lure restaurant & bar

we enjoyed the stunning view of the inner harbour from ourtablein lure restaurant, while we studied the menu and decided on our drinks. i chose a glass of gewürtztraminer from thornhaven winery in summerhill, british columbia while my companion drank a citrus chamomile tea from mighty leaf teas. tags delta victoria dining review lure victoria restaurant review read more

the view from our corner window sidetablewas breathtaking! the piano in the background a nice touch and the food was to die for. i have nothing bad say about this resturant.

business lunch. six of us went on a business lunch on a monday in may. the restaurant was empty, but the hostess told us it would take "ten minutes" to put together ourtablefor six, if we wanted one by a window (we did). okay. when we were finally seated, it was a beautiful table, but the service remained slightly harried and inattentive (they must have been short staffed).

we all ordered the inevitable business lunch soda-water-with-lime, and five minutes later the waitress came back to say their soda machine was broken (postscript: they comped us several bottles of san pellegrino). no ice, and wine glasses for the pellegrino - still feeling a little odd.

on the plus side, the meals were served promptly and piping hot, and the food was excellent. i had a spinach, basil and asparagus risotto with a side of grilled prawns (risotto dishes here are always vegetarian - you choose your own meat), and it was modestly portioned, fresh and very good. my neighbours' seafood pasta looked huge, and delicious. same for the clubhouse and mixed green salad across the way from me.

i agree with previous posters who noted this restaurant has the best ocean view in victoria - definitely true. it's probably best used as a brunch place, since there's a beautiful walk along the ocean right out the front door.

don’t. just don’t. made reservations for christmas dinner months ago and had to prepay for the meal. when we arrived we were asked to wait at the bar and they would come for us. other parties came and were seated and at 20 mins past our scheduled reservation time i went to find out what was going on. that’s when the obvious lies started. they had so obviously given away our table. i remember you from last year! no, we’ve never been there before. we have one of the best tables in the place for you! right - the hall in the bar is always considered a prime area in a restaurant. when i reserved atablei asked for a quiettableas my daughter has a medical condition and loud noise causes her pain and my elderly father has hearing issues. as it was christmas there was really nowhere else to go. the bar is noisy! we requested the restaurant-not the bar. they offered to turn down the music but by desert it was louder than ever. not much dinner conversation for what will probably be the last christmas dinner ever with my father. way too many hosts (3 to 4) for such a small restaurant. no wonder they screwed up so badly. if you are looking for somewhere nice for a special occasion, go anywhere else. the food was ok, but the experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth (and ringing in my ears).

fireworks!. we were excited to make reservations (online) to watch the canada day fireworks from the new lure patio. their stunning website, www.lurevictoria.com, confirmed our choice.

when we arrived, we were greeted by two harried staff at the hosting desk who practically said 'who are you & what do you want?' - then informed us we got the lasttableon the deck...which led me to wonder silently why atablehadn't been reserved as per our request.

luckily our server was equipped with more tact and a winning smile. she led us to a littletableon the side deck, where our view of the fireworks was sure to be obstructed by the roof of the restaurant. she could appreciate this observation and promised to ask the manager about moving us to a more desirous location when atablefor two became available.

i enjoyed a 9 oz glass of bacchus wine from alderlea (light & dry), while my husband slowly quaffed a pint of thirst quenching hoyne's dark matter.

we started off with a side of grilled artisan bread which comes with a small dish of humous & one of olive tapenade. it was tasty & artfully presented, but the humous (at least) had been sitting out so long it had developed a bit of a crust on the top edges.

i ordered the vegetarian option of the cast iron flatbread - which turned out to be a personal sized pizza - and requested the addition of asparagus and mushrooms, to which our helpful server and busy kitchen staff kindly obliged. yum.

my husband tried the fresh rotini pasta, and reported at the end of the meal that he was sufficiently suffoncified. :)

meanwhile, our fiesty little waitress had secured an amazingtablefor us on the front deck & thoughtfully scooted us over to our new seats prior to the main dishes arriving. we spent dinner watching the mingling crowd below - so many families with adorable little toddlers abound - and were famously positioned to experience the sonorous & sparkling array of fireworks close up.

as sure as blazes, as soon as the first burst of pyrotechnics lit up the sky and the twinkling lights cascaded down, people from inside crowded onto the deck to drink it all in. it was magic.

mediocre food and service. greeted warmly at the front. taken to ourtableand handed our menu. waited for 5 minutes and no one approached us to help us. no water on the table. waited a bit longer and a server appeared and asked if we wanted to order something. no introduction or information on what the restaurant has to offer. we asked for water and ordered our drinks as we had lots of time to peruse the menu. a while later our drinks arrive sans the water. order two items off the menu. i order the (roasted chicken fries + gravy or barbecue sauce $15) and server does not ask if i want bbq or gravy. we wait and wait and my roast chicken is a white plate of french fries with a small dry chicken breast sitting on top and two ramekins of ketchup. swiss chalet has a better presentation and bang for your buck.

