blue crab seafood house

while i voted that we don't like the restaurant, the food was actually good. i only had thecraband lobster benny; it was suprisingly good. the old friend's ceaser salad was too plain. overall, quite enjoyable. however, i won't be coming back here as it didn't have menu items that attracted me to come back.

just arrived in our coast victoria room after dinner tonight at the blue crab. 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 thecrabcakes to start. my wife ordered the dungenesscrabwith drawn butter and risotto and i had the kingcrabwith risotto. the minusculecrabcakes were brought in short order. lacking incrabbut not filler. we were told by grant the quantity ofcrabamounted to 1-1/2 lbs. the dungenesscrabshell likely weighed 1 lb. i had adequate king crab. the dungenesscrabtasted of the freezer and my kingcrabwas 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.

yummy breakfast. great coffee andcrabcake benny!

a wonderful experience.. everything on the menu looked delicious,we chose to have a musssel clam appie and the dungenesscrabentree with creme brulee dessert. the wine was a great match and mike our waiter made our evening very enjoyable. if you are ever in victoria i would strongly recommend this wonderful restaurant.

my husband and i enjoyed a delicious dinner there last night. thecrabdinner was huge, and i brought half home to eat tonight. creme brûlée is wonderful, as is the croissant bread pudding. the risotto is rich and creamy and perfect! expensive, but you get what you pay for, fresh ingredients, delicious food, attentive and friendly service, and a great view. i highly recommend this place.

very good restaurant. i drive to victoria in the morning and had breakfast here. it is in a hotel and open early. thecrabomelet is very delicious, especially the attractive smell of fried egg. the view is beautiful. the service is good. i can rate it 5.

best in town for 20 years. i have been going to bluecrabsince 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 thecrabcakes and a caesar salad, while the wife opted for the pesto pasta and i had the lobster and ny strip as our mains.

thecrabcakes were really good, ample amounts ofcraband 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 the bluecrabmanaged to do it right. it wasn’t a perfect blue rare, 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 missed our reservation by 24 hours! can you imagine, we had the wrong day but after phoning to apologize for our mistake they found an early dinner time that we could make and my birthday dinner was saved. thanks chris who made that happen. our waiter mike was great, here when we needed him but otherwise in the background. we had a great view of the harbour and watched float planes land and harbour ferries travelling back and forth. our started was thecrabcakes which were yummy and pretty too. i hadcrabrisotto, perfectly done asparagus and peas with the crab. very enjoyable as i ate every last bite. my partner had the lamb, beautifully prepared to a medium rare and placed on a bed of colourful fall vegetables with an au jus drizzled around the plate. we shared the raspberry chocolate torte which is creamy in texture and very rich. a good dish to share easily between tow and probably between 3. great food, great service and fantastic view. we'll be back.

we went to the bluecrabto 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 the blue crab...) strange service aside, it was a positive experience and i would come back.

my cousin and me came here to celebrate both of our birthdays.

the waitress carly made a wonderful job attending us. she was knowledgeable of the menu, constantly filled our cups, made small chat, organized the food times, suggested good drinks options.

one of the best elements of the bar area is the big window which allows you to admire the waterfront and the sunset.

we ordered clam chowders, thecrabsampler with dungeness, and mussels.

the chowders came in huge fully topped bowls, i was kind of satisfied after finishing it all. i liked the creamy texture, plus the fact of tasting a perfectly seasoned soup with chunks of smoked bacon that gave a nice salty contrast.

i advise you to try the mussels, there were cooked spanish style, with tasty pieces of chorizo, garlic, and tomatoes.

i was a bit disappointed with the kingcrablegs. there were saggy, the meat was dry, i could've found better quality in costco. the dungenesscrabwas fresh, juicy, easy to peal: the kind ofcrabyou expect to find in an establishment that hascrabin the name.

sadly i was disappointed with our experience. i've always liked the bluecraband 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 dungenesscrabdinners 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 with blue crab. how can they call themselves a "seafood" restaurant and be out ofcrabin the middle of a friday evening dinner service? we had to settle for frozen snowcrabwhich 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 thecrabcame out together with the entree (steak with prawns and scallops and veg on a bed of bluecrabrisotto) 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 thecrabtakes 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 kingcrablegs 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 thecraband 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 hadcraband 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 to blue crab.

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 to bluecrabthis 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.