Heron Rock Bistro

Very, very nice. Not the most expensive, but definitely the best food and service thus far in our week in Victoria. Well worth a visit if you are in James Bay. We plan on returning during slow times to get a better look at the art work on display. Ohhh, that chowder was goooood!

The food was mediocre and the portions on the small side unless they considered the fries to be the main part of the meal. The wait staff was friendly and maby a little stoned and aloof lacking attention to the customers. At one point they attempted to seat 10 people next to us with only eight chairs.
This was the second time we’ve eaten here in the last two years and the nothing has changed.

Brunch was good, as expected. The service was quite slow (we were also pretty hungry) but the overall experience was positive.

Great experience tonight. Had to wait for a table but service was very pleasant and food was very good. I had the dine in Victoria with the suggested pairings and it definitely hit the spot. Oysters were fresh and delicious, steak frites was cooked as requested and the desert was very nice. Would recommend for a casual date night or diners looking for a local vibe with good service.

I come here regularly for their bacon and stilton benny with fresh pan fries. Yummy! The staff are always attentive, even the bussers, and the owner always makes me feel like a welcomed friend. Definitely recommend.

Wow, what a great experience!
Dropped in with a party of 7 without a reservation and were quickly accommodated despite already being set up for several other large groups.
Service was excellent. The staff were very prompt and pleasant. Drinks and food arrived promptly.
Amongst the group, we had a bit of everything from for Eggs Benedict to the Lamb Burger. All were very well received. Not one complaint!
Highly recommend this spot.

Came here for a late lunch. Crab cakes were a bit small but very flavourful, and had the lamb burger which was outstanding. Great service as well.

Recently came here with a large group and they were extremely accommodating. Our server was good at taking care of everyone as they arrived and bringing drinks. My only issue was the size of their coffee cups were SO small that they had to keep coming constantly to keep the cups filled at our table and we were often left without coffee just because we were going through it so fast. We did their brunch and it was fantastic! Everyone loved the food and i really liked that they had a half order option on their bennys incase someone wasn’t as hungry.
Then at the end of the meal they had already divided the checks among everyone and made the process so easy! We will definitely be back and appreciated how accommodating and helpful the service was!

I was referred to Heron Rock Bistro when looking for a lunch spot from a local. This restaurant has a pub like atmosphere serving brunch, lunch and dinner. The bistro is located in a strip mall with a small shopping center that shares a parking lot with a grocery store. The parking is very limited, so you might be forced to find some street parking. If you’re looking for breakfast here, they open up later in the morning around 9 during the week, so it’s definitely more a brunch place. Both the breakfast and lunch portions of the menu are served until 4 then menus change, so you can enjoy a really late breakfast meal if you wish. I ended up making it to this place around 1PM and the restaurant was packed with people even on a weekday. The dining area isn’t too big but the tables are relatively comfortable and they have the ability to serve larger groups. They have live music every Monday, Friday and Saturday nights, so if you’re into live music and drinks, this would be a good spot. Some of the art on the walls (
) I thought were pretty damn good, very pricey if you wish to buy them though. The menu is varies a lot, they serve mostly local Canadian faire with quality ingredients and have some vegetarian options.
The flavored ice tea (
) here was great, it was unsweetened tea that they freshly just gone done brewing. I ordered the Fat Buoy Burger which essentially was natural beef burger with onion relish. They give you the options to add cheese, egg, or bacon for extra. The burger (
) was quite small for the 14 CAD price tag, but it was very delicious none the less. The beef was cooked medium, not well done which was great. The onion relish on top added some great taste to the meat, and the bun was crisped on the bottom but soft on top. For an extra 4 CAD they give you the ability to get poutine as your side. The poutine (
) came out with hot gravy but the cheese curds were not melted. I personally enjoyed the curds not being melted, it was great to eat the chunks of cheese. The gravy tasted great and the French fries were still crispy underneath. Very good seasoning to the fries, some of the best I’ve had. I’ve been to Canada many times before, but I’ve never got a chance to try the local dish known as poutine. The dish is getting more popular back home, but my Canadian friend said it’s so much better getting it up north. A very popular dish here is the duck poutine, but I instead opted for the regular one. I really enjoyed having poutine for the first time, I can see why it’s so popular.
My friend really loves breakfast food, so they ended up getting the Huevos Cubanos (
) for 15 CAD. Like my burger, it was a very small portion. It also didn’t come with any meat, it was an extra 2.50 for some pork on top. Even though they gave my friend the option for how hard the poached eggs were, they seemed to miss the mark for her. She also didn’t really care for their mojo sauce. Overall Heron Bistro seems like a fine place to grab a drink with someone and enjoy some local food. The prices seemed a bit high for the portions, but in my opinion the food was great. The service here was also exemplary as they constantly made sure our meal was the way we wanted it, substitutions weren’t a big deal at all.

Have been here several times for breafast/​brunch and twice for dinner.
The food is consistently delicious (especially brunch!)
However, have found the service a bit inconsistent. Always friendly, but sometimes very slow. On a recent brunch outing, were seated and not attended to for about 15 minutes. At least bring me a coffee when I sit down and I’ll be happy. :)
Given how good the food is and how close it is to my home, will still be on the regular rotation.

Good consistent food every time I go here!
Brunch is fantastic. No lines or waits compared to some breakfast joints downtown. Man mosa s are a great way to kill a hangover and the heuovos cubanous is delish!

The veggie burger was sour tasting and the flavour is intensified by the pickled cucumber. Instead of a veggie patty, pieces of vegetables were used and with the long bean sprouts, the burger disintegrates easily and the sprouts are impossible to break. The portion for the soup that comes with was also very small. I wouldn’t want to pay 13 for that. The service was nice, while a few problems that occurred including a cold burger bun for my friend after she requested to have it toasted. She did enjoy her lamb burger more than I did with mine.

