Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Victoria from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Victoria
MARILENA in Chinatown and II Terrazzo in Downtown have exceptional wine programmes and sommelier-led service. The Magnolia Hotel & Spa in Downtown Victoria holds Star Wine List recognition.
Chinatown's West Coast seafood restaurant with a Japanese raw bar has an exceptional wine programme, a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and sommelier-led service. Its extensive wine cellar showcases BC wineries, and the formats include a la carte, omakase, and small plates.
Downtown's Northern Italian restaurant has an exceptional wine programme, an extensive wine list, and sommelier-led service. The historic courtyard has brick fireplaces and candlelight, while the kitchen serves wood-oven roasted meats and pizzas.
Downtown Victoria's boutique hotel carries Star Wine List recognition and includes The Courtney Room restaurant. The property pairs that recognition with modern Pacific Northwest cuisine and seven treatment rooms at Spa Magnolia.
This section covers one Wine Spectator award-winning restaurant and two bars recognised by World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars.
Bastion Square's coastal Vancouver Island seafood room holds a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and offers tasting menu, small plates, and family-style formats. The kitchen leans on local producers, and the bar side adds craft cocktails to a shareable menu built around the Pacific Northwest.
Downtown's intimate cocktail bar has repeated recognition from World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars and Canada's 100 Best Bars. Alexander von Humboldt inspires its cocktails, artwork and sharing plates, with natural themes running through the drinks.
Chinatown's upstairs tropical cocktail lounge has recognition from World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars and Canada's 100 Best Bars. Rum, frozen drinks, and craft cocktails lead the list, with flaming tiki drinks and a drinks programme built around house-made ingredients.
Chinatown and Downtown have exceptional wine programmes in our guide. MARILENA in Chinatown has sommelier-led service, an extensive wine cellar showcasing BC wineries and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. II Terrazzo in Downtown also offers sommelier-led service and an extensive wine list alongside Northern Italian cooking.
Victoria has no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide. Fairmont Empress Hotel in Inner Harbour and The Magnolia Hotel & Spa in Downtown Victoria hold Michelin Key recognition, which is a hotel distinction rather than a restaurant star.
Wind Cries Mary in Bastion Square offers a tasting menu focused on coastal Vancouver Island cuisine, alongside small plates and family-style dining. MARILENA in Chinatown offers omakase as part of its West Coast seafood and Japanese raw bar formats.
MARILENA in Chinatown holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and Wind Cries Mary in Bastion Square holds a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. Citywide, our guide includes 4 Award of Excellence recipients and 1 Best of Award of Excellence recipient.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Victoria
Selected entries from the current guide for Victoria.
Victoria, Canada
Victoria's most ambitious seafood restaurant operates at a scale the city hadn't previously seen. Backed by Vancouver's Toptable Group and voted Canada's 100 Best 2024 Best New Restaurant, MARILENA pairs a raw bar anchored by Sushi Chef Ilhan Yu with a main kitchen led by Kristian Eligh, together producing a menu that draws heavily from the Pacific Coast's immediate larder. The result is grand-room dining with genuine culinary rigour behind it.
Victoria, Canada
Positioned on Victoria's inner harbour waterfront at 1001 Wharf Street, Nautical Nellies holds a White Star recognition from Star Wine List, signalling a wine program that earns serious attention alongside its seafood-forward kitchen. The address places it at the centre of one of Canada's most productive coastal foraging zones, where the Pacific's cold-water bounty arrives with proximity few landlocked cities can match.
Victoria, Canada
Red Fish Blue Fish in Victoria serves Coastal Pacific Northwest seafood from a walk-up window on the Inner Harbour pier. Must-try dishes include Cod and Chips, Wild Salmon (grilled or tempura), and the creamy Seafood Chowder. The restaurant champions sustainability with 100% Ocean Wise seafood and an earth-friendly reuse and recycle system, and earned TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice recognition in 2024 and 2025. Expect warm, flaky fish, crisp hand-cut fries, bright citrus slaw, and harbor air that makes every bite taste of the sea.
Victoria, Canada
Wind Cries Mary occupies a storied address at 45 Bastion Square in Victoria's Old Town, placing it squarely in one of British Columbia's most historically layered dining districts. The bar and kitchen draw on the Pacific Northwest's dense network of coastal producers, positioning the venue within a generation of Victoria spots that treat sourcing as editorial, not decoration. For visitors working through the city's dining scene, it belongs on the shortlist alongside Brasserie L'Ecole and Cafe Brio.
Victoria, Canada
A fixture on Government Street since the early 2000s, Brasserie L'Ecole brings the casual authority of a French provincial brasserie to Victoria's dining scene. Regulars return for the kind of cooking that doesn't announce itself, honest technique, familiar plates, and a room that rewards repetition. It sits in a different register from Victoria's destination-dining circuit, and that's precisely the point.
