Ocean Island Café & Lounge
Mingle with travelers, students and locals in our lively cafe lounge! We are fully licensed, serve fair trade organic coffee and a variety of Indian and Thai-syle curries, paninis, burgers and fresh salads. No cover, free wireless and we have some of the best prices in town!
791 Pandora Avenue (corner of Blanshard & Pandora). (map) 250-385-1788
2% Jazz Coffee
Consistently touted as the best coffee in Victoria, though not
much of hang out it is definitely worth the walk!
2621 Douglas St. (map) 250-384-5282
Bean Around the World
The area's hippest, most intimidating, polite and reserved intellectuals are here in their full glory, studying, chatting, and getting high on caffeine! Observe your dream boys and dream girls in their natural habitat. Plus the coffee rules. And the soup—wow. Seriously. The soup. And the bathrooms. Good bulletin board too.
533 Fisgard Street (map) 250-386-7115
Café Fantastico
Top notch coffee in Quadra St. Village. Laid back and rustic.
965 Kings Road. (map) 250-385-2326
Cascadia Bakery
This cool little cafe on Government St is famous for its excellent baked goods and good coffee. It’s also affiliated with Rebar.. yum!
1812 Government Street. 250-380-6606
Cornerstone Cafe
In the heart of Fernwood this a blissful place to wile away your morning in; sipping your coffee and doing the crossword
1301 Gladstone Ave. 250-381-1884
Dutch Bakery & Coffee Shop
The food: authentic. The prices: reasonable. The atmosphere: kinda stuffy. The sweets: out-of-this-world! I got every payday for a bag of chocolates and a bag of double zouts. No kidding. - Heather
718 Fort Street. (map) 250-385-1012
Discovery Coffee
Beautiful decor and simply amazing coffee! Perhaps the best americano
in the city. Perfect for a rainy afternoon with the paper.
664 Discovery St (map) 250-447-2323 1517
Fort Street Cafe
This great little hidden gem has fabulous soups and sandwiches. They also have live music and seems to be a favourite of many Ocean Island staffers. Check it out!
742 Fort Street. (map) 250-382-3130
Habit Coffee and Culture
The newest, trendiest coffee shop in town has a record player and serves delicious Bowden pressed coffee.
552 Pandora Avenue. (map) 250-294-1127
Mirage Coffee
One of the cooler coffee shops downtown. The decor is extremely colourful and bright, everything about the way they serve you and prepare stuff is classy, the music is great in a latin way, they have really great desserts (including Gelati), and then there's the little things, like they give you fresh water after you're finished with your coffee. It's good.
Two locations: 1122 Blanshard (just down the street) (map) 250-384-4980 and on the corner of Government Street and Courtney.
Mocambo Cafe 
This cozy little café is just a few steps further down Blanshard than the nearest Starbucks so keep on truckin’ to support a local poetry reading/philosophicaldiscussions/great coffee/great people watching kinda place. The people are great and the muffins are greater.
1028 Blanshard Street (map) 250-384-4468
mocambopo.blogspot.com (info about Mocambo's friday night poetry open mic)
Moka House
Definitely a local favourite, this place offers great coffee, tea, don't eat their food and pastries, but the patio is one of Victoria's cool little scenes. They're open into the night, too.
Located in Cook St. Village (345 Cook St. 250-388-7377), Chinatown (540 Fisgard St. 250-381-4933) and on the docks at Fisherman's Wharf (#110-19 Dallas Rd. 250-386-1313)!
Paradiso di Stelle
This place is run by some serious-about-coffee guys and is probably one of the top three places for good espresso. The patio is right in the excitement of Bastion Square market and has a view of the ocean. They have a selection of fresh flavoured gelati that tastes even better than it looks. They give free samples so make sure to try the hazelnut and the lime and the mocha and the vanilla and the chocolate and the…
10 Bastion Square. (map) 250-920-7266
QV's Cafe/Restaurant
If you hang around in Victoria for more than a couple months, this is one of the places you'll end up running into people. QV's has nice tea and coffee, as well as an impressive selection of vegetarian food. For the most part though, their food and sweets aren't the best but their sandwiches made on the spot, cookies, and drinks rule.
This is a great place to hang out and watch the wanderings of those heading to Chinatown for their cheap produce; you can wile away the hours here reading Monday Magazine, or play chess and listen to the jukebox. Open late at night, this is a place to go on the weekends to chill after clubbing and booz'n all night.
1701 Government Street. (map) 250-384-8831
Roger's Chocolates Soda Shoppe
Enjoy malts, ice cream and soda’s on the corner of Humboldt and Government Street.. with a coffee too, of course.
801 Government Street. (map) 1-800-663-2220
Serious Coffee
A thriving local coffee chain. I like to call it Vancouver Island's Starbucks. Great coffee and teas, fairly good selection of fairly good quality pastries, free wireless and LAN internet access (see listing on our internet access guide ).1301 Gladstone Ave/ 250-381-1884
Solstice Cafe
From their site: “Solstice Cafe is meant to be a place where everyone can come and enjoy a fine coffee and relax. The cafe is also being used to showcase local musical talent, improv theatre, poetry readings and as a space for philosophy cafe. The walls of the cafe are used as a gallery to display the works of local photographers both amateur and professional.”
“Crazy owner, awesome vibe, exposed brick walls, showcases local talent, serves local goodies, best freakin' hot chocolate in these here parts!” - CC of Kingston, ON
“CC was right, the hot chocolate is the best, and it's right next to Market Square, you have to check it out!” -Pema.
529 Pandora Avenue. (map) 250-475- 0477
Wildfire Bakery
The family that owns this small bakery uses old-school baking methods with high quality, local ingredients. They serve all sorts of organic leaven breads baked in a wood fired oven and fresh all-organic pastry
Quadra Street (map) 250-381-3473 email: wildfirebreads@shaw.ca
www.wildfirebakery.ca
