Awesome place! We came in on Monday night for our first night in Victoria I’m our honeymoon, had a reservation for 930 and showed up like 910 and they seated us early no problem even letting my hubby choose the seat out of what was available. We were seated on the covered deck next to a nice warm fireplace and the candles and setting were very romantic. The fishermans soup we shared was to die for! We had trouble sharing lol also the focaccia and olive tapenade were great. Hubby ordered 10oz steak with blue cheese and truffle oil potatoes… Amazing! And I ordered pulled pork canelloni, was very rich but delicious. They also have an outstanding wine menu. Hostess very sweet and helpful, server was fantastic very friendly and attentive and made sure our experience was memorable. Highly recommend this place and we will return on our next trip!
Nicole B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Victoria, Canada
I would say this had to have been the best restaurant experience I’ve ever had. Pricey, but you get what you pay for. Delicious food, great service.
John B.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Seattle, WA
I thought this place has super cool rustic vibe and was unique setting. Food was just ok at best. My favorite things were the Rosemary bread before our meal and the generic crème brûlée for desert. Our server was nice and attentive but his recommendations were just bad. My lamb was recommended by the server and in my opinion wasn’t great. It had too many flavors attempted at the same time, it was extremely decedent, and the flavor of the actually meat was lacking. Additionally I didn’t like either of the Pinot Noirs my server recommended. Spent a few hundo on dinner and was left wanting something else. I read a few articles before choosing here on a vacation and generally found it was extremely over rated.
Steve W.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Allen, TX
Service was slow and lousy. Wife’s pasta dish was mediocre and my rack of lamb was dry and overlooked!!! Cannot believe so many good reviews. Yuck!!!
Shoma P.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Diego, CA
Kinda expensive… Loved the food and ambiance, the complimentary bread basket with olive tapenade is so delish! I however cut 1 star for the slow service… had to wait quite a bit after being seated to be attended to and the food took a long time to appear too! Would not go there in a hurry.
Lindsey T.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Seattle, WA
This place is great. The building itself is gorgeous, charming, and romantic. We sat in the outside garden which I recommend. There were several things on the menu that looked delicious. As for drinks, their peach speciality cocktail with added vodka was refreshing, light, and not too sweet. I highly recommend. The bread and tapenade is soooo good. If you like olives, you won’t be disappointed. I started with the Caesar salad which was dressed perfectly and very tasty. I tried the tomato soup which was sweet and hearty. It’s not super smooth or creamy so only order if you like tomatoes. I recommend both. As for my entrée, I ordered the filetto d’alibut. Although it came highly recommended, I wasn’t a huge fan. The pasta and veggies were good but the fish itself wasn’t to my liking. Something about the blackberry, balsamic reduction, and cheese clashed to me. I really wanted to love it too! It was just… odd…but not awful. I had a bite of the polenta that came with the short ribs(Brasata) and they were creamy and delicious! I heard the short ribs were insane. I recommend that dish if you are a fan of red meat. For dessert, the vanilla bean gelato is out of this world. It’s very vanilla forward, smooth, creamy, and rich. I would split it with someone. I will definitely return every time I visit Victoria! Tip: the woman next to me ordered the risotto as a ½ portion instead of full. It was still a hearty portion size. Wish I would have known beforehand!
Bonnie W.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Calgary, Canada
You can’t go wrong here. The delicious fresh tomato soup, bread and olive tapenade would have been enough. Portions are generous. Service is solicitous and never rushed. The ambience was energetic and pleasant with colourful paintings.
Li Z.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Mississauga, Canada
Hidden in the alleyway, this restaurant is very quaint and rustic. Its interior, a mix of Tuscany and Asian art deco, is packed for Wednesday night(call ahead to reserve!). The kitchen is open with an open flame stove. Not the old school clay dome but a modern steel oven that probably gets very hot. Fresh foccacia and spicy olive tapenade. Whatever is in that olive mix, it’s amazing. That could be my whole meal. Tomato pomodoro. Not bad. Very fresh tasting but if I were to describe it, soupier tomato sauce. It has huge chunks of mozzarella, which was amazing. That’s the money ticket. I’m going to continue to eat bread with magical olive spread. Misto salad, for $ 8. Skip. It offered me pine nuts. It is fresh but I’m completely underwhelmed. I guess I’ll finish the soup… and get back to carbing up. Wait a second… a cesar salad with giant anchovies just passed me. What?! Dammit. That’s what I wanted. I didn’t know you could request that! #fail Now I’m just eating the olive tapenade on it’s own since carbs are bad. I wonder if they sell it?! I’m sitting at the bar. It is really uncomfortable. The bar stools are way too high. I have to lean in and now I have back pain. Halibut… ummm. Great piece of local fish. I just find the sauce overpowering. There’s cheese, rosemary and a sour black currant glaze. The fusilli pasta is in the drippings of the fish coating and very creamy. It is a very rich dish! The pasta was a perfect al dente and the roasted vegetables makes what I would have said a 3* to a 4. Now, excuse me while I go run a marathon to burn those calories. And get a chiropractic adjustment.
Steve B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Bremerton, WA
I tried this place during a trip to Victoria last year, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to go there again. Great ambience and fantastic service. The osso buco was fantastic, as was the meatballs and spaghetti. Definitely a great place to go for dinner. I will be back.
Patrick M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 North Vancouver, Canada
Great meal. Four guys out to celebrate a bike road trip. Hungry & a little tipsy. Excellent service and soul filling food. Reservations. Table was ready & so was every element of the evening. Waiter was smart, didn’t oversell us. Will be back. Highly recommend.
