It is a brave thing to open a new restaurant during a pandemic but I am so glad that Rain Dogs took…read morethe chance! This is my new favourite downtown eatery! Wonderful decor, amazing art, great music - but most importantly a fabulous menu. We tried everything in the dinner menu and nothing disappointed. It is impossible to name a favourite. The duck tortellini and the accompanying sauce was so delicious; the pulpo was cooked to perfection; the salmon melted in your mouth. The bread (baked in-house) was as bread should be. The wine selection was impressive and the Gun Street Girl cocktail is my new favourite! Have decided to make Rain Dogs Wine Bar our weekly date night restaurant. Check it out!!!!

I'm new to visiting Victoria and have been making my way through the varied and highly touted…read morelatest and greatest bars and eateries. Was it the attention? Was it the wine list? Was it the menu? I loved all of it. It will be my first stop each and every time I visit. Bar none.

10000/10! First bite in Victoria, BC. Absolutely amazing experience. Wonderful service and even…read morebetter food. My favorite dishes are the steamed clams and garlic shrimps.

Great Spanish tapas spot! We loved the name as native New Yorkers. Started with the hibiscus soda…read morewhich was tart and really well made. We got the Barcelona board and clams and sausage. The board had salami, coppa, and prosciutto and you could tell they were high quality meats. The clams and sausage was our favorite, the sauce it was cooked in was delicious especially with the Foccacia. The chickpeas were a nice touch as well. The portions were filling even when sharing them with someone else. The service was attentive and very friendly, and the interior had a slightly upscale vibe but it was a very chill spot and you don't feel out of place even if you dress. Would highly recommend!

Drove down from courtenay to meet with a friend to go to the…read moreCity & Colour show and she suggested the Block as she had been before. Ambiance was great - super warm and welcoming which was magnified by the host. Super lovely. Then the wait staff. Whoever is hiring/training is doing a great job! Not drinking right now but the cocktail menu was super tempting. Every menu item sounded great. We got some help on ordering from our servers and Tanya picked ones she had enjoyed before. We also sat right beside the pick up window so it was fun seeing food come out! The food was fantastic. See pictures for what we ordered. Not sure if I can remember the names of everything but it was a perfect combo!!

So straight up this place went and took us to places we hadn't been prior to eating at the Block…read more Overall a very enjoyable experience for sure, but you cannot pigeonhole this place, which is a very good thing! We are big fans of traditional fare, but the Block is a place we are so glad we experienced and will certainly return utilizing the knowledge we garnered during our first experience. A big thank you to for helping us through picking one price fixe January exploration of your local restaurants and filling it with other ala carte additions. As we often do we ordered far too much food, wanting to explore everything off a menu that is far reaching. Not sure if our additions worked with the price fixe menu, but we sure enjoyed checking everything out. The interior is interesting with the addition of structural steel in the space to keep this heritage building (I think) standing tall for a few generations. We sure hope it's still here for a long while and will most likely come again the next time we are in Victoria. That is saying a lot as there are a wide range of restaurants in the neighbourhood, but you do want to check the Block out!

Great little spot, like others have stated, make sure you actually go to Perro Negro…read more If I remember correctly, we were directed on the first level and second level before we found the spot. The vibe in the restaurant was nice. Felt like we were teleported away for a few hours. Everyone was chatting away eating. It was an open space, but not hard to have a conversation. Our waitress was prompt and attentive. She made great recommendations on wine and food. We ended up taking advantage of their special shared tapas menu for two at $59.50 CAD. I ordered some wine by the glass to go with some of the dishes. We didn't have any preference in the order, so our waitress brought things out as we finished. The spread included bacon wrapped stuffed dates, chorizo puffs, salad, veggies, croquettas, patatas bravas, prawns, beef short ribs, and a chocolate mousse-like dessert. Everything was so tasty! It starts off so well with the bacon wrapped stuff dates and you think there will be a dip in taste at some point. I believe the only dish we didn't finish were the veggies, done ratatouille style, we were pretty full so we chose not to finish this one and make sure we could eat dessert. She did figure out I was american when I tried to give her my credit card. I always forget they bring those credit card devices to your table outside the US. I would definitely go back to try some of the other menu options.

Atmosphere- lovely. Would give it a 4.6. Warm, whimsical, quiet enough to have a conversation but…read morevibrant as well. Service - the right amount of attentiveness. Knowledgeable staff. Really nice people. Easy 5. The food was good. The olives were excellent quality. Wondered how they would be warmed - warmth accentuates the silkiness. The squid was really lovely. Not overcooked and plated well. The aguachile was enjoyable, the acids well balanced. 4+ We enjoyed a glass of Pinot Noir - good call by the waitress!

Humboldt was a perfect stop for a drink before dinner. I love the ambience - dark, soft lighting,…read moreplush seating. It reminded me of cocktail bars in NYC. Our server was super knowledgeable and we loved our drinks. I'd go back in a heartbeat!

