Stage

Despite not having a great experience with the fish offerings at this restaurants, I'd still go ahead and say that Stage is amazing and has some potential to make changes to the menu! Love the European Wine Bar/French Bistro vibes they have going and it's located in the cute Fernwood neighbourhood. Love their approach on French-inspired foods and showcasing seasonal local fresh veggies and plating it differently.

The food is fresh and light, which is always nice for a French restaurant. We got the local crudités served with the eggplant roasted dip and it was a delight. The tomatoes were fresh and I appreciated the various textures, depth and flavours. The dishes are great for sharing. Love the pomme frites. The BBQ shishitos were a treat! The bread and butter were phenomenal. I believe that it is freshly baked. The service was amazing! They have a great ever-changing wine list from Europe as well as different parts of Canada. In addition, they have amazing cocktails.

Unfortunately, Stage fell a little short for us. We had sent an email in advance mentioning that we are pescatarians and do not eat meat. We were very excited to try their fish offerings (Halibut and Rockfish) off the menu that night but our waitress informed us that the kitchen wouldn't be able to make any changes to the dishes and that some meat products were used in both fish options.

We were very disappointed, especially since the food is so good. I recommend and advise that if you have two fish offerings, at least leave one completely pescatarian and free of meat products. We also didn't want to opt for the warm potato salad with mackerel since we had already had the pomme frites.

As a result, we did not have a suitable protein option that night. This was the only thing that ticked us off, considering the level of care and pride they take with the food in their restaurant.

Extremely disappointing restaurant. A group of 3 of us attended the restaurant. We got sat without menus for about 25 minutes. Once we finally got a menu and a chance to order, the server came back and said 2 things were sold out (which he should have known prior). We then proceed to order a change of items then the server again came back and said one of the things was sold out. From here it took another half hour before we received our wine which ended up being corked so it needed to be sent back, then it was replaced and again same thing it was corked and sent back, brought back one last time and same thing. Then we recommended just a different wine all together (a Malbec) and then the server brought us a Pinot noir instead which he decided with the bar, not ourselves? We had felt bad about sending back the wine as much as we did so just politely drank it - they still charged us full for the wine. (I would recommend tasters and not just pouring full glasses to begin with so they don't waste wine?)

Food was very underwhelming, our tomato dish was just cut tomato's with olive oil. The beef tartare was very bland and a little chewy. And our fish came out fried after we had specified to our waiter we were looking for a fish dish that wasn't fried. We ordered the steak frites which was fine but definitely not worth the price you pay.

Then as we went to pay all of our bills were incorrect and had been charged some of the dishes that they were sold out of on top of our current order. Server went back to correct it and still overcharged us. Went back one more time and then ended up splitting the bills incorrectly, so one of us paid and we all needed to e-transfer eachother - which isn't a big deal but it was our last straw.

Overall our experience was disappointing and extremely long as it took almost 3 and a half hours total for us to be served for our underwhelming, very expensive meal. Servers were friendly but didn't apologize once for the delays or lack of service from their end as we saw our server collectively like 5 times over the 3 and a half hour experience.

Yeah, I was all set to love this place and really thought I would, even though the prices seemed suspiciously high (even to me, 33-year resident of NYC). But no. Cocktails are tiny and deflated somehow. Overpriced as hell, but far from the worst thing going on here. Food, waaaay worse. Like $7 (?) for one slice of (good, not amazing) bread that we absolutely needed to get so we could eat the other things we ordered, like the burrata (okay, but hilariously overpriced for $26). Crudite plate made no sense whatsoever: raw pattypan squash? Raw summer squash? I've never seen that before, nor do I want to...eating it raw both tastes terrible and gave me, famous iron stomach that I am, a huge gastrointestinal Event. I haven't thrown up in a restaurant bathroom twice in one night before, but there's always a first time, I guess? Raw stringy greens that were like kale ribs. Two tiny and tasty carrots, and two delicious raw figs...to dip into ranch dressing?? Ummm...what? Tomatoes and melon were both okay , but both hilariously overpriced for almost no prep, since they're served raw with very few mods. Check with tip was over $200 for this pile of flavorless whatever. Pretty fucking lame overall, though we did like our waiter, which is why it's two stars instead of one. Cool guy. Feels like this place maybe used to be good, but no longer.

