Sooke Harbour House Restaurant

Amazing food. Great dining experience. Beautiful view of the water. Really classy experience overall. The atmosphere is quaint, as the dining room is dimly lit by actual candles and a functional log burning fireplace. We heard about this place while weekending in Victoria, BC and were able to get a reservation. We both had the four course chef’s tasting menu and every single course was super fresh.
I started off with a salad and he had carrot soup– both were delightful and light. We both had the prawn ravioli for our second, which was a total explosion of flavor. It was soft and buttery, yet the shrimp was plump and well spiced. I could have eaten an entire plateful of them. For my main I had the lingcod, which actually tasted like it had been caught that very day. Fresh would be an understatement. It was perfectly prepared (neither overcooked, nor undercooked) and accompanied by a lovely slice of scalloped potatoes and a spicy sauce along the rim of the plate. Hubby had the duck, which was not at all greasy (as duck is prone to be) and melted in his mouth. It was perfection on a plate. Desserts were fruit gelato and a freshly baked plum tart.
Frankly, the bad reviews on Unilocal really confused me and I almost canceled our reservation here. I’m so glad I didn’t. I love fine dining– especially when the restaurant uses fresh, locally sourced food. This place is well worth the hour drive for a dinner here. The four course was only $ 85 CAD per person, which I thought was a steal! We’ll definitely be back.

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights. Great views both from the hotel room and the restaurant. The food is probably overpriced. My tuna was served stone cold…

Very exceptional service. The asparagus soup was delicious. The crab legs, although tasty, were not as spectacular as I expected them to be considering the price of the menu and compared to past experiences. My dinner companions very much enjoyed their dishes and the overall experience. The restaurant is very bright and beautiful with a stunning view of the ocean. Overall it was a very nice evening.

Great food, great service! They use all fresh local ingredients. The soup of the day was spiced eggplant tomato and it was very delicious. The seafood main was excellent and deserts were outrages! Perfect combination of sweetness, fresh berries, yummy sorbet and ice cream. Beautiful setting, right on the water. Highly recommend!

I’d been looking forward to this restaurant for a while so maybe I should give them 2 stars, but no more. We had the tasting menu which included ok green salads, creamy pasta with no salt, ok fish, and the driest, sorriest stuffed chicken ever. I mean it had a weird flavor and tasted like it had been reheated a few times. Just really bad. The next day we ate at some random diner in town that had way better chicken. Desserts were just ok. They were very over-​the-​top with decorations and frills and twirls of this and that but the flavors just weren’t there and they were pretty tiny. Yikes, not going back, especially at these prices. Here’s my review of the hotel itself:

What a sorry disappointment our much-​anticipated experience in the restaurant was. I am assuming the chef had the night off. We were served by the manager I believe, and he would have been dressed down if he had been a member of my staff. Our meal was barely palatable. My husband’s salmon was so overcooked that parts of it would have been better attacked with a chisel than a fork. It was served on a bed of bland vegetables (no colour) which had no seasoning. I had a salad (white again) that had absolutely no seasoning or flavour. My pumpkin ravioli was just dismal, with the only «pumpkin» reference being a soggy slice of squash on the side of the plate.
I would have complained if I could have found the manager/​server and had my poor husband not been at the tail end of a migraine and not eaten for a few hours. He also has a blood sugar issue and needed to eat something (anything). The manager/​server or whatever he was ditched our table after discovering we weren’t buying a bottle of wine (or so it appeared) ordering just one glass as my husband had taken migraine meds.
The young lady who was pouring water asked us at the end, «Did you enjoy your meal?» I advised her that we really didn’t. She went off to the kitchen and the manager then took over, DID NOT MENTION A THING and finished off the bill. We sat by the fire, had a coffee and shook our heads at the atrocious service (and food).
The restaurant at Point no Point is back open mid-​Feb and I’d suggest you go there for a far superior dining experience.

This is a great place so don’t take this review by only its stars. I travel a lot all around the world and can be at times focused on what I like over trying new things.
My wife and I came here for our 20^th Anniversary adventure. I signed us up for the Gastrointestinal Adventure as we wanted to try something a little different. Unfortunately no one ever asked either of us if we had any likes of dislikes and most of the food went to waste. The staff wasn’t observant enough to question the full plates so I felt our dinning pleasure wasn’t priority 1.
I have to be honest and say I was not impressed for the price but I just might have had higher expectations than most.
Skip the adventure unless you like me wanted something different and are willing to have food not to your liking for sampling and money is no object.