rating: 5 out of 10 for me. great decor and location is to die for, but food is lame and service is amateur.

mediocre & thoughtless. what a difference a couple of years make. despite negative opinions of friends, we've returned to lure because we had a really good experience in the past. now they're just about making a buck and giving a f.... !

what does any diner expect when the kitchen messes up an order ? steak overdone in this case. they expect a redo without question or attitude and maybe a free coffee/desert, heaven forbid getting it comped.

my birthday lady had to eat her main dish all by herself while i waited for my supposedly "angus new york steak" to be done to the right temperature. well, 20 mins later, done correctly finally, i then eat by myself. no real apology, instead... "we get this at thistableall the time". really?? i'm the unlucky diner that happened to call out a mistake by the kitchen and i'm not the only one ? maybe other savvy diners that sit at the besttableof the house and spend $300 for a dinner-for-two, are not some chums off the street and know a thing or two about food.

maybe they even grill a ny steak at home correctly and know when it's overcooked. for $33 a plate i can expect perfection and not excuses to make me and my companion feel stupid.

not even a $4 coffee was offered, but everything billed in full.

also, when they're out of a particular wine, they'll offer you a more expensive one, without adjusting for the difference.
tact and business sense and good service is a fine art in fine dining and sorry, but lure has sunk to a money grabbing and don't care hotel food court.

at $300 per couple you can get a lot better anywhere else. good luck with fleecing the tourists, this local diner won't ever be back!

another wonderful experience. this is our second dinner visit to lure. sometimes a new discovery is never the same the next time around. but lure has not disappointed us. everything from the nice complimentary underground parking to friendly delta hotel lobby staff, to the great welcome at the restaurant ..right through to the wait-staff was exemplary. the wait-staff was always in the background but not in our faces. the cornertablewith a sunset view was wonderful: so much to see and occupy our time. now the food. in one word, excellent. this time around we had the chef's recommendation: a beautiful cut of tenderloin steak, sumptuous halibut cheeks, and their signature (bacon) risotto (however, they could have left off the swiss chard). otherwise, lots to eat on the plate and no rush in getting through it -- mmm, just melted in our mouths! a half-litre of baccus complimented the main plate to a 't'. we finished off the delight with a choice from their desert menu -- again, anything there is 'to die for'.

yes, all in all such a great experience; one which we will most likely repeat even without being a "special occasion".
this restaurant may just become our "special occasion" all on its own.

bravo!

save your money, don't bite the lure. dreadful experience for me... wasn't sat where i wanted to because thetablewas 'reserved'; i was in the restaurant for over an hour and no one sat there, more meat on the menu than fish;screaming whining kids all over the place, very slow delivery on the main course that was so small it was gone in 3 minutes....thank god there were some potatoes on the plate, albeit very small and very few ones.
some vegetables floating in black muck that was probably something to do with truffle that was just disgusting and completely unappetizing, the piece of fish was minuscule...and all through dinner getting hear kids whine and bawl... i would have enjoyed macdonald's fish sandwich more...

a view to dine for. we didn't eat at lure the night we stayed at the delta ocean pointe hotel -- so many restaurants to try, so little time! -- but the innovative seafood-heavy menu looked great. (and pricey) breakfast the next morning (included in our room fee package) was good, real canadian, lotsa sausage, bacon (and not back bacon) for me and salmon in my wife's frittata. but it's hard to screw up breakfast unless you're really trying. our cappucinos were not as good as australian coffees always are, but very few outside oz or italia ever reach that standard.

what merits a mention is the excellent view from lure's picture windows. they have a great east- and southern-facing aspect over victoria's inner harbour. you can watch the passenger ferries cruising to and from washington state, seaplanes taxiing in to their landing, b.c.'s parliament house, kayakers and sculling teams paddling by... if i was a tourist from someplace far away (instead of just a visitor from the other side of the georgia strait) i would totally want to book atableby the plate glass just to drink in the scenery. that's as intoxicating as half a bottle of wine!

a pleasant father's day meal.tablefor 4 in the window - you can't beat the view and how much it impressed our parents. for that alone i would return to lure. service was a definite highlight other than having to ask for a gluten-free menu twice. our server went far out of her way to ensure we were happy. dinners were a bit old-school w/baby veg and styling. sauces were hit and miss... well, maybe mostly miss. my steak had a very sweet vanilla sauce which i avoided but my partner gobbled. mother-in-law's chicken was on a bed of a couple of vegetable sauces (?) - the fennel was nice but there was a cold (as in salad-cold) cubed white bit which was a complete mystery to all of us and not particularly enjoyable, father-in-law's halibut (perfectly cooked) had a grey sauce which someone identified as mushroom reduction but the colour alone was off-putting. our steaks were a tad over-cooked for both medium-rare and medium, but they were very tasty and tender. steaks came with delicious potato croquet-of-sorts wrapped in bacon which was the highlight for me. coffee was great. we all declined dessert so they provided us with a nibble of chocolate, strawberries and a little taste of mousse - how thoughtful! (because you know we all wanted dessert anyway). we really enjoyed the night and would return regardless of the low-points. would be nice if they updated things a bit though.

