The Beach House Restaurant
5109 Cordova Bay Rd.
Victoria, BC
250.658.5224
Having grown up in Victoria I had been to the previous restaurant that stood where the new "Beach House Restaurant" stands. It is still a beautiful location and the renovations are stunning. While they are currently only a casual dining restaurant, I hear there are plans to open the bottom level for fine dining.
I had been hearing mixed reviews about this new restaurant, but I felt it was good that people were at least talking about it. It was about time to check it out!
We were seated in the bar area, as it was a pretty busy night for them! I'm not sure if our waiter was one of the owners but he was an older gentleman, very straight to the point, not a whole lot of niceties. I didn't notice there were specials of the evening until the waitress for the table next to us began to spout them off. Which in turn made me realize we had not heard them. That's okay though, we found items we wanted on the menu and waited patiently. We began with the appetizer of fresh chips, which were deliciously crisp and slightly flavoured. Served with a refreshing dip, our table of 4 all enjoyed them. Our waiter then cleared our chip dish in what seemed preparation for our meals arriving, however they didn't arrive for a good 10-15 minutes later. Unfortunately, 2 of our 4 meals were incorrect and had to be re-done so we did not all receive our meals together.
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Unfortunately, a bit hard to tell in these photos what was even being eaten. This is my meal of the night! I had the crispy chicken burger! A crispy chicken breast with BBQ sauce and coleslaw, served on a pretzel bun. Oh my. I must say, it was delicious! I absolutely loved it, and would go back in a heartbeat for it. The fries were also delicious, though my plate didn't come with ketchup and SM's had, I did have to ask for it once the other meals came out. SM had the halibut burger and wasn't impressed with the lack of flavour. PD got the same as me and also enjoyed it, though he got it with a side of poutine and shared that with CD. The poutine was not enjoyed unfortunately, also for the lack of flavour. CD had the cheddar, cream & butter Mac'N'Cheese as her main which she enjoyed. I found it to be a little plain but she liked it!
I think SM & I will go back and try some more items. The prices were affordable and the view hard to beat! I would definitely call ahead next time to get a table by the windows!
Go check out this new restaurant and let's see if we can get it's rating up on Urbanspoon.
Happy Eating!!
La Belle Patate
1215 Esquimalt Rd.
Victoria, BC
250.220.8427
This will be a quick little review for the tiny little "restaurant".
They had a larger menu than I expected, but known for their Authentic Quebecois cuisine, we obviously opted for the poutine and 2 steamies.
Oh man, this poutine looks delicious, doesn't it. I will disclose that I have never been to Quebec, nor had an authentic poutine in my life. I have had many a poutine, but none claiming to be authentic.
Let's get down to it.
The fries were quite delicious. The gravy was flavourful. The cheese was a bit too "squeaky" for me. I like when cheese curds melt with the hot gravy and hot fries. This cheese did not, and maybe that is an "authentic" characteristic, but it wasn't for me. Portions were decent for one. I think there were multiple size options, ours were the smaller option.
What a stark contrast in delicious looking food, eh? These "steamies" do not look very appetizing to me. And truthfully they weren't much to call home (or in this case, blog) about.
A very average hot dog wiener. Simple, flimsy bun. "Sauerkraut"/cabbage and onions on top. Mustard inside. I would give these little steamies a pass if I were to visit La Belle Patate again.
Happy Eats!
Again, another place that had really great reviews. Sounded like a really neat idea. Almost all dishes are $7.95. You choose your pasta, meat, veggies, sauce, toppings. As many options as you'd like. All $7.95. Pretty cool. CKD would be in heaven!
SM and I both knew we had to have the gnocchi, which is a 99c increase in price. I chose chorizo, peas, spinach, alfredo sauce, garlic and parm over my gnocchi. It was a bit too bland for me. I actually, honestly, struggled with coming up with something positive to say about it. ... The parm was nice.
SM ordered his gnocchi with chorizo, peas, tomatoes, and pesto cream sauce, topped with parm. He enjoyed his more than I did but wasn't blown out of the water either.
