The Sticky Wicket

This is the review of the Sticky Wicket as a pub on weekend nights, and not for it as a restaurant. It’s a good pub in downtown. Went here on a Saturday night while visiting Victoria.
From the outside, you can’t make out how big this place actually is. Once you enter, you notice how large it is with multiple floors, separate areas, a dance floor and many bars.
We started off at the dining area since we wanted to eat a little. The service was okay, a bit slow, and the food was fine, nothing great. We got a pizza, and beers there. They have some good local beers on tap, so we tried those. They have large TVs, and it was fun watching cricket.
Headed to the more lively bar area, and they had great music. The place was packed, but we stood near the bar. Most of the crowd was dancing, even around the tables, so it must be a popular place to go dancing at. The bartenders were good and drinks were stiff. Enjoyed the experience.
As we were leaving, we saw the bouncers trying to subdue a woman who was probably intoxicated, but they also kept pushing away some guy who was trying to help her. We left but saw the police arriving there to sort it out. I felt that the security was being too harsh & rude at the others waiting to enter as well.
This is a cool place if you want to just grab a few drinks or dance without paying the cover at a club. For the food, I wouldn’t recommend it. I probably won’t go here again, but would suggest other to try it for yourself and see if you have a good time here.

Nothing super special here. The food is good, great for a sandwich or soup and salad. And I actually really enjoy my meal, it’s the service I had and issue with.
Our server straight up told us as soon as she greeted the table that she was hung over. Not really a great start for lunch. And then forgot to check on us, our give us our water. She seemed bothered being our server. Not the worse service by any means, but more annoying than anything.
Worth trying, but not a favorite.

Wait staff was great. Kitchen was slow. The ambience was fun as a band was playing. They knew it took a while so they comped our meal. We liked the place, and would like to give it another try… cuz the food was boring, it happens.

The seafood chowder, supposedly containing wild BC salmon, pacific cod, clams, mussels, fresh vegetables, red potatoes, creamy broth and chives was EXTREMELY disappointing. Two very small pieces of salmon and one micro-​mussel in the shell were the only bits of seafood found. Broth was plain broth, not creamy at all. It wasn’t bad as vegetable soup, though. The corn breaded catfish tacos were not bad, but way too much shredded lettuce. My food not so much, although I’ll admit some of the neighboring tables’ sandwiches looked pretty good.

The bartender Joe was great! Personable and very attentive. We moved to another room to watch the cowboys game with the sound. The waitress clearly cared less that we were there. She was busy socializing with her friends at another table and constantly going behind the bar and checking her phone. We sat there for 10 min after we got our food with no dressing for the wings and barely enough salsa for 5 chips. She charged us for extra salsa (which I am happy to pay for… But give me enough for the nachos you sent out.) she charged us for extra sour cream that we didn’t even want or use. She said she would take it off and just assumed the rest of the $ for the bill was her’s. I have waited tables for years and this is UNACCEPTABLE!

What’s not to love? I can’t believe they only have an average of three stars! This pub was awesome! We went there today for lunch and were seated immediately in very comfy chairs at a high top table. We were leaving on the 5pm ferry back to Seattle so we knew that this would be lunch and dinner. We started out with the chicken and pesto pizza that was awesome! Lots of cheese and crispy crust: an absolute taste sensation! We were satisfied with that but knew that we’d need more to get us through the day so we each ordered a salad. Mine was called the Powerhouse salad and had kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, feta, quinoa, and other vitamin packed items! I asked for chicken breast with it and my request was accommodated. Yum! Blood orange dressing too! My boyfriend had the Winter Salad that also had chicken breast and sone excellent ingredients to keep him full for the long day. Our waitress was fantastic and needless to say, we highly recommend the Sticky Wicket! They do a lot of advertising so I was dubious but they proved themselves!

Went to Victoria for the weekend and stopped by here on a whim mid afternoon after walking all day. It was nice and relaxing. I love the atmosphere and the old style pub décor. Lots of big TV’s everywhere and the food was delicious. They had the best sweet potato fries and poutine. Service was excellent and was very attentive.

Disorganized and run like a flop house. This place is clearly not interested in service but just hanging out with the locals. Don’t go unless you’re already a regular.

Good beer selection, specially on the imported ones.

This is the epitome of the bro scene. I didn’t come here for dinner or even set foot in the downstairs bar/​restaurant but I was solely on the roof.
Firstly, they wouldn’t let people up to the rooftop prior to 9pm due to dining taking place until it was opened as a bar. That’s one thing but do you really have to use a rope to keep people out? It was very uninviting. Even if I had friends dining that I wanted to join I’d have to pass security at 7 in the evening?
Also ordered some happy hour chips and cheese and it was awful with terrible portions.
It seemed like it would be a fun place to hang out for night life but ended up being more reminiscent of Jersey Shore.

