Bean Around the World ($$)
The area's hippest, most intimidating, polite and reserved intellectuals are here in their full glory, studying, chatting, and getting high on caffeine! Observe your dream boys and dream girls in their natural habitat. Plus the coffee rules. And the soup—wow. Seriously. The soup. And the bathrooms. Good bulletin board too.
533 Fisgard Street 386-7115
Serious Coffee ($)
Great coffee and teas, fairly good selection of fairly good quality pastries, free wireless and LAN internet access (see listing on our internet access guide ).
632 Yates St (map) 380-0272
Monday - Wednesday 6:30am-10pm, Thursday & Friday 6:30 - 11pm
Saturday - 8am-11pm
Sunday - 8am-10pm
Mirage Coffee
One of the cooler coffee shops downtown. The decor is extremely colourful and bright, everything about the way they serve you and prepare stuff is classy, the music is great in a latin way, they have really great desserts (including Gelati), and then there's the little things, like they give you fresh water after you're finished with your coffee. It's good.
Two locations: 1122 Blanshard (just down the street) (map) 384-4980 and on the corner of Government Street and Courtney.
Demitasse
Only a block from the hostel is an artsy cafe with excellent coffee and a stunning breakfast menu to boot! They close early in the afternoon, so make sure you stop by for your morning coffee.
1320 Blanshard Street, at Johnson. (map) 386-4442
Moka House
Definitely a local favourite, this place offers great coffee, tea, don't eat their food and pastries, but the patio is one of Victoria's cool little scenes. They're open into the night, too.
Located in Cook St. Village, Chinatown and on the docks at Fisherman's Wharf!
Café Fantastico
This place not only has rad coffee, they've also got a couple little restaurants, including a great sushi place, built right in! This place has a great cozy, artsy, hip and colourful vibe.
Located in Cook St. Village on McKenzie Street
Paradiso di Stelle ($$)
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 920-7266
Monday - Friday 7am-7pm
Saturday - 8am-7pm
Sunday - 9:30am-7pm
Solstice Cafe
“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 Ave. 475- 0477
Cascadia Bakery ($$)
This cool little cafe on Government St is famous for its excellent baked goods and good coffee.
1812 Government St 380-6606
Willies Bakery
They serve a huge breakfast, freshly made with lots of vegetables and a squeezed orange juice on the side. There’s a big terrace outside where you can sit and chill. Oh! And try the ice cream!
537 Johnson St (across from Market Square) 381-8414
QV's Cafe/Restaurant ($$)
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. So the score used to be that their prepared food was awful and their sandwiches were great, but some kind of inversion has occurred, and now their sandwiches are lame and the rest of their food is rad. I don't know when this happened.
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. They're open pretty much 24 hours, though sometimes they shut down between 4am and 6am.
1701 Government 384-8831
Drip Café ($)
Funky café by day, drag dinner theatre or live DJs by night
On Sundays, wear your pajamas and receive 50% off your breakfast
1483 Douglas Street (map) 385-0080
Mocambo Cafe ($)
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/philosophical discussions/great coffee/great people watching kinda place. The people are great and the muffins are greater. Poetry open mic every friday 7:30pm.
1028 Blanshard Street (map) 384-4468
Blackfish Cafe
If you are near the harbour, this floating restaurant offers light fare as well as coffee, ideal for watching the whaleboats and the wet tourists or just watching the float planes take off and land all day.
950 Wharf Street (map) 385-9996
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) 385-1012
Monday - Saturday 7:30am-5:30pm
