Shine Cafe — Restaurant in Victoria

Always enjoy their breakfasts (haven't eaten any lunch items). The Canadian Benny and the Beckett's Benny are standouts for me. Love their Scottish Potato Scone as an alternative to hashbrowns as well. I also enjoy the Polish Benny with garlic hollandaise and sour cream as something different, but they should make or source something other than what tastes to be machine-made store-bought perogies. It would make it epic. There are a couple perogy trucks around town who I bet would love to source you. 4 stars on the food though.

The service needs a tiny bit of polish though. They do a good initial job of taking the order and follow-up to see how it tastes. But other than that, they can be scarce. In the half-dozen plus times I've eaten there, my coffee cup has almost always run dry. I'm by no means gulping it down, and in fact usually pace myself knowing the likely scenario here. Nor do I have issue about it when they are slammed either; I've worked the service industry and am patient when a place is busy. But more than often there are a couple of them just standing and talking behind the bar. This is in contrast to other places I go, where I barely get through 1/2 cup before someone is offering a warm up. It's not a huge issue, and doesn't stop me from going, but is a consistent one. I'd take a 1/2 star off the total if Google allowed 1/2 stars.

All in all a good breakfast spot with...

My daughter and I went to Shine Cafe for breakfast after someone recommended it. They were close to where we had an early morning appointment so thought we would give them a try. It was an underwhelming little place but we hoped the food (which was what we were there for) would make up for the lack of atmosphere. WRONG! The food was even more underwhelming! It was barely OK, not good and certainly not great. I ordered the breakfast sandwich and my daughter ordered an omelet. My sandwich looked like they used white wonder bread (it was supposed to be sourdough), the cheese looked like a Kraft single and the mayo was oozing out as though it should have been the star attraction. The omelet looked, and tasted, like eggs from a carton (if you've had them, you know what I mean). Add to this burnt toast, cold potatoes smothered in rosemary and bitter americanos, voila, a blah breakfast. Now the best (worst) part is these unremarkable meals came in at just under $30 each! Yes, for underwhelming food and atmosphere, you too can be...

The Shine Cafe is one of (to my knowledge) only three places in town who can make exquisite bennies almost every time. The hollandaise is rich and creamy, complementing perfectly poached eggs and everything beneath.

And I do mean perfectly poached: for a perfect medium, the whites fully cooked, while the yolk remains soft and barely set. But monster that I am, I like a slightly runnier yolk so I ask for medium-soft and somehow, with science indiscernible from magic, perfection gets delivered to the table.

The environment is cozy and the staff are brilliant and accommodating. The monthly special (in July 2024) is Bryan’s Bahn Mi Benny, a delightful variation featuring sliced baguette, slow-cooked pork, and pickled vegetables topped with sriracha hollandaise and fresh cilantro. I know some folks for whom it is forbidden to eat pork, so I called to ask about that and they said yeah; chicken is a fine substitution.

Oh. A final observation of science and magic. Somehow when you get takeout, the poach...