Wolf in the Fog — Restaurant in Tofino

One glimpse of the glistening bar and I knew it would be a cocktail night for me. And with their ever-changing bar menu, it’s certainly an area they are focused on. The cockatiel ($16) sported a whimsical crest of citrus feathers and was refreshingly light compared to the stronger cedar sours that my friends ordered.

Thanks to a suggestion from our waiter, two of the sides acted as a great starter: spot prawns and garlic bread. The prawns ($18) swam in a garlicky butter and with the delicate shrimp deshelled, they were ready to snack on like a fancy popcorn shrimp. Its suggested pairing with garlic bread ($8) was unnecessary as between the bread and butter became too garlicky overtaking the sweetness of the prawn. Instead, I opted to have the shrimp first and saved the bread for dipping into the sauce. Trust me, you’ll still want a serving of the carbs, which was like a fluffy focaccia with crispy edges and plenty of shaved Parmesan on top.

The tornado rolls inspired presentation of the potato crusted oysters ($19 for 3) was unexpected, but a safe preparation for those who are squeamish of raw oysters. And since the shellfish was smoked, the dish seemed like it incorporated bacon despite not having any meat. Seriously, if I hadn’t seen the menu, I would have thought I was popping a bacon wrapped scallop tornado roll into my mouth.

We stuck with seafood even for the mains. The baked Tofino halibut ($48) was cooked well, although I could have done without the crispy breadcrumbs as it made the fish gritty. The accompanying gnocchi were a great chewy and soft consistency, smothered in a delicious zesty marinara mixed with chili and tapenade butter. While I’m not sure the gnocchi went particularly well with the halibut, each element was great on its own.

Although the pork belly in the Thai pork belly and clams ($38) could be softer, it was still tasty especially dipped in the yellow curry. As for the clams, despite being sizeable, the curry did cover its natural flavours but the shellfish itself was cooked nicely. Overall, I can’t help but think the dish is missing a fresh element. The sliver of bok choy was a start, but another herb or vegetable would have really pulled everything together.

We were blessed with a huge slice of the Basque cheesecake ($14) to finish. Given its height, I wasn’t surprised the cake’s texture was fluffy and light. Call me suspicious, but the burnt finishing seems too perfect… almost like it was blowtorched rather than baked. Previous Basque cakes I’ve had were marked by cracks and bulges, Wolf in the Fog’s cake was so...

We both work into the organic / fine dining game with my partner and she manages a similar type of place in the Okanagan. Coming from Europe we usually are pretty picky with food quality. Well, if I could I would put a 4,5, just because the restaurant isn’t on the organic / all locally sourced food side, which is important to us. Apart from that, we had an absolutely perfect experience. It’s very seldom that we say that but we had a small plate to share, a main each + a desert, and everything was excellent. Maybe a little too much salt in the homemade pasta with pork and mushroom ragout, but overall everything was great taste, texture and temperature wise, all along. Very good cooking AND, which we also don’t often say, serving. Our waiter was Connor and he basically answered all our needs promptly and kindly (it was my gf’s birthday so I wanted it to be as smooth as possible), without being pushy or way too insistent as it’s often the case in Canada. Didn’t ask if everything was fine every 3mins, but was there when needed and explained things clearly. We had deserts on the house which I really appreciated too. The restaurant is very nice looking, good lighting, decoration, very nice bar. It has this fancy classy look but without taking itself too seriously or uptight either. Inside was too noisy for me (it was also full) but we had a nice table outside which was way quieter. Also, we appreciated being able to have a table just walking in and without waiting (but it was late October and during the week). Music wasn’t too loud and we both thought the playlist was very good. Wish the food was better sourced and more info about it was given in the menu. But considered the price for the quality you get, it’s a great deal. Go there if you visit...

I really wanted to like my meal here. We’ve been to Wolf in the Fog a few other times in years past and always enjoyed it. The night started out with a disappointment, I was accidentally given an old menu and when it came time to order, I found out they no longer served the lamb shank I wanted. I’m usually not one to nit pick service but our waitress didn’t really apologize for the mix up and just generally wasn’t very good for the entire evening.

I ended up settling on the raw oysters to start and the sablefish as my entree. The oysters were some of the best I’d had in my life. They were easily the highlight (and really the only part I enjoyed) of the night. Our waitress told us they were fresh from the Alberni inlet.

At this point I should mention my cocktail. I’m a scotch man so I ordered the “hunting cabin.” You don’t often see peated scotch forming the base of a cocktail and I wanted to try it. It wasn’t good. I don’t really know if it’s just a matter of personal taste so I won’t fault them too much for it but the flavours of the different parts just really didn’t go together.

Finally, my entree. The sablefish was well cooked but entirely oversalted. The pancetta and olive tampenade provided some expected salt but they weren’t balanced out by anything. Both the parsley and tomatoes were aggressively salted when they’re already sharing a plate with some other salty components.

Overall, there just wasn’t the attention to detail you expect from this restaurant. It didn’t live up to its reputation or...