tartan toque

a great addition to victoria. i've been here a few times now and i'll keep comingbackto try all those wings! i've only had one dud so far (pesto). the service here has always been outstanding. the prices are decent and the atmosphere is comfortable/relaxed. it's a busy restaurant so you know it's good. all the sides and salads i've had have all been delicious too. i recommend the "onion nest"! it's a crunchy flavorful basket of onions, perfect finger food pairing with wings.

wings taste like dirty deep fry oil, way overcooked and leathery. had a burger it was burnt. and lastly tried the poutine and the gravy looked like congealed hood vent grease was cold and just sad. i'm sorry to say but tartan toque you need to step up your game because so many other establishments prey upon the wing, burger , poutine market and have better locations. i will give you 3 months and when i comebacki hope to have juicy perfectly cooked wings, juicy burgers, and properly made poutine with real cheese curds. thanks

second visit. as previously noted, i did say i would make a second visit after the tt had been open a while.
my self and a friend entered a packed venue on 30 may.at approx. 8pm. the place was packed, a good sign.
this time i ordered the hottest buffalo wings, the waiter said ok the hottest we have. the order from my friend was combo plate 6 boneless wings and a mushroom burger.
i sat down with great thoughts of enjoying my wings with a pint of beer.
the wings arrived and sadly by initial look they sat in sauce that had been poured over the top.
my friends mushroom burger looked great and he thoroughly enjoyed it so 08 points for the burger.
nowbackto the slathered wings, there was simply no heat what so ever? i have been a professional cook since 1956 and have lived, worked and eaten in many foreign countries.
to comebackto victoria and to enjoy a good old suicide wing was all i was looking for.
the wings were soaked but even when taking some sauce on a fork it lacked, heat,taste and any smidgen of buffalo sauce.

the cook should be taught to baste the wings like normal operating wing joints.simply simmer the wings in a separate skillet. rahter than just pouring sauce over the wings in the basket.

melt the butter in a large skillet. stir in the, vinegar and hot pepper sauce. season with salt and pepper to taste. add cooked chicken to sauce and stir over low heat to coat. the longer the wings simmer in the sauce, the hotter they will be. serve warm.

the venue is great, the beer is chilled, the burgers so far are good. but the wings once again lacked flavour and taste.
will there be a third visit from myself??? at the moment i doubt it.
robby mcrobb


-----07 apr, 2013-----

saturday opening time 12 noon. the name of the venue attracted my attention as a born and bred scot. my daughter took me to lunch on saturday. her second visit my first. as a wing shack the décor is great, a wee bit dark with all the dark paint etc. however the menu was quite extensive.
as a wing aficionado, of many years and around the world, i was anxious to give the toque the chance to impress me. sadly this did not happen. first we ordered 2 pounds of wings one with house hot sauce and the other buffalo bleu. neither had a tang of any type. the wings were barely cooked. one basket was slathered with what looked like a mayonnaise based dressing. a very poor performance for this operation. i write this having been a cook/chef in the food business globally since 1960. i will return and give them another opportunity. so out of 5 venue scores 4 food scores 1.

peanut satay wings to die for. peanut satay wings. these are the best wings i have ever had and will keep comingbackfor more. medium spicy thai peanut sauce on crispy perfectly cooked wings. whether you get traditional bone-in or boneless wings they are superb. goes great with philliips amnessiac ipa beer on tap. the ladies like to pair this with somersby cider. you must try it !!!!

great service, average food. the service here was outstanding - the staff were very friendly and helpful and this is also one of the rare victoria establishments that has an open soft drink bar/serving station where you can select and pour your own soft drink and gobackfor seconds/thirds on your own and without being charged. it sounds like it's not a big deal but trust me, it is for victoria - places like bin 4 and the pink bicycle have much better burgers than tartan toque but also overcharge on the small stuff like soft drinks, where free refills are unthinkable.

the burgers were just ok - they pre-mix the burger meat with onions, without asking you or giving you a choice, which isn't for everyone. the boneless wings are also ok but not great - ours were burned and were very rough and difficult to chew. if you've had really good, properly made boneless wings then it's hard to settle for this. i wouldn't gobackhere but i'll give credit where it is due - the wait/counter staff were awesome.

always tasty!!!!!! best wra.... always tasty!!!!!!
best wrap i've ever had.
best burger bun i've ever had.
best loaded fries.
wings bone in or out- never dissatisfied!
will bebackof course!

we really liked it! the atmosphere is really cool and so unlike most pubs in victoria. i had the veggie burger and onion rings. they were both pretty good but my boyfriend's salmon burger was pretty amazing and i wished i had gotten it instead. i could see us goingbackand drinking lots of beer over a game of trivial pursuit!

fantastic burger!!. we had a bacon cheese burger with caramelized onions and a chicken burger. what a great menu! so many choices of all local fresh quality stuff. so many fresh made extras. we can't wait to comebackand try their wraps and salads, like the waldorf or the caesar! beer on tap! the poutine was great! excellent value, with friendly staff who really care about what they are doing. i just loved that fine bacon burger, it was exactly like i would make it. so so good!! friendly and fun too.

re: not safe for celiacs. to all who have been a witness to this public discussion, as the founder of www.theceliacscene.com and as a celiac myself, i take consumer concerns like these very seriously. when i received this complaint through my website, i emailed the owners of tartan touque this afternoon.

