OEB Breakfast Co. — Restaurant in Victoria

OEB got their start in Calgary, where we moved from before here in Victoria in 2019. We loved OEB in Calgary, so we were super excited about trying out this familiar place in our new familiar surroundings.

We arrived about 11am on an overcast Saturday, struggling to spit rain but the clouds held back their damp.

Upon arrival, a welcoming gentleman took our name and added us to the wait list.

#32 in line. 60 minutes. That's right. Six zero, not one six. Sure, fine. Let's go for it!

So, we watched our spot slowly 🐌 rise up. We thought 20 minutes and then we would see how it was going, then decide to stick it out or abort mission. #30. 29. 27. 25. It was going at one table every 90 seconds. It was worth waiting.

Finally...at about slot #17, we saw the guy again, he asked our name, checked his list... and like the clouds ⛅️ openned up before us and he jumped us to the top of the list...and we got seated 💺 right then. 25 minute wait.

The young lady who took us to our table was so kind, chatty and a really great hostess. You can tell the staff really enjoyed being there. It was a very welcoming and postive experience. I wish I remembered their names, they both deserve a call out.

We got seated, and l will jump ahead here but suffice it to say... our waitress was just as awesome, made our stay so enjoyable, and was warm and attentive. Another girl who was bussing tables and seemed more like a floater, also stopped by to chat. Each of our staff interactions were so amazing. Like seriously an amazing team over at OEB. I hope it never changes.

I ordered the "hand pinched" perogies and duck.

Probably called that because it rhymes with yuk.

This was one of the worst dishes I have had in a long time. I was genuinely disappointed and if this food experience was my first ever at an OEB, no chance I would return. But the memory of OEB and the one bite of my wife's food gives me hope it was the dish, not the place.

The perogies are so puny. I took a photo next to a regular sized sugar packet to give a sense of scale. They aren't much bigger than a twoney. Because of their small size, they dried out big time and were inedible. They were absolutely terrible. They were clearly machine pinched, not hand pinched. I think that is misleading. The size seemed like they were made with a ravioli cutter, which is way too small for perogies. One kindof expects that pilowey softness inside. Instead they tasted more like overcooked gnocci.

I don't know what it is about the "local" pork and beef. Some of it has a very odd taste. Sorry to be gross, but it tastes spoiled to me. Lots of places source it, and I just cannot stand that odd taste. OEB uses that pork in their bacon.

The duck didn't taste like duck to me. It was grey, like a pork. To be honest, it tasted more like pork to be honest. Didn't look like duck to me.

Then, around the rim of the plate there was a vinaigrette drizzle. Weird. With the egg yoke, gnocci...oops, I mean perogies, it basically just tasted sour and tangy like when something has gone bad. It also tasted like when sour cream is farm fresh (not like your store kind), and it has a kindof tingly sensation... so... if that was the effect by design, kudos to the chef. However, I suspect it was not by design and it was just weird.

My suggestion is to drop this from the menu. It's either so badly prepared this one time the kitchen can't nail it, or it's just a bad recipe. It's just one man's opinion.

I gave OEB a 3 out of 5. 1 for food. 5 for service.

Would I go back... 1000% I would order something,...

WE ARE WHAT WE EAT !!!

More than a review, I want to give you some advice. This is the first time my son and I have been to places like this. We don't usually go out to eat, much less eat fast food, because I believe that the food we prepare at home is always better and healthier. At least, I always play with my imagination, mixing seasonings and fresh, organic, and healthy ingredients, where my son can discover new flavors in each dish, making the food fun for the palate and an awakening for the senses. When we go out, I choose places as similar as possible or even better than what we usually eat at home, including a background atmosphere that is as relaxing as possible. We travel and visit restaurants in various parts of the world, and believe me, this has been the worst experience of our lives. An environment that only created anxiety, people constantly passing by us and kicking our chairs, including the waitresses, people talking at such a loud volume that it only generated more stress. We returned home with terrible stomach poisoning because our bodies rejected this type of thing, since we had never consumed anything like that before. Our bodies were more than wise and spoke to us, making us understand that they weren't capable of processing everything we had ingested there. I don't understand how parents can give their children this, which I don't know what to call it... this isn't food, this is a bunch of artificial things put on a plate, the bread wasn't bread: it was a horrible rubber that I don't know how to describe it, the egg I ordered was half-cooked: it was hard and didn't taste like egg, the potatoes... you closed your eyes and it was like eating some kind of potato-shaped paste and it was raw, the specialty coffee was some horrible thing that only tasted burnt, my son's milk chocolate was something thick and flavorless that according to the waitress this is something that comes pre-made and she didn't even know what was in it, obviously I didn't allow my son to ingest that strange thing. That's without going into details and talking about the staff, who are completely incapacitated, as I had to get up from the table to remind the waitress that my son and I had been waiting for a glass of water for 15 minutes, that the wrong dish was brought to me and that it contained spicy food... something I'm allergic to and that could have caused me serious health problems. But, obviously, when I asked the waitress about the name of the menu, she didn't know what to answer me, she didn't even know what ingredients it contained, because she clearly couldn't recognize the name of the dish. Of course, it has become clear to me that this is a place I will never take my son again, as this type of diet is not what I want for him. I want him healthy, wholesome, discovering new flavors every day behind each creation of Mom's hands and love, awakening his senses and discovering the mystery of Mom hidden in each menu. Believe me... this way, eating will be fun for your son, and he'll ask you to surprise him with something...

The hostess: She was lovely! Asked about our day, if we had ever been to OEB, Talked about the weather etc.

The waitress: Super rude! Her tone was absolutely uncalled for when I asked for my eggs to be redone. I don’t generally complain about food, but EOB usually has the best poached eggs. Their medium eggs were slimey (even the whites) and definitely not how I’ve had them done many times before at other locations. She was confrontational and rude with her delivery of explaining that they have soft, soft medium, medium, medium hard and hard eggs and that it’s my fault I chose the wrong one. I think maybe they have the eggs timed for sauce going on top, so if you have no sauce going on top you get slimey, undercooked, “medium” eggs.

Manager: Absolutely lovely and they did provide 2 $10 gift cards to use at a later date. Which I honestly won’t use because I don’t plan to return for breakfast until they sort a lot of their kinks out and reach the standard of the other OEB restaurants.

The food: The bowls are always good, minus the one off, undercooked eggs. The waffle was definitely over cooked. The French toast was way over spiced. Lattes and coffee are always good.

The environment: I’ve always loved the look of OEB. Including the giant waffle you can sit in, in Calgarys OG Location. This location looks a bit rushed (some of the seams don’t line up on the wallpaper, some trim forgot to be squared off on the striped patterns on the walls, but overall still super cute. The bathrooms were clean and even the soap smells nice!

Overall I’d give it a 3/5. I’d say it had potential to be great, based on other experiences at OEB, but this location just isn’t there yet.

Would not...