$5 waffles, $7 eggs benny: Victoria diner revives menu from 1989

John Cantin vividly remembers opening day for his Victoria diner. Stress levels were high, tables were full, and one of the most popular menu items couldn’t be freed from the unyielding grip of the waffle maker.

“The cook would open it up and they would stick on both sides,” Cantin said. “All the waitresses were freaked out and telling customers, ‘I’m sorry.’”

Connie Hardie, a former manager at John’s Place, laughed at the memory.

“Day 1, Day 2, and probably for our first couple of weeks, it was all about those darn waffles. But (Cantin) got it figured out and they’re still a big hit today,” she said.

Cantin estimates they’ve sold just shy of a million waffles since opening on Pandora Avenue and Douglas Street in October of 1984.

From Monday to Friday of next week, he’s reviving a menu from the diner’s early days to celebrate 40 years in business. The menu from 1989 has those famous waffles priced at $5.

“I was upstairs in my office and I came across an old menu and all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Let’s run it back,’” he said.

Cantin is also bringing back old staff members, including Hardie, who will be bussing tables on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It’s sentimental,” said Hardie, who now lives in Vancouver. “Victoria is still in my heart and so is John’s Place.”

Opening day at John’s Place in October of 1984. (Source: Connie Hardie)

A food policy analyst said promotions, such as using nostalgia to get people in the door, are a smart move for casual dining spots.

“That category of restaurant has struggled as of late in Canada,” said Sylvain Charlebois, Dalhousie University Agri-Foods Analytics Lab director.

“Most people who go there are part of the middle class and the middle class has been hammered by the cost of living situation.”

That’s why Cantin said he tries to keep his prices low.

“Through the last few years — COVID and all of that — he struggled with having to raise his prices because he’s just been so loyal to his customers all of these years,” Hardie said.

Despite the pandemic and the inflated cost of ingredients, Cantin said he’s managed to keep all but one item on his current menu below $20.

When food costs go up, he said he raises prices accordingly, but on the rare occasion when ingredients get cheaper, he lowers them.

“(A server) said, ‘John, nobody does that; nobody lowers their prices,’” Cantin said. “That’s something I still do. If I get a deal on coffee or something like that, I’ll have a special deal.”

That care for customers has bolstered the diner’s decades-long run, Hardie said.

“It’s about building community, it’s about building family, and it’s about making good food and being consistent,” she said.