Really great wine bar!
Lots of outdoor and indoor seating.
Super friendly and knowledgeable staff.
GIANT WINE LIST -- YES! Ask for recommendations! Ask for wine selection by the glass (they're not listed on their menu).

The food menu changes daily, so call ahead of you really want know what's on the menu. We ordered food a la carte, and got cocktails and wine by the glass. They also have an option to order all the food.

What we ordered:
- Mortadella and Lonza YUMMMMMMMM!!! tasty meats -- whats not to love?
- Bone marrow was very tasty with herbs and pickles. It comes with bread but order more bread!
- Kimchi was pretty good. It's homemade and more sauerkraut ish than Korean style.
- Tomatoes was SO GOOD. It had what I can only describe as an Asian chili oil garlic sauce over heirloom cherry tomatoes... a bit like Chinese XO sauce on tomatoes. Such addictive umami flavours. Best dish by far. If it's available, order it. You won't regret it. It paired realllllllly nicely with the kimchi too.
- Sardines were just alright.

Something seems to have changed at this place. Having had two wonderful nights here over the past year we returned with friends. To start my cocktail was, as before, the best Manhattan I could imagine. And the by the glass wine suggestions the server made were perfect, something we've noted as a strength the other times we've been there. Bread, olive and cheese starters were also satisfying. However some of the larger plates which we shared were disappointing and expensive for what was served. We opted for two large dishes, the half chicken and the pork. In the past the chef's meat offerings were always prepared in novel ways and the quality of the meat superb. In this case the half chicken was mediocre and the piece of pork at $60.00 was prepared with an unremarkable blackberry jus and was almost entirely fat and pretty tasteless. We passed on the desserts as the restaurant doesn't serve coffee, something I recalled as the only disappointment on previous visits but had forgotten.
We conveyed our impressions about the pork in particular to our server who had been doing a very good job up to that point. He accepted our comments matter of factly but seemed pretty uninterested in offering anything by way of rectifying the situation. This, for me is a real deal breaker. Any restaurant can have an off night or fail to please with a dish. But when a customer struggles to find a way to respond candidly to an inquiry about how things were and there is little or no response from staff that is saying a lot.

Ambience: (4 Star)
Good decor that works for any occasion. From a romantic meal to a small family gathering, it works.

Wine: (3 Star)
The wine list is both long and interesting. Be adventurous. Mark up is 100% though, so it's a bit pricier than most.

Food: (2 Star)
This is where things are hit or miss. Let me explain. First of all, all dishes are essentially tapas style, pricing ranges from $6 to $24 depending on the dish. Some are meant to be more a appie style, and some are more your expected bigger tapas dish.

1) Sardine: Ok honest sardine. Served out of a tin can so you could very well be mistaken in having a canned sardine for $8.
2) Chicken: This is a chicken Terrine which made with chicken thigh served on a bed of very well done egg salad. Easily the best dish of the night

Now before, I continue on, the above 2 dishes are type of dishes where you'd have with bread. The bread has to be order separately for $6, sure, we are ok to pay. But the bread is where I had a big issue with and it really is the big reason for such low score. For $6, we essentially got 1 slice of thick cut toast. Nothing more. $6 for a slice of toast, let that sink in. We ended up spending $12 for 2 slices of toasts. Sorry, but that is just wrong.

3) Artichoke: Nicely put together, sauce is interesting

4) Potato: I forgot the fancy name that they use but essentially is a potato bake. Surprising 2nd favorite dish of the night though. Almost a must try.

5) Escarole: This is definitely a fail. It was essentially a broiled romaine lettuce serve with some soggy sauce.

6) Bone Marrow: This is a dish for $13, actually included the same $6 toast for free. (Sorry but if you haven't caught on, the restaurant charging for that toast at the price really bothered me and affected my experience) It was a honest bone marrow but served with something that is similar to relish. Not exactly the flavor profile that I would associate with bone marrow, but I would applaud for creativity.

7) Pork Belly: This is a sous-vide pork belly, and it's not the crispy type. Being a Chinese myself, I'm used to this type of pork belly texture, but I wonder if that is something that is readily accepted by a more general public. The pork belly itself was too salty from the sous-vide without other flavor to add the complexity. The sauce was interesting, but overall as the priciest feature item on the menu, it was a disappointing.

