Caffe Fantastico

Went to the King Street location. Great Americano! Friendly approachable staff. Nice urban looking atmosphere. I loved how in addition to the sugar and milk station, they had a little glass container of milk right at the bar where you pick up your coffee so you can add milk to your americano right away. I like to do it as soon as the shot is poured!

Excellent cappuccino. One of my favourite places for coffee in BC, up in the top five with JJ Bean in Vancouver. Relaxed but modern décor. Great vibe.

Discovered this coffee shop last month. Wow is all I can say! They toast their beans in house and the coffee is the best in town, hands down. As a bonus, they now serve breakfast everyday, with a true chef! Highly recommended!

After a less than stellar experience at Habit, I headed here for an obligatory comparison. Since I was already pre-​caffeinated, I only got a coffee which was a Mexican medium-​dark roast.
And guess what? The regular coffee here had more flavour than the Americano at Habit. HOWEVER, believe it or not, both places were weaker than coffee that I normally get at Whole Foods!
So better than Habit, but I wouldn’t say the best coffee… hopefully there are better options in Victoria!

Wonderful staff and amazing coffee, mellow atmosphere and very clean.

Being situated so close to this place may be the only redeeming thing about the mostly unremarkable flat my husband and I currently occupy.
The baristas here are always smiling, seeming to be genuinely joyful about making coffee. Their house blend, the Causeway, is amazing (as are all the beans I’ve tried) and our consistent go to bean for our home espresso machine. We meet my husband’s father here every Sunday morning, rain or shine, to catch up over a macchiato and have never once been disappointed at the service or quality.
Thanks Fantastico for being one of the best things about living in Victoria!

This place is awesome please… don’t go here ;-) amazing perfectly made lattes and cappuccinos I must have for any one that’s coming to Victoria

Coffee was good (I had a yummy and highly caffeinated soy africano) but the brownie I bought for $ 3.75 was ridiculously bad! Like — inedible! I was also pretty annoyed that immediately after taking my money they told me they were closing in 10mins (however the open sign was on for another hour). I felt duped as I had planned to sit and enjoy the coffee and treat.

I’ve been to a lot of cafes. I’ve travelled a bit and have lived in Boston and Philly, and I have to say that Caffe Fantastico has some of the best coffee I’ve tasted. The baristas were some of the first genuinely friendly faces I encountered once I moved to Victoria and have consistently remained so, serving wonderful Americanos and drip coffee and lovely hearty muffins. The construction patio seating can sometimes be chilly or noisy, but the interior prior to construction was charming and I’m excited to see what they cook up for the new place! Definitely recommend.

Decent cappuccino and appetizing snacks, but unfortunately the coffee offerings are slim (percolator only, despite selling AeroPresses on-​site), so I’d stick to espresso-​based drinks.

written some of my best prose here. really happening, busy, great for people watching and totally of the neighborhood.

I have just found my new Victoria hangout spot… Friendly baristas (what?! So different than when I lived in Seattle!), AMAZING coffee (Africanos are my new favorite things ever), free WiFi, good ambiance, funky artwork. Only a teeny small beef — I wish they had more tables to work at. I’m so glad this place exists.

They have the best mochas & friendly staff
They use chocolate milk for the mocha & Bernard
Callaebaut chocolate shavings on top YUM!

perfection. simply perfection.
it is the best spot to find a great americano, little latte, or $ 1 drip coffee — ya that’s right! A small drip is only $ 1 — AND it’s like liquid gold!
PS: i’m in love with one of the baristas… hee hee.

I stand corrected — the Kings Rd. location does now (or perhaps always did, and I assumed, because of the Cook St. Village location) have debit capabilities. Hurrah!
My gentleman friend and I stopped in for Americanos on the weekend during Quadra Village day on Saturday, and it was delicious and friendly as always. Really amazingly good espresso. Makes me happy.

This place is consistently FANTASTIC. I have never had a bad cup of coffee here, the people are fun to watch, the art changes frequently and is entertaining, the baristas are nothing short of drink-​making experts, the furniture is fun and full of character… I could go on but before I bore you with a long list I must say something about the roaster.
Watching through the door to their roasting room, I could see a clean cut, slightly retro-​styled man of about thirty in front of the coffee roaster. He wore a pair of ear muffs to protect him from the noise and he was bent over the roaster’s dispenser, scrutinizing output with a bright light. Taking beans out, smelling them, separating them etc. It made me feel almost as if the $ 15 a pound I pay for espresso there is too little! I had been told that their roaster was meticulous, but this was beyond what I had imagined.
Lastly, they have some Jamaican Blue Mountain peaberry beans for about $ 50 a pound. I haven’t tried it, but it’s good to know that fancy stuff is available. (fyi, coffee beans are usually two halves but about 5% of them are not. These rounder berries, called peaberry, are selected more carefully and supposedly roast more evenly because they roll around better. Jamaican Blue Mountain also happens to be a particularly fine bean.)

I mostly buy whole beans –either green to roast myself or Fantastico’s Causeway Blend.. They are very skilled roasters but sometime I find they try to slip me a ½ lb that’s past its prime. I’ve had a few espresso based drinks here too — a few caps, but mostly americanos. Quality varyies between great to acceptable depending on the skill behind the machine. Little of the ‘tude you get at some other, more expensive places (yes, Discovey I’m looking at you).

So here’s my criteria for a coffee shop: quality of drip coffee, comfortable/​interesting environment, good service and prices.
I find Café Fantastico’s coffee to be the best in the city. They roast their own beans and do a damn fine job of it too. The shop might be too crowded and busy for some but if you want to sit inside and have some patience it’s a cool environment, great for people watching. The place has real character. They just upgraded the patio furniture too I see so sitting outside is nice, although unfortunately the busy/​noisey Quadra street is right beside. They stock great local baked goods too like Mount Royal Bagels and House Bread.
So yeah. Great coffee, unique and proudly local… oh right and it’s cheap too! Very cheap drip coffee for the quality and discounted refills! Only thing holding it back are the physical limitations. Luckily we now have another one in Dockside Green if we just want the coffee without the same culture.

I’ve been here a few times, and I found the espresso quality to be pretty inconsistent. At best, their espresso is very good (not amazing, but definitely better than average), but the last time I was there, I was unfortunate enough to be served a sour, almost watery latté that made me wonder whether the barista actually knew what he was doing.
Also: Do not order a chai latté here. It’s just a single tea bag dangling in some steamed milk, and frankly, that just doesn’t cut it for me.
I’d still say it’s the best option for a decent coffee in Cook Street Village though.

If I had every soy latte I’d ever tasted before me this one would get the gold star. These are the best educated barrista’s I’ve ever encountered. They are aware of every tiny detail that makes coffee smooth and velvety. Make a stop here the moment you arrive in Victoria — it’s the right thing to do.