Cafe Brio

We were here for Dine Around 2016 and were basically treated like garbage by our server. As soon as she realized we weren’t going to be drinking, it was as if we didn’t exist. Was it also because we’re young and not big spenders? We’ll never know. But probably.
When we somehow managed to actually get her attention, you could almost see the rudeness and impatience barely being held in check. I suppose we should be thankful that she made the effort…
A one star experience bumped up to two stars because of the food, which was actually quite good considering the $ 30 Dine Around price tag. But no tip for you.

Hubby and I went to Café Brio for our last night in Victoria, walking distance from the B & B where we stayed. From the moment we walked it, it felt like we were visiting an old friend. The attention from the owner makes you feel so welcome. The staff operated like a well oiled machine, but with the humanity of perfect customer service. We appreciated that they offer ½ size portions. When on vacation we don’t necessarily want so much food that we can’t consume it in the restaurant. I had the beer braised short ribs and the gave me a steak knife. Why? The meat was wonderfully tender, I could cut into it with the back of my fork. The flavor was fantastic. My husband had the Brio steak, which was perfectly seasoned, cooked and so tender it hardly required chewing. The atmosphere is inviting and cozy, we will be going back on our next trip.

We walked in and found a comfortable booth toward the back. Love the warm, cozy feel of this place. Server was on top of her game and the food was fine. Salmon good, each person in our party thought the food was excellent. Would definitely come back.

We had reserved dinner at Café Brio for our first night in Victoria, and had such a great meal that we returned the next night, and the next. The owners and staff are very welcoming and had great suggestions for each meal. All of our soups, appetizers and entrees were fantastic, without exception. It does seem lazy of us to go to the same restaurant all three nights of our visit to Victoria, but why mess with success! We’ll be back to Victoria and Café Brio, for sure!

Food: good but small portion than usual
Staff: so much disappointed
Ambience: cozy and nice
I had rabbit fricasse for dinner tonight. Portion was a little bit smaller than other restaurant I had visited in Canada. Anyway it taste was good.
However, after I paid, the staff did not say thank you or any other words when I was going out.
I paid 10% for a tip. Did she think or need more tips so that she was angry? Whatever, it’s ridiculous.

We have visited Victoria frequently. Probably 2 or 3 times a year we go to a nicer restaurant for a special occasion so we’ve tried quite a few places over the years. If Café Brio wasn’t the best meal I’ve had in Victoria, it’s most definitely in my top 3. My husband had the Contorni to start and Feature Lamb for entrée, finishing with the cheese plate. I had the Mixed Green Salad, the Rabbit Fricasse, and finished with the Crème Brule. The Contorni was a neat combination of four vegetables prepared in four different ways. We both enjoyed this. The salad was perfectly balanced. My husband’s lamb was perfectly cooked, tender and delicious. But it paled in comparison to my rabbit. Every bite seemed better than the last. The intense sauce tasted like it had been reduced with care over hours. The roasted wild mushrooms, gnocchi and kale all worked seamlessly together to support the perfectly cooked rabbit. It was so good, I was reluctant to eat my final bite because then the meal would be over. It was heaven. The crème brule and the cheese plate were both classic finishers. The service was quick and friendly without being too chummy. The ambience is casual but still elegant. No tablecloths, but the napkins are linen. The lights are bright, but the music is low so the ambient noise is not as bad as you might expect for such a high ceiling. The walls are covered with paintings rather than tv monitors and there are a couple of prominent nudes, but I’d rather see those then TSN during my dinner any day. We will most definitely return.

Laguiole steak knives! Definitely the mark of a classy place. The sous vide steak was pretty tasty here. On another note… Would you like some cake with your booze? Holy moly the sticky toffee pudding i had for dessert was drowning in booze. I appreciate the attempt to give me good value for my money but truthfully the vat of rum that the cake was sitting in ruined the dessert and i could hardly get past the first bite. Overall this cozy little restaurant has tasty food, just a bit heavy handed on the booze… which isnt always a bad thing…

Incredible night — an amazing experience all around, thank you thank you thank you, for the food, for the service, for the attention to detail — keep on doing what you’re doing! We’ll be back

My husband had the salmon, super tender, perfectly cooked! The pasta I had was so yummy, straight out of Italy! All the meats where made in house, delish! You can bring your dog on the patio and the owners are super cool!
We will be going back next time we are in town!