We have also opened a $60 bottle. The bill together comes to over $200. It was an interesting experience. As stated above, the 2 best dishes were potato and chicken terrine which are your appetizer / side item. The main feature of bone marrow and pork belly were both disappointing.

It is a tough joint to recommend. You have to applaud the concept and attempt of creativity. But pricing and execution was a bit off in my humble opinion on that particular day.

This restaurant is a scam for tasting menus! Very pretentious of them, tinned sardines and olives for course 1, an assortment of veggies with salad dip as course 2, halibut as course 3 and a slice of came for course 4, and done! Halibut was good but rest is pretty useless. The restaurant does not disclose its menu and does not help in picking wine as they want it to be a surprise. I ended up having a syrah blend with my halibut , such a travesty! If you want a great tasting restaurant, try others in downtown!

So lovely! Food is amazing! The best blue cheese I've ever had. I need the name of it. Everything is intentional. I'd go to Victoria just to eat here.

Are you down for a culinary experience?
Are you wiling to take your taste buds out to flavor town?
Do you enjoy trap rap music to go along with your meal with a bitching glass of wine/brown liquor cocktail?
If you're not, as we say in Los Angeles, a lame ass foo, this place is for you!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

If I was on death row, my last meal would be from this place. For additional context, I am an adventurous eater and willing to try anything once before I knock it ;]. Everything I ordered was amazing and regret not ordering one of everything. But alas, the limitations of being a regular degular human.

A place like this would be right at home in Los Angeles, but traveling for a meal here is worth it. I didn't catch the name of the bartender who served me, but he was just as passionate about the food as the folks in the kitchen. Tip my cap to him for the recommendations.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?!?

The menu looks pretty simple, but the meals the chefs whip up are bussin. Your server/bartender will give you the rundown of each item on them menu since there is no description. Tapas style portions, which make it perfect for sharing. Pro tip, please call the restaurant if you have any dietary restrictions before coming here or you're going to have a bad time.

Their booze selection is curated to match their menu, so if your server/bartender suggests a drink to par with your meal, please take their recommendation. Take your basic chardonnay, margarita drinking self somewhere else if that's your jam.

The dishes ordered:

Bread - uber thick slices of bread to mop up those plates. I needed a whole loaf to be honest. Two slices isn't enough.
Pigs Head - thinly sliced meat from Peppa Pig that just melts when you take a bite.
Squash - cold dish with delicious creamy sauce/honey from Georgia and peanuts you want to drown in.
Kale - A light but rich plate of kale with crunch and more creamy sauce.
Creton - At this point I was riding a food high, the only thing I remember was "damn, I need more bread for this".
Pork - Pork with kimchi?!? Sold! It goes together so damn well.
Dessert - Apple cake with honey and light whipped cream. Inject it into my veins!!!

To drink - I was slipping on water and a 0% Heineken. I was tempted to throw 19 months of sobriety out the window to pair a glass of wine/cognac with my meal, but stayed the course.

My only compliant would be that I didn't get enough bread to mop up every plate that came my way. Space is a little tight, but that's cool. Spark up a convo with your neighbor if you are sitting at the bar and enjoy a kickass meal!

I got a reason to come back to Victoria. Just to eat here again.

10 out of 10 Jeff Goldblum's.

Stage had been on my list to try for a long time, but I was hesitant due to the wild variation in ratings. From my experience, it must have been a one-off or the reviewer because I had one of the tastiest meals of my life on Saturday. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

I have seafood allergies and typically set menus, especially in Victoria are difficult for me. I asked our server if we could choose the Feast option with an accommodation of including no seafood. I was thrilled that the kitchen was happy to serve us up some amazing items taking my dietary restrictions into consideration. We got a ton of food for the two of us. There were 4 courses with two plates served for the first 3 courses and a singular item for dessert. We couldn't finish it all. Everything was fantastic. We especially loved the bone marrow. It's a fave dish of ours after visiting NYC and dining at Blue Ribbon.

Tables are a bit close, but still a nice ambiance.

Looking forward to our next visit.