Nubo Kitchen + Bar(Johnson Street Bridge Location) — Restaurant in Victoria

Never have I been too genuinely torn by a restaurant visit. While I can't not mention the food as it was truly outstanding. The horrendous service experience will probably ensure I never return. We sat down for a late lunch with four of us at the table on Jan. 12th around 3:00. The man serving our table wore a long sleeve blue shirt and was one of the worse server experienced I've had. He was curt, awkward, and a bit standoffish when firm greeting our table. Making a comment sort of implying we all should be having alcoholic drinks, although this wasn't the worst of it. When ordering our food, as it was our first time and the menus do not specify how many pieces the sushi comes with, my boyfriend inquired how many rolls came in an order, followed by me asking if we'd ordered enough food for the table. For the record, we ordered 2 appetizers, 2 special rolls, and 3 maki rolls. In the least joking way possible, the server proceeded to say "no, that's absolutely not enough! I think you should order double that ... and rack up your bill as high as possible ... and then leave a very large tip." and walked away. We were all completely shocked and taken a back. He proceeded to ignore us through the rest of our meal service, not checking in or giving us anymore water through our whole stay. When he came to take payment, he was rude and curt again. We paid cash to which he may as well have looked at what we were tipping - WHICH WE STILL TIPPED - and pretty much sneered at us. I was actually surprised he didn't blatantly ask for more. Truly such as shame as the good was more than enjoyed by all and we travel to Victoria frequently, making up to 10+ trips a year and would have loved to return for...

Pros: Very nice waitresses, the cocktails were delicious, and the ambiance was good. The menu had variety.

Cons: One of the members of our party has celiac disease, we were very explicit about the gluten free requirement and our concern for cross contamination. They assured us that the items on the menu marked "GF" were gluten free. There was a wide variety of items marked as gluten-free and we were excited. We ordered the tempura soft shell crab, and it was delivered to our table quickly. Just as our celiac friend was about to take a bite, the manager comes over and informs us that the dish was cooked in a fryer shared by other not-gluten-free food. Even though they had previously told us it would be safe to eat and it was marked GF on the menu. When explained the safety issue and said the dish would have to go back because our celiac party couldn't eat it, the manager proceeded to try to make the other person in the party accept the dish. When we declined, he then asked if we had touched it yet, clearly with the intent to re-serve it to somebody else. We would never be comfortable eating here with any confidence that we would be getting gluten free food. Most of the other food we ate was tasteless and not worth the price. I will say that the buttered scallops...

Took my GF for dinner. The service wasn't great. Brought us food without utensils, but whatever. The music was super loud, so I asked if they could turn it down a little. Our server disappeared and a drunk obnoxious guy approached our table, but stopped short and scoffed something about the volume being fine. Then returned to the bar but kept looking over at our table and laughing. I then watched our server leave the restaurant. Confused, I asked to speak to the manager and a young guy approach. When I asked who the drunk obnoxious guy at the bar was, he explained that it was their lead bartender/supervisor who was off duty. I explained that I wasn't happy with their service or the volume of the music. The music was turned down briefly before the drunk supervisor took control of the music with his phone and started playing dj blaring music, switching songs half way through, etc. When the bill came, there was no apology, no discounted, nothing. I'm never going back, never ordering from them. That (off duty) supervisor was a toxic trash bag. He walked around the restaurant in his cutoffs like he owned the place and all the staff seemed afraid of him. Super big masculine man trying to intimidated your customers? Come on...