Grays Café — Restaurant in Sidney

This place is fantastic. I’m serious. It’s a gem of a café that everybody should check out, whether you’re in need of a quick bite to eat, a great cup of coffee or tea, a hearty breakfast, or a lunch to go.

I was a tourist. I stopped in before my big day of doing touristy-things and I was delighted to see that they had all sorts if baked goods to choose from for breakfast (or to stash in your purse for on the go… lol) so I of course had to have a gluten-free (and dairy-free!) Nanaimo Bar. It was SPLENDID. I haven’t had one in ages. I also had some gluten-free ginger snaps and I feel like anything I could ever bake could never hold a candle to those. For my main breakfast I had a nice, big bowl of GF oatmeal with all sorts of toppings. It was so filling I couldn’t finish it and I had to have my husband tap in. And then there’s the tea. I had a dairy-free London fog and it was superb.

I was to be going somewhere during the day that wouldn’t have any gluten-free options for dining, so I asked if I could get one of the sandwiches to go. The answer was, of course, yes. I got a ham sandwich (it was a wrap on the menu, but to make it GF they turned it into a sandwich with GF bread) and they wrapped it up nice so I could put it in my purse. It kept well and tasted great when it was time to eat it, and the bread didn’t get soggy and the sandwich didn’t fall apart while I ate it. I was VERY impressed.

I like this little place. If I ever come back this way, I’m definitely going to go out of my way for Gray’s Café again. And...

Went today with my spouse. The food and coffee were fine, nothing special. The cashier, however, as memory serves, was going on and on very loudly about her opinions regarding female reproductive health in aging women. Personally I think that is a fine thing to talk about, but I found listening to a total stranger hold forth at great length on this subject while I and my spouse were a captive audience waiting for service extremely distasteful, enough so that we will avoid this establishment...

I often work at the lab down the street from this place, so initially convenience was my motivating factor, but Can I just say so AMAZING!! I have literally never been disappointed! I just inhaled a salad from Grays and their in-house made dressings took it to Another Level! Their wraps, sandwiches, desserts, smoothies….I mean literally everything there tastes great!! Customer service is on point too! Super sweet staff!