My wife and I would give this restaurant a solid 3. Here is a brief overview of our experience.
Atmosphere: warm, casual, worn edges on the menus add some charm.
Menu: everything is a half order or full order. No typical appetizer or entrée sections. Lends itself to sharing dishes.
Wine: wine pairings were underwhelming. Our server was kind, and very attentive to helping my wife find a white wine she enjoyed. I would say our server was keen on what sort of wine he likes, but not necessarily knowledgeable about the wines overall. We did not stray away from the suggested wine pairings, so I would have expected a bit more specifics on the wine since there are only a handful of wines suggested for pairings.
Food:
a) Chilled Asparagus Soup with Butter Poached Scallops: don’t bother. As a half order it’s huge. Chalky taste, skimpy on the scallop. After a few bites, you just can’t eat too much more. Both of us couldn’t get more than ¼ through the soup together.
b) Nettle Pesto and Potato Agnolotti: As a half order it’s tiny. Good flavours though, and redeemed the first course. Only negative was it was a bit oily.
c) Entrée: Duck: the duck was cooked perfectly! The skin was crispy and delicious. The lentils were a nice accompaniment. My dish overall was a bit cool in temperature when it came to the table. The rhubarb compote I left alone. I love rhubarb… But the texture of this was very thick and pasty, and did not go with the other flavours. I had the wine pairing Cabernet Franc. Nothing special. Still, the duck alone was great.
d) Entrée: Halibut: the halibut came to the table looking a lot like salmon… because it was. The server quickly took the plate back and had the kitchen prepare the halibut. Essentially my wife and I ate our entrees separately. When the halibut came, it was piping hot and a little overdone. Not an appealing way to eat fish. Can’t say anything great about this dish except that the restaurant did not charge us for the entrée. That was classy and appreciated. My hunch is that when properly prepared, the halibut is simple, but nice.
e) Dessert: Pistachio cake: This was tasty. Deep chocolate and coffee flavours. Enjoyed nicely with cappuccino.
Overall, half decent dining experience. We were not wowed. Service was good.

Although I have always described Café Brio as my favorite restaurant in Victoria, unfortunately it is now my least favorite.
I bragged about the food to a friend new to town and convinced her to join me for dinner recently. We started with appetizers of salami and chicken liver parfait at $ 6.75 each. It was all very tasty, but with only 3 thin slices of salami, we were left feeling a bit underwhelmed for the price.
Service was very slow, so we were enthusiastic when dinner finally arrived. However, when my roasted double cut pork chop was placed in front of me, we both gasped in shock. Disgust might be more appropriate. Two huge slabs of pork, with an inch and a half of white fat around and throughout each «chop», filled the entire plate… no exaggeration. The fat wasn’t even browned and comprised well over half of the meat portion. I guess that’s why they put two chops on the plate. Two small potatoes halved and sitting in a dark jus of a few onions and a bit of sauerkraut sat under the pork. Visually it was very unappetizing and certainly way out of balance. I wasn’t sure I could even eat it. I guess I should have inquired before ordering, but I was expecting a browned chop. At $ 29.75, it was a huge disappointment.
When the waitress asked if I would like to take the leftovers home, I told her it was all fat, so not much to take! She came back and advised that the Chef said it was pork belly, so the fat was to be expected.
My friend had the beef strip loin which was cooked to order and nicely presented. It was sliced with diced veggies over top. However, she reported that it was all totally tasteless.
We decided to drown our sorrows in the vanilla bean crème brûlée. But, it was obviously a bad night in the kitchen. The sugar on top was still granular in places. It clearly hadn’t been torched properly to create the desired signature crunch on top. And the crème also wasn’t very creamy.
As we walked out, I apologized to my friend for the recommendation. It was one of the worst meals I’ve ever had in a restaurant. Revolting was the descriptor I used. She concurred.
The «new menu» didn’t work well for us and it left me wondering if there is also a «new» Chef? I’d heard from others about a recent bad experience, but I thought it might have been an anomaly. Whatever the case, I don’t share the Chef’s vision for good food, good service and prices reflective of the quality. Too bad Café Brio. I used to be a big fan!

