Concept proposal for The Bee's Knees Café & Catering · built from public listings · address, hours, menu and photos to be confirmed by the owner
Persian kitchen · vegetarian, vegan & gluten free

Everything from scratch. Everyone welcome.

A café built on the idea that every culture belongs at the same table — and one of the only kitchens on Vancouver Island cooking Persian food. Breakfast, baking, lunch, and catering for whatever you're hosting.

See the menu (250) 591‑5250
4.6 from 107 reviews Made from scratch, daily Catering across Nanaimo
Hero photothe counter, full, morning light
One café · one address Here is exactly where we are

The address

Stated once, here, and kept right. If a listing somewhere sends you to a different street, this page is the one that's correct.

Owner to confirm — listings currently show three

Today's hours

Open and close times, every day of the week, so nobody arrives to a locked door on the strength of an old directory entry.

Owner to confirm — listings currently show three
Shrin, in the caféportrait · the founder sells this place
Our story

It started with a table everyone could sit at

Shrin Younessian opened The Bee's Knees on a simple idea she'd had since she was young: a room where every culture and every walk of life is welcome, and where the food says so.

One of the only kitchens on Vancouver Island serving Persian food — alongside the vegetarian, vegan and gluten free cooking we're known for.

Everything is made from scratch, in house, including everything that goes out on the catering side. We cook for fundraisers around town too, because a café that talks about community should probably turn up for it.

Catering

We'll cook for your thirty people

Weddings, work lunches, memorials, fundraisers. Delivered hot, set up in chafing dishes, and made in the same kitchen as everything on the café menu.

  • Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free handled properly, not as a side plate
  • Persian menus for an event that should taste of somewhere
  • Delivered hot and kept hot — chafing dishes included
  • Fundraisers and community events — ask, we usually say yes
Talk about your event
Catering photoa spread, set up, people around it
The café

What it looks like when it's full

Photo slots, captioned for the shot each one needs.

The room, busywide · warm · people
A Persian plateoverhead · no flash
The bake casedetail · full
Coffee being madehands · close
Catering spreadevent · set up
The storefrontso people find the right door
What people say

4.6 from 107 reviews

Placeholders on purpose — real reviews go in word for word, or better, pulled live.

Placeholder

A real review, word for word. Best ones name a dish and a person.

—Customer nameGoogle
Placeholder

Pick one about the catering — that's the side this site is trying to grow.

—Customer nameGoogle
Placeholder

The 4.6 and the count above come from public listings and should be checked against Google first.

—Customer nameGoogle
Find us

One address, kept right

The single job this page has to do. Right now a search turns up three different streets for this café — whichever is correct goes here, and everywhere else gets corrected to match.

To confirm with the ownerAddress & hours

Street address

Listings currently show 3200 Island Hwy North, 525 Third Street and 208 Wallace Street.

Which one is right?

Opening hours

Three different sets are published across Tripadvisor and other directories.

Owner to confirm
  • Hours marked up so Google shows the right ones in search
  • One phone number, one address, one source of truth
(250) 591‑5250
Google Maps embedonce the address is confirmed
Good questions

Straight answers

Do you have vegan and gluten free options?
They're a specialty, not an afterthought. Use the filter on the menu above and you'll see exactly what's available rather than hunting through a list.
What is Persian food, if I've not had it?
Herbs, slow-cooked stews, rice, and a lot of things that happen to be naturally vegetarian. We're one of very few kitchens cooking it on Vancouver Island — ask at the counter and we'll point you at something.
Do you cater?
Yes — weddings, work lunches, memorials and fundraisers. Delivered hot in chafing dishes, cooked in the same kitchen as the café menu. Give us a ring to talk it through.
Where exactly are you?
The address at the top of this page is the correct one. If a directory sends you somewhere else, it's out of date — this page is the one we keep right.
Can I order ahead?
Call the café. Online ordering can be wired into this page if that's useful.
Menu Call