Wow. I had the 7 course tasting menu paired with wine. It was outstanding. I can highly recommend this restaurant. Also the service was excellent. Wow!!!

The last time I was at Sooke was four years ago when it was one of the greatest dinners I ever had. I read the Unilocal reviews and many of the reviewers said it had slipped a step so I expected a good dinner but maybe not as special as I remembered.
I have to say they blew my socks off enough that we did a second dinner the next night and it was just as good. The food, the plating, the service were all five stars.
The menu changes nightly so I can’t really recommend a dish, but everything we had was absolutely fresh and cooked to bring out the best of the flavors. I had smoked pheasant and I don’t know how but they had the smoke as a full depth flavor rather than just on the surface, but without overpowering the taste of the meat.
This is the first time I ever tried dungeness crab. I figured this was the place for it, and the word is WOW.
Don’t let the naysayers keep you away. This is still one of the best places for dinner I have ever had.

After a lovely three night stay down the road at a rental cottage, we wrapped up our Vancouver Island vacation at Sooke Harbour House. I am so glad we spent most of our vacation elsewhere. Other reviewers have noted hype around this destination and I have to agree — this is a property that appears to be trading on past glory.
We had one of the higher end rooms which was clean, and had potential to be very lovely but in fact is dated and bordering on shabby. On the whole the Sooke Harbour House is overdue for a major update, particularly given the prices they are charging.
The real disappointment though was the meal. While most of the six course Gastronomic Adventure menu items were very good, the service was just awful — so bad it greatly diminished the experience. After requesting to be reseated in the more formal dining room which had lots of open seating, we noted our new server rolling his eyes in contempt. The contemptuous server — the same man who acts as their sommelier — served the courses with mumbled delivery, dropping plates and walking away while he was telling us about the course. He warmed up a bit given our interest in the wine (which was very well paired with the meal), but he clearly didn’t want to be there. Given the focus on locally sourced and gathered food and the care that the chefs clearly put into the preparation and artful plating, the servers should be working to enhance guest experiences — this isn’t a greasy spoon after all.
For the money, I’d recommend looking at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island in Northern Washington — the dining room, the food, and the service will live up to expectations. I’ve heard the Inn accommodations are not so hot, but they do manage a number of cottage properties on the island and some of those are amazing.

This is the first time I have ever walked out of a restaurant. We had 7:15 reservations. We stood at the door for at least 5 minutes without recognition. Finally sat, we waited and were asked about water. Water brought, we waited again. A man finally approached our table and stood there, making me very uncomfortable. He pointed out the menu features but never asked for a cocktail, wine or beverage order. I was done. We left. I need to qualify this review by stating that I have been in the restaurant business for 40 years and have worked in likes of Windows on the World as a captain.

This was a bucket list type dinner for me. I’ve read about if on several foodie boards and drooled over having dinner there ever since planning our trip to Vancouver Island. We did not stay there but drove from our hotel in Victoria.
We were coming on a Thursday and were really excited that they had a «Seafood Thursday» special that they had advertised at $ 39/​person seafood meal that the chef prepares 4 items. We were informed upon ordering that the price had increased to $ 49/​person the week before.
The food was 5 * no doubt about it. It was worth every penny (though I thought they should have honored their advertised price). The service was ok and they were trying but it felt like for a restaurant of this caliber and reputation I felt like the servers were not quite ready for prime time. There was one server and one assistant to work the whole dining room that evening. while we were there they had five tables of two total but there was a lacking a sense of fluidity to the service and a lack of knowledge to questions asked about the entrees or their sourcing. This restaurant is noted for their local sourcing of ingredients and I would think it would spend considerable resources educating its staff. I have to give them a bit of a pass on the information part because it was a special menu. My favorite was probably the Rockfish preparation as well as the in house smoked salmon with caviar. the meal started with an amazing tasting fresh oyster for a first course.
Would I go there again. Because the food was so good I would tolerate less than stellar service … I think I would and there was tremendous value in the menu and the quality of food but I give them three stars as a result of the lapse.
We were told later on our trip by another restaurant owner that Sooke Harbor House has been up for sale for a while. Hoping it maintains its chefs and culinary excellence through that transition

