Eating Victoria- Food Blog and Eating Guide

Hi all,

I went to Seattle a few weeks ago with some close friends for a weekend getaway, mostly for partying and shopping. We ended up getting last minute tickets to see Kathy Griffin which was well worth it. She’s hilarious, unedited and almost uncomfortable to endure with her blunt vulgarity. But I like that about her too.

In the three days we were there, we hit up quite a few places. Here a few quick summaries of each one of those.

After we got into Seattle and checked into our hotel, we were absolutely famished. I got on my trusty iPhone and went on the Urbanspoon app to search for nearby restaurants.

We all love Thai food, and Bahn Thai in Queen Anne was a great choice. Located at 409 Roy Street, we were happy it was still open so late. The servers were loudly talking in Thai, which might annoy some customers but I don’t mind it at all. There was a large group that was close to leaving, but they were being rude and difficult to the servers. After they left we were the only ones in the restaurant. I was having some issues with my mouth, in that I had burnt myself the day before embarassingly eating really hot food(temperature) due to my impatience. I didn’t want anything too spicy, so the server was very accomodating and suggested a rice noodle dish with soy. My friends had a phad thai and a masuman curry. The masuman curry was nice, not something I’ve seen on many menus in Victoria. I never thought potatoes would taste good in a curry but it works, nice texture. My rice noodle dish was exactly what  I needed. Not spicy, lots of vegetables and lots of flavour. The noodles were thicker than I expected, but I liked the texture of them. My friend is somewhat of a phad thai conoisseur, and he approved of Bahn Thai’s version. The prices were reasonable, and it hit the spot. I would go back without hesitation.

The next morning we went for a walk through the market in search of a good place for breakfast. A few people recommended Bacco Bistro so we gave it a try. Afterwards we learned there is also another part to Bacco at the lower level, and the decor is better in there, I wouldn’t wait on the street level again. Inside the restaurant was bustling, lots of hungry customers. The breakfasts looked pretty standard, my friends were happy with their breakfasts. I ordered the vegetarian benny upon recommendation of our bubbly server. The coffee was good. Unfortunately I can’t say the same about the food. The server said the hollandaise is out of this world. It was thin and flavourless, the eggs were barely cooked, like jiggly whites. The green salad was bland, the spinach tasted gritty and the tomatoes weren’t even ripe. The polenta it was on had no seasoning either.It was a mushy unappetizing mess, and it infuriated me that it was even served to me. Biggest waste of money for the whole trip.

After the huge disappointment of breakfast at Bacco, I was still hungry so I ventured down to get a Piroshky from Piroshky Piroshky. The smell was intoxicating, nice buttery pastry and fresh baked bread smells. I had an apple cinnamon roll, and it was O.K. It tasted like fresh bread with apples on it. Not a lot going on but it was good quality, and I like that you get to see it all being made. Would I go back? Probably not.

 

We went to Chipotle for a quick late lunch. Chipotle has become quite the institution in the states, recently bought by McDonalds, it’s a billion dollar + chain that serves great food for cheap. I had a veggie burrito with lots of rice, beans, onions, peppers,fresh salsa and guacamole. It was really filling and under 7 dollars. It tasted fresh, lots of cilantro and veggies. It was actually one of the best tasting things we had the whole trip.

That night we saw Kathy Griffin and continued to party through the early hours in the morning. One of the establishments we stopped at was Unicorn. It had a circus/carnival theme, kind of outrageous and zany but it was a good vibe. The food was as expected, lots of fried offerings but adventurous. The drinks were good, and I’d definitely visit again.

The next day we went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, another chain. I wasn’t excited to eat there, but I was impressed with the grandeur of the building. It felt like a cheap palace of Versailles, with marble and huge ceilings. The menu was ridiculously long. I had a veggie burger which had beets in it. The purple/reddish colour was a little unappetizing but it tasted ok. I didn’t like our server, a little too laidback and “too cool” for the job. The portions were way too big, and we felt sick afterwards.

 

We met up with my grandparents for drinks later on at Palisade. It was an impressive room, somewhat of an architectural wonder. The views of the water are fantastic, I’m sure it’s a summer destination for many patio-lovers. The menu reads a bit pretentious. The drinks were delicious and well-prepared. The service was very good.

Our last dinner was at Romio’s in Magnolia. The pizzas were fresh, but a bit on the greasy side. The meat pizza my grandparents ordered had little to no meat on it, we actually thought they forgot to put it on. The greek salad was delicious, especially the dressing. The cucumbers were over-refridgerated, I could tell from the change of colour and the squishy texture. The wine was cheap and the ambiance was funny, it kind of reminded me of a serious eating room seen in Italian mafia movies. Our server was somewhat intimidating with her deadpan mannerisms and lack of expression.

 

Overall it was a fun trip. A couple hits and a couple misses.

Cheers

-Eating Victoria