Artisan Bistro — Restaurant in Saanich

Excellent food, attentive friendly service, and one of the few bistros that is a true hidden Gem..I had the beer battered Halibut and Kennebec potato fries..and a glass of the House white which was crisp, flavorful fresh nose with hint of wild berries which paired very nicely with the Halibut. At first after the meal I unwittingly declined the menu.. however that soon changed and I ordered a Bistro bar and and and espresso with Chantilly creme.. the bistro bar was a rich chocolate and caramel with chocolate ganache on a crunchy sweet base ( I'm not sure of the composition or ingredients ) it was one of the best desserts I have tasted and I have eaten many restaurant specialty desserts.. and it was a simple yet effective presentation.. The only reason for the 4 star rating and not a five star rating was the espresso presentation the Chantilly cream was spooned on in a sort of haphazard way.. I suggested thy have a small piping bag that could add a more attractive presentation and application of the cream...the other part of my minor criticism must include the gravy I was presented with for my fries...I would have been ecstatic if I received some simple demi Glace.. however the sauce I received, while it was tasty.. seemed to be more like an Asian black bean or oyster sauce and demi Glace.. those are my only criticisms.. as the experience was excellent and would recommend the bistro for couples family and for...

Excellant service by our waitress but unfortunately the kitchen management were lacking. I had the Broadmead Salad Artisan greens, apples, cranberries, spiced almonds, goat cheese, rhubarb vinagerette as a starter. $14. There was maybe a tablespoon of goat cheese, probably 1/4 an apple, sparse cranberries & almonds and an enormous amount of green salad. After searching for the substance to the salad, I asked my server to return it as I was not satisfied with it. When my bill came, the full charge for it was on it. The server did not have the authority to take the charge off the bill and informed me the best I could get was 20% off. I did not imagine that I should have taken a picture of the salad before I sent it back to justify the removal of the cost. I am extremely disappointed with the response from management. I was not expecting to pay $14 for a pile of green salad. My friends had an excellent meal of mushroom crepes but were extremely disappointed with the look of the salad and response to the complaint. They saw the poor presentation of the salad , as opposed to what was described on the menu. I would expect a higher standard of customer service from...

Sunday brunch /breakfast was as good as we’d hoped it would be. I had classic eggs Benedict with a side of avocado. They serve on ciabatta which was nicely crisp, the medium eggs were perfectly cooked and the ham was “real” and not deli meat. I particularly loved their homemade habanero hot sauce. Both dining companions had omelettes and while tasty both said that they were two thin and crepe like. I noted that both orders of toast were perfectly toasted .,.. which is seriously no small feat in Victoria where toast is often warmed up bread.

Where I’d like to see improvement is with the coffee. We ordered two Americanos , one looked dark but tasted bitter the second was an odd shade of light brown …. We wondered if perhaps a short pour. The third in our crew had just a regular coffee that she declared undrinkable.

The server was friendly and attentive and apologetic re the coffee.

As we were leaving we noticed a lady at another table with a Starbucks coffee in a takeout cup. I’d go here again for sure. But I’ll bring...