Grindstone Cafe — Restaurant in Victoria

I have been a devoted patron of the Grindstone Cafe for over 15 years (so have seen at least 3 owners). I still love the Thai Noodle Salad, which is why I keep coming back. BUT during the pandemic, they are NOT following Covid precautions & orders. Many of the tables are too close together, they are not disinfecting tables between users & they are not checking for vaccine passports for people eating in. The lower/main level is super tight, where in addition to the tables being too close together, it is impossible for people coming in & ordering at the counter (& waiting) to socially distance with patrons eating at tables nearby, nevermind with each other. I found the upstairs super-crowded with no attempt to socially distance tables, & had poor ventilation. When I sat down at an empty table, it was clear that it had not been cleaned in a long while. I used disinfecting wipes I had in my purse & some coffee/food stains did not come out easily, indicating they had been there a while & there were an accumulation of various types of crumbs in a seam of the plastic table cloth & under the placemats. I have told the owners on at least 2 occasions in the past that they need to clean the tables between patrons, & have "needs cleaning" & "clean" signs on tables, but nothing has changed. I want to support local family businesses but they really need to be more mindful to keep everyone safe -- to protect themselves & others. Grindstone owners: PLEASE step up your Covid practices since I would love to continue to support your business. You need to do the right thing.

Response to owner's reply to my post above (since the system won't allow me to reply to the reply):

I discovered after my comment that you don't require vaccine passports checking because you don't provide "table service". My apologies for that feedback. However, you do bring items to the tables, which is in a sense table service (unlike Tim Hortons, where patrons take all food & drink directly off the counter). But I suppose the PHO supports what you are doing. However, I can say with certainty that you have not spaced out tables like you say. The table I was sitting at was fine yes, but the tables along that wall have always been situated that way, even before your ownership. And the tables near the entrance & counter have not been decreased or spaced. They are still super close together & it gets way too crowded when people are standing in line. As for the cleaning tables, you may clean tables like you say, but you definitely do not clean frequently, since I have never seen a table cleaned in all the times I have been there. And you only offered to clean my table AFTER I told you it was dirty. But I was willing to clean it since I I had wipes with me & wanted to be helpful/save you the time. As I mentioned above, it was obvious the table had not been cleaned thoroughly in quite some time. Best would be if you asked patrons to leave their dishes on the tables so you can retrieve & clean tables. NOT like the signs upstairs that say to bring all items down themselves. At Tim Hortons, I've seen laminated signs that indicate clean or needing to be cleaned. If you go to Mayfair Mall you will see how diligent they are in cleaning between patrons. And being busy is not an excuse for not doing proper cleaning. And this is not just to protect your customers. It is to also protect you &...

I don’t want to lower the rating because the service is always really good and overall I like the atmosphere and the food is usually pretty good. But I just have a couple suggestions.

The iced coffee and lattes are more expensive than Starbucks ( obviously being a small locally owned cafe), but they’re not made well at all, the ice is always melted and the drink is watery with no flavour. The sugar free vanilla is also something I don’t really like. You don’t find out it’s sugar free until you drink it. I would really like to have a better quality syrup in my drink. I’m sure the espresso itself is good quality but it gets ruined when the ingredients added aren’t good as well.

Also, I’m not sure where your donuts and some baked goods are from but the donut I had specifically was very doughy and it tasted like it either wasn’t cooked enough or the filling had been in there for so long that it was soaking into the dough. It tasted very similar to the donuts from Walmart which isn’t what you expect when they are around 4 dollars.

I really like this cafe but I just wish that there would be more focus on the quality of the food and beverages that are being served especially when other local competitors currently offer similar better...

Wanted to eat at the Pacific Union Cafe which is fabulous thou was closed on Sunday so headed across the street as not waiting in the insanely long queue at Jam for that nonsense when it comes to hunger… At Grindstone ordered “spicy tuna melt” 16$ on a dollar burger bun with a tablespoon on bland canned tuna which was a huge disappointment ! Suggest making an effort to some substance into what serving especially when doubt the food cost more than third of what charging. Skip the chips & garnish and actually load the cheap bun with some spicy tuna ! Save cost on giving customers a plastic container of whatever that dressing was, a sprinkle of salad & chips and plastic fork … if going to serve them use quality or don’t at all nor waste the plastic… your the only spot open on Sunday so take advantage of that… there’s multiple places to get a sandwich and the grocery store serve better for 7$ so if your going to keep the bills paid suggest excuse the blunt review which makes me feel like a whinner yet really do better or you want stay open eh. Wouldn’t recommend people spending money here...