blue crab seafood house

just arrived in our coast victoria room after dinner tonight at thebluecrab. we(my wife and i) had high hopes after reading the reviews of previous diners. we were placed at a table with a gorgeous view. the waiter(grant) arrived 5 minutes later to explain the specials. i practically had to trip him to place a drink order as he seemed rushed and a bit discombobulated. my mohito arrived in a large glass lacking any mint substance and rather ho-hum. my wide and i ordered the crab cakes to start. my wife ordered the dungeness crab with drawn butter and risotto and i had the king crab with risotto. the minuscule crab cakes were brought in short order. lacking in crab but not filler. we were told by grant the quantity of crab amounted to 1-1/2 lbs. the dungeness crab shell likely weighed 1 lb. i had adequate king crab. the dungeness crab tasted of the freezer and my king crab was out of a freezer as well. if there was an oatmeal option instead of the risotto it would have been a better option than the watery risotto mush we were served. an italian would have walked out straight away. near the end of our meal my wife fell ill shivering quite heavily. after waiting approx. 10 minutes after my wife left for the room grant arrived asking if we wished for dessert. i explained that my wife fell ill for some reason and i only wanted the bill. i settled the bill against our room number. my wife's sudden illness after the meal should have raised a red flag; however nobody from the restaurant or hotel management inquired about my wife's condition. i am now in the room with my wife huddled under a blanker and the temp turned up to high heat. we shall see what transpires later this evening. disappointment is an understatement with the entire experience except for the table with a view. never again!! costco will be getting our business for seafood.

best in town for 20 years. i have been going tobluecrab since 1996 at least, for special occasions, most recently 2 days ago for prawn fest. 2 of us, cocktails, appies, seafood, wine....just $112....incredible food for incredible value. i have never been disappointed, and always impressed. quality, service, ambience...all of it. i have brought friends, family, colleagues, etc. and they too are happy. maybe attitude has something to do with some of the less favourable?
still and always will be my favourite.

tried this place for the first time and we were overall very happy with our meals. we started with the crab cakes and a caesar salad, while the wife opted for the pesto pasta and i had the lobster and ny strip as our mains.

the crab cakes were really good, ample amounts of crab and not a ton of filler. they were well cooked and served with a nice sauce and tasty slaw. the caesar salad was decent but nothing amazing.
the pesto pasta was well cooked, was tossed in a creamy pesto sauce and was actually really good. i’m very much a steak person and thebluecrab managed to do it right. it wasn’t a perfectbluerare, but it was as close as i have had in victoria. the lobster was perfectly cooked and well seasoned.

overall, we really enjoyed the meal, although there wasn’t much else on the menu that was jumping out at us. would definitely try this place again.

the drinks are overpriced compared to everywhere else.

we went to thebluecrab to celebrate our fifth anniversary. we were seated by the window that had a beautiful view of the harbour. while the food was good, the service was very odd as i felt that the server did her best to try and dissuade from ordering crab, (which seems odd considering it's called thebluecrab...) strange service aside, it was a positive experience and i would come back.

sadly i was disappointed with our experience. i've always liked thebluecrab and enjoy taking friends from out of town for good west coast seafood. last night however, we made a reservation days in advance for 7:30. we ordered our dungeness crab dinners with side veggies, not cheap! the waiter came back about 15 mins later to tell us they were out of crab. okay this is the second time i've experienced this withbluecrab. how can they call themselves a "seafood" restaurant and be out of crab in the middle of a friday evening dinner service? we had to settle for frozen snow crab which was tasteless and rubbery. even the veggies, roasted root vegetables, were to hard to spear with a fork.
for two of us with a glass of wine each the tab was $145 for a really lousy meal. the only thing good about it was the view. i can see this view though from many other venues in victoria. i pretty much doubt i'll return again. they seriously need to step up their game.

