Hank's Bakery and Coffee — Restaurant in Area D (Cowichan Bay)

Went here on their opening day, or what they called a soft opening. As with everything, you only have one opportunity to make a good first impression. And seeing that a soft opening is to gauge the response of customers and to make changes if necessary, I will cut them some slack here and will probably return to see if anything has changed in the next little while.

The place is nice. Really nice! They have spared no expense in their brand and everything looks top shelf. Including the prices. I understand they didn't have a full selection on the day we were there but what I first noticed was $3 cookies. Yes, $3 for one cookie. That kind of set the stage for everything else. Ended up getting just two drip coffees which were over $7 total, and then discovered that they were out of cream, despite there being an excessive amount of employees working that day.

First day opening pains I understand, but the only thing that will keep me away from this place are their very high prices. Perhaps this will change in the days and weeks ahead when they realize that drip coffee is simply not worth $3.50 these days, especially when you don't have a drive-thru and you're on the wrong side of the highway.. Maybe to them, but not to most other people. And I'll never, ever, pay $3 for a single cookie. That's just never going to happen and unfortunately that leaves me with the impression that these people are completely out of touch with what is reasonable as far as prices go. I'm all for any business making money, because really, that's the only reason they're in business. But if you're charging $3.50 for a drip coffee and $3 for a cookie, you might get someone in there once, maybe even twice, but that'll be about it.

But I'll wait a while, and give them one more chance to make a good second impression. If nothing has changed, especially in the prices, I wish them the best but I'll never be back. I'm happy to update my review with a higher rating if things do change, but if not, it's not a place that I will regularly patronize.

I'm also hoping very much that the owners financed this by winning the lottery or something. If they remortgaged their homes and put everything on the line for this, the being out of touch with $3 cookies is going to be the least of their problems. We're experiencing hyperinflation right now, increasing interest rates that we haven't seen this high in over 3 decades, and likely headed towards a recession fairly quickly. All of this spells potential financial disaster and I'm even surprised at the timing of this new business given all of the above. When things get tough financially for regular people, going out to a fancy place like this with over inflated prices is the first thing that gets cut. Make no mistake about it, they've soaked a ton of money into this place. It really is nice and they have spared no expense, and their Indeed ads looking for staff have indicated a better than normal wage in the $25/hour range for their employees, so I'm not sure I'm confident that they will be able to stay afloat for long. It would be a sad thing to see this last for about a year and then go belly up, with two families left in financial ruin, but this is a real possibility if the owners have not been keeping up on what's actually going on in the world and our country right now. I wish them the best. And let's hope that they're still around this...

All right, this may sound a little strange, but I had quite the odd experience today at Hanks 😆 my heart always gives 5 but there was an interesting interaction today.

I’ve been here multiple times since moving from Toronto and absolutely adore the staff, the delicious food, the aesthetic, and of course the epic community vibe.

Today, though, I was drawn to their deconstructed looking Earl Grey cake in the fridge—it looked amazeballs. I cheekily opened it while still in line (naughty, I know!) and took one bite. Immediately I tasted cumin—or some spice like it. My friends noticed my face and tried it too, and both agreed: not Earl Grey…kinda cumin 😂

We realized it was actually the blueberry ganache that had that savoury note. I figured it must’ve been a mix-up and kindly let the staff know at checkout, the same way I would’ve wanted someone to tell me back when I ran a café in Toronto.

I also ordered the chicken sandwich (with blueberry chutney) and a carrot cake to reset my tastebuds. But lo and behold—when I bit into the sandwich, the chutney tasted exactly like what was in the cake! It suited the savoury Sammy for SURE - but not a cake! Once a realized, I went back and told them, and the woman at the counter—who happened to be the one who made both the jam and chutney—seemed upset. She insisted they were totally different, though she also said she wasn’t disagreeing (while clearly disagreeing). I asked if she had tasted it herself, but she didn’t respond.

To top it off, she later brought samples of the jam that was “supposed” to be in the cake and the chutney for the sandwich. I tried them side by side—my friends did too—and we all agreed: there was definitely some unexpected spice in the jam, and it was the same spice in the chutney! Something must have been accidentally mixed up - news flash: shit happens!

Honestly, I didn’t care at all, wasn’t upset, and wasn’t looking for an argument. I just thought it was important to give feedback so no one else had a confusing experience. But it was definitely a first for me: getting gaslit over flavour 😂 Never thought I’d say that!

All in all, I’ll absolutely be back—the food and vibe are still fantastic. But maybe a little extra support in how to receive feedback could go a long way...

After ages of not having a good place to eat in the industrial district, someone finally steps up.

Quality 5/5: I'm very impressed by how everything is made same day and is a step above what you'd get from prepackaged goods or Tim's. The coffee is great as well. I am a fan of the baked goods; very fresh if you come in early enough. I will pay $5 for a croissant if it was baked an hour ago.

Speed 4/5: Good enough but there is room for improvement. They could be a bit better organized it terms of having the people up front dedicated to set tasks like receiving orders or till rather than having them roaming from section to section overlapping each other. It's less efficient doing it that way and you end up working harder as well. You also end up with situations where people get confused as to who is doing what and what's already been done.

Value 3/5: You are essentially paying roughly double what you'd pay at the cheaper breakfast market titans Tim Horton's or McDonald, but the tradeoff is you will be getting a much higher quality product. A coffee and something small is about $9. The breakfast sandwiches are $12 which is probably the price ceiling for a breakfast sandwich in this market. It's easy to spend $20 for one person if you are picking things out you like.

Atmosphere 4/5: It's nice inside. The easy parking and convenient location are huge benefits for people working in the industrial zone. The open concept works well here. Modern and bright look. Music...