Ile Sauvage Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Victoria

My wife and I, along with some friends were looking forward to touring some of the great breweries on Vancouver Island this past weekend. We managed to make it to two breweries: Île Sauvage, located at 2960 Bridge Street, Victoria, BC, and Driftwood Brewery which was about a five-minute drive from it. The experience couldn’t have been more different between the two businesses.

Île Sauvage, was a friendly minimalistic brewery with a food truck kitchen, beautiful white tile wall of taps, and incredibly friendly staff all of whom made you feel welcome and appreciated. It had the feeling of a small independent brewery where they really wanted you to sample their various offerings and enjoy your visit. It was a really nice start to what was expected to be a fun day of brewery hopping. My wife and I along with two other couples enjoyed the food, some flights of beer and then left for our next stop.

We decided to visit Driftwood Brewery. It was a mistake. While Île Sauvage felt like you were being invited into a brewmaster’s tasting room, Driftwood Brewery was the opposite experience. It is clearly more of a corporate entity with a lot of money spent on branding, merchandising, and interior design. Unfortunately, I can honestly say that I have never been subjected to more insulting behaviour by a server than I had to endure at Driftwood Brewery. I won’t harp on how unfortunate that experience was in this review but after watching how meanspirited the server at Driftwood Brewery was to me, my wife elected to order just water and we left as soon as the rest of our party was ready to go. I expect the sting of being bullied at Driftwood Brewery will fade with time and I will focus on the pleasant memory of my experience at Île Sauvage where I enjoyed a wonderful selection of sours and where the old Hard Rock Café spirit of “Love All-Serve All” still lives.

If you like great sours, or pleasant people, I highly recommend Île...

If I could give more than 5 stars I would. Ian from Ile Sauvage understands what hospitality means. I reached out awhile back, looking for a casual, and approachable venue for mine and my wife's 10th anniversary party.

Ian showed up, and came through in ways we could have never imagined. From letting us have full reign of the brewery space, to hosting trivia, bringing in our desired food truck, to checking in with every guest very consistently. He went as far as ensuring there was were more canned options to choose from for our guests as we had a handful of celiacs in attendance.

There was not a single guest that didn't have great things to say about Ian and Mikayla.

Come for the incredible beer, stay for the next level vibes and hospitality that you really can't find many other places in Victoria. Ian and his staff will make you feel at home, celebrated, and taken care of all while ensuring the cost remains extremely approachable.

Don't sleep on reaching out to Ian and his crew for your next event. You will not regret it. I know I already can't wait for an excuse to plan...

The owner is amazing and very knowledgeable. I'd be putting five stars if it wasn't for one of the newer staff, who has a bit of attitude for some reason. Every time I go here when he is working I feel he's a bit rude. I'm not sure what I did to offend him but it's no longer a pleasant experience when he's at the bar. I'm not used to getting attitude when I order a flight (the beer here is absolutely amazing though).

FYI They don't fill growlers, which isn't common with breweries. I asked why and was told some nonsense about quality control. He was pretty adamant about this, which is just wrong - I hope he can get some coaching and rock the job in the future but yeah, major downer when I come here when he works.

I probably won't come back for awhile, but I do recommend this place for their beer - it's a bit pricier but worth it.

I hope this comment doesn't affect the staff member negatively, I just feel there's room for improvement when it comes to...