Wind Cries Mary

This is hands down one of the best restaurants in Victoria. The changing menu is guided by seasonal ingredients and never fails to disappoint. There seems to be a "less is more" attitude so you're not getting a dish with 27 ingredients, yet there's nothing simple about the flavour.

The service is always on point and I have trusted recommendations on several occasions and have never been lead astray. Everything is served family style (I love that they provide individual tongs for sharing/serving) and comes out as it's ready, which makes for a fun dining experience. The cocktails are equally as impressive as the food with unique options, and again, I would trust the servers to steer you in the right direction if you don't know where to start.

The restaurant itself has a cozy feel. The music is always good (and not too loud), which is important for a restaurant named after a song! My favourite place to dine is the back courtyard - with string lights, fire pits, and heat lamps, it has a romantic atmosphere and can be enjoyed during most seasons regardless of weather.

The food is definitely the highlight, but with the rotating menu, it's hard to recommend specific dishes. They do salads and vegetables better than anyone, and even for a serious carnivore like myself, I never regret adding something green to my order. A simple sounding veggie dish can be surprisingly impressive, and never boring. The pasta is out of this world. Competes with any Italian restaurant and wins. The bolognese is a personal favourite. The meat dishes are also divine- any duck, steak, or pork dish has always delivered on taste, texture, and tenderness.

All in all, this would be number one recommendation when visiting Victoria. I trust anything on the menu to be fantastic that I would close my eyes and point blindly, and still feel assured that I would enjoy my meal.

JUST DON'T!
In town working for a few days, stopped for dinner at the bar . The food was exceptional. Particularly the beet salad, highly, highly recommend the kitchen.
Despite the brilliance of the kitchen, the staff ruined the evening . Literally was asked seven times how my meal was..... seriously? How much gratification does a millennial need?
When I mentioned it to the manager as to why I left no tip, he went all defensive of his staff, and of course they can do no wrong. Fair enough, your choice, but I would never eat here again and recommend you don't either.

We came on a Thursday for reservations at 7:15pm to celebrate a graduation. We waited 5 minutes for our table. We ordered the velocepide and pineapple espresso. The pineapple espresso had no pineapple flavour and was kind of disappointing. The velocepide was also kind of disappointing. It was missing the yuzu flavour.

We started with the endive salad, tater tots and albacore tuna quinoa. The endive salad with apple, goat cheese and walnuts is such a classic combination that you really can't go wrong with this dish. It was well balanced and delicious. Would recommend this dish

The tater tots was so crunchy and addictive. The jalapeño ranch lumpfish caviar was missing that jalapeño kick to it. But overall a great dish. Would recommend this dish

The albacore tuna with quinoa was surprisingly delicious. Loved the freshness of the quinoa and kale. The almond gave it a little crunch. The tuna was really good as well. Would recommend this dish

The cacio e pipe was a huge disappointment. The grand padano flavour was there but it was missing the cheese savouriness. The pasta also was overcooked. I would avoid this dish

The fried chicken was really crispy but the pieces were way too big. The breading wasn't too thick. It was sweet because of the honey butter but not too sweet because the pickles helped balance it off. Would recommend this dish

The Ling cod dish did not go well with the tomato. It almost reminded me of some kind of tagine dish because of the fennel and tomato. This dish did not go well together. I would not recommend it

Flourless chocolate cake with cheesecake and Vietnamese coffee ice cream dessert was disappointing. The chocolate cake consistency could have been a bit heavier. The cheesecake didn't have enough cheese flavour and were too light. The Vietnamese coffee ice cream was a bit too icey could have been creamier.

Overall service was pretty fast. Not overly friendly. The first couple dishes were pretty good and then it went downwards from there. I would recommend the fried chicken, tater tots, endive and albacore tuna. Would recommend this restaurant for dinner but not for drinks.

Beautiful and delicious craft cocktails! I saw someone mention this place on IG and knew I had to stop in! If you're ever in the area, make sure to check it out!

We spotted this restaurant because we thought the underground setting was interesting. We soon realized that the food and cocktails were what made it a great restaurant. You have to try the Kale beet salad, the housemate tater tots with jalapeño ranch and the fried chicken chicken (the green sauce is great).
The cocktails, service and ambiance were also EXCELLENT!

