Nice Cafe

Spinach & Feta Omelette with hash browns and toast


Restaurant: Nice Cafe
Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch/Diner

Last visited: August 30, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC

154 East 8th Ave

Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 2

Service: 2

Ambiance: 1

Overall: 2

Additional comments:

• Focus on breakfast/brunch items - lunch available
  
• Attracts locals/regulars/hipsters
• Whole menu under $10 - really cheap breakfast
• Go back because it's cheap, not because it's good
  
• Line-ups/crowded
• Very casual
• No fuss, simple breakfast
• Fresh hash browns grated in house, homemade jam
• Overcooked pancakes & eggs
• Most of it was overcooked
  
• Chocolate milk is powdered chocolate milk
  

**Recommendation: I guess the hash browns, because they're fresh not frozen. They also do a good job soft poaching eggs (upon request).

I would come back to Nice Cafe because it was cheap, but not really because the food was good. I wasn't expecting gourmet food, but I was expecting a bit more because it's always busy. It's a standard breakfast you would expect to get at any small diner breakfast joint. It's the non-chain version of any other breakfast chain...if that makes sense? It's crowded and busy and you can tell it's frequently visited by locals that live nearby. For a foodie - this place is a no-go, but if you're not picky about your breakfast and just want something cheap and filling then come here. I would rather pay a couple bucks more for something better...breakfast is relatively cheap anyways.

On the table:

• Traditional Sausage & Egg Breakfast 1.5/6
• 2 eggs, 2 sausages, hash browns, 2 slices of toast
• Eggs a bit overcooked for my liking, too rubbery
  
• Sausages - the breakfast sausages you buy in a package from Superstore
• Hash browns - the best part for me, fresh not frozen - shredded in house, and you can tell because sometimes you'll come across a chunk of potato (the chunk is actually the end piece of the potato that is too small to grate)
• Traditional Ham & Egg Breakfast 1.5/6
• 2 eggs, ham, hash browns, 2 slices of toast
• Again eggs are overcooked. You can tell by the picture they're overcooked.
  
• Ham is standard. Hash browns were the best part.
• Pancakes 1/6
  
• 3 pancakes for around $4.95
• They taste better at McDonald's. If you want rubber tires for breakfast you should order these. They were so tough and I had to saw through them with my knife. They're tasteless and really flat. Need to eat it with a lot of syrup and butter. Overcooked and not fluffy at all. Don't order these - so horrible. they should have been free.

  

• Alberni Benny 3/6
  
• Smoked salmon benny served with hash browns.
• For this type of restaurant, this was a good attempt - not that they really tried to make it extra good or anything. It was one of the better things we ordered. The hollandaise sauce is from a powder and it's really runny and watery in texture. What made up for it was the poached eggs. We requested them to be cooked soft and they did a great job in ensuring this. They were quite perfect, the knife sliced into them perfectly - probably the only thing they didn't overcook.
• Spinach & Feta Omelette 1.5/6
  
• The spinach they use isn't even baby spinach...AND they included the stems. You should always use baby spinach and never include the stems when you're using it in an omelette. I felt like I was eating a lot of plain spinach that was blanched in hot water with an egg wrapped around it. More spinach than it is an omelette.
• The Feta was a shredded Feta and it was the only thing giving this omelette flavour - hint of saltiness. They call all their omelettes "fluffy" omelettes, but they aren't as you can tell. You can tell by the picture that they overcooked our omelette, just like they did with our pancakes and scrambled eggs too. Even by overcooking our omelette they still didn't manage to melt the Feta cheese...I could have made a better one at home.