Pablo’s Dining Lounge

Very tasty. The advocado salad was the best!

I love food and am willing to wait a while for it. But we never received any food besides the bread! we waited for 2hrs and then finally decided to leave. The waiter never came over to explain the wait or why we weren’t getting our food. I will never return to Pablo’s dinning lounge and will let everyone know not to waste their time there!

I went here for Dine Around so I wasn’t expecting to be blown away, based on previous Dine Around experiences at other establishments.
The location is right in the heart of tourist land, that should have been my first clue this was going to be sub-​par. It’s in a lovely old home that has been redone in a 90s modern style décor. The washroom I used was a shock; I’ve seen cleaner restrooms at a truck stop. The paper towel had not been restocked and the gross toilet brush was right next to the toilet. I’d expect that in a home, not a restaurant.
Onto the meal; I heard by word of mouth to expect being there 2 – 3 hours for a three course meal. Alcoholic drinks were served within a reasonable time, water took a bit longer and refills on water were very slow during the first couple hours but improved near the end of the meal. The bread served to fill the massive void in time was warm and quite sweet in my opinion, but settled my rumbling starving stomach.
Appetizers finally arrived and looking at my watch after that course I discovered my group had been there 2 hours already, orders for food taken around 30 minutes in.
My roasted red pepper soup was good. I found it well seasoned although a bit on the cold side for a hot soup. It didn’t blow me away for a soup that costs $ 14 on the regular menu, but for the Dine Around price it was good enough.
The pork tenderloin on the other hand was a bit of a mess. I’m not sure how a fine dining establishment can overcook a tenderloin but it was a bit chewy and dry dry dry. I soaked up as much of the mushroom sauce as I could and would have looked a bit of water in my empty glass at this point. The squash tasted fresh, a bit of the crunchy side. Mashed potatoes, oh my, where to start. I’ll start by saying I LOVE garlic but there was so much garlic in these that several people said their tongue was burning; again with the need for water. I know everyone has a very personal preference for mashed potatoes so for me these could have used more crème and or butter. I probably should have taken to drinking wine at this point. If I had been paying full price I probably would have sent this whole thing back, but due to the massive discount I kept my mouth shut.
The dessert I choose was delicious. Crème caramel. I also had a taste of the ice cream which I would highly recommend and the crème brulee which I would not. All the desserts came with a little lattice of melted sugar. Again nothing blew me away about the desserts or their presentation but I can’t often complain about desserts.
That concluded my 4 HOUR visit. I was hoping to put this place on my list for a higher end date night with my partner but I won’t be going back anytime soon.
For me Dine Around should be a time for restaurants to showcase the best they have to offer, after all word of mouth can get people back in at full price later in the year. I hope I have better luck next time I try a new one.

Is it possible to give this place no stars? Worst dining experience ever, in fact we didn’t even get to eat… let me explain. We went there for «Dine around Victoria.» Four people ordering.
SKIP TO THE BOTTOM IF YOU WANT TO READ THE COLES NOTES VERSION but here is the full story.
Made reservations for 8 o’clock. Arrived prior to 8 and we were seated at approximately 8:05 (no big deal). Although the servers did seem frazzled by our arrival. Maybe we should have taken the hint.
We were given the wine menu and ordered a bottle of wine (Muse Merlot). Wine glasses arrived first, and then we received the wine approximately 8:10 (5 minutes after being seated, no big deal).
We then were given the food menu after we received the wine, probably another 10 minutes after getting the wine.
Ordered food at approximately 8:25 or so. Three courses were ordered: Appetizer, entrée and dessert. For the appetizer, one person ordered the lobster bisque, another the french onion soup, another the escargot, and the last ordered oysters. These were all part of the Dine Around menu. My point is that it was two soups, and a raw meal!
Between 8:30 and 9:30 we received no food, we had to ask for water twice (because the waiter forgot, and then when we asked again he said they were ‘out of glasses’… for water?) That should’ve been the sign that we need to boogie on out of there. But we waited.
Between 8:30 and 9:30 the waiter didn‘t really visit us at all, nor did he explain what was going on with our food… Two other tables, one of 4 (like us) and another table of 2. Table of 4 arrived after us and got their appetizer, but nothing else, and they got it at around 9:30. The table of 2 ate their appetizers at around 9:15, and we later found out that they arrived there at 7:30 (WE SHOULD’VE RAN at that point). Lucky for us we overheard a waiter saying to the other table of 4 that there was bread in the oven and it would be out shortly.
9:30 our luscious bread arrives MMMMMM delicious… that was all we ate.
9:45 we decide we’ve had enough. The other table of 4 also upped and left, as they never got any food other than the appetizers. The table of 2 also left.
!!!COLES NOTES VERSION !!! Waited 1 hour and 45 minutes, did not get any food, no apology from manager or waiter. In fact, we paid full price (which is overpriced) for our bottle of wine.
If you want to go there, eat before you go, and only if you have 2+hours to kill and dont actually want to eat food.
The best part about the experience was watching the old man from the other party of four kick down the open sign as he walked out the door.

Fantastic food, and the service was fantastic. We had not been to Pablo’s before, but decided to make a «Date night» of it.
This is not a «Lets go out for dinner restaurant» like Earl’s or Cactus club people.
If you want fine dining in a very romantic atmosphere, and really enjoy the night and impress your date, this is a great place to go. Food prices are reflected in the quality of the food, and the professional wait staff.
Your going to look at spending $ 100 – 150 for a couple night out, and that is worth it in the quality of the food and service along with the atmosphere.
Thank you John!
We will be back again.