Elizabeth D.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Richmond, Canada
My linguini Marco Polo was sooo good! Tender chicken breast in a mild but very tasty lemon cream sauce with cashews, fresh basil and mango sprinkled throughout the dish… A definite winner! I couldn’t finish the ample helping … Keith had the Linguini con Frutti di Mare~ a very delightful combination of prawns, mussels and scallops in a mildly spicy tomato/white wine sauce… It was perfectly paired upon the suggestion of Justin the Sommelier with a Gavi wine– delicious! Thanks to our Server Dan for a memorable evening!
John W.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Boulder City, NV
As advertised. Had dinner there… my wife had the halibut, I had the short ribs… both were amazing. Great old school atmosphere and the food and service were great! Will definitely go back.
Matt N.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Toronto, Canada
My wife and I spent a week on the island and this was far and away the best meal we had there. Hell, it was the best meal I’ve had in a long time. We’ve been to a lot of places in Toronto that were more expensive than this one and didn’t even come close to the quality of the food here. We started with a simple salad with some hazelnut-coated goat cheese, tasty and pretty modestly sized, nothing to write home about but a nice starter. We then had an eggplant pasta dish that was really spectacular — very flavourful eggplant wrapped in fresh pasta with roasted garlic cloves, mushrooms and other veggies in a creamy, cheesy tomato-based sauce — really spectacular mix of flavours and textures. We then had the venison, which came in a sour cherry sauce with squash-stuffed canneloni and some veggies. Amazing. The highlight of the meal. We finished it with a very rich chocolate cake, which was also really well done and very tasty. More than enough to share. The entrees were quite large, and we had trouble finishing everything, but we didn’t want any of the delicious food to go to waste. All that, with a beer and a glass of wine, for $ 100. I will definitely be back next time we’re in Victoria.
Kitty L.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Coal Harbour, Vancouver, Canada
my favourite restaurant in all of victoria. the cozy, exposed brick setting and outdoor patios are nice contrasts. huge wine selection and incredibly polite staff make this place great for formal/dressy occasions. the large selection of italian staples are amazing and of course there’s desert. don’t forget to make reservations! what a gem of a place.
Gary S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Deer Valley, Canada
Excellent Halibut and Italian Food. Everything is done perfectly from the Caesar salad to the tiramisu. You gotta eat here!
Jessica L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
My boyfriend and came here for our anniversary on our trip to Victoria. And although the food was good, it didn’t wow me like I had anticipated. My boyfriend had come here before and raved about it to me as well as our friends who live in Victoria so I had high expectations of this place. We ordered the mussels and yes they were good but a little heavy for my tastes with the cheese. My boyfriend had the pulled pork cannelloni which he has been dying to try again as he had this the last time he visited and he said it was still good but possibly too rich for his taste. I had a bite and it was nice and creamy but quite heavy. I had the seafood pasta and honestly, I’ve had much better. It was quite average in my opinion. I’d definitely give this place a try again since nothing we had was bad per say, it just didn’t live up to the hype as I’d expected.
Dan S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Seattle, WA
*Hard to get a table, we just walked in and snagged a two top *Waiter forgot my wine half way through my beef short ribs(which were incredible) which bummed me out but all in all the service was good *Solid all the way around, Il Terrazo Carmine’s in seattle is a 5, this one a 4
Nami N.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Bellevue, WA
Bus tour guide suggested us to come here. It was waiting line to sit tables. But bar counter was open and sit there. It was a nice atmosphere and full of customers. We tried Cannelloni e Granchio & Osso Buco. It was a delicious dishes and enjoyed.
Joe D.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Louisville, KY
The ambiance in this restaurant is amazing and I had high hopes for a great Italian meal. Starting with an appetizer of roasted garlic, blue Brie and pita was a super appetizer that was very tasty. The server brought focaccia with an olive tapande that created a bread coma!!! We got through the basket quickly. I ordered the fruiti de mare linguini, which had sufficient shrimp, mussels and scallops. It was good but missed the mark for knocking my socks off. Family had spaghetti and meatballs. Meatballs needed a bit more seasoning but pasta cooked perfect and sauce spicy and good. Eggplant wrapped in pasta was interesting mélange of pasta and eggplant in a tomato sauce but lacked clarity and distinction of flavors. The braised short ribs on the other hand were amazing with a touch of cinnamon. Since we ate so much focaccia we had no room for dessert. Overall a good meal but it really needed differentiation from other Italian meals. Portions were huge and maybe a smaller portion with more distinction would be better? Would have given a 3.5 if I could.
Grant M.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Seattle, WA
Let me start out by saying the service was amazing and the environment very quaint. The food however, was just OK. We got the fire roasted garlic bulb served with fresh baked rosemary flatbread and a wedge of cambozola cheese. The bread was just OK but the wedge of cooked cheese was quite nice. We both had cannelloni. Mine were stuffed with pulled pork and mozzarella, baked with savoy cabbage and smoked bacon cream, topped with a balsamic granny smith apple compote… This seemed like a good idea but was just sort of bland and heavy. I’m not sure what gets lost in translation between Italy and North America but this is a good example of it. Instead of being simple clean flavors we end up with heavy, bland flavors. More meat, more cheese etc. Her cannelloni had roasted butternut squash, asiago cheese served on a bed of grilled vegetables, and coconut curried lentils, served with crab and salmon cakes, topped with cilantro pesto. Sounds amazing right? It was one plate full of conflict. Flavors that have no business being together clash here. Between the two dishes we liked the pulled pork cannelloni better. I’m not sure I’d recommend either though. The wine list was massive but you have to buy the whole bottle. There are just a few wines by he glass which is disappointing. When you have one person drinking wine you really don’t need a whole bottle. For dessert we had the tiramisu, which was pretty decent. Within the context of being a long way from Italy this is a decent restaurant. However, if they got away from the pseudo-Italian food so popular in the US and Canada and started serving real Italian food I’d love this place.