If you are a sauce-loving, flavour-seeking kinda person, I would pass on this cheap eat!
Service was horrible. Hostess/waitress seemed like she did not want to be there.
My rating: 3/10 overall.
SM: 5/10 overall.
I think we're being a bit generous as well.
A little fresh-ground pepper would really improve the dishes.
Over here for a few days and trying out some new, CHEAP eats!
Our previous sushi favourite, Kamei Royale, proved to be a big fail last visit. Definitely a lunch spot, rip-off for dinner. So, we're here to venture out on a new food journey.
First on the docket, Sushi Star!
Literally a block away from the hotel, I made a short little walk for lunch after seeing great reviews online.
I was warned that it was small, but I got a great window seat all to myself and ordered the Roll & Roll bento box. I chose the spicy tuna roll and yam tempura roll out of about 5 or 6 roll options. The box also came with 2 gyoza, a salad, miso soup and tempura veggies. Can't beat the price! About $12 and change incl tax.
Now for the sushi.
I was excited for the spicy tuna because the pictures showed it came with tempura crunchy bits on top. That's hard for me to resist. It didn't come with it sadly. And the tuna was kind of fishy tasting. Not something I enjoy.
The yam tempura was good. Came with cucumber inside. Quite a large roll. As was the spicy tuna. I wish both rolls had had more flavour.
The gyoza were tiny. But yummy. The salad could have been a bit fresher, though the dressing was yummy.
The tempura veggies were probably my favourite. Perfectly crisp, not at all soggy. 2 green beans which were fresh! One sweet potato and one yam. And one prawn.
The box was filling! If you are hungry and like sushi, I think this place is worth a try! For the money and amount of food you get, I will most likely go again and try something else.
Staff was friendly and attentive!
7/10 overall rating!
Osaka Sushi
1951 Oak Bay Ave.
250.590.6650
Another delicious recommendation from NL. Thank youuuu very much!
We first visited Osaka about a week ago and very quickly visited again within the last week!
Fresh, delicious sushi.
We are always looking to see if anyone else's tuna sashimi comes close to Ebizo's so we tend to try it at new sushi places. Osaka's tuna sashimi was quite good, better than some other places in Victoria which will remain unnamed. It was a nice refreshing cold, slightly fishy but not overwhelming and almost had the same melty-texture of Ebizo's. Ebizo still takes the cake for tuna sashimi in Victoria.
We chose 3 rolls to share.. they had a great menu to choose from. Though, some of their specialty rolls were quite expensive. We got 2 from that list, and one from their regular maki rolls.
First, and my personal favourite, was the Green Dragon roll, a specialty roll. A regular tempura prawn roll with mayo, topped with avocado. I find tempura rolls can sometimes lose their crispiness, but this one was so crispy, topped with the mayo and extremely fresh avocado, the roll was surprisingly very creamy. Great flavour and texture. We got this the second time around as well :)
Second, my next favourite, was the Spicy Ahi and Avocado roll. Their spicy mayo is to die for!!! Such a perfect spice kick and very creamy. Again, the extremely fresh avocado topped this roll off. I found the ahi was a little off for me, but SM loved it. Our second time around we got the regular Spicy Tuna and Avocado roll which was also very delicious.
Third, SM's favourite, was another specialty roll.. I believe it was called the Osaka special roll. I think it had tuna sashimi and cucumber inside, topped with red cabbage and seaweed salad. It was very different and pretty tasty, just not quite worth the price.
Our 2nd time back, we tried their California roll -deep-fried style (which they offer on about 3 different maki rolls). We weren't very impressed with the cali roll, the crispiness of the deep-fried style was yummy and we decided we would try it again with a different roll, but the cali itself was a little tasteless.
Our first time was on a Monday, which is free Miso Soup day. I highly recommend going on a Monday because it can't get much better than free miso soup. But they do have specials every day of the week.
