The Soda Shoppe

It’s hard to eff up a hot dog. It’s exactly what you would think; nothing out of the ordinary.
The only thing they are missing is toasted buns and cream cheese… Please get cream cheese so we can have a Seattle dog in BC!
The ice cream shop connected to it is cute and the girls were super friendly.

I was wandering around the waterfront and saw this place. I was looking for something quick and easy, and hot dogs:
‘Exactly!’ I yelled at the startled stranger next to me at the stop light, clearly not thinking about the hot dog shop directly in front of us both. Oh well one less person in line in front of me.
I went with the Hawaiian poi dog pictured below. I had them add teriyaki sauce because it goes so well with pineapple. Unfortunately the hot dog was just ‘ok.’ If this was a snack shop serving this hot dog it would have been my own fault for ordering the hot dog. When it’s a place specializing in hot dogs, they need to step up their game!

Love this place! It has a great location so many flavors! We only went for ice cream, so didn’t try the soda or splits. Very cool and authentic, though. The service was nice. The ice cream is expensive, but also HUGE. They give huge portions! Perfect for a hot day. Sit outside and enjoy!

Those hot dogs are to die for! Excelkent variety of dogs from Asian flavor to the Chihuahua, the traditional chillie cheese dog! The place is not licensed but works with the business next door, so you will get a chance to a cool beer with your hot dog. Sit by the window and enjoy the harbor view!

This has been renamed Dog-​Gone-​It. They have a small little icecream shoppe attached to the side as well. I was craving ice cream earlier so my daughter, my mom, and I all went inside. When we first walked in, no one was in the ice cream part at all. Fine. We waited. A few minutes later someone came in, scooped ice cream into a milkshake type container, and walked back out. Never smiled at us. No hello. No «I’ll be right with you». NOTHING! 5 minutes later, the same girl came back in. Scooped more ice cream into yet another milkshake type container, took it around to the other side and proceeded to make a milkshake. At this point there were the 3 of us, PLUS about 5 more people. all standing there. waiting to be served. The girl stood there making a milkshake for around 5 minutes. never saying a single word to us! Not even acknowledging our existence. I made it known (in the nicest way possible) that I will go somewhere else where the employees actually want my money. and walked out. My mother and daughter, however, stayed to wait for ice cream. About ANOTHER 5 minutes went by before they finally came out with their ice cream. Completely ridiculous! I live in the California Bay Area. in a horrible town. where people are beyond rude. That being said, I would have had much better service there! And thats saying a LOT! I’d give this negative stars if that were possible!
I ended up going back to the awesome ice cream place on Fisherman’s Wharf! They are INCREDIBLY nice and friendly! Delicious ice cream! Love them!

Three employees on and it took several minutes to get service, even though we were one of two small parties. The ice cream is good, but the selection is far from impressive. Worse still is the quality of the service. The young woman who served use was not a tourism ambassador. She was unprofessional and ill mannered to the point of loosing a tip. The next time I visit Victoria and have a craving for ice cream I will go elsewhere.

Had so many amazing ice cream flavors and was so tasty! The wait for the ice cream was a little long, but it was well worth it. The kids cone is really cheap and is still a lot of ice cream.
I was only in Victoria for two days and a made it there twice! If you’re wanting good ice cream, come here!

Came here for the ice-​cream and that was good… pretty good variety of ice-​cream, soda floats and desserts to order.
But the best part about this place is it’s location… just grab some ice-​cream and sit by the all-​glass windows to look out on the Victoria Inner Harbor… bliss!
Will be back here on our next visit to Victoria!

We came here strictly for the ice cream. Best value for a lot of ice cream in a waffle cone for cheap. Wife and I ordered two waffle cones with two flavors each for around $ 8. Something like this in the states would easily cost over $ 12. Plus the dollar is worth more now in Canada, thus it’s actually even cheaper. Two heaping scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone for around $ 4. That’s value that can’t be beat for those visiting Victoria.

No «wicked hot dogs» here with plain hot dogs and stale buns but it was good for a quick bite as we were on the go.

Avoid this place!!! There is so much better food to be had in downtown Victoria. Storefront says «wicked hot dogs» but it could not be further from the truth. Ordered the «Classic Smoky» dog and it was HALF the size of the bun. Was served COLD. Toppings were awful — «fried onions» were from a can? Stale chewy bun.
Such a disappointing experience if you’re in the mood for a hot dog and know what a good hot dog should taste like !!

Renamed «Dog Gone-​It» this place touts itself as having «Wicked Good Hot Dogs» on its storefront sign.
The undersized hotdog was over cooked and was lost in the stale bun (which was not warmed or toasted). I ordered the German Shepard, which was described as having sauerkraut, mustard and crisp onions. There was so little of each condiment that it was impossible to distinguish, and certainly not enough to help that bun go down.
Wicked, maybe, but not good.

Brutal experience. I wasted a meal and $ 7.61 at this place. I got the Canadian Husky (dog, bacon, cheddar). She microwaved the hell out if the dog until it split at both ends. The bun was chewey on one end and the Boylan diet cane soda was nasty. At least she apologized for the wait while she ruined my dog.

