Stage

Good food, good wine, nice ambience, good wait staff. One of the better place I’ve been in Victoria.

*Holy smokes, everything is amazing, highlights were the Humboldt Squid, Gnocchi and the Tartare, really good flavors in all their plates
*Service was eager and friendly as all get out, very down to earth
*BC wine choices we tried were pretty good and affordable

Amazing service, beautiful setting and delicious food. Will definitely visit again and highly recommend!

Elise gregariously greeted us and the DJ bartender stirred my 80’s soul with his music. We ate early since we skipped lunch and were glad we had room for the small plate prawns, the special salad with foraged greens and mushrooms. Loved the beef bavette steak and Grilled Sooke trout! Wine appropriate! Ended with cheese. Great evening and very grateful we spent an evening of our vacation at Stage!

Stage is gorgeous, cozy and the food is excellent. It is the perfect date spot for yummy tapas and wine. Pricey for Victoria but the food is impeccable.

Stage is our go-​to when my girlfriend and I want to treat ourselves to a night out. The cozy atmosphere leads itself equally well to an intimate date or a casual dinner with a small group. Our favourite dishes include the local greens with Bosc pear and spiced pecans, the deep fried Brussels sprouts, and the seared scallop risotto.

We’d never been to Victoria but I read about Stage on Unilocal and Trip Advisor and decided to treat my husband to the backstage pass tasting menu. Our ferry was late getting into Victoria Saturday evening and when I called to request that they push the reservation back an hour, they could not have been more accommodating. When we arrived we we’re welcomed very warmly and then we received a thorough explanation on the tasting menu with wine pairings. The food and wine was FANTASTIC. My only complaint is that there was so much of it! You definitely get your money’s worth so come hungry. The three gals who served us could not have been sweeter. The ambiance was lovely. Delicious edamame, mussels, and the fried chicken… YUM!!!

Fourth visit update.
More consistent, same great vibe, servers even more accommodating. Looking forward to our next visit.
Two visits, one excellent, one less so.
Good wine list with excellent pricing. Good bar scene and cool vibe. Good service from friendly staff.
Food is Tapas style, so be careful ordering as it can add up. Our bill last night with a battle of sparkling, a good red, one cocktail and one beer, for 6 incl. tax and tip was just shy of $ 500.
The frites, bread, crispy chicken, trout excellent. Pork belly and duck confit really dry and disappointing.

Never been disappointed with the food. It’s real food that costs real money. Like anything in life, I don’t mind paying for quality if you’re getting quality, and Stage delivers in spades.
Easily one of my favorite places to go in Victoria!
Wine list is bang on, a great place to go for just a drink or two as well.

If I lived in Victoria, I would come here every other day. Maybe. While we were on the island, we visited Stage Wine Bar, and I would say in terms of quality, value, and taste, it is one of the best meals I’ve had in a very long time.
We got two fish plates to share; first, the Sooke trout, green beans, house bacon, and smoked almonds ($ 12.50). Size-​wise it wasn’t huge, but comparable to other restaurants. The main thing was that the plate here is smaller and there are less garnishes. This was really good. That bacon! The white fish along with the bacon fat… delicious.
Of course we had to get the seared local sablefish, tomato, nicoise olives, and pine nuts ($ 14.25) — this was actually the last one available. This was plated very simply, once again, on a small plate. But really, this was good. And only $ 14! Seriously, this would be like $ 30+ in Vancouver (along with a bigger plate and garnishes). The fish was really quite buttery and soft.
Despite it being a wine bar, I opted for a Manhattan. (Too much wine drinking throughout the weekend, so had to change things up.) Cute glass, no? Anyway, I’d highly recommend that you check out Stage if you’re in Victoria.

