West Coast Grill — Restaurant in Sooke

I really wanted to love this restaurant but was sadly quite disappointed. The setting is lovely, especially if you can get on the patio to enjoy the lovely views overlooking the water. We had a reservation for indoors as the patio is first come only, which was probably a good thing as the evenings cool off quickly (they do have heaters on the patio). For starters, the room was very busy, & the layout did nothing to disguise that- set up a bit like a family restaurant with booths all around the perimeter & tables in the middle. I probably wouldn’t normally notice that but I’m still trying to figure out why we found the room so nonplussing. The other knock is that the room is very loud - there didn’t seem to be any consideration of acoustics, so we had to talk loudly between ourselves & could hear clanging, crying kids, & loud customers echoing from all areas of the room. A few acoustic panels strategically placed would make a huge difference I’m sure. Our server was pleasant enough, but rushed (busy I’m sure, but some servers are more clever at not conveying that onto their diners. We had the feeling we would be seriously inconveniencing our server if we asked for anything slightly out of the ordinary - I’m not a fan of clams, and asked if it would be possible to only have mussels instead of the menu’s offering of steamed mussels & clams, and was curtly told that everything was pre-weighed & it would be an extra charge to do that- not sure if mussels cost more than clams - I would’ve paid the extra, but just seemed like too much of a hassle). All of these things are fairly easily overlooked by good food, but none of our dishes were really outstanding. They were fine, but no delicate flavouring. I had halibut, which was slightly overdone, and there wasn’t any real connection between the breaded artichoke pieces, olives, potatoes & stewed tomatoes, except maybe just a Spanish theme. The tomato bisque looked lovely but was fairly bland & not hot. The mushroom ravioli was swimming in a cream sauce. I had wanted a glass of red, but found the wines by the glass were not very interesting & not worth spending the extra money on. Our overall impression was that it wasn’t a fine dining experience as we’d hoped - everything was okay, but not memorable. I think it would be a fantastic brunch space or more...

The view of the restaurant is great but the taste of the foods is not up to par unfortunately. As I went to West Coast Grill in Kelowna, I expected the same or better quality (given that it is much closer to the ocean) so I guess I was more disappointed. The oysters were $19 for six but I would not say it was worth the money. Especially if you have had good oysters in Vancouver. Maybe it will be good to try if they are ever make it on happy hour menu instead of dinner. We also found the little nose hair or eyelash length hair in the horseradish and told our server but all she did was ' I will show it to the kitchen.. it's gross.' And that was it! Lol no follow up whatsoever. Also, the clam chowder was so plain..no sign or taste of clam. I would rather just take a can of Campbells. Other than clam chowder, the seafood boil and capellini were both salty. All the bread or toast that came out with clam chowder and pasta were also so salty like someone accidentally poured the entire bottle of salt on them. We could not dip the bread into the sauce as the sauce and bread both were so salty. The fisherman's capellini was the only one that was ok out of all menu we ordered but I would say it wasn't completely creamy nor savoury... It was an interesting pasta taste. The server appeared to be not trained well - she splashed the sauce when pouring seafood boil, took a long time to bring the lemon for water, didn't seem to know the menu well enough to give good recommendations, the plates were not taken away until we finished the dinner. Staying at Prestige hotel, you wouldn't have a lot of choices around the area when it comes to food. The Vault, another restaurant in the main floor, also shares the same kitchen so that was another disappointing...

So very disappointed to have to write this after having quite a few good meals and experiences at West Coast Grill. With the rather new Covid New Years restrictions put in place two days earlier which included no alcohol served after 8:00 pm, we decided to clarify by calling the restaurant about our 7:45 pm reservation. We asked them if we would still be able to order a bottle of wine with our meal when we arrived. They assured us we could. Once we got there, we clarified with the hostess (who turned out to be a manager) if we could, and she verified that it would be fine. We were off to a good start with a 5 course meal, but were awaiting the main 4th course, and we were informed by our waitress and the said manager that we would have to forfeit the wine and a cocktail we were holding for our son who would be arriving later. We were told that 9:00 pm was the cutoff by which they allow any alcohol to be consumed. At this point, we had only had one glass each and were not allowed to have any with our main course! At no point before this were we warned this would happen. The manager and waitress removed all the drinks at our table.

I am all for abiding by Covid restrictions, but I believe this manager took them to extreme as we have not found anything online that jibes with their version. This soured our celebrations and capped of 2020 with a huge middle finger! Expected way better from...