One of the worst experiences I have ever had in an establishment that is supposed to be fine dinning. We ordered a bottle of Gnarly Head 2007 Old Vine Zinfandel for $ 45. They are out of it. We ordered a 2008 Cline Zinfandel. They are out but have 2009 for $ 48. We take it.
Fifteen minutes later after enjoying some wine we order. The 3 course fillet mignon special, ordered rare, which has a salad started for her and frog’s legs starter for me followed by duck confit.
IT IS ONE HOUR for the 1^st course to come. Salad will turn out to be the best thing of the food items. The frog’s legs are small and over spiced.
After clearing the starters it is another 30 minutes for the mains to come. The ad for the filet shows a 1 inch thick AAA steak topped with a Bearnaise sauce. What came out was a ½ inch steak with deep grill marks. It was clear that the cook had over pressed the steak while cooking it and after cutting it this was confirmed as it was cooked medium well. The confit was an ugly grey colour with no crispy skin. They went back. 10 minutes later a new steak come out again with deep grill marks and again over cooked. The duck looked worse for what ever they did to it during that time.
Over 2 hours have passed and still no steak cooked the way it was ordered so we did not try for a third one and let the server know we would be leaving. The best part of the evening was after we offered to pay for the wine and starters they would not let us.

I went for dinner here with my parents and wife a short while ago. I’ve read two other reviews on this restaurant and I’m pretty surprised they didn’t find the experience more pleasant.
How I heard about it:
I heard about this restaurant from a friend of mine and was told pretty clearly that it was an expensive place to eat, but that the food and atmosphere were excellent. It was for this reason that my wife and I decided to take my parents here.
The Atmosphere:
I don’t go out that much as a rule. When I do, I’m generally underwhelmed by the surroundings.
Pablo’s is in an old character home near the waterfront in Victoria. The décor is nice; it’s not particularly elegant, but instead is refined, functional and pleasant.
There were a number of features of the main dining area (I gather there’s another dining area upstairs in the restaurant) that I rather liked.
The first thing I liked was that the tables were set appropriately far apart; I wasn’t sitting close enough to other tables to hear their conversation (s) particularly, and there was enough room to sit down and get comfortable without worrying about banging my chair into other patrons.
The second was that the settings on the table were very neat and functional and, most importantly, spacious enough to use. I really dislike being crammed into a table where I can’t actually eat without hitting other folks with my elbows, napkin or what have you.
Finally, the central fire place was a very nice touch. It was warming (where we were seated at any rate) and made the whole experience very cosy.
The Service, Appies, and ordering:
We were greeted by the owner, I believe, who quickly seated us and took a drink order. I knew this was going to be expensive and wasn’t surprised at mixed drinks in the $ 8-​$ 10 range.
Our drinks arrived very quickly (maybe 5 minutes) after we were seated along with the menu. My martini was excellent, and the rest of my crew were happy with theirs.
We were waited on by the owner and ordered some appetizers to start and looked at what we might like to have for dinner.
The appetizers came out within about 10 minutes and were all quite nice.
We lingered over the appetizers for about 15 minutes during which we placed our meal orders and an order for wine.
The Main Course and the Wine:
Now, it’s important to note that this restaurant specializes in continental French quisine. I’m not too fussy about liking any particular style of cooking, but French style quisine is somewhat unusual for me — it’s not the kind of meal I’m likely to cook at home.
We all ordered different dishes — I had a steak dish, my wife had a lamb dish and my parents had fish. To be honest, I don’t remember the names of the dishes we had (not fussy about styles of food, remember) but we all had really great food.
What I found with my meal was that the food was hot, the portions were pretty good (not huge, but not small either), the vegetables were cooked properly (not raw and not cooked to death) and the other trimmings were excellent.
The wine was fantastic! The wine list at Pablo’s is pretty extensive, and there’s not too much on that list that I would call «cheap». I wish I could remember exactly what I had, but it went very well with the meal.
It’s probably useful to note that I’m not a big wine guy. I like Scotch and spend a fair amount on a good bottle from time to time. It was a little uncomfortable for me to look at the $ 70+ bottles of wine with dinner, but the waiter recommended something for us after asking our preferences for wine.
I guess you get what you pay for in Wine as you do in Scotch!
The Cost:
My meal was $ 28 for the main course and the rest of my family were in a similar price range. Appetizers were around the $ 10 — $ 15 range, depending and the desserts were around $ 10.
Final impressions:
The meal was not inexpensive, but it wasn’t too bad. Without the bottle of wine, the meal would have been similiar in price to what I would have paid at someplace like the Keg and, in my opinion, a far more pleasant experience.
I don’t think Pablo’s is intended to be a place to go for a nice and fast meal. When I went it was for a long evening with my family and the focus of the experience was to have good food, good drink and good company. Pablo’s was a great place for that.

Well, 2.5 stars would be more accurate. We went for Sunday brunch. The food was fine (not bad; not memorable), but overpriced and serving sizes were small. Service was friendly, but ridiculously slow. There was only one waitress. She was working hard, but it was more than ½ an hour from when we sat down to when we received our entrees. We were getting so frustrated (& hungry) that we were close to telling the waitress to cancel our orders and bring us the check, but the food showed up just in time to save that from happening.
The atmosphere is very pleasant, but if I had the chance to do it over again, I’d take my dollars elsewhere. It’s too bad – place is operated by some nice people.