The Bent Mast — Restaurant in Victoria

Atmosphere is great. Good vibes if you can get past the sub par service and lackluster food. Bent Mast Burger was not bad at all. Juicy and flavorful. Pretty stingy on the fries tho.

Minus one star for having to fetch our own napkins and cutlery after our food was served. This is about as basic as an expectation you can have with service. Even when I asked for assistance, the waitress offered no help and waved me on to help myself. Meaning I'm sticking my street hands into the cutlery tray behind the counter, which likely is not up to food safe standards.

Minus 1 star for an ice tea refill that had zero ice and no lemon like the original. Consistency is lacking.

Minus 1 star for the frits and fish. Rockfish was about as dry as it comes and was on the stinky side. Again, it would appear that there is a serious shortage on fires.

Minus 1 star for buffalo wrap. Sauce was tasty, but the amount inside the wrap vs the actual chicken ect inside makes you feel like you are eating a buffalo sauce wrap, not a buffalo chicken wrap.

Summer patio and pints it might be a great stop if you can get better service than what we got.

When you see a place that doesn't thank their guests for great reviews and don't respond to negative ones, it makes me think they just don't care. Look for yourself.

IMO: if you are looking for a better patio experience food and service wise, head to the Heron Rock Bistro. It really is that...

I'v enjoyed stopping into the Bent Mast from time to time. Sometimes I come and go from Victoria for months on end, and it's usually a great place to stop in. I don't really know anyone in this town, and it was always a cool place to chat with people and make some friends. But...doesn't feel that way anymore. Came back into town about two weeks ago, been in a few times...and it's different. No hellos or how you doings...no service for at least 5 whole minutes, no mentioning of any food specials or drinks...just vapid space. Tonight was particularly gross, April 8th, for I actually gave it two tries!! I came in at 5pm and again 10 ish pm. Both times the staff were cold as winter and very unfriendly. I tried making small talk with both of the servers ( 10pm visit ) and was told, by them, to my face, that I shouldn't talk to them!! O...K.... I finished by beer, at this point hating my own existence from my treatment, walked over and paid my bill. I mentioned that I didn't feel welcomed here...and the server actually said... "your not welcomed here!"

Mind blown!!!

I already don't know many people here in this city, and it's tuff making friends...so when I try to talk to bar staff ( which is their job! ) and get treated like this...its hard..its very tuff on the mind. It makes you want to swallow a bunch of pills and do yourself in! Not impressed...and...

We moved to James Bay Jan 1 2022 and walk by this place all the time. We always said we would take mum and mums boyfriend there when they visit. Since we own a sailboat as do they, the name stuck out as the go-to place during their stay. Tonight we all got to go and it did NOT disappoint! We ordered the dry ribs appy, and had the lamb burger and the Bent Mast burger, we each had a drink (he had stout I had a San Pellgrino) and cheesecake for dessert. Mum and her bf had 2 beers each, Bent Mast burger, fish and chips and the Hummus and pita appy. The food was great, the service was even better (no really! Our waitress came by and asked how we were and not at the exact moment our mouths were full, and not quite half way through our meal, now that's an art!) Our bill came to $58CAD, mums and bf about the same. The atmosphere is like being in a countryside pub in England. The house its in has so many touches to make you feel like at any moment you could turn around and see an old timey ships captain at the bar. Casual dress code, wood floors, high ceilings, and the holographic portraits that turn zombie next to paintings of tall ships. Its clean, quiet for the size space, the staff are super friendly, food came really fast. Will definetly be back to this...