cherries breakfast bistro

this is my favorite breakfast place.  i usually have the benny.  the italian imported coffee theyserviceis the best in victoria, by the way.  go cherry.

family friendly. lots of room.. we have been customers since it opened and i can say that they have finally gotten theirserviceand food quality consistent. ample portions, good flavour, faster service. recommend the mennonite sausage dishes and espresso (umbria).

i ordered the chowder , but was hesitant because it was 13 dollars . i thought for that much money it must be a huge bowl or at least bottomless .. .. much to my demise it wasn't either .. it was probably a half a cup of soup in a very shallow bowl .. a fellow patron also ordered the same soup and he told me as well how dissapointed he was too .. he said for that amount he should have ordered a meal ,at least then he would have been full and the money spent would have been justified. ..ps if you want good food and excellentserviceand reasonable prices go to " the village on west saanich rd only a short drive from cherries ..

excellent breakfasts, the duck sausage & sweet potato hash is especially good. the option of sitting outside is nice. coffee is good but not outstanding. theservicemodel, as others have mentioned, is a bit confusing; i have a bit of trouble deciding upon a tip % until after the meal!
overall a solid breakfast, a true sit-down restaurant experience would have led to a 4 rating.

dissapointed...went here when they first opened and it was good. .however things have changed and not for the better. .i have to agree with previous reviews theservicemodel is unsatisfactory. .you get seated but then are supposed to place your order at the counter. .and pay right away. ..how do i determine the tip without having received any service???..after having placed the order i had to line up at another counter to get our beverages. ..they serve cappuccinos in large mug style cups. .but only fill it 3/4 at the most. .making for a poor presentation. ..part of the routine here is to get the cutlery from a commonservicestation. .i took what i needed and no kidding the whole tray of it was dirty. .not just stained but obviously never saw the dishwasher. .i was suprised that when i told the cashier that she didn't immediately pull that tray. .but she didn't. .really? ??
since i had already paid for our food i didn't just wanted to abandon my 40$ order and opted to use the plastic cutlery they had for take out. .once the food arrived. .yes it was served. .it was fine. .not outstanding but ok. .
for us going out for breakfast is not just about the food but about the whole experience. .and this one just leaves a bad taste in our mouths. .
sorry cherries i know you can do better and wish you did!

food is good butservicemodel is weird and confusing. either make it fullserviceor self service, but not a hybrid where you bring me my food but i get my own napkins and am expected to somehow intuitively know that the coffee i ordered comes up not at the counter where i ordered it but at the other one around the corner. if they would only change that i'd give it a 5. as it is, 3.5.

the front cashier was not friendly and resistant to any additions, not even changes to adding stuff to the order, it was very complicated. theservicemodel makes for a confusing atmosphere for both customers and servers. i witnessed a number of times food being brought to the wrong tables, myself and the person i was with were brought the wrong food, twice. the sever was doing laps around the restaurant trying to figure out who had what. the cook had to come out and apologize for running out of batter. the people were actually really nice, just confused because of the weird service. the food was ok, potatoes were under seasoned and under cooked. the water, which you have to get yourself. tastes like plastic would not recommend if you're not a big meat eater since substitutions were such an issue. overall bad experience. probably won't be coming back.

5 strikes and cherries is out.. i have been to cherries on more than a couple occasions. it is nice to have a breakfast cafe in the area as there isn't much else in the neighbourhood. however, they have not fully impressed me to date. i seem to keep going there expecting changes but leaving disappointed every time.

the service: the counterserviceorder system bothers me a little as you are still paying full brunch/lunch prices and tipping the full gratuity yet not receiving the same standard ofserviceyou would had you just gone across the street to somewhere like the crooked goose. last time i went we waited in line to order for 10 minutes then were given our disgusting and chewed up plastic fruit marker (to signify your order) for the table and had a seat. it then took over sixty minutes to get the food (after my friend complained about the wait twice) we watched other tables getting frustrated with the wait times and sending back food or having one meal brought while everyone else waited. i see from other reviewers that this is a consistent issue there as well. the server didn't apologize for the wait and said only that we should have been told there was a 40 minute wait for food. fair enough, but first, we weren't told and second, i feel that to be an inappropriately long wait time for a so called restaurant. the kitchen seems as if it's not properly equipped to handle the volume of patrons that the restaurant fits.
the food: well. the first time i went, it was good. i got eggs benedict and hashbrowns. we enjoyed the hash with the fresh herbs and veg and the bennies were good. from there it got worse and worse, greasier and smaller. i have ordered the same thing a couple times and the grease from the hash is outrageous. on one occasion my partner ordered the "mennonite sausage on a bun" and it was a sloppy mess. it was a big greasy sausage stuffed in a hamburger bun. picture trying to eat a hot dog in a hamburger bun. how ridiculous would you feel? another occasion we tried the duck sausage which were two small, dry, hard, flavourless patties with a side of greasy sweet potato hash. it's quite a feat to suck all the fat from duck by the way, and thats not really a good thing. another time i ordered the burger which was, you guessed it, overly greasy. it was stuffed with cheese and then cooked in grease and mounded up on a greasy bun with bacon and veg.
so why do i keep going back? like i said, its the only place in the area that has the same type of diner feel. plus i like to give places a fair shot and not just write them off after one visit but honestly its no longer worth it. not worth the time waiting, the money spent, or the grease indigestion later.