Victoria, Canada
Cafe Brio sits on Fort Street in Victoria's Rockland district, where the city's commitment to Pacific Northwest sourcing finds one of its more consistent expressions. A reliable choice for visitors who want to eat the region rather than just visit it.
Victoria, Canada
CairoMum brings Egyptian cooking into Victoria’s restaurant mix, a city better known to visitors for harbour dining, brunch rooms, and Pacific Northwest seafood. Read it through the mezze spread first: dips, salads, bread, and shared plates are the strongest lens for understanding how Egyptian tables work in a Canadian city with a broadening casual-dining range.
Victoria, Canada
On Quadra Street in Victoria's mid-city corridor, Chicken 649 addresses a gap that most Canadian cities still leave open: serious fried chicken served without the fast-food industrial framework around it. The name alone signals a knowing irreverence, and the address places it squarely in a neighbourhood where casual and considered dining coexist at close range.
Victoria, Canada
Floyd's Diner at 866 Yates Street occupies a dependable spot in Victoria's casual dining scene, where the ritual of the diner meal, counter seating, no-fuss plates, and coffee that arrives without asking, anchors its appeal. It sits in a neighbourhood bracket distinct from the white-tablecloth rooms on Johnson Street, serving a crowd that values directness over occasion. A reliable address for those who want honest food without the architecture of a formal reservation.
Victoria, Canada
Hank's *A Restaurant occupies a ground-floor address on Douglas Street in downtown Victoria, placing it inside one of the city's most navigated dining corridors. While specific menu and chef details remain lightly documented in public record, the address and format position it within Victoria's mid-range independent dining tier, where the city's best neighbourhood character tends to surface.
Victoria, Canada
II Terrazzo occupies a prominent address on Johnson Street in Victoria, BC, placing it within a downtown dining corridor where Italian-influenced cooking and a considered approach to pacing and service have long defined the upper tier of the city's restaurant scene. For visitors mapping out Victoria's serious dining options, it represents one address worth planning around.
Victoria, Canada
On Pandora Avenue in Victoria's lower downtown, John's Place Restaurant occupies a position in the city's everyday dining culture that few restaurants in its price tier manage: a room with genuine neighbourhood gravity. Compared to the more formal French bistro tradition at Brasserie L'Ecole or the Mediterranean-leaning polish of Cafe Brio, John's Place operates in a register that prizes familiarity and consistency over occasion-dining theatre.
Victoria, Canada
A sushi and grill address on Cedar Hill Cross Road in Victoria's residential east side, K-Town positions itself within a city dining scene that has grown increasingly comfortable blending Japanese technique with West Coast ingredients. The room serves a neighbourhood crowd that returns reliably, placing it in the casual-to-mid tier of Victoria's broader Japanese dining conversation.
Victoria, Canada
On downtown Victoria's busiest commercial corridor, Kizuna Ramen on Douglas occupies a position in the city's growing roster of Japanese noodle specialists. The bowl-focused format suits Douglas Street's lunchtime and post-work traffic, placing it alongside Victoria's broader shift toward casual but considered dining. For ramen in the city centre, it represents a practical and accessible option.
Victoria, Canada
A Victoria institution at 1011 Broad Street, Pagliacci's has anchored the downtown dining scene for decades with a menu rooted in Italian-American comfort cooking. The room is loud, warm, and unapologetically theatrical, a counterpoint to the city's quieter, more composed restaurants. It draws a cross-section of locals and visitors who want substance over ceremony.
Victoria, Canada
Part and Parcel sits on Quadra Street in Victoria's mid-town corridor, occupying the neighbourhood grocery-and-kitchen counter format that has become a quiet but consistent presence in the city's dining scene. The space draws from the local-goods tradition common to Victoria's food culture, positioning itself between convenience and considered eating. For visitors tracing the city's culinary geography, it offers a grounded entry point into what Victoria does when it isn't performing for tourists.
Victoria, Canada
Standard Pizza occupies a Cook Street address in Victoria, BC, landing in the neighbourhood's casual-but-considered dining tier. The restaurant draws a local following built on a direct proposition: pizza done with attention, in a neighbourhood that rewards precisely that kind of place. For visitors working through Victoria's dining scene, it functions as a reliable neighbourhood anchor between the city's more formal options.
Victoria, Canada
Tucked into the lower level of a Menzies Street address in James Bay, The Coriander Indian Restaurant is one of Victoria's longer-standing neighbourhood Indian options. The lower-level setting gives it a room-within-a-room quality that separates it from the city's more prominent dining strip. For visitors piecing together Victoria's broader dining picture, it sits alongside a range of independently operated choices across the city.