Recommended by locals, we were looking forward to trying their version of scallops and pork belly and the lamb entrees. The lamb was the favored of the two. The restaurant service is family style, so the expectation is that you will be sharing your entree. They say they bring out the plated food when it is ready. With that in mind, we expected each entree to be served at appropriate temperatures. Nothing on the plates was hot. The lamb was barely warm, so temperature wise a disappointment. The lamb was flavorful and the carrots still had a little crispness to them.The scallop and pork belly entree was disappointing. The scallops were on the edge of being overcooked and the pork belly lacked flavor. The best part of this entree was the corn and chorizo medley. If the pork belly had been cooked with the corn and chorizo it may have been a fabulous entree. Dessert was by far the highlight of the meal. A flourless chocolate cake layered with cream cheese and a scoop of coffee ice cream. I'd return for dessert.

Went here on the recommendation of the bartender at Tora Tiki. What a great restaurant! Highly recommend the fried chicken. Cocktails were perfection. Beautiful dining experience. Just go!

Wind cries Mary is my favorite restaurant in Victoria! Its offerings consist of homey and cosy feel; they serve up some delicious dishes. I appreciate the family style servings since it allows you to try more dishes with the table. Our server was super friendly and provided excellent service! We went for the happy hour and it was amazing! We are pescatarian, therefore had numerous items we could order but we went with the Rockfish served on French bread which was very tasty! The salmon cakes were interesting, not what I expected! The signature tater tots served with jalapeño ranch and lumpfish Caviar is hands down the most decadent and luscious bite I've ever had! I highly recommend that you try it. The tater tots is a melting master piece and tastes phenomenal! Love this place!!! As always, we shall return

Would love to give a higher review but there were a couple of glaring issues.

First thing, I am not sure if they are operating at 80% capacity to more easily manage the restaurant, or are they pulling the old Viper Room tactic of saying it's booked out and full to create buzz when it is actually not fully booked. Called and asked if there were any openings and they told me it was fully booked all night but they take walk ins on first come basis. Walked down around 6 to find a resto that was about 50% empty. Asked the hostess if we could get a table for two and she said they were booked but could put us on the waitlist for the bar or patio which I accepted. Went and walked the neighborhood and was called about 20 minutes later to invite us to a patio seat. We arrived and I noticed the resto was still 30% empty. When we left restaurant was 40% empty and in between arriving and leaving we never saw the restaurant full.

Second- much of the staff seemed a little bothered with dealing with us. Our waitress was fairly absent, a couple of the other staff that brought dishes seemed bothered they were having to do what they were doing. Just not particularly polished at all

THE BIG EXCEPTION - when I requested a Somm to speak about a few of the wines, she was EXCELLENT! Above and beyond on all levels. Personal, friendly, and obviously has a deep understanding of hospitality. Note for the resto....you would be well advised to have her train the rest of your staff in hospitality. She killed it! Wish I could remember her name, I think it begins with an M.

Food was quite solid, no complaints at all there so keep it up! I forgot to take a pic of the chicken but it is definitely recommended. Would love to see your service game come up to where it belongs.

I'm only giving it 3 stars because the salmon was good. The "concept" as our wait staff so pretentiously referred to it, sucked. My friend ordered the pasta and I ordered the salmon. We were promptly told that the restaurant had a "sharing concept", and how dare we order separately! The thing is, we weren't interested in sharing our food. The wait staff seemed peeved, but allowed us to order separately. Pretty decent of them, don't you think?

As I said, I ordered the salmon, even though the menu said it came on a bed of mushrooms and kale, neither of which I am able to eat. So I politely told the waiter about my inability to eat mushrooms and kale, and asked if they could substitute that with potatoes or rice instead. To which our waiter staff replied snottily: "I'm sorry, we don't do substitutions." If I'd had been alone, I would have replied: "And I'm not doing this restaurant" and I would have walked out. Given I was with company, I sucked up his rudeness, ate my salmon and gave the mushrooms and kale to my companion.

One pasta dish, one salmon dish and two cups of tea cost me $88.00. Not. Going. Back. Ever.