as mentioned in other reviews, the service was top notch.
i have celiac and had no gluten issues here. everything was well-labelled on the menu and there were plenty of gluten-free options.
prices were on par with the food quality and the fact that it's mostly seafood. we spent about $150 including drinks, the $105 platter for two, and dessert.
my only complaints were that the crab came out together with the entree (steak with prawns and scallops and veg on a bed ofbluecrab risotto) and that my steak was undercooked. i actually like it on the rarer side of medium-rare so for me it was fine, but it was definitely rare.
the problem with everything coming out together, which apparently they did on purpose, is that the crab takes a long time to eat. with it being the star of the meal you want to eat it first, but then your steak is cold and your prawns are hard and your risotto is soggy.
the king crab legs were pre-split, in contrast to a previous reviewer's comments, so maybe they've listened and improved that aspect of the meal.
my wife gives special mention to the croissant pudding, she loved it.
it was all delicious, but it could have been amazing. a strong 4 stars.
i would definitely go back, and now i'd know to ask for the crab and entree separate.

we came here with friends for their 'dine around town' menu, maybe that's a mistake.  the place was packed when we arrived for our 7:30pm seating, which should be a good sign for higher customer turnover and fresher seafood, right?!! no so in my case with my half dozen of 'fresh' oysters - they were served warm with no liquid, let alone they're also tiny and tasteness.  

my main - the artic char was the saving grace.  although it's overcooked, at least it was not fishy and not drowned in sauce.  the latke was nicely prepared.  

other than my hubby who had crab and risotto, all my friends ordered scallops and prawns - either it was a good choice or they're being polite as i didn't hear any complaints.  

it will take me a while to get over the oyster scare before i will head back tobluecrab.

so i'll start off by saying that it's very rare for me to tip more than 20%. in fact, i think it's only happened twice before tonight. glen was by far one of the best waiters i have ever had. he made us feel so comfortable and was extremely helpful and kind. kutos to fantastic service. the food was good - it wasn't mind blowing, but it was all good. and unlike o'bistro (where i just had cocktails last weekend) this bar actually put booze in our drinks. i will absolutely go back.


i went back tobluecrab this weekend (may 2017) and wanted to re-review it.  again the service was spectacular, but i find the prices a bit out of control....the wine is also over priced and again, nothing blew me away. the worst part is that everyone's side dishes (risotto and the israeli couscous) were all infused with rosemary which none of us like.  if you're not a huge fan of rosemary, do yourself a favour and mention it before ordering - this isn't just a sprig you can remove...it's everywhere and there's tons of it.

went to thebluecrab this evening to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday. it was amazing. we ordered the platter for two. first off, they kept asking if we wanted more bread!!! second of all, our waiter hunter, made sure that our wine glasses were never empty. their clam and muscles were cooked perfectly! the tenderloin was scrumptious , as well as the rice, veggies, and prawns. the scallops were overcooked but it didn't wreck my meal. i loved the butter on the tea light to keep it warm, and the lemon water bowl. the king crab would have been better if the shells were cut open for easy access (like some restaurants i've been to do). i found it extremely difficult to get into the crab, and once i did my steak had gone cold. other than that- everything was amazing and the views were gorgeous. will be back!

date night atbluecrab. saturday night and the dining room was full so we ended up sitting in the lounge. it was confortable and we luckily got a window seat which was fantastic because the view is spectacular. to eat, we ended up sharing the 3 course dungeness crab feast with denman island oysters to start. also had an a la carte ceasar salad with pancetta. to drink, negroni and martini with a bottle of kindle merlot. all the seafood was super fresh and crab cooked perfectly.bluecrab rissoto had great consistency. denman island oysters among my favourite and these were well shucked. ceasar salad was best ive had in a long time. romaine super fresh and dressed so you could still taste lettuce with a perfectly balanced flavour. when the bill came it was a pleasant surprise actually :) everything was very good but what makes this a 5 star rating had to be the service. our waiter was awesome. so thanks for making our date night a big success and we'll be back.

we went to thebluecrab seafood house for crab fest and had an absolutely magnificent dinner - and it was exactly what we were looking for.  i looked online at the crabfest menu and saw that you could order three types of different crab and it's served on a wooden board with crackers and butter - perfect! we started with the crab bisque and the clam chowder. i took a taste of the chowder first and thought i'd be disappointed with the bisque but i was not! they were both very good but the bisque was excellent. delicious. then we had a pound of alaskan king crab. absolutely divine! it was perfect and exactly enough. their house red wine was excellent as well. the view was great and we enjoyed watching the traffic to and from the boats below.

