fireside grill

i gave them 3 stars because i was expecting an above-average dish for the above-average price i was paying. i had pork ribs for dinner and it was so dry. the barbecue sauce wasn't all that special and the spinach that came with it on the side was way too salty. my party had salmon and some chicken dish and the salmon was cooked quite well but the portion was too small for it to be a $20 dish. the chicken wasgoodbut again, not worth the pretty penny we were paying for it. sure, you present your dish nicely but if it doesn't taste great, then it's not worth it in my opinion.

very nicely appointed restaurant in an old tudor style building with friendly staff. i've been for dinner many times and always has not only agoodselection butgoodquality tasty meals. no too much for the vegetarian though but does feature an eggplant parmesan and lots of great salads. the spinach salad is excellent and with some choices for he non vegetarian you can customize their wide assortment of salads. the plates are the vertical stack so the presentation is nice but honestly the food is always delicious. i love the salmon with polenta.

excellent food andgoodservice. the flat iron steak was perfect ... but the vegetables -- roasted peppers (2 slivers) and wild mushrooms (1) -- were scant .., if not invisible on the plate. the cauliflower mash was delicious.

sunday brunch. great spot for sunday brunch. went with a small group and found the food quality prettygoodfor the price and service and atmosphere was excellent. i think the closest brunch in victoria would be the marina restaurant in oak bay. between the two, i think they are comparable. marina is a bit better value (bit better food, discounts for seniors, water views) but i like how open fireside is and it is much more quiet than marina. would definitely return for brunch.

we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. great venue,goodfood. don't order the calamari though. it came undercooked and tasting like flour. the waitress took it away and replaced it, but the second order, unfortunately, came out the same. this item really should have been removed from our bill but wasn't. other than that, the food was excellent.

meh.. i've eaten here twice in the past month. the first time, a few friends and i sampled the $23 three course menu offerings. i thought the portions were small and lean on proteins, but were tasty, well-presented, andgoodvalue for the price. was just there again with a fairly large party but there was no excuse for my wife's dinner. the braised beef was dry and chewy and the mashed potatoes were cold and microwavy-weird. my pork belly and scallops were alright, but at $23, next time i'll stick with the three course menu. actually, there won't be a next time. my wife would have sent hers back but didn't want to look like a grinch with the people we were with. for these prices, we expect better.

beautiful summer patio lunch. this is the perfect patio to sit on in summer to enjoy a delicious lunch. i'll keep this review to the point - about the food and service.

the menu selections are great and made for some difficult choices. i opted to have two appetizers -- to have a cup of their homemade daily soup (red lentil with pork) and their duck confit lettuce wraps. the portions were perfect and for roughly $4 and $8, respectively, the prices were on par for what i'd expect. not to mention, interesting flavours and decent portions. the only comment i have for the lettuce wrap is that the romaine lettuce wasn't soft enough to actually 'wrap' so something like butter lettuce, bibb lettuce, or even iceberg might be better.

the other two had sandwiches - the beef dip and the pulled pork wrap. both raved about their sandwiches -- which were mammoth-sized portions (okay maybe not that big, but you get the picture) with excellent caesar salads. yes, you can find a caesar salad on just about any menu but not every restaurant attempts to make their own dressing which they do, and do well, at fireside.

we three decided to share the dessert sampler for two which had small bites of four different desserts: a "gin and tonic" ice with passionfruit mousse, cream puff with citrus-saffron scented whipped cream, flourless chocolate cake w/ amaretto icecream and cheesecake w/ blueberry sauce. the gin and tonic ice w/ passionfruit mousse was amazing. it absolutely made my tastebuds do a little dance and i would have been happy to have just that for dessert. everything else was quite delicious with the flourless chocolate cake being my #2 choice.

another thing i really appreciate about the fireside (okay, a few things): we only drank water, and despite a fairly busy patio our server was attentive and made sure our glasses were never empty. for some reason, as simple a concept it is to keep a glass of water filled, many restaurants are notgoodat keeping this in mind. also, when our dessert was brought out, the server who brought it (not our original server) explained each of the desserts to us so we knew what we were having. though i would said mostly self-explanatory, it was still a nice thing to have done.

lastly, this is one of the few restaurants that actually has comment cards for patrons to fill out. i am not sure if there is some sort of reward for servers who getgoodfeedback, or if it's just a part of fireside's authentic reason for wanting to maintain excellent food & service, but i really like that they do want to know how they are doing. i appreciate that they appreciate the customer's voice, rather than just wanting people to get out the door especially if unhappy. luckily for us, we were very happy with our experience and look forward to enjoying another meal with them again.

fabulous service. our waitress was absolutely excellent, she really did an excellent one and went above and beyond for us. i liked the place and the atmosphere wasn't to bad but i'm not to sure on the food. the food wasgoodhowever the prices were a little on the hefty size for what you get.

great evening. fireside has long been a favourite lunch place, with their salads a star attraction.
however, we recently took a party of six there for dinner and they loved it.
the ambiance and setting did their bit, of course, but the menu choices, the service (enthusiastic but not intrusive), and the quality of the food all contributed to a very positive experience. since everybody happily ordered from the special 3-course dinner sheet, the value was also amazing - no bad thing when you're entertaining out-of-town guests for the weekend!


-----09 feb, 2011-----

lunch club. we've just returned from anothergoodexperience at fireside, and went on-line to make a dinner reservation.
i was astounded to see some negative reviews of fireside on other sites. it's my restaurant-of-choice for a light lunch.
this is a place that doesn't cut corners: food, service, ambiance are all that you'd hope for.
favourites? the salads are great - fresh, with generous portions - especially if you choose an optional add-on. calamari is crisp, light, tender. the complementary bread is deliciously dense with a fine crumb - and served warm. yum!

good food, beautiful place. this was a nice place! restaurant was situated in a heritage home and the food had agoodmix of local ingredients. i had the grilled pork loin for dinner for 17 dollars. the pork was cooked well but still juicy! i always find pork a miss, especially when grilled at restaurants so i was pleasantly surprised to find that this was good. it was seasoned lightly, which is fine for me. the mash potatoes were good. no poems were written. and the mushroom sauce was good, however it was a bit too rich when i was finishing up the dish. it had a little bit of a burnt taste but it was hardly noticeable. i would eat the dish again. the service was lovely. they had a 20 dollar menu that included an app, entree and desert, however i was eating with people who didn't know my secret blogging lifestyle... therefore no photos and gorging unfortunately.

great service,gooddine around food.. our server was excellent. she made the evening a great experience. we had the dine around menu for $20.00, which was a reallygooddeal, however, i think there are far better restaurants around for the prices the regular menu features. the place was busy, but we found it a bit cold by the window. the best part of our meal was the sooke lake trout, which was nicely flavored and tender.