Such a cute little place. We went for happy hour - we saw it advertised in the elevator at the…read moreDoubletree, which is the hotel above it. The happy hour drinks menu was super fun. I tried sn American style Canadian lager and a gimlet made with flavored gin. The gimlet was delicious. My boyfriend had a whiskey drink that was like an old fashioned and he said it was great. I can't wait to go back.

we made an online reservation for brunch, received booking confirmation and reminders but when we…read moregot there, the doors were closed, chairs up and no notification that our reservation had been cancelled. Extremely unprofessional and disappointing

Stopped in on a whim and we just squeaked by getting a table in the window before dinner…read morereservations started coming in. Enjoyed some delicious Spanish white wine (Adegas Valmiñor Dávila Albariño Rías Baixas, Spain) and shared La Petite cheese board with the 3 cheese option. We weren't ready for dinner but the Raclette being served at other tables looked amazing-- we enjoyed Raclette in Annecy, France and it looked and smelled just the same. We were there on Fondue Friday and a lot of tables were eating Fondue, which also looked incredible. We live in the USA, but would definitely come back on another trip to Victoria in the future.

Despite not having a great experience with the fish offerings at this restaurants, I'd still go…read moreahead and say that Stage is amazing and has some potential to make changes to the menu! Love the European Wine Bar/French Bistro vibes they have going and it's located in the cute Fernwood neighbourhood. Love their approach on French-inspired foods and showcasing seasonal local fresh veggies and plating it differently. The food is fresh and light, which is always nice for a French restaurant. We got the local crudités served with the eggplant roasted dip and it was a delight. The tomatoes were fresh and I appreciated the various textures, depth and flavours. The dishes are great for sharing. Love the pomme frites. The BBQ shishitos were a treat! The bread and butter were phenomenal. I believe that it is freshly baked. The service was amazing! They have a great ever-changing wine list from Europe as well as different parts of Canada. In addition, they have amazing cocktails. Unfortunately, Stage fell a little short for us. We had sent an email in advance mentioning that we are pescatarians and do not eat meat. We were very excited to try their fish offerings (Halibut and Rockfish) off the menu that night but our waitress informed us that the kitchen wouldn't be able to make any changes to the dishes and that some meat products were used in both fish options. We were very disappointed, especially since the food is so good. I recommend and advise that if you have two fish offerings, at least leave one completely pescatarian and free of meat products. We also didn't want to opt for the warm potato salad with mackerel since we had already had the pomme frites. As a result, we did not have a suitable protein option that night. This was the only thing that ticked us off, considering the level of care and pride they take with the food in their restaurant.

Really nice wine bar. Great wine and atmosphere. A bit pricy but very nice wine selection.read more

TL;DR: Stylish, confident, and memorable. Absolutely worth…read moreplanning your day around. If I lived in Victoria, this would be a regular. If you're visiting, it belongs on your short list. Food: The beef tartare was a standout. Easily one of the best bites of the trip and arguably the best tartare I've had, full stop. Thoughtful without being precious. Drinks: Cocktails lean more inspired than perfectly balanced, but that works here. Nothing mind blowing, nothing wrong. A solid B+ across the board. Vibe: Feels like a moody, posh NYC basement bar. Dim lighting, techno and jazz, well dressed 20 and 30 somethings on dates or out for the night. The room does a lot of the heavy lifting, in a good way. What could be better: Cocktails could use a touch more balance and restraint. The ideas are strong, but a bit of dialing in would elevate them from good to great.

Food, service and ambiance were excellent! Can't wait to go back!!…read more The drink menu is amazing. So many unique creations! The food was a sharing menu with 2 to 4 choices for 2 people. We chose e items and it was the perfect amount for us.

The food very good. We had the fries cooked in tallow, the beef tar tar stack, and the mushroom…read moreappetizers. We were just off the ship for a few hours but wanted to check this place out. Sorry I am not sure what the dessert was, but it was very good. We were celebrating my daughters birthday and it was a nice touch with the sparkle firework candle. The atmosphere is super cute, love the Alice in wonderland influence. We were seated at the booth where you can just press a button for the champagne experience, cool concept. The service was good.

An adorable spot on Herald! Love the aesthetic and overall vibe. We sat at the bar and had four…read moredishes and two glasses of wine each. The wine was fab! They also give you free popcorn as a nibble. I got The Savant white - so good I just ordered a second glass. As for food we got the smoked fish dip, charred romaine, and Mushroom Lo Bok Go to start and then shared the special for main which was the tuna tataki. The fish dip was good, I would just serve it with wider chips so it's easier to pick up. Flavour was great. The charred romaine was something our wonderful server recommended which we wouldn't order had he not told us to and we were really happy we did! The sauce was so good on this dish! The mushroom dish was interesting and yummy. The tuna tataki was prob my favourite in terms of flavour - it was dilly with beautiful big chunks or tuna and fingerling potatoes. Overall we enjoyed our experience here!

A quaint and quiet place to enjoy and excellent meal. The…read moreScallops and Pork belly are incredible as well as the duck. Very reasonable prices for the food quality and taste.

Good food. Relaxed atmosphere with good service. Menu could rotate more to seasonal foods…read more Enjoyable and would come back