Victoria, Canada
Volta Victoria occupies a Yates Street address in Victoria's downtown core, positioning itself within a dining scene that has grown increasingly confident in its own identity over the past decade. With the Inner Harbour crowd migrating further inland toward independent operators, 766 Yates sits at a useful intersection of accessibility and neighbourhood character. Details on cuisine format and pricing are best confirmed directly with the venue before booking.
Victoria
Selected entries from the current guide for Victoria.
Victoria, Canada
Victoria's landmark Fairmont Empress has anchored the Inner Harbour since 1908, earning a Michelin Key, Forbes Four-Star recognition, and placement at #2 in Travel + Leisure's 2024 Best Canadian City Hotels ranking. Following a $60-million restoration completed in 2017, its 464 rooms, Willow Stream Spa, and the daily Tea at the Empress remain the reference point for grand-hotel hospitality on Vancouver Island.
Victoria, Canada
A 64-room boutique hotel in downtown Victoria awarded a Michelin Key in 2024 and Star Wine List recognition in 2026, The Magnolia sits a block from the Inner Harbour with design that bridges Victorian-era formality and contemporary Pacific Northwest sensibility. The Courtney Room restaurant anchors the food program, while the seven-room Spa Magnolia and curated local itineraries make it a considered choice for longer stays on Vancouver Island.
Victoria, Canada
Hotel Grand Pacific sits at 463 Belleville Street in the heart of Victoria's Inner Harbour district, steps from the British Columbia Legislature and the waterfront. With 304 rooms, the property operates at a scale that places it among Victoria's larger full-service hotels, offering a range of accommodation options alongside dining and amenity facilities suited to both leisure and business travellers.
Victoria, Canada
Positioned half a block from Beacon Hill Park and within easy walking distance of the Inner Harbour, The Parkside Hotel & Spa occupies a practical but well-located address in Victoria's southern downtown. With 126 rooms and a spa on-site, it sits in the mid-to-upper tier of Victoria's independent hotel market, offering more scale than a boutique guesthouse without the heritage-brand pricing of the Fairmont properties nearby.
Victoria, Canada
A 118-year-old Tudor manor in Victoria's Esquimalt neighbourhood, Rosemead House spent a decade and $25 million becoming one of Canada's most maximalist luxury hotels. Owner Lenny Moy assembled 1,500 antiques from British estates, London hotels, and film sets, including the Buckingham Palace gates from Netflix's The Crown, into 41 individually designed rooms where Edwardian furniture meets Duxiana mattresses and Kohler smart toilets.
Victoria, Canada
Canada's oldest operating brewpub sits on Victoria's upper harbour, combining craft brewing with guesthouse accommodation in a format that has defined the city's independent hospitality scene since 1984. The gastro brewpub format pairs house-brewed ales with a kitchen oriented around local producers, while the guesthouses offer a low-key alternative to Victoria's larger hotel corridor. See our full Victoria restaurants guide for context.
Victoria
Selected entries from the current guide for Victoria.
Victoria, Canada
Ranked #69 on World's 50 Best North America's Best Bars 2025, Humboldt Bar at 722 Humboldt St builds its entire identity around 19th-century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt: drinks, artwork, and sharing plates all trace back to the explorer's journeys. The corner banquette is the seat to claim..
Victoria, Canada
Citrus & Cane occupies a deliberate niche in Victoria's cocktail scene: a tropical bar that takes its rum program as seriously as any specialist in Canada. Plush pink interiors, rattan details, and jungle art frame a menu built on vast spirit collections and house-made ingredients, including an entire section devoted to the Piña Colada in its many forms.
Victoria, Canada
Hoyne Brewing Company operates out of a working industrial space on Bridge Street, where the brewery floor and the taproom share the same address. The format positions it squarely within Victoria's craft-production drinking culture: beer made on-site, served close to the source, in a setting that trades polish for authenticity.
Victoria, Canada
Phillips Brewing & Malting Beer Shop at 2000 Government Street sits inside Victoria's most established independent craft brewery, offering direct access to the full Phillips tap and packaged range. For visitors tracing the city's beer culture, it functions as a reference point for understanding how Vancouver Island's craft brewing scene developed before it became the crowded category it is today.
Victoria, Canada
Positioned along Victoria's Inner Harbour at 1205 Wharf Street, The Local sits where the city's waterfront energy meets its neighbourhood bar culture. It draws from the same Wharf Street corridor that defines Victoria's accessible, unpretentious drinking scene, placing it in a different register from the more formal programs at nearby cocktail-focused venues.
Victoria
Selected entries from the current guide for Victoria.
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