Review Stage. - Victoria

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.

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?

Once again an amazing dinner. I don’t go often - maybe three times a year at most. It’s a go-to special occasion dinner and every time the food, drinks, staff and ambiance is wonderful. Part of the treat is seeing how a two word menu item comes out as a masterfully prepared dish. Don’t miss the cheese, cured meats, amazing veggies and meats - and get some of the house liquors.

Neighborhood bistro in part of town you need to cab to and from if you're based downtown. Like a lot of places like this, if you're not a regular it might not feel very friendly at first, but we were seated at the bar and eventually won over the staff, so we ended up having a good time. Interesting menu, both for food and wine. Although we wanted to focus on local BC wines, we couldn't resist a Dalmatian red. We split a few small plates, the artichokes and the financier dessert were our favorites. I could see myself hanging out here if I were local.

Incredible dining experience! The staff demonstrated extraordinary service…we will be back!! Thank you Anna!!!

Very good experience but since it was my first time there and we only got tapas to share. I don't want to give full 5 stars yet until I've tried their actual meals. Overall very cool place. 😊

This is cute little restaurant that upon arriving had all the makings of being a great food experience. The service was top notch and the wines they recommended were great. The food however had all the components for being really good, but didn’t quite make it. We did the chefs tasting menu and it started of with cheese, charcuteries and slow cooked pigs head. All the components from this starter that were really good, weren’t made in house which is unfortunate. The ranch dip was amazing, but the pigs head literally had no seasoning or flavour. Since it had an XO sauce, it should’ve been bursting with flavour. Our main was the roasted chicken. Again there was absolutely no seasoning and since they did a honey marinade on the outside of the chicken it made the skin taste burnt and bitter after cooking. No flavours penetrated the actual chicken itself. The only flavour was in the skin. The dessert was a mint chocolate cake, which was fine but didn’t wow or beg us to come back for more. Overall we didn’t leave unhappy, but we do wish the food had hit its mark. With some tweaks I believe it can!

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?!

Great place, friendly staff food and drinks were amazing I would recommend it to anybody. I definitely will be going back!

Friendly staff, great service, delicious food and good wine all served in a comfortable atmosphere!

We were visiting from Portland for our anniversary and found Stage online. We loved the food, the wine, and the warm, friendly service. Everyone was so welcoming and genuine. We had a leisurely meal and several "flight" sized glasses of BC wines. Our favorite dishes included the duck rillettes, fried brussels sprouts, and trout. We will definitely recommend Stage Wine Bar to anyone heading to Victoria. Wonderful evening!

The owner is filled with total awesomeness. My 2 year old son is still jumping to his rhythm ;) . He is truly a rare kind of gentleman. I can't wait to actually go there and treat myself. Everything is excellent there! Bless this place.

Perfect place to catch up with girlfriends. Great food and wine. I love the atmosphere. Was staying in town and wish I could have walked there but worth the trip there.

The food, service & atmosphere is always incredible! Hard to beat a night out in Victoria for dinner & wine without going by Stage!

Crispy chicken, oh ya. Scallops, yep. Brussel sprouts , uh-huh. Peanut butter chocolate bar with espresso martini for a heavenly dessert.

Easily the best dinner I've ever had in Victoria and I lived here for almost 5 years. Big thanks to the friendly service and amazing talent from Chef Sean!!!

Amazing ambience! Incredibly creative and unique food created by very talented chefs! Very knowledgeable servers with great wine pairing recommendations. The food was spectacular, each bite a new explosion of impressive flavours and textures, I could keep going on and on. Our new favourite spot for sure and a must see for those who haven't been! Graham awesome job!

Fun atmosphere, great food, nice wine choices. Highly recommend!

We went in last weekend and I was blown away. We brought our 9 month old baby in and maybe I was imagining it but I felt like all the customers were just like oh no... a baby... I thought, what were we thinking bringing our baby here? Then, the owner came over and welcomes us, showed us a pic of his son, and offered to walk with our baby or help in any other way needed. I immediately felt so welcome and relaxed and had a fabulous dinner. The chefs were waving at our baby, the servers were checking in and even thanked us for bringing him in. It felt so nice to know we can still eat great food even with a baby! Thank you so much for this experience! ���🍽

Wonderful staff straight through from greeting to the bill. Our hostess tonight was beautiful, welcoming and helpful. The food was amazing (I had the tartar) the wine was perfectly paired. Excellent.