Rhino Coffee House Westhills - Langford, British Columbia

pratham D.

Lovely location and warm and welcoming staff. And as always great selection of sandwiches and coffee. A much needed coffee shop in the westhills neighbourhood. Its surely will be one of my regulars.

Andy &. L. S.

Before I get into the almost comical experience I had, anyone with Celiac disease should probably avoid the GF donuts as they are transported to this location on the same tray (and touching) as regular donuts, no care given to avoiding cross contamination.

We needed to pick up some donuts for a birthday celebration we were having in the late morning so we walked up to the Westhills location at 8:30 as the website stated. When we got there we found out that they open at 9. Came back at 9 and they didn't have the donuts yet. The staff member working told me that they would be there in 15 minutes or so and asked if I wanted to pay up front for when they got there, which I did. We needed 4 regular and 2 GF donuts, which would go into a separate box to avoid cross contamination as my wife and son both have Celiac disease. When the donuts arrived, I could see that the 4 GF donuts that were delivered were in the middle of all the regular donuts and they were touching them. When I pointed this out and told they staff member that my wife and son would not be able to eat the GF donuts, they offered to call the Peatt Rd location for me to pick up the GF donuts there. So I drove to this other location, waited in a long line only to find out that the other location hadn't called. All in all, the experience of trying to buy 6 donuts took over and hour and a half.

We did email Rhino coffee and tell them of our experience, not because we were looking for anything free, but because the lack of care in trying to avoid cross contamination with their GF products was concerning. We didn't receive a response.

Update: we received a response to our google review and the owner said that they offer a "gluten friendly" donut and do not claim that it is gluten free. I've attached a screenshot from their online ordering menu that clearly states that it is gluten free. Don't market it as "gluten free" unless you are willing to take some steps to avoid cross contamination. I've posted the response below.

Response from the owner 7 hours ago
Hello! We apologize for your recent experience as it doesn’t seem to have met your expectations.

Although we offer a “gluten friendly” donut, we do not claim to be gluten free and advise our celiac disease customers to consume at their own comfort level. As we cannot guarantee cross contamination.

It is recommended if you are looking to obtain a specific order, especially for a special occasion to please contact us to place a preorder. Therefore we can assure your order is ready for your desired date/time, any specific request and in a timely manner.

Thank you!

V. Q.

Update: thank you for listening to your customers and addressing the issue. We did return and had a fantastic experience. The staff were friendly and efficient, and the coffee was great. I have updated my review accordingly.

Coffee is good enough and I really wanted to like this place since we come to the park often and have been to Rhino on Peatt and in Tofino; all good experiences. We visited a few months ago and I’ve not been back. There was one server (with long straight hair) who was surly and completely ignored us, making us wait and wait to be served even though it wasn’t super busy and there was no one behind us. She never greeted us or even asked what we wanted. When she finally served us, she just impatiently glared at us and waited for is to speak first. It’s was as if we were the biggest inconvenience in her day. It was obviously deliberate as she busied herself in front of us performing tasks the other young woman had time to do while making us wait. I could see helping out if no one was standing there waiting to be served or it was super busy, but it wasn’t. It completely ruined a nice family visit (7 of us) to the cafe.

Anastasia P.

I came in to Rhino a couple of weeks ago, and I was excited to experience the coffee shop my friends have talked about, but we left feeling extremely unimpressed. When we got there I saw that the owners of the shop were there and they had brought their children in with them probably trying to show that it’s a family run place… but it had the opposite effect. Their children were under foot in the kitchen in the back and in the barista area which firstly is very dangerous for the children AND for the staff, but is also unclean. One of the children appeared to be eating food in the back and it looked like they were sitting under the table where the chef prepares food which, again, is very dangerous as there are knives, and is not food safe either. The staff looked clearly uncomfortable with the children being in there obviously because they could spill a burning hot drink on the child or on themselves because of the kids being underfoot and unpredictable. And the owners didn’t seem to care - it was all just very unprofessional. The drinks were expensive and mediocre, the food was decent but also overpriced in my opinion, and the service was only okay.

Elaine S.

I come here quite regularly. The food always keeps me coming back. Today (sat around 1pm) however i encountered the worst service. Unnecessary comments and digs plus an overall bad attitude. I think she’s new as I’ve never seen her before. I didn’t catch her name but I over heard her saying she used to work at serious coffee. Also bitching about customers with them there isn’t the best look either.
Its a shame cause rhino is one of my favorite places but today was a shocking change in my experience there.

jesse T.

Food is great but the new girl is terrible, unfriendly demeanor and snippy when asking for our food to stay instead of to go, which she had never asked us before charging the bill.

To gossip about customers is one thing but to do it infront of the customer you're chirping about without knowing I'm standing right there, makes me feel like you're toxic attitude shouldn't last long in a company that presents itself as welcoming.

Every other time I've had the food it's brought me back but this new hire is abysmal and will have me staying away, I'd rather the $40 parking ticket at the other location.

Kirsten C.

Long time fan of Rhino in all locations but wanted to shout out to the barista today at lunchtime. Constantly busy, on her own out front but polite and unflustered throughout. Lovely coffee and food with a sunny, dog friendly patio and bikes to watch. Perfect!

Chris L.

What a delightful break after trying out the Jordie Lunn bike park. The Peach & Mango Refresher with the Tuna Veggie Wrap was a perfect snack after a warm ride in the park.

Service [from Sierra] was a delight and very polite. It wasn't busy, as we came near closing (last customers).

There was bicycle parking up on the deck and lots of picnic bench seats; we had shade!