while the food was really good it took an hour to get it and of the 3 at our table none of our meals came at the same time. parts of one meal even came out at different times which just seems odd. one of our meals got sent to the wrong table so having somewhere to be we had to take it to go after 70 minutes in total. i have been here a few times before and enjoyed the food but theserviceor lack thereof leaves a lot to be desired. it seems there are always staffing issues which i get but in my opinion that should never affect the customer and overall experience. i'll only return if i have no where to be and am ok with waiting over an hour for food...

best brunch bistro we've eaten in. the four of us all agreed that this was the best brunch bistro any of us have ever been to in victoria. the portions are huge, the prices reasonable, the atmosphere quirky, and the whole experience just the best. cherries breakfast bistro is a bit out-of-the-way, but definitely worth a visit.
i ordered eggs benny with ham but received bacon by mistake. when i mentioned this to our server she offered to go get me a replacement with ham. i declined, she persisted, i again declined and thought that was the end of it. i was only a few bites into my meal when our server returned with a full 'new' eggs benny with ham!! what a surprise! she apologised profusely, smiling the whole time, and said "our customers are important to us and we want to make sure they are always happy with theserviceand their meal". what a refreshing attitude.
we'll definitely return and bring others with us.

they deserve your business.. i was in victoria to pick up a friend from the hospital. cherries is open early, so i thought i'd give it a try. there was a minor hiccup with my breakfast, but the owner's response is the reason for this review. the speed and grace shown to me in this restaurant surpasses any recentserviceexperience in my memory. the owner wants your repeat business, and it shows. judge for yourself, and if you have a problem with your meal, give them a chance to make it right. you will be pleasantly surprised. (my breakfast was tasty and fast btw)

first off i have read a few of the reviews and i must say that bistro means counter topserviceand not table service.
i have been to this wonderful establishment a few times and found everything to be very consistent and very tasty.
owner and staff are all very friendly and go out of their way to help you.
i give this place 2 thumbs up
and the best coffee i had
i highly recommend this little piece of heaven

fanatastic meal. my friends and i ate there last week and enjoyed the meal,serviceand
atmosphere very much. they where very busy but the food was well
worth waiting for and such large portions. everyone we saw took home
a meal for the next day. the prices where in comparison with denny`s
and everything is made from scratch. will be going there again soon...
terry

underwhelmed byserviceand execution. i've rated here several times andserviceand food is is seldom consistent. one thing that is consistent is their inability to toast english muffins so they change colour ie are in fact toasted! i sent mine bank and waited over 10 mins for its return in pretty much same state, slathered with butter and cold. eggs were perfect. way too much "seasoning" on hashbrowns.
not a fan offservicemodel.

terrible. we had visited cherries once before and after getting the gist of theservicemodel and experiencing a good breakfast we thought we'd go again.

i ordered the big boss brekky and my partner ordered the special xmas benny. i'll start with the 'boss', worst breakfast i've had in victoria. the toast was rock hard and obviously cold, how the cooks didn't see that is beyond me, it was so cold the butter didn't melt and so hard my mouth vibrated when i bit into it. the order was pieced together with different things arriving at different times, sausage was lukewarm and had no taste to it at all. one egg arriving, then another arriving 5 minutes later, no explanation from theservicestaff at all. i left 80% of the food uneaten on the plate, for what we paid, and compared to our first visit it was horrible.

my partner had the xmas benny, eggs totally under-poached, one english muffin toasted, the other sort of toasted. we both had americano's, my partner approached the counter person for a bit of a warm up for the coffee and was informed that "we don't do that here", she actually argued with my partner, we were blown away. we spent $35 for breakfast, had to ask for a cloth to clean the table, and then we have to argue with the counter person fior a coffee warm-up?

i understand thisservicemodel, but essentially what cherries is doing is passing the buck to their customers when things don't go right. i read a reply from the owner which stated they operate under a different model ofservicewhich is fine if the food is good, but unfortunately this time it was horrible, and the limited interaction with the staff provided absolutely no comfort or resolution to any of these issues. a heartily sarcastic "bon appetite"! oh, and the person working the counter - your in the customerservicebusiness, look it up if you don't know what that means.