Beyond delicious! My husband and I came here for dinner and the food was by far the most tastiest I have ever had out for dinner, very good wine selection as well!

Amazing!!! Ambiance. Staff. Food. Totally made our evening while in Victoria. We were recommended to this place by local server and we’re not disappointed

Overall 4.8 stars. Entrees an easy 5.0 stars.
Dinner for 2 in early September.
AMBIANCE: 5.0. This is specific to where we sat, which was a small intimate alcove located between the outside covered area and the large high-​ceiling interior.
The indoor high-​ceiling area would rate a 4.0 from us — the artwork on the walls is nice, including the wonderful nude.
The outdoor area would also rate a 4.0. The area is visually very appealing with vines hanging from the ceiling and pretty lighting. Only downside is the traffic noise, but that is minor.
TIP: For an intimate dinner for 2 to 4 people, choose the third area — the alcove. There are two alcoves, each with 2 tables.
SERVICE: 4.0. Very professional. Would have been 4.5, but the wait for dessert and for paying the bill was rather long. The greeter was wonderful and cheery.
FOOD: 5.0. Total pleasure. Outstanding sauces accompanying each dish. As my partner said: «One can taste the passion of the chef in each plate.» Every item in each plate was done perfectly. For example, the vegetables that accompanied the entrees were simply excellent — string beans, carrots, beets, shallots…
TIP: Rather than a single full entrée, choose 2 half entrees. Worth it to experience more of the food.
— 5.0: Lamb chops with lamb sausage.
— 5.0: Duck breast.
— 5.0: Flat Iron steak.
— 4.9: Scallops with orzo.
— 4.0: Appetizer of stuffed olives. 2^nd bite even better than the first.
— 3.5: Dessert — dark chocolate cake with olive oil gelato. Next time we’ll go for something else as this was ordinary.
WINE: We had the house white and red. Excellent, and matched the elaborate descriptions.
With dessert my wife had a sherry and I had the «Madeira-​like» BC wine. Next time I’ll go for the sherry, as the taste was more like Madeira-​barely-​like.

I see this is Unilocal classified as ‘Italian’, but I’d call it ‘California Fusion.’
Last time I ate here was 15 years ago… our host Greg is just as friendly as ever, service was very good, and the food was exceptional.
Being a chef, I’m always a pain-​n-​the-​butt for my brothers/​sisters that work in the industry. I asked the waitress to just bring me some food. (I eat literally anything… ok, maybe not Bitter Gourd.) A quick staff conference in the corner, a cocktail later, and out came my starter: Pork Pâté’, pickles, mustard… all house-​made. First course: A beautiful piece of pan seared Spring Salmon. Main course: Seared Duck breast, atop a beet juice infused potato purée. And, for dessert: a warm date/​toffee pudding… wow!
The wife enjoyed an heirloom tomato salad and a pork tenderloin.
Wine select is exceptional.
Ok. So why not 5 stars you ask? Only for selfish reasons: I like my salmon JUST under cooked. This was cooked. The pork was well done. I like to see pork rare (unless it’s wild, or not from an established trade), or atleast pinkish. An 8 top and a +12 top seem to put staff in a spin; service came to a halt.
+200CAD for 2 was acceptable for this level of dining. I will return.

We popped in earlier this week for a date night and left satisfied. Solid list of wines, beers and liquors. My Negroni was delicious and the Hoyne Pilsner I followed it with was enjoyable as well.
I had a delicious dish consisting of Halibut and tomato risotto. The halibut was spot on perfect and the risotto was full of flavor.
My wife enjoyed the tagliatelle with pesto and fingerling potatoes.
Good size portions and they let you get half portions as well.
The sticky toffee pudding was a great dessert to complete the meal.
Well worth checking out.