We wanted to go to Brasserie L’ecole, but the wait there was 2 hours. We decided to give this place a try based on the Unilocal reviews. I am assuming this place is seasonal, so I don’t know how useful this review will be to you, but I thought I’d Unilocal it anyway, because I expected much more based on the reviews. Here is what we had:
Fried brussels sprouts — rating 0 — omg, DO NOT order these, unless you want to have salty, oily, burned out brussels sprouts. Here is a hint chef — do not cut the brussels sprouts in little pieces, open them a little bit and fry them as a whole, so that the inside is still soft and tasty. Ewww, I still feel like I have the taste of these in my mouth.
Roasted fall vegetables — rating 3 — this was alright. Again, way too salty. There were a few pieces that were grilled and they were burned.
Pommes Frittes — rating 1 — bad fries. DO NOT order them.
Moroccan braised chicken — rating 3 — this was ok. I am not a big fan of moroccan flavored dishes, but my husband enjoyed this.
Sooke trout — rating 1 — bad, bad, bad. Way too many nuts in this dish. Flavorless fish.
Ambiance — rating 5. Place is nice and modern inside. I love the brick walls.
Service — rating 4. Friendly staff and fast service.
So overall, I rate this place a 2 because the food we had was really not that great.
I would definitely not go back.

If you can get a seat… you’re in for a e experience. Food, wine, service and atmosphere are all 5 stars.

My sister– and brother-​in-​law introduced my lovely wife and I to this lovely eatery located in the Fernwood area of Victoria.
I prize any opportunity to start an evening meal with a Russian Standard vodka martini and so it was at Stage.
We went on to share numerous tapas-​style plates including edamame, Brussels sprouts fried in olive oil, fried octopus, fried haloumi cheese and tomatoes drizzled with a pesto-​like sauce, Sooke trout and all rounded off with a sampling of the entire dessert menu save for the chocolate pudding.
All was of course slurped back with wonderful wine; both white and then red.
And finally the front-​of-​house staff were really quite pleasant and lovely. If you visit Victoria any time soon, do yourself, friends and relatives a favor and book a table at Stage!

To end my last day in Victoria, we chose to have some post-​work tapas and drinks at Stage Winebar. It seemed like an appropriate way to end the day before heading back to Vancouver.
It opens at 5pm, and we arrived about 10 minutes before. We waited patiently, exploring the block. It reminded me a little of Commercial Drive & Main Street. Not as busy, of course, but there was a sense of cultural diversity.
We sat down and ordered drinks. I ordered the B. Ress Hattenheimer Riesling (Ger.), and my fiancé ordered the Dirty Laundry «Woo Woo» Gewürztraminer (BC) to sip on. Both were delightful and worthy of trying if you’re looking for a light, sweet white. For food, we ordered the sablefish risotto, fried local octopus with lemon, and porchetta and some Le Brebiou, a light sheep cheese to go along with the meat.
To my surprise, the risotto was the first to appear on the table. This leads me to believe that the risotto had already been made along with the sablefish. Having made risotto a few times myself, I know it takes a while to make. I was a bit disappointed in this dish for a few reasons. Aside from it being pre-​made, it lacked flavour, and the sablefish was overcooked to the point where it was chewy.
The octopus dish was recommended to us, and while it arrived on a small plate, it was quite substantial. The sliced tentacles were meaty and definitely a nice treat from the usual calamari dish, which is made up of squid and batter. It was lightly fried without too much batter. The drizzle of fresh lemon made this a pretty good dish.
We decided to order something from the charcuterie menu, and chose the porchetta and sheep cheese. The porchetta and cheese came with some bread and crackers, along with some pickled veggies. It was a nice combination; the porchetta was sliced delicately, and was a nice combo with the Le Brebiou and a smear of Dijon mustard. The pickled veggie assortment was refreshing, although there was one exception. There were pickled cherries, which offered a very unpleasant taste for the both of us. I couldn’t pin the exact taste, but I think there was a hint of cinnamon in the concoction that it was soaked in.
At the end, I kind of regretted not trying their cocktails. The food was okay, but I think the place is better known for its drinks. Maybe I will give this place another try the next time I return to Victoria.

