CRAFT Beer Market Victoria Harbour — Restaurant in Victoria

had a really strange experience at craft tonight. I have been a vegetarian for YEARS and asked if a veggie burger was available for their 6$ burger deal. I was told it was possible for a small up-charge (totally fine with me). They gave me what was, looking back, clearly a beef burger. But i ate it anyways as I had asked multiple staff members if it was a veggie burger and was assured that it was. A few minutes later a man sat down at our table with a real veggie burger, apologized and told me and my friend that our entire bill would be on the house that night. additionally, he gave us his card and told us to let him know the next time we were coming in and that he would take care of something off of our next bill. We had been there for about 20 minutes at this point and had no intention of leaving anytime soon as we were out for a celebration and had the intention to get multiple drinks each, food Etc. So we were really happy when we were told our entire bill AND something from our next visit would be covered. We started our meal out on the patio, but as the sun was going down, it got cold, and we asked if it was possible to be moved inside. Our server told us she could put us inside, but we would be given a different server. at this time, our original server confirmed that our bill was taken care of. To us it was a no-brainer that the information of what happened with the burgers and our bill would have been communicated to our new server. However, that was not the case, and we ended up having to be the ones to tell him which was awkward and uncomfortable on its own. Immediately after telling our new server that, to our understanding, our bill was being taken care of by the restaurant his demeanor changed from very warm and inviting, to awkward and cold, and we didn’t see him again for the rest of the night besides when he handed us off our drink. After ordering our last drink with the intention of leaving soon after, a woman came up to us, and explained that we were essentially being cut off. She said “we took care of whatever was ordered outside” and gestured to our glasses on the table, seemingly implying that we would be expected to pay for what we ordered after being moved inside. this would have been fine if that was what was communicated to us to begin with, but it was not. We didn’t even end up ordering a full meal like we had originally planned. We just got a couple extra drinks instead. our bills would have been between 40-70$ each. We got some drinks and a 6$ burger. It’s not as if we had an outrageously high bill and even if we had, they served a vegetarian of years BEEF. we had full intentions of tipping generously, regardless of our bill being taken care of but after the awkward encounter, we just left. We are very thankful that they took care of our bill, but it was an extremely awkward interaction where it didn’t need to be. They handled the situation so well to begin with then made us feel so uncomfortable and bad at the end. having to explain the situation to our new server, and then be “cut off” by who we assume was a part of management assured we will not be coming back.

(our original server was nothing but nice...

I put $1-10 for my review because I came as a guest to my friend's daughter's 18th birthday party that was held here. There was no doubt my friend paid $100+++ because to my surprise she reserved the upper mezzaine that exits to the patio, fireplace, A/V with full catering service and private bar. I was not expecting this and planned in advance from looking at the menu to decide 3 entrees to order and expect a personal bill of $100 because frankly I have a voracious appetite and my rule of thumb is that if I am reviewing a place with a decent menu, I would order 1-3 items to have a sampling of food to critique.

I was absolutely floored. There was way too much food to my pleasure, I had absolutely no room to try everything offered in my friend's customized ordering and was suffering from severe food comatose upon exiting the premises (a struggle to walk to the nearest bus stop and catch two buses home, I assure you it's not the alcohol).

I had no room to try their pizzas but it looked absolutely delicious. Hands down best fish tacos 🌮 I had tasted, and trust me, there are a couple of places in town but something about the ones made here blows the taste buds out of the water; my regret was that I grabbed only two when clearly I should have grabbed half a dozen to a dozen. Their chicken and beef sliders are scrumptious (I had 4 chicken on site, 3 beef as takeout to eat the next day). Their salad is delicious, their dips are out of this world, and I love the offering of olives. Everyone in the group were offered two drink tickets to anything in the bar menu; I order one large glass of white wine & one large glass of red wine.

I was the first person to arrive in a group of 30+ but honestly there was enough food to feed 50-60+! Needless to say I didn't get a chance to order my own food but that will have to be reserved for another trip that is a non-venue. The staff were very professional, polite and attentive from the moment I arrived on foot until the end of the event. It makes me feel confident that this place is organized enough to handle a large staff party if booked well in advance.

It's not often that I give high accolades but I would say if you want good food with amazing value and service, you gotta come here. I am thoroughly impressed with this experience and will have to let my family know about this place for relative gatherings.

Pardon for not taking better photos of the place but since this is a private function when I did this review, I didn't take photos of the reserved area of the restaurant as respect to my buddy, her family and large circle of friends...

We went on a Friday night to meet up with friends for drinks. This was our first time at Craft Market and unfortunately I'm giving it 2 stars because of the bad first impression. With that said, I will give this establishment a second shot if I find myself in the area, most likely in.the summer as it has a beautiful patio and view.

Craft is a beautiful restaurant, however, we were sitting in a location that was too loud and too hot. I was yelling to talk to a friend next to me and putting my ear close to their mouth just so I could hear them. I hope there is a quieter section next time, nevertheless the music playing was on point so being too loud is somewhat forgiven. In terms of heat, we asked the sever to turn off the overhead heater, which she gladly did but it was turned back on 20 min later without explanation. Our entire group of 10 said the temperature was uncomfortable.

Secondly, I presented the server with 2 drinks I was interested in and asked which one she recommended. She asked if I wanted a sample so I said yes. I don't go out often and maybe times have changed but I was under the impression a "sample" was free. When I got the bill, I saw the sample was $3.50. I'm not upset about the charge, more upset about the lack of transparency when you offer something like this to a customer. I would have just chosen and bought the full drink if I knew the sample had a charge.

Lastly, when I asked for a menu I was given the Happy Hour menu which I ordered off of (I literally had my finger on the Happy Hour menu and pointed to the guac and chips). Again, when it came time to pay and I questioned the price, the server said, oh sorry we don't have Happy Hour on Friday. I wanted to say, then why did you give me the Happy Hour menu?! I don't know if there is small print on the menu noting the items don't apply on weekends but I'll make sure to check if I visit this location again.This also happened to other members in our group and they too felt misled about the offerings.

Dishonest upsell practices and lack of transparency around costs, especially in this economy, is poor business. Nevertheless I hear Craft sells a wicked poutine so I need to come back to try it and other menu items as we only had drinks and the 1 appy. We also enjoyed the Slush drinks - best Slush drinks in town!! I'm basing most of this review off the one server who I found a bit careless with providing a good experience. If we do return, I really do hope we have a better experience and a...