Beacher Cafe

Amazing chicken sandwich… hangover cure!
Good for kids, give fruit and colouring books to start. Sadly no chocolate pancakes. (Chocolate sauce on the side… odd)
The service is hit or miss. Some days very friendly, some days a little rude.
Very good diner, one of the best in the beach!

Really enjoyed our meal at The Beacher! Their food is delicious, the atmosphere is very cozy and the service was fabulous!
The owner came to see us at our table and made us feel so welcome! We have finally found our brunch place!

We were visiting from out of town. Loved the food and our waiter Conrad was fantastic!

This place falls fairly neatly into the brunch diner category, in my opinion, which the Beach area has several of. It is classier than your typical breakfast diner in terms of it’s atmosphere, and has great natural light, even on days with inclement weather. It has a great elevated street-​side patio for the nicer weather. The waiting staff is attentive and friendly. The food is average, and slightly overpriced, but what others have said is true: you’re paying for location/​atmosphere. Definitely not bad, but don’t expect to be amazed.

Comfort food in a pleasant and relaxed setting. I’m a regular here and appreciate it when I am greeted warmly and my preferences remembered. Like coming home.

We LOVE The Beacher — they are especially great with kids, to the point where we go pretty much weekly with our toddler for breakfast. The very nice servers bring out a snack of watermelon and some water for our son as soon as we sit down, as an example. We have gotten to know the staff by name, as have they gotten to know us.
The food is good café/​family restaurant food — big portions/​good prices. The french toast is a very good bet, which some mornings verges on magical. The steak dinner is also good; two plus a toddler meal and some wine for dinner was pretty reasonable and totally satiated my steak craving.

Came here on a random summer evening. Perfect weather allowed us to sit comfortably on the patio. This place serves decent food at decent prices. How Canadian! I would say that the service was better and more friendly than most neighbourhood establishments. I had the fish and chips — the battered fish was yummy, the fries satisfying with the vinegar– based purple coleslaw being the only ‘meh’ part of the meal. The others had a steak sandwich (yummy) and a blue cheese burger (can’t comment. Blue cheese is a no-​go in my books!). It’s a fairly chill place for an evening meal.

Stopped here for drinks during Beaches Jazz fest, and was impressed. Nice seating and dining arrangements, half patio and full patio, two sides to choose from (left side being more casual and right side slightly more formal), and great food. I did not eat here, but friends did and their food looked and smelled fantastic, and they said it was very good. Our waitress was a awesome. Her name was Skyler and she was on point all night. Despite the size of our group she kept us in cold drinks all night and patiently split up all our drinks at the end of the night even though the restaurants system did not allow for truly separate bills.
I’ll be back. Worth the trip!

Went for breakfast and ordered the Eggs Florentine which substituted a croissant for the English muffin as the base. The poached eggs were cooked well, the spinach was a little bland, the hollandaise was middle of the road and the croissant was hard and greasy.
It’s a sleepy café which is all about location, location, location. The patio overlooking Queen street is cool. The décor in general is outdated.
It’s a nice stop but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hop the Queen Street streetcar to get there.

Pretty bad. I guess people get really attached to spots simply for nostalgia’s sake, but when I came here they were out of draft beer, the food was cold, the server was crabby and the kitchen staff angry. Don’t know what’s going on here, if it’s different management from the past or what, but the whole experience was pretty pathetic.

It’s baaaaddddd. I live 2 blocks away and want to love this place, but because of the bad reviews, have stayed away. Until this afternoon when a friend wanted to enjoy the nice day and sit outside. How bad can a cup of coffee, grapefruit juice and pancakes be? It’s worse than Sunset Grill, that’s how bad. The melon garnishes were at the point of turning bad… that sour stage, cut with an oniony/​garlicky knife. Pancakes tasted like it came from a box and the sausage wasn’t cooked inside. That patio seating sucks you in, but the food makes you want to throw it up. I’m afraid of what their kitchen looks like given the quality of what is plated in front of the guests. Its only saving grace is the price, but you get what you pay for, eh?

Meh! The old waitress was The Worst. I asked her what the soup of the day was and her response, «it’s on the chalkboard, can you read it… (Realizing that was rude)… From here?» I couldn’t believe it. My friend had to ask for her cup of coffee twice and sauce for breakfast dish twice. So many cute restaurants, don’t bother with this one. I do believe in second chances, but this first impression yielded two stars, I’ll say it TWICE, TWO STARS!

Fantastic! Came from the states. Fresh, delicious! Came back twice. Server knew the menu, excellently.

I live right beside here and really like this place.
The owner here is an absolute diamond. She is so pleasant and welcoming. And always smiling.
The breakfast here is really good and really well priced. I was also surprised at how good the pizza was here. I’ve had it numerous times and they do it better than most pizza places. I love the BLT croissant every now and again as a treat. It’s been in the beaches for many years and the patio is lovely in the summer.