The drinks served up by Julian are awesome! Love how friendly he is! I come back every time I visit victoria — for real! Loving my Moscow Mule with the Fentimans Ginger beer!!!
A bit disappointed that they had run out of the lunch special — I really wanted that Turkey Club today!!! But the fried chicken burger with guacamole (Julian’s suggestion) was great! Fries are awesome too!
I will be back again!

Two words: Duck Poutine
Also despite what Unilocal says, they are indeed open on Sunday. The building they are in is doing some renovations, but definitely find this place and get the Poutine.

Oh das war nichts! Hier muss man ganz klar unterscheiden zwischen europäischer und amerikanisch/​kanadischer Esskultur. Die Preise gesalzen, da wir bereits saßen, war keine Flucht mehr möglich. Kaum bis keine vegetarischen Variationen, bestellten wir in der Not ein Frenchtoast. Selten so etwas widerliches gegessen unabhängig davon, das es generell nicht mein Ding ist. Man schmeckte regelrecht das Fett der Burger und Würste an dem Toast, die ganz offensichtlich in der selben Pfanne bzw. im selben Fett gebraten wurden. Schade um die Kalorien und euch deutschen Mitbürgern kann ich sagen, ihr wäret ebenso enttäuscht. 35 $ für nichts, spart euch das Geld, geht in den Supermarkt nebenan und holt euch né Stulle oder einen Muffin mit einer 0 weniger dran bzw. einen Komma dazwischen! Die Frühstückskultur ist lange nicht auf dem Standard der unsrigen! Man sollte hier gerade auf deutsche Bewertungen Wert legen ohne dabei nationalistisch zu sein, es geht hier rein um die Esskultur!!!
Unter den Kanadiern selbst schien dieser Laden hingegen sehr beliebt zu sein, er war jedenfalls proppenvoll!

Loved this place for breakfast at 1 pm on Friday. We were in town from Portland Oregon and wanted somewhere we could have a casual breakfast with our young kids even though it was past lunchtime.
We ordered a kids French toast for our young kids to share, and they split it before bringing to the table and each child also had lots of fruit on the plate! So delicious. My husband’s crab Benny was yummy as was my basic 3 egg breakfast.
Don’t let comments like «it’s in a strip mall» put you off, it doesn’t feel like it as it’s right next to a Starbucks and a playground around the corner. Super cute place!

Went in for the oyster special. Was informed they don’t honor it anymore but still advertise it. Was told I could have the new special but when the bill came was told that it was the wrong day and I would have to pay full price.
2 months later and they’re ad is still up!
Contacted management an just got the run around with know effort to make amends.
Just another Victoria restaurant only interested in chasing the tourist dollar. screw the locals in the summer. Then beg them to come back in the water.

It’s pretty rare to able to take your first forkfull of a dish and have your first thought be, «This dish is perfectly seasoned.»
We were in the neighborhood and found it, around the corner from the Thirty’s parking lot we were standing in, with Unilocal.
We walked in at 5 mins past noon on a sunny Saturday afternoon to a 70% full room and were greeted by a friendly hostess who seated us immediately and brought coffee and water within 2 minutes of us sitting down.
Our waiter was by quickly after that and recommended the Pulled Pork Hash, which I ordered. The food arrived quickly and was nothing short of fantastic. It was perfect, end of story.
I feel like I’ve found a hidden neighborhood gem!

The restaurant was walking distance from our hotel and I came here specifically for the poutine. The restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside, actually doesn’t even look like a restaurant but it’s cozy inside with live music. The place was fully packed and our option was to either wait 45 minutes or sit at the bar and we opted for the later. The bar is definitely busy with drink orders coming in non stop. Drink orders weren’t sitting around waiting for someone to serve them, they were served quickly either by an available wait staff or by the bartender himself.
Since we came here for the poutine we ordered a large portion of the duck confit poutine to start as our appetizer. The wife ordered the snapper and baco po’boy as her entrée and I ordered a burger with the works, which consisted of sauteed mushrooms, cheese and bacon. We both upgraded to the chowder. Later I found out from a local at the bar that they make really good french onion soup. The chowder upgrade was only $ 1 more whereas the french onion soup upgrade was $ 5.
The duck poutine was excellent with an abundance of duck meat, perfectly melted cheese curds, and veal gravy. The gravy had so much flavor. The fries were ok, would have liked it to be a little more crispier but overall this is a must order entrée especially with beer.
The burger I had was only average, but by that time I was slightly full from having ate the poutine. Something in the burger was on the salty side, possibly the sauteed mushrooms, that was off putting. The wife’s po’boy was decent. Next time if we’re in the area we probably would order a variety of their poutine’s to try.
The restaurant seems to be a local hangout especially those who hang out at the bar.

I’m eating here right now. I had to interrupt my meal to write this. INCREDIBLE!
The Corned Beef Hash is the best Ive ever tasted. Go to this place you wont regret it. Amanzing!

Visiting my parents, my fiancé and I were delighted to visit this neighborhood gem — an unassuming place from the outside — not only for dinner, but breakfast the following day! The cuisine is a nice mix of New Orleans, French and Northwest Canadian — and nothing we tried here wasn’t delicious (snapper and bacon Po’boy, chicken and dumplings, duck poutine, oysters on the half-​shell, and array of eggs Benedict the following morning). On a busy tourist weekend, the Heron Rock Café was an oasis away from the distasteful city center. Service was great, live jazz duet was excellent — everything suggesting that we will be back again!
Five-​stars without hesitation!