dine around-lovely. had a very nice meal during this year's dine around at thebluecrab. the service was great. quality of food very nice! i expected more from my chocolate lover's dessert, but it was ok. great value for $30. the view was outstanding. this restaurant never disappoints.

not lobster. my partner and i dined at thebluecrab restaurant in the coast harbourside hotel in victoria, bc. i ordered the salmon, it was sockeye and perfectly grilled, vegetables were great, not overcooked. however, my partner order the surf and turf, supposedly lobster and tenderloin. absolute rip off for $36.00, that is not lobster tails they are serving us westcoasters, an eastcoaster would know for sure. what they are is crayfish tails, they never come with claws and they are about five to six inches long and absolutely not lobster. i am aware that most restaurants are now serving up crayfish in place of lobster, but that is no excuse for saying you will get lobster when what you get is crayfish. even calling it american lobster is inaccurate, and i would say dishonest.

very disappointed. we went out to thebluecrab; we got there at 5:40 pm and didn't have reservations so we were told to seat ourselves in the lounge. we had an excellent view and the waiter mentioned that the large boat belonged to the man who owned the harbor ferries and often had parties so there was often people passing. i informed my waiter that i don't eat pork and asked him if it was in any of the dishes on the dine around victoria menus and he said he didn't believe so. we asked him to describe what was the difference between the three crab options on the dine around menus and he wasn't very informative...didn't mention the sides at all. i asked him for a sweet white wine and he brought me a riesling that tasted like unsweetened apple juice; rather disappointing. we chose a $40 and a $50 dine around victoria menu each. he then brought me a chowder that had bacon in it, i picked the bacon out and made the best of it. when the waiter returned i asked him to ensure that there was no pork in my main. the bacon scallop appetizer my partner had was the best thing either of us ordered that night. after a considerable wait he brought our mains i chose a main that consisted of crab cakes, crab risotto and crab legs with vegetables. my crab cakes were tasty but the risotto was very bland and the crab was cold. the waiter never offered pepper nor did he do a check in. my partner had the whole dungeness crab which was served on top of the same bland risotto with the same vegetables. as we waited for our deserts we realized that the meal was taking longer then expected it was already 7:15 and we were supposed to meet someone at 7:30 so we called and let them know we were running late. at 7:40 our waiter brought us a desert...not one that either of us had ordered and said it was on the house as the chocolate desert had been taken. at that time i asked him if our other desert was still coming too and he cut me off saying of course but this one is on the house. i had no interest in the creme brulee it was not particularly well done and had no appeal for me. my partner asked for the bill and told him that we were running late. the waiter brought the desert my partner had ordered with the bill and i again asked about my desert; a croissant bread pudding. only to be told by the waiter that i had not ordered the three course meal....which we had been charged on the bill...i countered that i had ordered the croissant bread pudding and asked him to put it in a to go container as we were late and he said he couldn't because the ice cream would melt. he eventually; after another considerable wait brought it and it was good but not worth the hassle and wait. we weren't able to leave until nearly 8:05pm. he did comp us about $15 dollars but for a rather horrible dining experience we still paid over $100 dollars. i won't be going back!

i decided to take some friends of mine to thebluecrab while they visited from vancouver. we could have gone to any restaurant downtown but i loved the view from the crab. we walked into an almost empty restaurant and looked at a menu while waiting for a host. after about five minutes one came up and told us to wait while he answered the phone and assured the caller there would be room for them to eat that night. he then turned to is with the fakest smile i have ever seen and let is know that they where full and had no room for us at any time that night. we left slightly shocked, and a bit confused about what had just happened. the people we saw seated where wearing jeans and tshirts. so it wasn't that we wearnt dressed formal. either the waiter just didn't like us, or the small quiet
baby i was holding. regardless it was one of the worst experiences i have ever had. unless you want to be made to feel less than human by the staff avoid this place, i know i will never go again.