There was nothing that wasn’t perfect about our experience at Café Brio.
We were warmly greeted by the owner and seated at a wonderful table. They have a very extensive wine list and we found a great pairing to our meal. The rabbit entrée was fabulous, so was the pork. One of our friends asked for them to hold off on the garlic on the salmon which they graciously accommodated. The other friend made an off-​menu request and asked them to combine the best of the scallops and the creamy polenta (features of two small plates) which they did fabulously.
And we topped it off with the sticky toffee date pudding, which everyone said I should limit to one and which we all fought over. We needed four.
Our waiter Matt was informative, gracious, and a great addition to the meal.
Worth the trip to Victoria.

First, it’s only open 3.5 hours a day. A good sign. I’m also impressed when a restaurant doesn’t feel the need to put salt and pepper on the table. Another good sign. I also love that they have half orders of everything.
I had the Cabernet Savignon– perfect.
I started the meal with a half order of the romaine hearts– good but more dressing than it needed. I also had a cheese plate with the Brie, Pecorino, and chèvre. It came with a pistachio crustini and a rhubarb compote. All were delicious. The Brie was especially good with the rhubarb compote.
For my entrée I was leaning toward the halibut which sounded amazing, but the waiter said his favorite dish on the menu was the rabbit. It’s not something you see on a menu very often, and I’d never had it before. I’m relatively adventurous when it comes to food, so I went for a half portion of the rabbit. So glad I did! It was tender, gamey, perfectly crisped on the outside. Came with sautéed mustard greens and lentils with herbs. Perfect combination of flavors and textures.
Finally, for dessert I had the fresh fruit and vanilla buttermilk panna cotta– ginger rhubarb compote, macerated strawberries, and lemon scone. Not too heavy, the flavors together were perfect! So, so good.
Ambiance was low key fine dining, adorable patio (which is where I sat on this beautiful day). I found the server knowledgable about the menu and wine selection, and great at guiding me through my choices. Service slowed down a bit when they got busier, but I didn’t mind. I wasn’t in a hurry, and this is definitely one of those linger-​over-​dinner kind of places.

The restaurant is set in a big Italian villa styled room with a large open bar. The welcome was friendly and we quickly had a menu to look at.
One notable feature is that the restaurant offers full or half sized portions. I found this a practical way to try more things, but is also good for smaller appetites.
The decorative artwork on the walls is all for sale so you also take a look at that
When we’d decide on drinks and food we were brought some organic bread and butter to munch on while we waited for our opening dishes.
We started with a romaine salad with goat cheese and a halibut with veg and accompanying dill beurre blanc sauce. The fish had a great crisp top and the plate came together nicely. Unfortunately our accompanying salad had an overpoweringly strong vinaigrette.
Our following courses included albacore tuna, slow cooked braised pork, and roasted duck breast.
The tuna was cooked perfectly and the accompanying jus was absolutely lovely; vegetables and mash completed the dish. The pork and duck were just as tasty, with a special mention for the pork’s red wine sauce with ginger.
Tasting plate for dessert had three elements and was a great away to seal the meal.
The restaurant prides itself on locally sourced ingredients cooked simply to highlight the quality of the product. The goal is met, all the ingredients were fresh, perfectly cooked and tasty, though sometimes I feel the vegetable were a bit lost on the plate and could be elevated to something more special.
Service was friendly though a bit slow. I also don’t really take for under lit restaurants, I somehow like to be able to properly see what I am about to eat. The lovely artwork which is on sale would also benefit from more lighting.
Good evening out, good food and an enjoyable moment.

For Victoria this is a great little place. I put it just behind L’Ecole Brasserie and WAY BETTER than Restaurant Matisse, which one can’t count on being open.
For Café Brio, bear in mind that you’re looking for Café and Brasserie foods, so this is not haute cuisine. That said, the execution is quite good and the service is friendly. I enjoyed the natural light (came during daylight)