Eating Victoria- Food Blog and Eating Guide

Ric’s Grill
910 Government St.
250-381-7427

Ric’s Grill is hot real estate on Government St, stumbling distance to the Empress and the rest of downtown. A friend of mine was visiting from Vancouver and he suggested we go to Ric’s because he had some gift cards to use up. I had eaten meat a couple days beforehand (on Christmas Day), so I wasn’t opposed to going to a steak house. The restaurant is massive inside, but it wasn’t too busy, we went around 7:30. Our server didn’t exactly match the steakhouse vibe. She was socially awkward and didn’t seem to have much menu knowledge, two things that aren’t exactly qualities one looks for in a server. Regardless, I wasn’t there to nitpick on every detail, okay, maybe just a bit. What can I say? I’ve been involved in the food industry for close to 10 years now, so it’s second nature to point out things that could be improved upon.

I was pleased to see that there was a somewhat ethical beef choice for steaks on the menu. For seafood, the majority of the offerings are Oceanwise, which I commend Ric’s for supporting. I ordered the Spring Creek Ranch ” Natural” NY steak medium, roast potatoes and veggies. All of us ordered steaks, and we waited patiently for our food amidst enjoyable and much-needed catching up.

The portion size was generous, but for over 30 dollars, it’s to be expected. The meat was not how I requested, it was more on the rare/med-rare side when I asked for medium. My friend ordered his medium rare so perhaps they switched up the plates. It would be easy to do, because all three plates had the same vegetables. Those said vegetables were delicious. I’ve never eaten squash with the skin on before, I thought it was a mistake in preparation but my friend says he eats squash like that all the time. Learn something new every day eh? The maitre’d butter on top of the steak was packed with flavour, a compound butter of sorts. A little extra fat never hurts in the flavour department

Even though the steak wasn’t prepared how I requested, I still enjoyed it very much. It was juicy, flavourful and who knows, maybe I’ll start ordering my steaks medium rare from now on. I wasn’t paying for the meal, so I was very happy to order a steak for over 30 dollars. But I definitely couldn’t afford that on a regular basis. I would go back for the food, but the service was kind of a miss. The ambiance was a bit dark and the room felt sparse. But then again, there goes my nit-picking again.

Cheers

-Eating Victoria

Montana’s Cookhouse
315 Burnside Rd. W
250-978-9333

I’ve come to the conclusion that there are no good places to eat in the Tillicum/ West Burnside area of Victoria. You have your choice of mall food, buffet food, or American chain restaurants. Montana and it’s conjoined twin disjointed at birth, Kelsey’s, dominate the Tillicum parking lot. I’ve been three times for lunch in the last few months, and I’m putting my foot down. I think it’s robbery for restaurants in Victoria to charge money for what is almost on the same level as garbage. Processed foods, poor quality meats and high fat artery clogging “food”.

Montana’s is as bad as it gets. It offers a 15 minute express menu, so this loosely translates to sandwiches and fries, if it’s over 15 minutes then you get it for free. Montana’s is a restaurant reminiscent of Shenanigan’s( if you’ve ever watched the movie Waiting with Ryan Reynolds, you know exactly what I’m talking about). Where people can get all-you-can-eat ribs, and complain about one thing and get their whole meal for free.  The drinks are served in plastic glasses I swear could hold almost a litre of liquid, and they charge you three dollars for it, but don’t worry, you can get “free” refills. My friend had chicken here, with fries and coleslaw. He said it was O.K. I had a quesadilla one time which was so greasy, I had to break out the napkins and wipe it up. I had a half turkey clubhouse with caesar salad and a pot-roast soup another time, which was decent, but when I’m paying over 16 dollars for lunch, it makes me sad that my money doesn’t equal the same quality in any given establishment. Sixteen dollars at Montana’s feels a lot different than sixteen dollars, let’s say at a place like Relish. The only commonality is that they both serve lunch. Montana’s is at the pinnacle of processed and cheap product, whereas Relish is all homemade and locally sourced. How can my money be so abused. Why offer 100 items on a menu, when you can offer 10 items that you can execute consistently and provide better quality ingredients. Riddle me this ,Victorian restaurants.

Thanks for letting me rant e-space.

Milestones Inner Harbour
812 Wharf Street
250-381-2244

I have been to the Milestones Inner Harbour location over 5 times now, but this last visit may very well be just that, my last.  I’ve been holding off putting up this review as I was hoping my friend may guest review( and he still might), as he was most affected by the experience. I have had some good meals at Milestones, but the last two times have been disheartening. I had the chowder which was lukewarm at best, which was unfortunate because the flavours are really tasty, but I couldn’t get past the temperature and the stale tortilla chips. But this last visit takes the cake, the best way to sum up Milestones is: expert industry prices with sloppy service and novice preparation, doesn’t quite match up.

We had made reservations( as it was my friend’s Birthday), and it was a comfortable table of 5. Milestones has a laid back feeling, with beautiful furnishings, and the view is fantastic. The service on the other hand is appalling. It took ages for us to even be greeted, let alone get our drinks. We were enjoying each others company, but come on now, serving a table which you can make some money off of( we were all drinking and eating) is more important to clustering around and gossiping with other servers. We were served by more than three different people throughout the night, which made it a bit confusing. With three people you think there would be some quality control or at least someone to talk to if something wasn’t to your standard. My friend SP ordered a steak for his birthday, and our food was dropped off abruptly and no one came back to follow up. It’s a rookie mistake to not come back and check a steak within the first few bites. My friend ordered it medium, but it came prepared on the rare side. It was chewy, and a pool of blood soon formed. At least 15 minutes went by before we were able to flag down a server, who was about as useful as a knife for a bowl of soup. She exclaimed,” oh yeah, that is pretty rare, let me go talk to the kitchen.” She came back leisurely, and said that since my friend had eaten more than half of the steak they couldn’t get him a new one/ or refund him. What other option did he have? No one else came to the table, she obviously wasn’t doing her job, and all she could offer was a dessert? It was his birthday anyways, so he would have received a dessert anyways. She charged him full price for the steak that wasn’t prepared how he ordered it ( over 20 dollars), and we received a pumpkin creme brulee, which would have insulted anyone who tasted it. It tasted like watery pumpkin butter. It was a bitter way to end an atrocious experience. Our bill for the table came to over 150 dollars. Regretfully, the dish I ordered was, it pains me to say it, actually really delicious. It was a harissa chicken breast that was juicy and flavourful, with a yoghurt dressing over a pilaf and seasonal vegetables. Even though my entree was delicious, what happened to my friend and the service overall was unforgiveable. What ever happened to consistency. Chef’s should be paid more, or at least someone with enough experience should be cooking steaks. Servers on the other hand, especially at Milestones should receive some training, it was a complete joke. At the end of the night, we weren’t served. We were dropped off and charged for it. If you eat here, you’re playing Russian roulette. Might be decent, or a money-suck.