Little Jumbo

Nice little restaurant in Old Town. It's definitely a cocktail bar forward place. I had a traditional Old Fashioned which was delicious but also the attention to detail in the garnish and beveled large single ice cube was notable. I had the beef cheeks and my husband had the halibut and 3 fresh oysters. All was superb. Oh, and we had a lemon curd meringue dessert which I could not stop eating. The wait staff was attentive and the atmosphere was intimate, not noisy even though all the tables were full. Will definitely be back.

This delightful little restaurant has a speak-easy feel without any affectation. \

Cocktail quality is front and center here, with an ever-changing list of thoughtful twists on classics and creative new concoctions.

The menu is equally well thought-out, with a varied list of starters and sharing plates, and a handful of impeccable entrees.

The staff were the real highlight, with friendly and efficient service. The entire restaurant was being handled by just two people; from front desk to bar to table service, and they made it look easy.

Highly recommended.

When I moved away from Victoria seven years ago, Little Jumbo was one of, if not my favorite, restaurants in Victoria. I was crossing my fingers when I returned two weeks ago for a late-night dinner with my brother on a sibling date that it would be just as good as I remembered. I had looked at the menu beforehand (I like their new website - it's seamless now, as opposed to last December), and I eyeballed a lot of their seafood choices. It's a small menu, but it's quality over quantity here.

Sure enough, the dinner was everything I hoped for. Fantastic food and cocktails, great service, and a lovely, warmly-lit ambience. I recommend the oysters of the day (we had Effingham, and my brother wanted to return the following day just for those), the halibut croquettes, and the Quadra clams (with added fries!).

Extra tid-bits: There is a paid parking lot a few steps from their doorstep, so that also made it easy to get to. This place is also open an hour or so later than most quality restaurants in Victoria, so that was a plus for us!

(Please note that while this is a review of Little Jumbo, it is reflective of our entire stay in Victoria).

Was excited to try Little Jumbo, as we'd gotten a recommendation from friends who had been there some time ago. We made a reservation, also at their recommendation, and understood why when we arrived. After walking town all day, we came in hungry. The place was dimly lit and tiny, with a good initial vibe. Servers were attentive and very friendly. The menu was also small, with limited food choices (all looked/sounded yummy). Between the four of us in our party, we ordered two steaks, an orzo dish, an entree salad, and three glasses of wine. The food did not disappoint. All of us tried each others, pretty much ate everything, and were all full. We said no to the offer of ordering dessert, although they sounded delicious! Then, we got the bill...and almost fell over. Let me preface this by saying that we did in fact look at the menu and saw the prices for the food. We knew each steak dinner was $48.00, and the other two entrees were around $30.00/each. What the three wine drinkers didn't know was that the recommended glasses of wine were $24.00/each (x3 = $72.00). We paid the bill, with a nice tip (our server doesn't set the prices), and left. All of us discussed this later. The food and experience there were good, but that was definitely out of all of our comfort zones for what we would normally spend on a dinner out. This, combined with the whole day being VERY expensive everywhere we went, was the last dagger in our collective feel for Victoria. None of us had been up to Victoria since pre-COVID. The prices EVERYWHERE have gone up exponentially. Needless (and sad) to say, we won't be back that way again for a long time, and we live in Port Angeles.

Had a couple of cocktails here and they were great--creative and full of flavor Great vibe and the bar snacks were good, too. The bartender did a great job of improvising in response to my vague requests.

Food here is AMAZING! Their menus change often, so we were surprised at first but everything we end up ordering are absolutely delicious. The beef tenderloin is literally some best steak I've had. It's cooked exactly liked how we like it. Juicy, tender with a bit charr on the outside. Clams and scallops are cooked in a red pepper broth, but not too spicy, which is perfect for me!

Service is amazing too, we didn't make reservation but got seated in the bar, and the 2 bartenders (one of them is named Max, thank you Max) are super nice and attentive. They work together like a great team. Bar is also pretty spacious for eating as well, didn't feel cramped at all.

Highly highly recommend this place!!

We are thoroughly impressed by the service, ambience, foods and drinks at Little Jumbo! The oysters and clams are so fresh and delicious, The drinks are one of the best! The bar tender is phenomenal! He can create a drink on the spot that's catered to my preference. Can't even express how much fun we had and how much we appreciate the culinary experience while we were enjoying our family vacation in Victoria from LA!

On our last night in Victoria, we decided to "get fancy" and try this gem of a restaurant. We made a reservation over the phone rather than Google (Google wanted a credit card for cancellation). The restaurant is tucked back from the street through a hallway but has ample signage to find It! We were seated immediately and started with a round of cocktails. The entire menu sounded absolutely delicious so we decided to start with a few appetizers and share an entree. We ordered the Polenta Fries, Beef Carpaccio, Burrata and the Haida Gwaii Halibut Croquettes. The Croquettes were served in chili oil and quite the kick. Everything else was delicious! Our server, Matt, even took the burrata out of the fridge to allow for room temperature as my partner requested. We shared the Yarrow Meadows Duck Breast which was cooked to perfection. To finish the meal, we ordered the Mille Feuille for dessert and felt It was the perfect complement and finish to the flavors of the meal. Matt was phenomenal and was ready with cocktail suggestions, explanations of Canadian norms and even joined our banter on learning any new language and living in a different time period! It was a wonderful evening in the cozy Little Jumbo restaurant and we will definitely be recommending It to friends visiting and will be back ourselves one day!

Down a dimly lit hallway and open the door to this charming "Speakeasy" style bar and restaurant.

Service is great and the menu includes an array of interesting items. Our group of 6 ordered more than what's in my photos, including Duck Wings, which were delicious!!

Great find, near the Harbor, within walking distance of the Fairmont Empress.

Great ambiance, warm service, quality food and a commitment to cocktails that includes zero-proof drinks makes Little Jumbo a standout in Victoria.

Little Jumbo manages to be both hip and relaxed. The menu features a mix of seafood and meat (pretty low on the vegetable/vegetarian content, though it appears to change regularly). We had been doing a fair amount of eating the night we visited and skipped the appetizers since they were all fairly heavy (halloumi, polenta fries, oysters etc), and there was no salad to be had. I went for the Calabrese style mussels and clams, spouse went bistro burger. Both entrees were done well, both plates left clean.

The dessert menu had three items and spouse surprised me when ordered two when we had trouble deciding between the hummingbird cake (dense, moist and delicious) and peanut butter chocolate bar with gelato (rich and decadent).

I loved the creative zero-proof cocktail options, and chose one called Into the Woods, which had pine syrup and a delicious gin and tonic vibe. Our server had great pacing and was generally lovely. Little Jumbo is a haven in the more touristy section of Victoria's waterfront.