that's it???. we were impressed by the efficient reservation, the fact that we were given a window-sidetableas requested, and the phenomenal server, who was personable and exceedingly knowledgeable about everything on the menu including the wine. two things were less than stellar though: the entrees that were delivered while we were still having our cocktails (even surprised our main server who commented how fast they had come out and ran off to get our wine) and like another reviewer mentioned, the size of the entrees. my wife's halibut was small but reasonable, but my sablefish was just a couple of inches square and was only about 5 bites... even my wife was shocked when it was served. we are not big eaters but had a second bread basket with the entrees and separate desserts because we were worried they would be too small to share like normal. (they weren't, my flourless choco cake was almost larger than my entree.) overall, the service was excellent, the food was good, but the portions were a big disappointment.

relaxing and enjoyable. my wife and i stopped by lure yesterday for a quiet lunch. not having been here since a couple of years ago right after we were married, i wasn't sure what to expect. we had gone for dinner that time and had received one of those pretentious plates of food that was stacked higher than it was wide. if i remember right, the money i shelled out for the dinner at the time might've been higher than my pile of microgreens and tuna.

yesterday was a much better experience. as always, the ambience was great. the ocean pointe is a nicely designed hotel and the restaurant is tucked away neatly to its side. however, the dining room is lined with windows to allow a ton of natural light. even though it was a drizzly autumn day, the room was comfortable and informal.

our first server (we'll get to this) led us to a nice banquette a bit higher up to allow a nicer view of the harbour. wife had a diet coke and i had a coffee (served with raw sugar - little nice touch.) i selected the short rib papardelle and wife had the blackened halibut po' boy sandwich. after ordering, the second server brought us a little basket of bread and whipped butter from bond bond's. the two types of bread (asiago and olive) were fantastic.

the food was excellent as a whole. my papardelle was cooked properly and the braised short rib ragout had a fantastic taste. there were whole peppercorns mixed in which were not overpowered but created a great contrast while eating. my only gripe about the dish was that the ragout was really the consistency of baby food. you could taste the short rib but could not really feel it in your mouth. maybe this may appeal to some tastes but i felt it was a bit off-putting, although the excellent flavour in it made up for it.

wife's sandwich was on a fresh focaccia bun which she said was slightly toasted but still soft and warm. the halibut was fresh, not over-seasoned (which can be the case sometimes when an overzealous chef "blackens" the fish to spice-obscurity) and was dressed with a great chipotle cilantro aioli. she mentioned that there was an abundance of cilantro in the aioli and that may not be to someone else's tastes but she enjoyed it. it was served with above average fries and a mesclun green salad with toasted walnuts and a vinaigrette described as raspberry but was undoubtedly balsamic.

service was great. the first server was obviously having an off day (which happens, totally understandable) but was polite and attentive. however, she dropped an entire tray of glasses during service. the second server came by and gave her a few encouraging words and took over ourtableas what i would assume to be a courtesy to the first server. the second server had obviously been in hotel hospitality for some time as she had everything down to an art, from asking if i wanted a to-go cup for the last bit of my coffee in the carafe they left at thetableto thanking me by name after reading my credit card. nice little touches.

anyways, definitely a great lunch spot. service was good, lunch came quick, food was excellent, portions were perfect, atmosphere and views were great and prices weren't out of touch for anything else in town (both lunches, a carafe of coffee, and a diet coke came to $37 after tax, before tip.) highly recommended.

excellent in every respect. i met a friend for a midweek lunch at lure, and i have to say that from the moment i walked in, until the second i left, it was an exceedingly enjoyable experience. the hostess met me with a pleasant greeting, and gave us atablewith an incredible view of the harbour, and our server was perfectly attentive without ever being intrusive.

but the food! i had the dungeness cobb salad, and every element was spot-on delicious and fresh. my friend had the mussels, and couldn't even finish them all, they were so fat, plump and filling. you'd better believe i helped with the leftovers : ) the server discovered it was my birthday, and surprised me with a dessert small-plate, a quenelle of vanilla mascarpone, with berries, and isn't it nice to dine in a restaurant that allows their servers the latitude to do things like that?

i've been for dinner, now i've been for lunch, and i think this is going to be my go-to casual/special occasion spot. it has everything going for it: view, decor, service, food, thoughtfulness, value for money, and free parking.

best oceanfront view in victoria. the oceanview from anytableis beautiful! breakfast, try the dungeness crab benedict-so good! tuna tartar is one of the best in town-very fresh and flavourful! try the thornhaven guertz for a crisp fruity white wine-chilled to perfection if you're in the mood for white wine. the lamb lacked flavour. the beef tenderloin-medium rare was very tasty. very attentive servers. i have enjoyed every visit. great place for any meal!