We definitely drove out here specially for Stage from the downtown hotel we were staying after reading the reviews.
The ambience was lovely and I liked the décor a lot besides finding the lighting a bit too dim.
As for the food, I liked most of them but find the value uneven. For instance, edamame for $ 8 was way overpriced!
While considering heirloom pork, pommes purée, roast garlic reduction, friends and I debated if pommes purée was potato or apple. He said it literally meant apple purée while I countered that fries were often called pommes frites and potato seemed a more likely side. (Both would have worked with sausage, I must say.) It turned out to be a gloried banger and mash, which while good was a bit pretentious.
I liked the forest mushrooms, parsley, garlic, sherry & grilled bread as well as the duck confit with caramelized caraway cabbage, wine syrup. Tho I have to say the cabbage side didn’t work too well for the duck in my opinion.
Crème brulee was the very good creamy, smooth consistency but the burned sugar top was thin and $ 8 was a bit expensive.
Our server was polite and friendly but disappeared after the last dish arrived for a long time and didn’t check back until we were ready for dessert.
Overall, good food but not great value. 3.5 stars.

My expectations were pretty high for Stage the first time I went, expecting a really enjoyable, relaxing experience, I wanted a large selection of wines, local food and knowledgeable staff and I got just that. In fact every time I’ve gone, I’ve got just that.
Their wine selection, I thought, was fabulous. They have a wide range of reds and whites and for those who aren’t into wine (why you’d go to a wine bar I’m not sure) but those not into wine can rest knowing that they do have other options.
Every time I’ve gone, I’ve had some combination of cheese and sausage plate. This time, I branched out and tried the House smoked Lox, arugula, buttermilk & dill dressing and was so glad I did. Definitely recommend it.
If you are looking for exceptional value for money, incredibly speedy service and a cosy atmosphere, this is not the place for you. I will say that you absolutely pay for what you get, the markup on the bottles of wine isn’t that bad and it is worth every penny; but be warned, as my last guest felt a bit of sticker shock.

4.5 stars. Minus a half because of a disappointing texture on the pork carpaccio and a very disappointing pork belly (hardly any fat, the meat was chewy and tasted like chicken; Lark in Seattle kills this dish so we are spoiled).
great atmosphere
good wine tastes
great service
one of my favorite spots in Victoria.

Right before I moved from Boston to California, I visited a psychic, for no other reason than I wanted to find out what the move had in store for me. The psychic told me that I’d meet a doctor who loves wine within the first 6 months after moving– who would become my romantic interest. This should come as a shock to no one, but the psychic lied. I ended up working for a psychotic doctor who liked wine, but that’s as far as it went.
What I HAVE found in recent months is a gorgeous man who is a big fan of wine. To the point that I do not need to be the one to peruse the wine list– I leave it up to him. While he had drank at Stage before, he hadn’t yet eaten there, so we made it our Saturday night date spot.
He chose a great bottle of wine to start, and then I started picking the food… because I’m the picky one when it comes to what goes in my mouth. No, really.
He chose the Laughing Stock Portfolio wine, which is interesting because (according to our waiter), they don’t release on the label exactly how it’s blended– you’re supposed to guess and then look under the neck label to see if you’re right. We failed to look under said label, although we didn’t even hazard a guess anyway.
For dinner, I wanted a little of everything. First we started with some camembert cheese with bread and salami, and then we got more small plates to share– the grilled haloumi with local tomatoes &
herb vinaigrette, pommes frites, parsley, piave, garlic &
lemon aioli, and crispy lamb shank, gnocchi, peppered
goat cheese. We may have gotten one other thing, but I can’t recall what it was. This is what I get for writing my reviews a week late and a country away.
In any case, I loved the décor, and the food was amazing. The service was better than most, and it’s well worth a visit for a date night, although a group can sample and enjoy as well. I’m hoping on my next visit we can come back, because I always enjoy a good date with gorgeous man.

