A Burnaby, B.C., chain restaurant has won top accolades -- but not for its food.

The website Canada's Best Restroom, which nominates washroom facilities across the nation, says the Byrne Road Cactus Club Café in the Vancouver suburb has the best loo in the country.

Thousands of votes were cast on the program's web site, and the results were announced Wednesday morning.

The restaurant credits its "comfort is king" philosophy for the big win, with features like padded furniture, flat-screen televisions, smoked glass floor-to-ceiling stall doors and hardwood walls.

In Pictures: See the winner and nominees

The restaurant takes home a plaque and, of course, bragging rights. Cactus Club has secured its place as the first-ever winner in the "Canada's Best Restroom Hall of Fame."

"We are so pleased to have earned this honor," Cactus Club Café President Richard Jaffray said.

The 2010 contest garnered nominations from a cross-section of top Canadian businesses and eateries, including Vancouver's Shangri-La Hotel and Toronto's Metro Convention Centre. Five finalists were chosen based on hygiene, style and open access to the public.

Toronto's Spice Route Asian Bistro took second spot for its eclectic Asian décor, exposed stone walls overlooking a private "garden oasis."

The Shangri-La won fourth place, with props to its private washrooms with two-storey ceilings, crystal chandeliers and mosaic tile.

Spokesperson Sabrina Zimring said the contest is so popular in the U.S., where it was started in 2002, that people actually visit the winning location just to visit its bathroom.

"It's a huge boon to the last year's winner," Zimring told ctvbc.ca, speaking about the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, Missouri, who took the top U.S. spot in 2009.

"People on vacation would visit just to see the bathroom. Hopefully that will happen [in Canada] in the future."

Other past U.S. winners include the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the Fort Smith, Arkansas Airport, Jungle Jim's International Market in Fairfield, Ohio and the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

The contest is sponsored by Cintas Corporation, a North American restaurant supplier.