Ottavio Italian Bakery & Delicatessen

Ottavio’s is a Gem =]
Gourmet Destination at it’s Best!

Fantastic little spot to soak in the neighbourhood while getting all sorts of amazing food and drink. Come for a coffee and snack or pick up some baked goods, rare cheeses and meats from around the world.
Place is well worth the visit all the time!

Super charming little bakery/​deli/​grocery store full of nice, happy employees, enticing baked goods and tasty high-​end grocery and deli items. You could spend a lot of money here, both because so much of what they sell is very appealing, and because so much of it is authentic and therefore expensive and imported straight from the Old World.
Highlights from our visit this weekend included choosing from the gorgeous gelatos that they make there in the store (we went with lavender and bourbon) and glasses of wine while we sat inside at the charming little dining area, and pain au chocolat (WOW) for breakfast the following morning. Also impressive were the aforementioned selections of artisan teas, truffles, cheeses, and other ingredients.
I was a bit let down by the caprese panini (a bit soggy and somewhat lacking in flavor) and the Pacifica salad (excellent smoked salmon but not much else about the salad that really stood out).
And like I said, the employees were very pleasant and seemed to genuinely love what they were doing. That really added to the experience of being here and made me feel truly welcome to this nice little neighborhood of shops, galleries and nice folks.

Wow my Lombardo sandwich looked and tasted like my 13 year old sister was experimenting in the kitchen, the sliced pears looked kind of old and the top piece of panini bread was completely dry! Not worth the money at all and the sandwich was waaaaayyyyy too small for such a big price tag. Plus it was wrapped in about 3 meters of saran wrap, like my Mom packed me lunch for school. The service was weird too, I felt guilty ordering for some reason. Sorry Ottavio’s you used to be so much better. I know yummier and cheaper places to spend my money at.

Fantastic patio coffee and pain au chocolate. Nom nom!!! a beautiful autumn day to so at leisure on the patio.

ATTITUDE PROBLEM
Nice stuff, Rude staff.
My parents are visiting from the UK. They’ve probably spent $ 50 there in the last week. Yesterday they bought 3 florentines. On getting them home, one had a chunk missing (about a quarter). Today they went back to the store and complained that they had been given a broken cookie and were met with a litany of feeble excuses:
«Florentines come in different sizes»; «Maybe it broke off in the bag» (but the piece wasn’t there) etc.
My parents then said the customer service was lacking, but were told the customer service is the best in Oak Bay (!) The attitude was basically the customer is always wrong…
It shouldn’t be this way. Nice stuff. High prices. Maybe it would be a good idea to treat customers with respect, rather than assuming that they’re trying to cheat you out of a cookie?
Note: I’m reposting this review (which was signed with my real name) as it was mysteriously «filtered out to protect consumers»

Great lunch and then went to the cheese counter and with the help of the clerk bought some excellent cheeses and very good bread. Highly recommend this spot for lunch and deli shopping.

Great selection of cheese, pastries and gelato… however I would not recommend Ottavio for any coffee connoisseur. The drip coffee is great because they use caffe fantastico beans, but I didn’t really enjoy my cappucino.

Great vittles, killer Grilled Cheese sandwich. Great deli selection & bakery. I can see this place being regular addition if I lived nearby, Thankfully I don’t otherwise I’d be 400 pounds. Oh did I mention the Gelato…

This place is truly fantasic. Situated centrally in Oak Bay, on a raised level above the street, Ottavio has great outdoor seating aswell as some inside, which has a great atmosphere. There’s a great selection of deli produce, gelato and fresh Illy (!) coffee.
We went at lunchtime after reading reviews on Unilocal,and were not disappointed. I ordered the daily special, consisting of a warm foccacia panini with fresh tomatoes, basil pesto, boccacini and Italian ham. It was such a great sandwich. Fast service and friendly staff make this place even better. It was around $ 9 pretax. Not the cheapest sandwich, but the overwhelming quality and freshness of the ingredients were worth paying for.
Highly recommended if you’re in the area (or even in victoria…). I would go back in an instant.

ohhhh yay! do you like cheese? how about olives? what about sliced and cured meats? well, then Ottavio’s is your hangout!
They make fresh daily hot and cold paninis, amazing lattes and other coffee type beverages and homemade gelato served in the cutest of tin cups!
My bestie from Vancouver was in town and we decided to walk the lovely streets of Oak bay to the beautiful patio of Ottavio’s. My friend and I shared the warmed up artichoke hearts and french brie panini; we didn’t speak to each other for about 20 minutes — due to the fact we couldn’t put down the sammi. Major high quality cheese in there!
It seems as though there is no lull of guests there, but that doesn’t stop the great face to face service and speed of delivery of the deliciousness to your table. They are closed on Mondays, so if you are trekking to Oak Bay, make sure it’s on any other day!

I’m not out that way much, but if I am in the area I always stop by Ottavio’s. It’s a really cute bakery/​deli with a pretty patio in Oak Bay Village. I first got hooked on their panini’s, but I love panini’s! They usually have two or three different kinds. The great thing is that their meat and cheese selection is awesome, so they can make some really good panini’s.
They have a small section of random imported goods that you probably can’t find anywhere else, but the price tag that goes along with them are why I haven’t bought anything. They have a bakery section as well. I think they make most of it there… I think they might get some stuff from the Italian Bakery on Quadra, which is OK with me because I like that place too :)
Not that many tables inside, but the turnover rate should be pretty fast. There’s a bar space by the window and on a nice day, there’s the patio.