BreakfastKing’s Cafe

!King's Cafe has closed and been replaced with Red Wagon Cafe.

King's Cafe

King’s Cafe on East Hastings is part of a dying breed of mom & pop diners — restaurants that almost always have a characteristic charm that makes them special. Whether it’s the home cooked food, the people, the atmosphere or service. Sometimes the food isn’t all that good, but there always appears to me something unique about these places.

I talked Tre into King’s Cafe ever since I saw a piece of paper taped to the window advertising $2.50 breakfasts specials. The windows are always fogged up, which is probably not a good sign. But because we can’t see in, it piques my curiosity more.

King's Cafe
(Top to bottom: 1. The breakfast special: eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and toast. 2. diner coffee.)

As we step in, a cute little old lady tells us to sit where ever. We chose a seat near the window. The place is a dive and is saturated with the scent of fried oil from the kitchen in the back. I don’t particularly like walking out a restaurant smelling like I’ve been dipped and deep fried. There were some obvious ventilation issues. Pinkish salmon colored laminate tables are scattered throughout a dining room that seemed larger than it appeared from the outside.

I ordered two hot cakes and ham. Tre orders scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast, plus two cups of coffee. It took awhile for our meals to arrive, but my hot cakes were surprisingly… not bad. The ham, on the other hand, was thin and dried out. Tre did not like his meal.We’ll leave it at that. The coffee was nothing special.

King's Cafe
(Top to bottom: 1. Hot cakes with a side of ham. 2. Syrup.)

Our bill including taxes and tip came to just under $13. The food at King’s Cafe may have been sub par, but the service was decent. The little old lady came to check up on us and made sure our coffee were always full. We thought it was cool to see a family working together to offer meals at cheap prices. It’s not worth a return visit, but was nevertheless an interesting experience.

Perfect for: If you’re hungry and found some extra change in your sofa.

The Details

2296 East Hastings, Vancouver
604.253.6168

King's Cafe on Urbanspoon

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