Stickleback Oceanfront Cider & Taphouse — Restaurant in Sooke

I was really excited to try this restaurant; it has great reviews and my brother, who eats here frequently, really likes it. We went last night for a joint birthday dinner, 4 adults and 2 children. We ordered appetizers, main courses, and drinks. Our bill totalled $120. We had some of the worst service I've ever experienced. The menu looked really good, there were lots of things I wanted to try, and my meal, when it finally came to the table, was really delicious. However the service was so terrible that I doubt we will ever return. We ordered drinks and it took about 20 minutes for the server to bring out my beer and the apple juice for the kids. We ordered our food and our server disappeared. We all sat with empty water glasses for another 20 minutes, waiting. We had to flag down a server (which I hate doing) to ask for more water. Our appetizers finally came, and then we had another long wait for the main courses. My mother's pasta was cold when it was set in front of her. We asked the server for ketchup for my niece and nephew's fries. She left to get it, we assumed. But then we watched her interact with a few other tables, still we had no ketchup. My brother had ordered the chowder with a salad and his chowder didn't arrive at the table. We reminded the server as she passed that we were missing the chowder and ketchup. More time passed. We actually asked another server for the ketchup because the kids were basically done their meals at this point. Finally the chowder and ketchup came out. My mother had phoned earlier in the day to request a piece of cake be set aside to celebrate the birthdays. At the end of the meal she asked the server if she could bring out the cake; they had no idea what she was talking about. No one from the day shift had left any notes about the phone call and request. And they were sold out of cake by this time. Miscommunications happen, but the server was so unapologetic and unsympathetic to the situation. Her reaction made it much worse. We asked for a small bowl of iced cream for the kids. We waited another 20 minutes. We saw our server move from table to table, passing us several times. We finally got up to leave; the iced cream hadn't arrived yet. As we were walking towards the till, the server finally brought out the iced cream. Tables all around us seemed to be getting great service, while we sat hungry and thirsty. It was laughable. I would have liked to try more on the menu, but I'm not going to pay to be...

We were visiting the area and my husband is Celiac. We researched the restaurants in the area and found that this restaurant had many items on the menu as GF, so we decided to try it. As a family with a Celiac person, one knows what GF is and that all restaurants will not or could not be 100% gluten free but have mastered the preparation for a true Celiac person to feel safe to order off their GF side of the menu. When we were greeted, even before we sat down we asked the greeter and identified our party as Celtic. She said it won’t be a problem and to talk more with our server. We felt welcomed and were seated. When our server came to the table she was very knowledgeable and right away divulged that they DO NOT have a dedicated frier. Right away this limited their “stated GF” menu to a very narrow section. However, she assured us the peanut chicken bowel is 100% gluten free. Hindsight is 20/20, once the advertised menu went from many items down to 2 items, we should have left but we didn’t. My husband ordered the noodle bowl. With in 2 hours of leaving, it was apparent he was “Gluten”, first the nausea, then the intense vomiting and diarrhea hit him. There is nothing that does this to him but ingesting gluten and this was the case here. Without seeing the the steps in his meal prep we can only speculate. I suggested that perhaps it was and error in grabbing the wrong noodle, but my husband said that through his palate that it was a gluten free noodle. He thought was that the noodles were boiled in a pot of water that had boiled wheat pasta before his, so cross contamination issue. Or perhaps in the peanut sauce there was a replacement of an ingredient that just wasn’t gluten free. Regardless, his meal from this restaurant was contaminated with gluten and with him being Celiac he reacted. We were on vacation and we lost a whole day not sightseeing or enjoying our vacation as we couldn’t leave the rental the next day for anything. I wasn’t going to leave this review as we do believed it was a processing error and I emailed the restaurant to give them this email as for them to review what could have gone wrong, they never responded back and so I like to let others know to be very careful of this restaurant’s GF claims. It is far from it and they don’t seem to care to receive concerns to gather knowledge and to improve their service. People who are Celiac, please do not eat...

The food was fine. I'm not sure if it's the owner or manager sitting at the bar but usually the manager makes rounds to check on the clients to see if they're satisfied. This person just sat there and chatted with the kitchen and wait staff. Jeans and black shirt , not very professional looking and loud talking so everyone had to listen to their conversation. Waitress was lovely, sweet natured. Food was good but not spectacular. Stickleback was known for its Banks burger which is halibut. No halibut to be found on the menu. Not even the fish and chips. Just cod. I was disappointed. Why keep the signature name of the dish but then not offer that dish? The Banks was halibut, perhaps a different name so as not to disappoint customers. The floor below the table had something similar to gorilla glue on it. Maybe old spilled pop? Sticky sticky. Our shows were making sticky sounds as we got up to leave at the end of dinner. Had to scuff them in the system of the parking lot to avoid leaving the stickiness in the vehicle. Perhaps washing the floor? The river rocks on the table is a cute centerpiece, the art work is always engaging and the ocean view exceeds any culinary complaints. I'm not sure about a return visit. The pickle Chips where battered oil , when they cooled off they were limp and greasy. I love pickles and maybe a bit longer in the oil would have crisped them up well. Still a night out and not so bad. Maybe it was an off night. Staff are dressed in I'll fitting clothes ( too tight and none of us are models ). Lacked a certain professional...