Sadly, the place has been VERY quiet each time we have gone, one of which was a Saturday night!! Please, please, pleaseeee check out Osaka Sushi and keep them in business!
We will definitely be bringing our families along for the ride to try the deeeeliciousss Osaka Sushi, right in your backyard and friendly Oak Bay :)
Update! We have been frequenting Osaka sushi very regularly now. The waitresses and sushi chef know us well!! Our new favourites which we recommend you trying are the hand cones!! Love this place and am so happy to see that it is getting more and more popular each time we go!
Lady Marmalade
608 Johnson St.
250.381.2872
ladymarmalade.ca
A bit of a hipster joint, Lady Marmalade has a seat-yourself kind of atmosphere. After continually hearing great things about the All-Day Breakfast/All-Day Lunch cafe, we decided we must check it out.
I have to skip right to the food, because I'm salivating just thinking about it......
Sadly, their website only has their Toronto menu on it, which surprisingly does not have the delicious sandwich we BOTH ordered.
It was a breakfast sandwich, served on french bread. It came with scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado, cheddar cheese and a delicious mayo that is escaping me right now. (it also comes with cilantro mayo, but I dislike cilantro).
To top it off, it came with pan-fried potatoes and a delicious salad with dressing similar to the ginger dressing at Japanese Village.
The service was nice at the restaurant. Our waitress was very pleasant and attentive with coffee re-fills. I have noticed extremely mixed reviews on Urbanspoon for Lady Marmalade's service, so I think I will have to go again, (darn!! ;p) to really stick by my claim of good service.
I might mention that we did go during the holiday season/boxing week and it wasn't overly busy and the staff were very pleasant. A good sign, in my opinion.
We will definitely be going back... yummmm......!
Update! We did go back to Lady Marmalade and weren't as impressed by the breakfast sandwich the second time around. The salad and dressing were still delicious.
Big Wheel Burger
341 Cook St.
250.381.0050
bigwheelburger.com
"Big Wheel Burger provides the best quality burgers, shakes, sodas and fries through local, sustainable and environmentally friendly resources."
This is Big Wheel Burger's slogan on their website. It's inspiring, makes you feel better about eating burgers and helping your local community.
After seeing reviews on Urbanspoon which were very unfavourable and hearing through family friends to avoid it at all cost, we decided "how bad could it be? let's find out!"
We weren't over the moon with our experience. The staff is friendly and they take your name to call out your order, which I'm always kind of happy about. It personalizes your experience!
Now, time for the food. The food was a bit of a disappointment, I must say.
The patty is definitely homemade, not a cookie cutter patty you'd find anywhere else. It was very chunky and uneven in shape. Not a whole lot of flavour. The cheese on the burger was pretty tasteless as well. Fresh lettuce and a small helping of slightly tasty mayo, the burger was generally pretty bland. Beside their pop machines, which are self-serve, there are a selection of condiments you may add to your burger. Onions, relish, banana peppers and so on. The bun could be a bit more substantial, as the fresh patty juices kinda made it soggy.
The fries were nicely cooked. Golden brown and soft on the inside, slightly seasoned. They weren't a huge disappointment.
Overall, I think if you're feeling like burgers, don't want to go for the whole Pink Bicycle sha-bang!, and are interested in helping your local community, try them out. But don't expect a whole lot of food for the prices you're paying. For $1-2 more, you could have the portions of Pink Bicycle or Bin 4.
If they were to drop their prices, we would consider going back. But for what you get, it isn't quite worth it.
Stay tuned for Burgers Take Over Victoria PT.2!!!
Update! We re-visited Big Wheel burger not too long ago and very much enjoyed our 2nd experience. We tried the famous milkshakes and agree they are pretty fantastic! We would definitely go back again :)
Wow, 2012 has arrived!!
In my very expert opinion (not!), I have decided to announce a food trend for 2012!
One word...
CHIPOTLE.
It's everywhere this year!! I think it will be big all year!
Embrace the smokey taste of chipotle for a little kick in your step ;)
Have a great year everyone!
xoxox.
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