Good and quick to get is coffee, menu looked delicious but didn’t eat there, the restaurant smelt good food smell so I assume it’s good place to eat as well. Coffee was good, place maybe a little bit pricey but overall good

Disgusting. Third time and each time has been progressively worse.
I left wondering if I was going to suffer food poisoning. Scary!
FOOD
The food is nothing special. Ho hum diner food done poorly. Their breakfast has the most hope, but don’t dare to eat there at lunch or dinner once the food has sat around.
For example, my lunch salad looked like it wilted under the sun. I picked out half the slimy leaves before deciding not to touch it. I very politely brought it up to the clueless server who tried to justify it saying «I dunno what happened. I mean we get the stuff in fresh» — which tells me they do not store things properly and do not take ownership. Gross. They did not voluntarily take it off the bill. We asked another server who brought our bill to see if it would be adjusted and they still did not. I get the impression they were too intimidated by management to do so since she sheepishly gave us the bill. Not good.
My other half’s homefries tasted like they fossilized on the back of the griddle since the morning. Sometimes those brown crispy bits are divine, but this was far from edible.
The chicken breast was dry, but thankfully hot so I know it was at least cooked through.
The chicken sandwich said it came with a spicy mayonnaise, but there was no sauce.
The bun was an overly sweet, super squishy Wonderbread type.
The glass of water tasted a bit chlorinated.
SERVICE
We felt like we were held hostage trying to get the servers attention and our check. We were there easily an extra 45 minutes more than necessary because of this! Each time we have been, there has been an issue waiting for a long time for the bill and credit card machine.
AMBIANCE
It is rather run down. It may have been a favorite back in the day for the locals, but it is tired and needs an overhaul.
I don’t think they have any air conditioning and the breeze from the beach does not make up enough for it.
SEATING
They have a narrow strip of raised patio seating that is hard to get into. Some tables have one side of the table through one door and the other side accessible only from another sliding door — which is awkward to go around a whole row of tables to get at.
I swear their crowded seating is not to code. It’s way too crowded. I can only imagine trying to get past diners if the place was full.
LOCATION
It’s further east along Queen St, so you can avoid most of the tourist and beach crowds.
PARKING
Usually a nightmare on Queen St in the Beaches — especially in warmer months. You can sometimes find free side street parking. There is metered parking along nearly all of Queen St in that area.
ACCESSIBLE
There are a few stairs down into the restaurant and stairs up to the seating areas. The seating is cramped so I doubt a wheelchair could maneuver.

I came here on the second night of the jazz festival after the festival closed down, so it was nice to be warmly greeted and seated at 11:00.
But I have to say the food was disappointing.
They had Jazz festival specials, but the ones eaten at my table weren’t cooked anywhere near the jazz festival in the Beaches.
The french fries were dry — right out of the freezer and microwave, with Heinz ketchup brought to douse them. The lamb was dry, no sign on having been cooked, just rethermed, like it was a hospital.
In my book on the No Nonsense Guide to World Food, I mention that France is working to uphold the traditions of restaurant cooking as home-​cooked ie cooked in house by local people, bringing good jobs to the neighborhood where customers come from.
Restaurants in France get to put home-​cooked on the window if the meal isn’t ordered in from a distributor who mass produces no-​name restaurant food imitations.
Restaurants, especially if they parade their jazz festival banner as if they’re part of the community, need to act like part of the community, hire local cooking talent, offer local wines or beers (there were none, except foreign-​owned industrial beer manufactured in Ontario).
Beachers are loyal to this place, especially for the breakfasts, which are cooked in-​house. Time to apply the same principle to dinners and lunches.

This time my friend took me to The Beacher while visiting her in the end of Queen Street East. She said the seafood section is very good here, so I had to try. This was just before my trip to Nova Scotia, so I decided to have daily special of mussels in wine sauce. My friend had a nice cocktail and a baquette. Food came fast and my mussels looked great and smelled the same! They were accompanied by few slices of bread and butter. When they were gone, server brought me more. It was definitely a hearty meal. Nothing to take with me, as I ate it all :)
This was a nice-​looking place, not busy for a summer afternoon, there were plenty spots on the patio, so that is where we enjoyed your meals. The menu could be more interesting though, as I think I wanted something more substantial than just mussels, but there was not much to order.

When I lived in the Beach, this was our «go to place» for Sunday Brunch.
While the wait times can be long, the food and friendly staff are worth the standing.
This place has the best French Toast I’ve ever had while dining out. Unbelievably good. My breakfast companion always ordered the Eggs Benny… said it was fantastic.
One of the best places in the Beach for Breakfast

I have been a regular at this place for as long as I’ve been living in the neighbourhood.
Time passes, servers have come and gone, but the menu, the main chef and the owners have remained the same. While some might argue that this isn’t a good thing I beg to differ. Why change a menu that has obviously worked so well? Also while the menu hasn’t really changed in a while the daily specials do and they usually offer some amazing stuff.
Having been to this place so many times, I eventually found my favourite dishes and whenever I visit I always have one of them. They are either the chicken on a bun sandwich (with fries) or the Mediterranean or Classic pizza. I’d say that the quality is there 99% of the time.
The location is great, the owners are fantastic and fortunately the new servers always seem to be spot on too.
I had some experiences that weren’t the best but each and every time I raised a concern, the feedback was well received and I was provided with a satisfactory resolution. But don’t get me wrong, fortunately the below par experiences are few and far between.
Breakfast brunch is pretty awesome too!