They really don’t like Americans here. Stopped to enjoy a few drinks and enjoy ourselves but the horrible attitude and customer service from the waitress/​hostess and manager turned me away after a few rounds. I have worked in multiple restaurants growing up, so I know what good customer service is. I actually complained to the manager about the customer service from one waitress just to inform her that maybe she’s not giving the best service to paying customers. That got no where. The place is cool… But not worth it if you want to be respected as a normal paying customer.

RUDE
Stopped in to catch the U.S. /​German World Cup game — left at the half. The waitress was a total bitch.
Go the Earls much better atmosphere and the waitress was really great.

This place is fantastic! It’s got a great old timey British pub atmosphere while serving up some great grub. They were having a special on their classic burger but was feeling in the mood for a clubhouse. Thankfully, was not disappointed! The fries they had were crazy crispy and reminded me a lot of Costco’s! Then came the bacon… oh lord if there was one thing that there wasn’t enough of it was the bacon!!! You have to taste it to believe it.
Servers were also very friendly and accomodating to whatever concerns or issues you might have. Only downside is that if you have little ones with you, you’d have to look elsewhere (no minors section from what I observed)

Amazing nachos and crab dip. The sandwiches are great, same with seafood chowder. I highly recommend the nachos and chowder.
I’m usually happy with my meals there except for tonight. I ordered the mussels and when I opened the lid I got a strong aroma of cat pee, I kid you not. These mussels smelled like a cat had peed in the pot and they then boiled the mussels in the cat pee. The mussels were white in color and filled with green stuff (eggs?), mussels should be a nice orangey color, these weren’t. There wasn’t much broth, wasn’t many mussels.
The bard and banker has amazing mussels so if you want mussels skip the sticky and go to the B&B.
They were nice enough exchange my mussels for a pulled pork sandwich meal and took off 25%.

This was a horrible place. Food was lousy and the service was worse. We entered through the front door as directed and taken to the dining area past the bar. We were seated in the tightest table imaginable but made the best of it. The food we ordered was from the lights side and it was bacon wrapped filet on arugula salad. Salad had no dressing and the asparagus was skimpy. Hubby tried to order a different beer and was told that we couldn’t order it (though we were seated next to it LITERALLY) as it was not on tap at the bar on «our side». Needless to say we left as soon as possible and went to Garick’s Head bar. It was lively and we didn’t become invisible.

Would have loved to try it, but we sat for 15 minutes without any acknowledgement from anyone… atmosphere was fun though.

Went for a late night drink and snacks. the fried mac and cheese sticks were really good! All the bartenders were very friendly and we had a good time learning more about the area from them.
fun atmosphere, good prices.

Oh, Sticky Wicket. I have a lot of feelings about you.
After wandering around downtown Victoria for awhile searching for a less-​crowded place to grab a beer or two, we found The Sticky Wicket. We didn’t realize from the outside how huge it is — there are multiple floors, multiple rooms including a games room, and multiple bars. Awesome.
We found a spot at one of the bars; I grabbed a Red Truck Lager & my fiancé had a Jack & coke. Service was fine, nothing out of the ordinary either way. We were seated right by the TVs so we got to watch a lot of cricket, which is my new obsession.
I just felt like the ambiance was a little not what we were looking for. For a bar that seems sort of like a sports bar, it was full of women in short, tight dresses like they were going to the club. That’s all well and good, but I’d been walking around all day, wearing leggings & a sweater with my hair in a gross ponytail, so I felt VERY out of place. This might just mean I’m getting old.

When really (I mean really good) food meets lousy service, a confusion over how to get a decent beer (depending on where you sit the beer menu changes), and a really weird wait for a table system a 3 star review results. For the food I want to say 4 and for the crazy service I want to say 2 so I guess it evens out.
The Sticky Wicket wants to be the bar down the street (see Bard and Banker for awesome everything).
But on Christmas night, is was one of the best Prime Rib dinners I have ever had.
Worth a try, but for great service and a knowledgeable staff, go down the street.

What was I thinking ordering fish tacos here, my colleagues asked. .. .
And, they were right. Two small, soft tacos stuffed to the top with dry kale/​coleslaw, scant dressing, barely there cheese, each with an index finger-​sized piece of halibut. The small, tubular shape of the halibut floating atop the slaw created much conversation at the table, both negative and suggestive. I minused the jalapeño peppers heat on order, but now there was no flavour by itself. Don’t order fish tacos here. The bottled Growers Cider is expensive too.