Cute, quaint, hip, chic, stylish and elegant yet down to earth and cozy! The staff always makes you feel welcome like you've been coming there for years. And did I mention the food is amazing too?! (I'm partial to the gnocchi app)
Don't come for just the food...Come for the full experience!
Had another fabulous dinner at Stage on Saturday night. As always the staff were knowledgeable, helpful, and super friendly, the wine was incredible, and the food....oh man, the FOOD! Loved the flash fried brussel sprouts, haloumi, and risotto. The duck confit was deliciously crispy on the outside while still being fall off the bone moist. My two friends I dined with require a strict gluten free diet, and we were all pleasantly surprised at the number of items on the menu that accommodated that. To top it all off, we had the pleasure of meeting Graham, the owner, who made a point of visiting our table several times and was just lovely. When a menu item we had ordered turned out to be sold out he personally apologized and offered us all bubbly on our next visit. Truly an exceptional evening - and how often can you say that you get hugs from the owner at the end of a meal?!
Terrific food, amazing service, really nice ambiance. Great menu options. The bartender is very knowledgeable too, and offers lots of nice vermouth and absinthe cocktails. Highly recommend for a sophisticated night out!
Utterly satisfying dining experience. Best martini Ive ever had, the vermouth!...I need not say more. Three generous courses. Best singular bite of my life, in the salad of all places. Best dessert of my life ( the simple blueberry, sorrel, yogurt...fresh, preserved, fermented into something entirely new) Welcoming, professional staff who take their roles seriously, in the best kind of way.
Loved the vibe. I heard of this place from a friend. And it was close to the Belfry theatre, which I was going to. So I suggested Stage and was very impressed. My friend said the menu was pretentious, but I thought it was very fun and exciting to explore the options. I'm excited to go back and try the other things.
Fantastic, friendly service & a creative, fresh rotating menu - all in a gorgeous cosy setting. Portions were large & the chef's choice menu is awesome value for money.
Don't let the few weird bad reviews sway you. They're a bunch of grumpy sods who probably didn't even dine at the same restaurant that the rest of us did! We were blown away by our recent dinner experience & will be returning again + again. Definitely make a reso in advance as they're popular!
We really enjoyed our dinner here and also top it with great glasses of wine. We picked chef choice dish. It turned out fantastic. Server super friendly. Parking was okay. A bit walking but best after dinner. Too much good food we needed to walk it off back to our car. We would definitely visit again in the future.
Great food and tasty wine. Noise from music and other patrons was too loud to be able to distinguish a conversation with my guests at the table, let alone hear the waiter. Comes with the nature of a tightly seated space in a main common room so is what it is. Very impressive quality of food from the small kitchen and limited cooks they have.
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I’m rating Stage for its dining experience, not its wine bar experience, although I realize a large part of its clientele come for the wines, which are excellent.
Stage’s chef is creative and skilled, and I recommend trying out several dishes, which are not small, but not quite meals.
We had the zucchini plate, the eggplant, and the lamb belly. Each was unique and very tasty. The zucchini was the best: it was charred and served in a light tomato sauce with goat cheese and a bit of crumbled andouille sausage. The eggplant was also very good, perfectly cooked and served on a delightful, very green gremolata sauce (parsley, lemon, garlic) with pickled mushrooms (somewhat too strong) and breadcrumbs. The lamb belly was cooked sous vide and had a sweetish white bean sauce with rhubarb. While we didn’t quite love the sauce, it worked well with the salty and fatty lamb belly. Dessert of strawberries and cream was tasty, but we craved a finale as unusual as the dinner plates.
Our server was excellent, although very busy. She knew all the details of the dishes and the wine list, and this proved important. One annoyance of the experience was that the food menu is so minimalist as to be a cipher. Ingredients and preparation for the six or seven plates are not presented on the menu, so the server had to describe each dish in detail (she had them memorized, but we were left trying to remember what each one had in it). This makes the dining experience more “personal,” I guess, but also more difficult.
Wines by the glass are also not listed on the menu (nor are house cocktail ingredients), but they are very good. Outdoor patio chairs are not particularly comfortable, although we liked the heat lamps. We recommend a lighted blackboard for outside (not sure whether there is one inside) that lists ingredients and wines by the glass. Overall, this was a very enjoyable, creative, and sophisticated dining experience that was also a bit quirky.
Amazing food, cozy ambiance, best staff and a great view of the kitchen!
Cheese, bread and olives were an amazing starter, even lovelier, pairing it with their version of a white Negroni. For mains we almost go with the chef's feast, in the end we had the poblanos, mushroom risotto 😍😋, and the pithivier. Didn't have room for dessert..
Really enjoyed every second at Stage!
Note: Getting a taxi in the end was an issue and after half an hour of waiting we just decided to walk back downtown.
Coming back to this restaurant after a great first impression last trip. The food is so delicious here and the smell of the charred bread is divine. Our server, Anna, is so great! Love all her suggestions for food in both Victoria and Vancouver. She is also just super friendly to chat with. Lovely vibe as the evening progressed and had more people come in.
Had been trying to get here for over a year, coming from Vancouver, and was worth the wait. Would definitely dine here on a regular basis if I lived in Victoria. The space is romantic, sophisticated with exposed brick. My only complaint was that the wines by the glass were not listed on the menu, and when we asked the server what they had by the glass she just stated the varietals…nothing about the winemakers or wines themselves. I had to request to see the bottles. Strange for a wine bar, right?
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