Harbor house Had a 2 evening stay in victoria and decided to look for a nice upscale restaurant with steak on the menu. When we arrived were greeted warmly by staff dressed in traditional black and white, tables were smartly outfitted with white linen and folded napkins. Very traditional fine dining decor. Ordered French onion soup, a 8 oz New York strip and rib eye steak, The soup was very good as were our drinks. When the main course arrived a steak and lobster was placed in front of me. When I protested it wasn’t what I ordered the server questioned my memory and went thru her order book to discover, no I did not order steak and lobster. She said she would correct it, my plate remained in front of me and she proceeded to remove the lobster from my plate, leaving behind a 6 oz steak and the butter and lemon. When I said well, is it even the same steak? “Yes exactly”. Turns out the steak and lobster has a 6 oz steak. Which she admitted to once we enquired. She offered to have a 8 oz steak prepared for me -but by this time I had 1/2 finished my meal. My husbands rib eye steak tasted good but had a 2”x2” blob of gristle. We were compensated for the smaller steak with a complementary drink - but out evening experience was soiled. If we come into a restaurant and pay $50 for a steak. 1- if there is a problem the plate should be removed and dealt with in the kitchen and not be treated like we are in a cafeteria with a $10 plate. 2- staff shouldn’t question if we remembered what we ordered 3- a rib eye steak (the most tender of cuts -quote from menu) should not have 2oz of gristle. Unfortunately, we left unimpressed and will definitely not be spending any more money at this establishment
If you get Victoria as a waitress, leave..the seafood fettuccine was fine, my wife had the ribs, veg and potatoes were cold. Victoria was the rudest waitress I have ever had.
A totally amazing fine dining experience. Professional friendly staff. Had an excellent lobster dinner. Amazing cocktails and some champagne. This restaurant is little bit like stepping into a time machine and visiting the 80's but that is part of what makes it great!
Absolutely a great dining experience with skilled service. We started with an entertaining serving of the Empress 1908 gin and tonic followed by the Oysters Rockefeller - 3 huge oysters covered with bacon bits, spinach and hollandaise with a dash of Pernod, and the pan filed filet of sole done to perfection were wonderful. The halibut was a beautiful piece of fish perfectly cooked but, unfortunately, the accompanying sauce did not did not complement the fish in our opinion. Very good wine list of by the bottle and by the glass. Definitely a restaurant worthy of many return visits.
What a fantastic meal. Our waiter was just the best, an older but clearly more distinguished gentleman who believed in making every table feel that they were special and the only ones that mattered. The food was superb we all ate locally sourced fish. The cocktail our daughter had that turned from blue to pink was something special. Could not fault anything and would absolutely recommend going there.
We had spent the afternoon at Buchart Gardens and had a 7:30 ferry sailing from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA, so decided to have dinner before the sailing. We headed to the Inner Harbour to check on the location of the ferry and happened past the Harbour House restaurant right up the street from the ferry. Saw that there was a small (FREE) restaurant parking lot there so pulled in to check the posted menu. Prices were very reasonable considering the location. In we went, and it was a great choice. It’s an old charm type of restaurant, small, linen tablecloths, and a distinguished waiter who it turned out had a most enjoyable sense of humor. To make it even better we had a great window table where we could see people along the harbor walk. She had the rainbow trout almondine and I had the filet of sole. All in all it was one of the better meals that we had in our almost month long, 20 states, 2 countries vacation trip.
Wonderful food, nice environment, and the best of all...the service! I wish I could remember our servers name, he was excellent. Our little one was acting up so I took her out of the restaurant for a walk.. he came out and found us when it was ready to tell us our dinner was ready. We had such a great experience here!
Exploring Victoria, taken aback by the rich diversity in culture and history we were lucky to stumble across this hidden gem. Located only steps away from the Best Western Plus Inner Harbour hotel, the Victoria Harbour House Restaurant boasts a well rounded menu for varying palates.The staff were friendly and helpful and the service was one of a kind... the personal touch and humor provided a welcoming atmosphere...Bob was fantastic!The food was well prepared and the presentation was simple but perfect for this particular place.We had the Escargot Bourguignon and French Onion soup to start... both very delicious !We enjoyed the 6oz New York Steak with Lobster... the steak was seasoned and cooked to perfection!We also had the Shrimp scampi which was served with a very delicate but flavorful white wine sauce... yummy!Can't forget to mention the fantastic wine and dessert selection! The Crème Brulée was one of the best I've had, the Lemon Cheesecake with blueberry sauce was light and flavorful, and the Chocolate Mousse was dreamy!Overall 4.5 ? for quality, taste, service, location, experience, and atmosphere!The hours are 4pm to 8pm... we went as a walk in and were lucky to get a seat; I would recommend a reservation.
Excellent restaurant, reasonably priced, great service with attention to detail. We ate there three nights in a row and each night the food was beautifully cooked with fresh ingredients, well presented and full of favour. Highly recommend.
I like the sign when you walk in the door “we dress up so you don’t have to” and that set the tone for a local restaurant that is projecting elegance with their menu pricing, wait staff dressed in black attire and white table cloths, but certainly wants you to be comfortable. The wait staff were quite experienced and wonderfully personable. The older gent that waited our table was great actually! Seems most folk there were ordering surf and/or turf, which is what I had - I had a special in fact that came with crab cakes for a starter. The crab cakes were lovely - in fact my wife ordered some herself after tasting those that came with my special. The BC wine suggested was also quite good, but when dinner arrived is when the pricing didn’t quite line up. I ordered a ribeye I’m figuring it will be a thick juicy steak. Juicy it was, smothered in onions and mushrooms - seasoned/cooked well, but thick it was not. The lobster tail I ordered was kinda tiny - I think I got like 4-5 bites after pulling it from its shell. My wife, who was wanting something less hefty, ordered lobster bisque for a main course - a favorite at other higher end restaurants we’ve been to, but this was like no bisque we had ever had (!) and tasted like beef gravy with bits of lobster tossed in and oddly gelatinous and brown in color - maybe it’s a Canadian thing? The decor of the place matched the menu “since 1980” - and it didn’t look like they had updated since. They should probably take down the hanging plants in plastic pots that don’t look very well watered too. With tip our tally came to $235 - the most expensive meal so far during our visit and, with regrets, I have to say that was pretty high price for what came out of the kitchen.