*Everything lived up to the hype food wise, impressive indeed
*Service was really good tempered with awful, the sommelier doubled as our server and he was just plain awful, you cannot teach warmth and service and he def. didn’t have either
*PRICEY, for what we got it was spendy but a once in a lifetime experience

The food was artful & delicious, the wine list impressive, but the service atrocious.
* gave away our table because the receptionist didn’t communicate that we’d be late
* time between courses before our main was inordinate & excruciating, upwards of 40 minutes
* poor wine service, including bringing a bottle of white in an under-​iced bucket & leaving the table before opening it, as our 1^st course sat getting cold
* then taking that same bottle of white from the table with a glass left in it
All in all, the service was just not up to the level of the food.

The theme of this review is wowie, but with an asterisk. I’ve decided to enter a phase of strict benchmarks and detail, a la Steve Jobs. Just wrapping up his biography. Read it.
Also, all future reviews will include an ImmyG P/​Q scale rating (more reliable than Zagat) to bring a better understanding of what to expect. The P stands for Price, and Q is for Quality. A restaurant with very reasonable prices gets a high score on P (the X axis), and great quality gets a high score on the Q (the Y axis). When you map it out, you can create a rectangle using those two points on the X/​Y axis. The more area your shaded rectangle covers, the greater the value the restaurant delivers.
For Sooke Harbor, the P is a 5/​10, and the Q is a ⁹⁄₁₀.
Now on to the review.
First, let me lay out the cons for this place, which underlines the reasons for my *.
1. The prices are steep. The four-​course prix fixe will set you back a benjamin, at least, after taxes and tip (and not including alcohol, though I don’t drink). Other high end places in the region will probably run you $ 30-​$ 40 dollars less for a similar four course meal, though few will be as memorable. Lxxxxxe (über top secret place that I can not disclose by name) in S. Africa, widely recognized as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, is $ 75 bucks for an 8 course meal. Yes, you read that right. EIGHT COURSES. And I’m talking about 8 courses of mouth-​watering juicy booty foodie, so far unmatched by any other restaurant I have experienced. Or you can get the five course seating for around $ 50. Insane!
2. The portions are not exactly generous. I was not fully sated after topping off my coffee and dessert. I actually thought about ordering another piece of chocolate gateaux but restrained myself since I had a pistachio and chocolate crumb and sponge wafer cake for lunch and didn’t want to overdo my sugar intake :) even though I exercise 3 – 4 times a week and look gooooooood
3. The service, as mentioned in other reviews, may be spotty. I think this has to do with the seasonality, with the new hires (waitresses) coming on as the region transitions from winter to tourist season. If you go during this transitional phase, the peeps working there (besides the owner, who is a cool dude) will be in a state of OJT. But — personally, I do not feel that service is a big deal as long as the effort is there and adequate standards are met.
Now the pros: Value aside, the food is top notch. The four-​star rating is inclusive of the value. The food itself is five stars and without question one of the best in the VC Island region.
1. The restaurant focuses on local ingredients, and actually grows many of the veggies and herbs in their own garden. Many of our dishes were peppered with local edible flowers and herbs that were fresh, delectable to the eye and palate.
2. The seafood was, as Stevie Jobs would say, insanely great. At many restaurants, even the really good ones, it’s rare to order fish that is prepared just oh-​so right. Lobster and crab are easier because the ingredients themselves are stellar, but adding complex yet subtle sauces to bring out the best of cod, halibut, etc… that’s tough. And they do this beautifully.
3. The view is bootiful. Overlooking the picturesque harbor area, you may see otters cavorting in the water in the fading sunset.
4. The owner is a great host and travels all over North America for gastronomic inspiration.
All in all, it was a great experience. But again, it’s not for everyone and even I believe there may be other local spots that deliver better overall value (not quality per se, but P+Q). I feel bad because we had to do skip out on a reservation at another restaurant in downtown Victoria — what happened is that our spontaneous VC Island exploration took us to Sooke just in time for me to snatch the last table opening at Harbour House Inn. I got lucky — but I guess those are the breaks you get as a FFAS (Foodie for All Seasons).

