Breakfast and lunch in Sooke, at the end of Whiffin Spit Road, with a lawn to sit on afterwards and easy access to Whiffin Spit. The Garden Café is the daytime side of Sooke Harbour House, open from 8am for a West Coast continental and running through to mid-afternoon for lunch and weekend brunch.
What to expect at The Garden Café at the Sooke Harbour House
- West Coast continental breakfast
- Weekday lunch service
- Weekend and holiday brunch
- Happy hour Friday to Sunday
Overview
VIBL features the Garden Café because the food is only half of what you’re there for. The building and the grounds are worth the walk on their own, and once you’ve eaten, you can take a chair on the lawn and sit for a while or walk off the property right onto Whiffin Spit.
This is the casual, daytime side of Sooke Harbour House, and it suits a slow morning. Sit down, take your time, watch the water. It’s the kind of table where the plates get cleared and the conversation keeps going. You can view the current menu on the Garden Café site.
Make it a stop more than just a meal by enjoying the lawn with its open grass, Adirondack chairs facing the water, gravel paths through the garden beds, and enough room that nobody is on top of anybody. And continue the conversation and the walk through the garden to Whiffin Spit.
It’s table service, not a counter. The walk-up coffee and pastry window that used to run here has closed, and the pastries now come as part of the continental breakfast rather than sold one at a time. Worth knowing if you were planning on a takeaway coffee before a walk.
The area is quiet, well away from the traffic through the rest of Sooke, and the property is dog-friendly. It suits an unhurried start before the spit, a lunch that isn’t a sandwich in the car, or a weekend brunch when you’ve got the morning to spend.
Hours shift with the seasons, so the Garden Café page on their site is the one to check before a drive out.
What you will find
Mornings, Weekdays 8 to 11
(4 items)
- West Coast continental breakfast
- House-baked pastries and breads
- Local cheese, yogurt and fruit
- Coffee, teas and juices
Midday, Weekdays 11 to 3
(4 items)
- Chowder and salads
- Coastal classics
- Sandwiches and burgers
- Daytime cocktails
Weekend and Holiday Brunch
(4 items)
- Eggs and bennies
- Griddle and toast plates
- Seafood starters
- Served 8 to 3, Saturday, Sunday and holidays
Happy Hour, Friday to Sunday
(3 items)
- Small plates and shareables
- Cocktails, wine and beer
- Served 3 to 5 on the patio
The Grounds
(4 items)
- Patio dining
- Lawn seating and Adirondack chairs
- Garden paths to walk
- Ocean views across the lawn
Photos
Reviews & Common Comments
Common Comments
Across OpenTable and Google reviews for Sooke Harbour House, visitors consistently mention:
- The setting and the view from the room and garden
- Pastry and baking, which comes up repeatedly and specifically
- Attentive service without hovering
- A calm, unhurried pace at breakfast and brunch
Recent snapshot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recent visitor
“The pastry chef is a genius.”
Recent visitor
“Such a beautiful location. Brunch was very good.”
Location
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Choose This Café for Breakfast and Lunch in Sooke?
The Garden Café sits out along the water on Whiffin Spit Road, west of the Sooke town core. You eat on the patio or inside, and the lawn beside it has chairs facing the water and gravel paths through the garden beds, so there’s somewhere to go once you’ve finished rather than straight back to the car.
It’s built for the kind of day where you’re not watching the clock. Families who want the kids to have somewhere to go while the conversation continues, friends who came to talk and will still be talking an hour later, and anyone on holiday who would rather spend a morning somewhere than tick it off and drive on.
Local Insight
You can walk off the property straight onto the spit, which makes this the easy version: park once, eat, and go from there. There’s a free gravel lot at the trailhead as well if you would rather drive the last stretch.
The Whiffin Spit walk is 2.7 km return on a flat gravel path, about an hour at an easy pace, with water on both sides. It is stroller and wheelchair friendly, and dogs are welcome on leash with bags and bins at the entrance. Late morning suits it, once the marine fog has usually lifted.
Explore More in Sooke
Dinner on the same property is in a different room. The Sooke Harbour House restaurant opens at 5pm, faces the same water, and runs a good deal more formal than lunch on the lawn.
If the café is one stop in a longer day, the Sooke trip planner has the hikes, beaches and drives that fill the rest of it.
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