i set out to handle these situations as neutrally as possible, trying to balance my personal concern for the celiac community with a mandate to support restaurants in getting gluten free right. admittedly, there have been many times when a diner's misfortune becomes that 'teachable moment.' a silver lining, at someone's expense, unfortunately, but an opportunity to educate just the same.

to be absolutely clear, restaurants can not pay to qualify to appear on the scene, nor can they retain their listing should they fail to meet celiac standards.

i received a callbackwithin ten minutes from barry, one of the owners, expressing tartan touque's collective regret for what happened. while barry was not present at the time of the incident, co-owner kara, was the acting chef in the kitchen. kara corroborated the information; a gluten bun was served to a celiac. they feel very badly for that; feel terribly that she became so ill; wish they could make amends by offering to compensenate them for their meal.

i then reviewed their protocol with them. when a gf order is placed, it is given a code in their computer system, the preparation of a gf order is announced for all to hear in the kitchen so that everyone is alerted to the special preparations that must take place, and when the order is ready, it is announced to the dining area as 'order #xx, 'gluten-free hamburger." when the diner comes to collect the order, the gluten-free order is identified to the diner. this concurs with the protocol i witnessed on the three occasions that i dined with tartan touque before they qualified to appear on www.theceliacscene.com/map283-british-columbia--fort---oak-bay.html.

the point of contention seems not that tartan toque lacks an appreciation of the seriousness of providing a celiac with a gluten bun. after hearing both sides, it seems that despite the discussion of the restaurant's gf offerings, an order for a 'gluten-free' burger was either not made by the diner or not recorded as such by the server. some will say that they should have known, given her enquiries. tartan toque will say that it was not clearly requested. of the consequences, all are agreed on their seriousness. at the time the order was collected, the order was not confirmed as gluten free by the server, who was under the impression she was providing a regular order, nor by the diner, as per related recollections.

at the end of the day however, a diner is ill and the tartan toque is very sorry. having corresponded with both parties; balancing my own celiac interest in being able to dine out safely; not having a monetary interest in whether tartan touque appears on scene maps or not, i am electing to maintain their listing, not to deny a diner experience, but in trust that tartan toque is genuinely aware and committed to the safety of their celiac diners.

i will undertake to dine with tartan touque myself without notice to confirm that their practices meet celiac standards and revisit my decision at that time, if necessary.

ellen bayens
the celiac scenetm
ellen@theceliacscene.com
250-727-6275

best place for wings in the city! so many flavours, grab a lb to share and a burger. you won't be disappointed !
after base ball on tuesdays night we swing by for the cheap wing night and a few pitchers of beer.
can't go wrong


-----28 apr, 2013-----

awesome wings. with all the hype on this place we had to try it,
was there last night with some friends, between us we have 4 flavours of wings and a couple of burgers and some beers.
burgers are the best ive had in the city, and so reasonably priced, for the wings, they are good but not as amazing as the burgers were.
we tried the terriakki, greek, buffalo and candied bacon, each were delicious and were fighting over the last few.

i know that it's only a few months old and it seams like its got the right stuff, i'm sure it will better as the work out of the growing pain stage. jesus, it's the same owner of shine which is comforting to know.
this is a place that we will bebackto and recommend.

delicious!!! friendly staff and nice to see sooo many gluten free choices. will definitely be goingbackfor more :)

back for more. after learning that some staff were let go i decided to try the tartan toque again and i am glad that i did. i've beenbacktwice since my last review and both times the food did not disappoint. the owner did offer to make my previous visits up to me but i wanted to try the food on my own.

wings were full of flavour and were juicy as opposed to the previous overcooked ones. the crispy chicken wrap was incredibly good and fries perfect.

i will definitely continue to give this restaurant business and appreciate the efforts the owner and staff have made to improve. great job, guys!


-----02 jul, 2013-----

i've really tried. i have been to the tartan toque at least 6 times in the past 2 months and have really tried to like the wings. i love wings and was excited to see this place open, and i also am a big fan of shine so the fact that they both are close to my house is great.
unfortunately, every time their wings have been extremely dry. i have had 8 different flavours and the sauces could use a bit stronger of flavour as well. i also recently had a coleslaw salad that was slimy and uneatable. if it hadn't been take out i would have returned it.
i did have a chicken wrap that was delicious although it did have ingredients in it that i had asked not to be.
the staff is so friendly and so is the overall atmosphere and have wanted so badly to like this place but i most likely will not be returning to this restaurant :(

dry wings good beer. tried the tartan toque on wing tuesday where a pound of wings and a beer for $11. good value, but the wings are overcooked and dry. tried greek (boring), cajun (ok) and thai (good). as mentioned in previous review the coleslaw is yech. soggy. the burgers looked good, but i won't bebackfor wings.

after a reboot in the kitchen the wings arebackto being as delicious as they were at the start!

yumm!. i have eaten here a couple of times. the food is really good. i have tried the burger, hotdog, fries and some of the salads. i have enjoyed everything. so much to choose from!! my only complaint is how dark and uncomfortable the restaurant is. most of it is painted black and dark green and none of the seats have cushions. i will bebackto try more off the menu though!!