Wine and Food

Looking for a fantastic restaurant? Victoria has some of the best restaurants on the west coast and has as much variety as most big cities. Having a hard time getting a table at a "hot restaurant?" Who needs one? Whether you reside in Victoria or are just passing through, the following list of our favorite restaurants is sure to please.

At DestinationVictoria, we're big on great food and we love to acknowledge good service. There's nothing worse than paying for a meal you're unhappy with. Our aim is to give you the straight goods on the yummiest restaurants from Victoria and all the way up Vancouver Island.

Some of these restaurants are award-winning, and some are unknown gems tucked away on the charming streets of our city. Whatever your fancy, or your budget, there is a restaurant on our site for everyone.

Bon Appetit!

Featured Businesses

Phillips Brewing Company

In the beer world, there tends to be two camps: traditionalists and adventurists. The former believe beer should be made from four simple ingredients-water, malted barley, hops and yeast-and nothing more. The more adventurous types understand those four basic ingredients can be a vessel for experimentation, moving beer culture forward.

Ooh La La Cupcakes

Island Wine & Food - Saanich Peninsula

Stage Small Plates Wine Bar

A conversation with George and Linda Szasz of Stage

George and Linda, you consistently provide the most amazing food. What's your secret, what do you love most about cooking for your guests?
George gets credit for this one! Growing up in the restaurant business at Szasz’s in Vancouver, cooking is innate within George. Without that love, you just don’t get the results. We have always maintained that when you are serving food with this much attention and quality of ingredients put into it, you are elevated to nurturers, not just owners of a business that sells food. When guests recognize that, therein lies the reward. If they feel restored from the experience, you have done your job.

JJ Wonton Noodle House - Restaurant Review No.10

If you want to make the acquaintance of your dinner before you ingest it, this is not your place.
Unlike the hundreds of Chinese restaurants I've dined in, JJ's Wonton Noodle House dispensed with the predictable crab and lobster tank in the front lobby. Wait a sec, there is a "fish tank" of sorts at the back of the restaurant but it contains no crustaceans, only three or four very busy chefs. Almost the entire back wall of the restaurant is a large window where diners can see and smell all the goodness that this restaurant is known for.

The dining room is no nonsense with simple chairs and tables, mostly bare walls save for a two landscape pieces. Jasmine tea comes quickly to the table accompanied by menus. For the most part, service is quick and to the point. This should not be taken as unfriendly. Whether you're visiting JJ's for lunch or dinner, a line-up out the door is normal. The wait staff have many people to serve and the "pick-up!" bell that the chefs hit when a dish is ready, chimes feverishly.

Lully's Sandwich Bar - Restaurant Review No.5

I've been driving past Lully's Sandwich Bar for a couple of weeks now meaning to stop in and each time I seem to talk myself out of it. Growing up in Toronto, I have had my share of great kosher deli sandwiches and each time a Victoria deli has purported to have Montreal smoked meat or corned beef, I've been left with a stacked heap of disappointment.

Stage - Restaurant Review No.8

Cafe Ceylon

Union Pacific Coffee - Restaurant Review No.4

UP After Dark is the evening incarnation of Union Pacific Coffee on Herald Street.
At night the candles come out, the music is chill and it’s a wine bar with great food, well-edited wines and the kind of service other restaurants should take note of.

Breve - Restaurant Review No.7

My first visit to Breve was a baffling experience. Actually, the bafflement started before I even got there.

And I wasn’t the one who was baffled. It was the employees.

Golden City Restaurant - Restaurant Review No.3

Golden City Restaurant

What is it with the mixture of pork, chicken and shrimp that's so magical? I guess if I knew, I'd own my own dim sum palace. Although I'm sure that a regular ingestion of deep fried dumplings and steamed meat in the morning can't be good for you, I am powerless to stop my bi-weekly to monthly visits.

Golden City is my crack dealer when it comes to dim sum. You need to arrive by 10:30am or so to aquire a good table. By a good table I mean one close to the kitchen door so you have first dibbs on whatever portion of steaming yumminess comes strolling by.

Restaurant Review No.2 - Red Fish Blue Fish

Red Fish Blue Fish is located in the heart of Victoria's Inner Harbour. Surrounded by boats on one side and Wharf Street on the other, RFBF is situated inside a couple of retro fitted shipping containers right on the wharf. Very modern, very green and very yummy.

seafood

Street Level Espresso

Cool Beans in the Neighbourhood

Ken Gorden, owner and chief barista at Street Level Espresso on Fort Street, Victoria B.C. Canada leads me down a winding and mysterious staircase into a catacomb underneath the city. Life in the Victoria underworld is a semi-connected circuit of storage areas, utility wiring, plumbing, tunnels… and intrigue.

pink bicycle

The Pink Bicycle
(250) 384-1008
1008 Blanshard Street  Victoria

Wine and Food

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Cool Beans in the Neighbourhood