Revelstoke Café — Restaurant in Peterborough

My experience at this café has shifted in a way I didn’t expect. I moved here from a bigger city and immediately gravitated to this cute little spot because it reminded me of my favourite places back home —great comfort food & drinks, and a calm, creative environment. The owner, his daughter Kaitlyn and another server I use to receive service from were always so warm and inviting, and that energy kept me returning.

But lately, I’ve had two back-to-back experiences that changed that feeling. The first was a food issue that felt unlike their usual standards, but to their credit, the owners acknowledged it and handled it well. The second, however, left me with so much anxiety to take home today.

I frequent this cafe and have never encountered this girl before. Maybe a new staff member — but she was working during my visit today. She had a friend come by to hang out in the kitchen with herself and the chef, and the three of them were speaking and laughing extremely loudly. I could hear full conversations and gossip. It was very overstimulating and distracting to the point that I put earplugs in, but it didn’t help. I’ve been there during rush hour many times before and no one was ever as loud and inconsiderate as she and the chatty friend she had there.

I have sensory sensitivities and ADHD, so when I’m overstimulated, I experience high anxiety and a complete inability to focus on the tasks I came to do.

On top of that experience was the lack of attentiveness. I had to get up twice to ask her for service, while she remained fully engaged with her friend and the chef today. And when I politely asked her if they could tone it down, and speak amongst themselves, her energy shifted immediately—no apology, no understanding, just visible annoyance and dismissal “yep” walking away.

I’m a psychotherapist and there’s a big difference between those who are being “nice” and those who are being kind. She was nice in the surface-level, performative way—but not genuinely respectful or considerate of boundaries as someone who is kind in the heart would be.

Having worked in hospitality myself, especially in hotels, I found it highly unprofessional that a staff member would have a friend in the kitchen during service hours. It’s unfortunate, because I used to feel safe and inspired here—but today, I felt the opposite.

I hope this is received constructively, because this café has so much potential. But experiences like this don’t reflect the values or environment it was...

It was our first time trying a vegan restaurant in the Peterborough area and we were not very impressed with our meals or drinks at all. First off, one of the drinks we ordered to go was not the right order. We did not taste it until leaving the restaurant but it was not at all what was ordered at the restaurant. Already not impressed by the mistaken drink order. Next was our meals which was the Breakfast Tacos and French Toast Special. The tortilla was extremely bland and fell apart before it could even be picked up to be eaten. The contents of the Breakfast Taco were also very bland and you could barely tell what was even in the taco. The lettuce was not fresh and there were no spice or flavour included in the dish what so ever. The meat used in the taco was burnt and taken right from from the grocery store and put on a lacklustre taco dish. Extremely disappointed considering vegan dishes should taste fresh for the fact that veganism is about using fresh produce and ingredients. This dish missed the mark and was boring, bland and just outright disastrous. We also ordered the French Toast Special and although the bread was flavoured and coloured, there was nothing exciting about the dish itself. This dish has a lot of potential to be delicious and could be filled with fresh fruit or sides instead of just pieces of bread on a plate. If I wanted to get a french toast from a restaurant I could've went to any restaurant in Peterborough for a cheaper price and maybe more toppings included in the order. This dish was deemed "vegan" when it only included bread in it. Will be going elsewhere to try...

My wife (vegan) and I tried this place out last night. First and foremost, the food was very tasty and I'm not a vegan!! However, the woman that served us was not so good. There was only one other person in the restaurant besides us at the time. We ordered dinner with just water as a drink - we said we wanted to keep the drink menu to get something a bit later. She delivered our food and returned within 2 minutes to ask how our "first couple bites" were. She never returned. We finished our water while eating, no top up, never came back to ask if we were ready to order our drinks. Our plates were empty (except for a small portion we wanted to take home) as 3 more people showed up and sat across from us. She took their order and still didn't visit our table to remove empty glasses and dishes or check on us. After 15 minutes of waiting, my wife went to see her at the cash register to ask for a take-out container which the waitress handed to her ... and still didn't return. I was anxious to try their desserts but by this point I was fed up and walked out to get the car while my wife paid... because she knew I wasn't going to leave her a tip for doing nothing. Long story short - great food for take-out!! I'd definitely order from there. Service is terrible - I won't eat in the restaurant again. Atmosphere is ok. A bit dark and their food supplies are on the opposite side of the restaurant from the kitchen so you constantly see them going back and forth to get things from visible messy shelves and a fridge behind a curtain. The place has tons of potential though and the cooks...