The Soda Shoppe is now called ‘Dog-​Gone-​It’ by the signage, with the slogan, «wicked good hot dogs».
Most recent visit a colleague and I were craving a hot dog as advertised…
The «Canadian Husky» is a dog topped with bacon and cheddar ($ 4.99). There is a choice of 100% beef, veggie, smokie, or sausage. We chose beef as it was twirling fresh looking on the rotisserie. Can of soda/​pop ($ 1.50).
While waiting, we checked out the small condiments table. An impressive choice of squeeze bottle condiments, but the table was dirty, beside a building garbage, with empty pop bottles taking up space with the condiments. The condiments were all room temperature, as was an open dish of sauerkraut.
On first look, the dogs looked good (see photo). Fresh big hoagie bun, and about eight-​inch wiener. Problem was the wiener was the average greasy commercial wiener. The bacon strips were small, overly cooked microwave type, and the shredded cheese was straight outta the bag. What I was dreaming of is local, thick double smoked bacon, with a mound of fresh shredded BC cheddar. And a side of warm, fresh made potato chips or even just a small, overpriced bag.
The «wicked» part comes up repeatedly through the afternoon, until the worst part when the dog wants out. Nuff said.
I won’t be back. .. . Tourists beware.

Found this place after having lunch at Pescatores. It is a cute 2-​part shop with food, coffee, and snacks on one half and a nice ice cream shop on the other with a connecting window. This is right along the waterfront and has a great view of the Empress Hotel and water. We ordered the Strawberry Dream Milkshake for $ 6 for 20 ounces. I don’t typically like milkshakes but I found myself drinking the entire things in less than a few minutes even on this cld day. I didn’t see them making the milkshake but I’m certain the strawberries were fresh. The shake itself had less sugar and perhaps more natural sugar. It truly tasted like real strawberries! Most people in the shop were enjoying desserts.

I thought this place looked so freaking awesome from the moment I saw the sign. Then I learned it’s not just crazy soda but also ICE CREAM! Winner.
I had the root beer float, really original I know. It was delicious. Their menu was endless though. You could get all sorts of floats, milkshakes, ice cream, smoothies, etc etc.
You should definitely go if you have a sweet tooth and you’re in Victoria :).

I give them top marks because my wife says the chocolate cheese cake was «killer!» If you made my wife happy, I’m happy. My root beer float though… dudes. C’mon. A&W Root Beer from a can? Poured over some rather ordinary vanilla ice cream?
I traveled far from my home; my home where *I* pour A&W Root Beer from a can over whatever vanilla ice cream was on sale at the local grocery store. I travel by air, rail and boat to get to your shop in a foreign land and you do me like I’d do me at home during the halftime of a Sunday Night NFL game? For $ 4.50 Canadian? I’d of paid a little more to make it special. C’mon. Make it special. :-)

O.K. We went back and tried the ice cream. It was the worst chocolate we ever had on the ickiest thinest tasteless waffle cone. And the two scoop cones were $ 6 each!
What made us even madder was that literally down the street were gourmet ice cream shops and we could smell the waffles cones being freshly made.
Keep on walking if you want ice cream…

Service was sketchy especially in the ice cream service area on the otherside of the main dining area. The shoppe is actually very spacious and there are plenty of tables. The staff is busy but perhaps understaffed especially since this is in a main tourist area with a lot of foot traffic. I enjoyed our ice cream sundaes… I got the orange cream, rootbeer cream, and a cola cream soda… It was very refreshing for a hot day. The ice cream variety is plentiful. There was candy being sold there too…

Located at a very convenient location. Dead center of tourist attractions and activities is an nostalgic diner and ice cream parlor.
The Soda Shoppe can stop you in your tracks, it can draw you in like sirens with their devious sweet calories, but at the end of the day… what is all the hype about?
Busy Victoria tourist attraction: intersection of Fairmont Empress x Governement Street x British Columbia Parliament Buildings x harbourside
$ 4.50 for a float: black bow, brown bow, pink cow, dr cow…
Malted milkshakes, fizzies, ice cream, candies and more
Overall not a bad place to go to if you are dying for some sweets, scorch from the sun or like to pay for some overpriced shakes. Hey I was suckered here!

Beim The Soda Shoppe handelt es sich um ein gemütliches Café, das in unmittelbarer Nähe des Luxushotels «The Empress» am Hafen von Victoria liegt. Ich habe dort einen Milchshake mit Schokoladengeschmack getrunken, der als «old fashioned» verkauft wurde, also mit Malzpulver versetzt war. Ich habe etwas Vergleichbares noch nie in Deutschland getrunken, er war einfach unglaublich gut. Der Schokoladengeschmack war sehr kräftig und sehr sehr lecker. Die Konsistenz des Shakes war schön dickflüssig. Zubereitet und serviert werden die Milchshakes im Soda Shoppe in einem großen Metallbecher. Den Inhalt füllt man dann selber in stilechte, nordamerikanische Gläser für Milchshakes. Der Inhalt war ausreichend für 2 Gläser, also mehr als 0,5 Liter. Deshalb geht auch der etwas gehobene Preis von 7 CAD völlig in Ordnung.
Außerdem werden noch weitere typisch nordamerikanische Getränke angeboten. So bekommt man zum Beispiel auch die sehr beliebten Floats, bei denen eine Kugel Eis in ein großes Glas Limonade gegeben wird. Als Europäer sollte man sich die Möglichkeit nicht entgehen lassen, diese leckeren Getränke, die fest zur kanadischen und US-​amerikanischen Essenskultur gehören, auszuprobieren. The Soda Shoppe ist in Victoria die ideale Gelegenheit dazu.