The Drake Eatery — Restaurant in Victoria

Our experience started out rough, as we were told our food would be ready at a certain time. My daughter and her boyfriend arrived to get it and were told "just one more minute". In the end, it was so much longer, the manager gave us a gift card.

They got back with the food. Five orders total. We all laughed when the containers with the boards were opened, because these could only really be called bread with a few little other pieces of food. We ordered the meat board, cheese board, and vegan cheese board amongst us.

Order 1- Salad was nice but some of the lettuce was wilted. My 84 year old mother enjoyed it.

Order 2- Vegan cheese board. Barely any vegan cheese, but what was there was tasty. Thought the bread was good.

Order 3- Kimchi grilled cheese with vegan cheese. Wonderful!

And here's where it becomes unexcusable:

Order 4- Meat board. The meat was old. Some of it was gross with a couple of pieces actually rotting. How did the person plating this not see it? Disgusting. Bread tasted old and was barely edible.

Order 5- Cheese board. There were two thin pieces of orange cheese and a thin piece of white cheese. When the box was opened, you could see right away that the orange cheese was old and dry. It was discolored like it wasn't wrapped properly and put back in the refrigerator for a few days. Then, a closer look showed that the white cheese was the same. That left 1/3 of the tiny bit of cheese in the dish inedible. The bread included was old and was tough and chewy. We've had sourdough before but never this hard to eat. The people sharing Order 2 tried to say it was rustic. Ha! Rustic only if old and stale is rustic. Finally, the nuts in the board were so spicy, the person who ordered couldn't eat them. Shouldn't this be mentioned on the menu instead of just "nuts"

I hope that people will take these words under consideration. Not everything was bad. But if you read other reviews, a lot are for the beer. A lot complain about the size of the boards....

I guess that they were in a bad mood and didn't want "new" customers. I visited this establishment to determine ifiwould bring clients there tomorrow night. The reception / host was decent but when I was lead to my table, she was very quick...I mentioned to her that she was fast and she agreed "I'm very quick". I was seated at a decent table but my server advised I'd have to go to the bar to order door and drink. I went to the bar, ordered my food and drink from the "bartender" I ordered food and drink and let him know that I wouldn't be brining my clients tomorrow night. He asked why, and I let him know that it was due to the service design at their establishment...he seemed a bit shocked, kept my credit card for a possible tab (I asked for no tab as I needed to report to the bar and pay and wanted my card back) then a blond, young woman took over and indicated that I should leave their establishment without asking what was happening...I confirmed that she wanted this, she hesitantly refunded my purchase, and indicated that I should leave by the rear entrance. About as low of a 1 star rating that could be provided. Avoid at all cost, unless you're a quasi-hipster who loves doing things different. Will not be returning. P.S. Swan's, just around the corner, was very nice and will likely have my business tomorrow. Too bad Drake's was awful, I wanted them to be a good place...

My friends and I visit the drake often, and have done so for years. Oddly I have few pictures as these are usually just wandering by opportunities.

One of the best things about this local establishment is the ever changing, but wide ranging craft beer selection. They bring in beer from the western states, as far as Stone Brewery, and even more from Washington and Oregon, as well as Vancouver beers or BC beers not easily found locally. Interesting and highly intoxicating flights can always be found. One of the bad things is that many of these offerings are one time / single or limited keg opportunities. So if you find something you absolutely love, drink ALL of it while you can, it may be gone next week.

Food offering vary and change occasionally. They used to have an excellent Chicken KimChi sandwich that was just perfectly balanced, but it has left the menu.

There is an outside patio area overlooking bastion square which is where we tend to try and sit during the warmer and drier season.

Parking is problematic with this being the downtown core, but then one probably shouldn't drive...