were done just right.  On the other side of the table, Eliza voiced her pleasure with her benny.  (She gets the sauce on the side, thus the lack of it in the picture.)  The eggs were cooked well and looked quite fluffy to me.  The plates did lack a bit in the presentation department, what with the amount of empty space on them.  At the same time, the quality of the food outweighed the quantity, so it'd be silly to complain too much.  Overall, the Greenroom gets a whole 4 Bacons from me!  It's got good vegetarian options, and the food in general is good.  The service is also awesome, as is the coffee!

Stay sharp, kids

Jesse

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