We ate here 2 nights (yay!). One night, we got the chef’s sampler, which let us have small portions of most of the dishes on the menu. We got to taste items I would never had ordered (the pork tenderloin with soba noodles) that were wonderful. The dishes we would have ordered were also wonderful. They were wonderful about adjusting the wine pairings (I strongly prefer red wines). The locally sourced food (local loganberries in the dessert) was a treat. The theme was locavore and tasty. Local peas from their garden in the soup, local wines, local cheeses.
Night #2, we got the four course meal. It was also wonderful. Dishes and desserts were different each night.
The room is romantic. We watched the sunset over the harbor and the San Juan islands.
Can’t wait to go back.

It’s tough because this is by far the nicest, homiest, and generally loveliest hotel I’ve ever been to, but man, I was not impressed by their restaurant at all.
Perhaps our first mistake was to visit in February, when I’m sure the pickings from their on-​site garden are slim. But I’m not sure all the fresh leafy greens and berry compotes in the world could have saved our lunch.
Lunch is not their bread and butter meal (it’s only served on Sunday) but it was V-​Day, so they had to expect a crowd right? Still they only had two waitresses, who were stretched way too thin to offer up quality service. Our waitress was really nice, but was flummoxed when we told her that every single item on the menu included dairy which is a problem for Ms. Poirot. «Uhm, I’ll ask the kitchen what they can do, but all our lunch meals are prepared ahead of time.» AHEAD OF TIME? Good to know! (Also, there was exactly one vegetarian-​friendly item on the – limited – menu. We eat the meat, but if we didn’t, the onion soup would’ve been the only option. I wasn’t impressed with the low level of thought given to the menu.)
My chicken crepes were disappointingly bland, and while the shellfish Ms. Poirot got were fine, it wasn’t enough to save the spot in my eyes. I strongly endorse the hotel, and strongly recommend you shop around Sooke for dinner.

Sooke Harbour House is a high-​end inn on Vancouver Island, about 45 minutes from Victoria. It is universally lauded by guides and consumers but I didn’t get it. Amazing food but the prices are out-​of-​control. The wine list proves the rule that Wine Spectator Grand Awards are worthless. It doesn’t matter if you have a 100-​page wine list if all the prices are 300% of retail. Totally whack. The Gastronomic Adventure is not a creative chef’s menu — it is just a sub-​set of the actual menu. It’s probably a good way for the kitchen to use up items that have too much inventory.
Generally, this is one of those places for people who have too much money. Maybe I am revolting in general against super high-​priced restaurants but I don’t think I am being harsh. Relatively small portions, typical ingredients (not paying extra for lobster, foie gras, truffles, etc), mildly creative… perhaps they are charging for the setting and the local sourcing of food?
They can’t be charging for the service. While the staff is very friendly, it’s not the professional level that you expect in this caliber (read: price range) restaurant. I have been to other high-​end inns around the country — it is clear Sooke doesn’t have the same level of training.
Sorry for the rant and potential buzzkill — it’s definitely a romantic setting and I guess I shouldn’t be putting a price on a romantic dinner. The food is excellent but it just doesn’t match the price point or expectations. If you go, order a la carte, focus on the fish dishes, and don’t plan to drink very much.

A friend and I planned a ten-​day Pacific Northwest trip around the reservation we had here for May 16; we won’t make that mistake again. From arriving 20 minutes too early and being told to «come back,» to being seated at the tiniest table available, to learning my «Gastronomic Adventure» consisted of streamlined versions of main menu items (rather than special creations) to my friend and I both having the halibut which seemed perfectly cooked but which had a burned taste pervading every mouthful to the point of our abandoning the course, to my chicken course being delivered cold and without any dining utensils, and on and on and on. The food consisted of such eccentric combinations (eg, quail with asparagus, goat cheese and hazelnut pesto) made wine pairings almost impossible and quite unpleasant. When I mailed the owner, I was ignored. This place is apparently inconsistent at best, and I will never risk another dime to dine here.

Mrs Cheesemonger and I ate here twice a few years ago during a magical weekend at the hotel.
The Sooke Harbour House has been ‘locavore’ before locavore was a word, with all ingredients for all meals coming from a short distance away. The seafood was superb, the goat cheeses from Salt Spring Island were a revelation and the Okanagan wine selection was unsurpassed.
This was world class eating in a beautiful setting.
We’re smacking our lips for a return visit.
Maybe when the economy turns around.