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It'd been a couple of years since my last visit to the Marina
Restaurant, when I was horrified to be seated next to two tables of
screaming children and was traumatised for quite some time. Having
recovered from that experience and hearing positive news about the
current kitchen management and staff, I thought I'd give it another
shot. Good thing I did.
While the Marina Restaurant is never, ever, going to be a hip and
happening place to dine, and exemplifies Victoria's reputation for the
'newly-wed and nearly-dead,' the food is excellent and the view
stunning. Indeed, their was a sea of old lady, cauliflower hairdos upon
arrival, but it's Oak Bay, why would I expect anything else. The
restaurant space is attractive, well designed and comfortable, that said
it lacks a little intimacy.
Our initial drink service was slow, but the server was able to answer
a question about the martini list, which is fairly extensive. To
disclaim as well, the server was acquainted with our dinner guest Ryan,
which I think served to improve our service at times and sacrifice it at
others. The server was generally polite, engaging and fairly
knowledgeable about the food and wine, but we thought could have done a
little more to answer a couple of product questions. Patty inquired
about they type of rockfish being served and it seemed she didn't
understand that there were different species of rockfish. When Patty
explained, she didn't offer to ask the kitchen. Similarly, when asked
about the wine, she gave us the descriptor off the bottle, albeit in a
tongue in cheek fashion - fair enough, it was a somewhat obscure grape (Marsanne),
I'll blame the management for not having a cheat sheet for the wine
list. I looked it up when I got home.
One of the nice things about the Marina Restaurant, is the ability to
order off the Sushi Bar
menu. I started with a plate of delicious nigiri and Ryan had sushi as
well, for his main. For Patty's first course he ordered the halibut
cheek crepe ($13.5). Wow, this was the best dish of the night and one of
the best dishes I've tasted in awhile. Tender and flavourful with a
lemony oil garnish - super-good. Ryan had the chicken liver and wild
mushroom pate ($9.5). I found the mushroom flavour to be non-existent,
but Ryan insisted it was there. That said, the pate was lovely and
creamy, without any bitterness. You could tell some time had been put
into the preparation of this dish.
For my main I had the roast halibut with sablefish, potato and leek
salad ($27). Pretty darn yummy. The warm salad accompaniment was well
designed and executed with a good balance of flavours and richness.
Similarly, the frisee salad garnish, was fresh and the bitterness of the
lettuce provided a nice contrast to the rest of the dish. It was
presented attractively and fish cooked to medium. Patty had the salmon,
with lentil, bacon and asparagus ($25). Unfortunately, it was a smidge
overdone, but not terribly so. The lentil accompaniment was a nice
variation on ordinary salmon dishes and Patty gobbled it up.
In advance of ordering desert, Ryan, for some mysterious reason
announced to the server that we were writing a review - so consider the
rest of our experience tainted. Nevertheless...Ryan ordered the dessert
special ($6.95) - a cream filled tart, topped with blueberries and ice
cream. Beautifully presented, the tart shell was a bit thick and hard to
cut, the berries however were fresh and Ryan loved it. I had the lemon
tart ($7.5) - one of my favourite desserts. My tart shell was not as
thick as Ryan's and I was delighted with the well balanced lemon curd
and the crispy bruleed top.
Overall, we were really happy with the food. The wine list is decent
and we liked the selection of bin ends, but it's not a terribly
interesting list and falls seriously short on vintage identification -
making it hard to identify value. We love the view and think it's a well
designed space, but there were a few corners being cut, like cheap wine
glasses. If you're looking a great view, good food and plenty of free
parking, the Marina is your place.
reviewed July 17/2006
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