My family and I just enjoyed my celebratory dinner in honor of overcoming the fabled sophomore slump.
Marlisa (sp?) was our server, and despite the overwhelming crowds on such a small Stage, she managed to outperform most.
For dinner, my parents and I enjoyed the steamed mussels, the chicken sausage w/​squash, the wild mushrooms, the panko octopus, and their take on tomato bocconcini; the final act being a crème brûlée and chocolate pâté dessert duo.
Everything was delicious, although ever-​so-​slightly too small. A few dishes felt naked, or at least underdressed for the occasion. Some greens or crunchy bits on the starker dishes would help garnish Stage a 5 star review.
Bonus: in-​house espresso machine with a boldly uncommon ground.
As Stage certainly fills the niche for an upscale tapas restaurant in Victoria, I am certainly drawn to revisit for an encore.
In summary, Stage is a great semi-​formal locale perfect for drinks, a light dinner, or dessert. The dining area itself is quite small and conflicts with the big name Stage seems to be making for itself. As they do not take reservations for groups smaller than eight, the wait was about 45minutes for 3 people on a Saturday evening. The food was quite good, although some minor improvements to the menu would be welcome changes.
Stage trumps the Tapa Bar if you’re torn between the two, and is a new favourite of mine.

Thank you Victoria Unilocalers for bringing this one to my attention, or I’d probably never have found it. My fiancée and I decided to avoid the insanity and do our valentines night out a week early. We spent a portion of the morning reading Unilocal reviews, trying to find somewhere delicious in a location that felt comfortable with exciting food. Well thanks to all the previous reviewers, we did.
We arrived in prime dinner time and were lucky enough to be seated immediately, it seemed that nobody wanted the seat right beside the front door due to the draft it produced. To me it was a godsend. I frequently get too warm in busy restaurants. We got seated quickly and to have a breeze blow over me every few minutes was just perfect.
The décor was fairly stripped down and simple, most of the action here happens in the kitchen and on your plate, not on the walls. It felt appropriately decorated, not detracting from the ambiance and the food. We walked in dressed semi casual and felt comfortable the entire time.
We started with some cocktails, from previous recommendation here I chose the acai burn martinini (margarita/​acai/​tequila based), it tasted lively and fresh and really woke my palette up, good way to start. My fiancée enjoyed the rose special wine. We began our meal with the langos potatoe bread which was quite nice, the raw garlic was potent but not overpowering.
We followed with 4 tapas, the cortez (sp?) mussels, cheeks & frites, duck confit and crispy pork belly with maple beans. We were quite happy with all the selections.
The cheeks and frites (beef cheeks and fancy fries) stood out especially. We began sampling everything on the plate individually and it was quite nice, but once we got a couple frites, a nibble of cheeks and some aioli all at the same time, it was just heaven. honest to god eyes rolling back heaven.
My fiancée strongly shies away from seafood but she actually had faith in the restaurant and ordered the mussels and we both thoroughly enjoyed them. We sopped up left over broth with out langos bread yumm.
I’d never had pork belly before so that was a bit of an adventure for us, it was crispy topside and delicious melty fatty on the underside and was complimented nicely by the maple beans.
The duck confit was nice, the caramelized cabbage underneath gave a very interesting and enjoyable flavour finish to the dish. While by no means a bad dish, it was probably my least favourite out of the night (my fiancée may disagree, she loved nibbling on the crispy skin).
We finished with a bubbly blackberry port and a «French 75» to go with our desserts (I always go chocolate, my fiancée always goes fruit, it kind of sums us up as a couple); chocolate pâté with a raspberry coulis i believe and crème fresh and then a goat cheese cake with lemon curd sauce. The goat cheese cake was just amazing, very light and citrusy, fresh and refreshing. The pâté was dense and rich and decadent with an interesting texture (being a pâté).
The service was polite, helpful, attentive enough without an overbearing presence. Our waiter seemed fairly in tune with how to handle each table he served and managed his tables very well despite the restaurant being completely full the entire time. We quite enjoyed our evening and never felt rushed or uncomfortable. This will definitely be going on my list of restaurants to return to.