This review is specifically related to the relatively recent (2024-01) breakfast menu feature at Kinko's, a local Japanese food chain.
The proposition is appealing:
$5.00 a basic breakfast.
How can you go wrong?
Even with the $1.00 coffee and the $2.00 extra toast, it's still a great deal.
In addition to this, the menu offers similar deals for breakfast and bagel sandwiches, and more Japanese forward options such as ohayo, a sushi-like spam-and-egg or spam-and-cheese with miso soup combos.
We tried the basic breakfast. Even with extra coffee, extra egg and extra toasts, this breakfast is an unusually good deal.
No matter how good the deal may be , it can only be good if the food is worth eating as well.
I, for one, was not disappointed.
On the highlights:
The eggs had a deep yellow colour and they were tasty. The bacon was tasty but not crispy, perhaps cooked using a different technique. The sausage was dense but tasted good. The salad ingredients were fresh, dressed with something that tasted like Kewpie sauce.
On points to improve:
The potatoes tasted like b-class tater tots, ok, but not fantastic. The ohayo & miso soup combo was ok but not great. The toasts were labeled as "sourdough" but really tasted like white bread, which I am good with.
Overall, everything was fresh and served promptly after being prepared.
Our server Joy did a great job.
Maybe next time, I will order my eggs over medium.
The 14th Avenue restaurant (there are more than one Kinko's in town) is located in the North Hill Mall. We were seated upstairs, where we had a good view of the Kyoto like mural, a whale-like fish hanging from the ceiling and a picture background wall representing a busy Japanese neighborhood. The unusual decor gave us a bit of an exotic feel, for the time we spent there.
The noise level was low, which I appreciated and the seating comfortable.
In addition, on the main floor, there is a small counter and Japanese food and specialty items shop and a take-out counter, also very reasonable, a Bento box for example, goes for under $11.00.
Simple food, great service and competitive price will not likely go out of style. Good bet, Mr. Kinjo, I will be back :)