fireside grill

good isgreatbut had a bit of an awkward moment. as i walked in the hostess and two other workers were standing chatting. they looked at me and i looked at them and no greetings were said. i just walked past awkwardly. i felt like like my presence interrupted their conversation. bit surprising at the fireside grill but i'm guess everyone has their off days.

this is agreatrestaurant. had their 3 course dinner. the fall salad was wonderful. the flat iron steak was prepared perfectly. the apple crumble was a sweet ending to a perfect dinner.

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 a good selection but good quality tasty meals. no too much for the vegetarian though but does feature an eggplant parmesan and lots ofgreatsalads. 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.

great food!greatstaff!greatparking!. once again the fireside grill came through for our group for our infrequent lunches together. the sumptuous food was seasoned perfectly. the wine list impressive, the service was superb, the historic atmosphere interesting yet unobtrusive. and the parking was free and plentiful. all was just as we like it!

disappointing.... went for valentines dinner last night.... had only had positive experiences in the past so was looking forward to a lovely dinner!

was shockingly disappointed... our server was uninterested, and never seemed to understand our frustration. the food while presented beautifully tasted like nothing special. the salmon was dry, and the ribs were nothing special.

with such a beautiful decor and setting, you expect agreatdinner. but when you're in and out in less then an hour (and had ordered a bottle of wine (white but served with no chiller - we were also sat in front of the fire) appetizers and full mains, this feels more like red robin then a 100$ plus dinner)

needless to say we won't go back, no value for money or experience.

sunday brunch.greatspot for sunday brunch. went with a small group and found the food quality pretty good for 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.

fantastic server & food!. lovely, very accommodating staff for our party's individual issues, our server, jd, was a blast to have. he was perfect in understanding our drink preferences, and meals in general. the food was great, however quite limiting in vegetarian meals (unless you want the usual salad!). everyone in our party left feeling quite pleased with the food, and quite honestly jd made the night. charismatic and joking, i would highly recommend this place and have your fingers crossed you get jd! (though i'm positive the other staff aregreatas well!)

we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.greatvenue, good food. 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.

beautiful spot and the service was great, despite being sat at a really awkward table (you know what i mean?)
the food was a huge disappointment bland, baby foody polenta, under cooked pork - i could go on. i felt the food catered to the numerous retirement homes in the area....nothing you need a palate or teeth to eat.greatplace to burn through a pension though. pricey for the quality.

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 aregreatand 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 not good at 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 get good feedback, 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.

excellent presentation ,greatfood. possibly best value in quality dining in victoria .

we were there early for dinner & we were there early for dinner & service was slow the owner came by and told us he was sorry about the slow service and our first cocktails were on the house. we both had the filet & lobster. it was delicious.greatwine selection and wonderful service after the slow start. could not have asked for anything more

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 another good experience 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 aregreat- 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!

great service, good dine around food.. our server was excellent. she made the evening agreatexperience. we had the dine around menu for $20.00, which was a really good deal, 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.