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Address: 777 Courtney Street Victoria BC CA V8W 1C3
Tel: 1 250 360-2544
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| "Meat is Murder...OK, I'll get the Lamb Burger." |
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by Tiemen (from Victoria, BC)
November 2007 - The guys from one of my old bands in Calgary were in town so that we could play a Friday night show, and we were all hungry. My wife an I decided to take the boys down to Smith’s Pub, because we heard the food was good, and we knew they played music load enough to drown out our loud conversation.
Smith’s is an Irish styled pub in the basement of the Quality Inn downtown. They’ve done it up right though, and it has a very pleasant atmosphere…you’d never know you were enjoying a night out at the Quality Inn. The place caters to hipsters of all sorts. And you can expect to be assaulted by DJ’s spinning an assortment of indie-rock, neo-mod, 60’s ska/reggae or northern soul, on any given night. The atmosphere is perfect for grabbing some food and a few drinks before heading out to see a band, or for grabbing a few more drinks and spending the whole night.
Our waitress this evening was pleasant, but felt the need to touch each member of our party (5 in all) at some time while she took our orders. It seems that touching people and acting really friendly was all that she was good at. She forgot parts of the order and when asked straight out if the gravy was vegetarian, she said it was. A few minutes later when the the pub manager was running around to her tables doing damage control, he stopped to apologize for anything she missed, and informed us that the gravy was not vegetarian. OK, so the server gets a big thumbs down, but the manager smoothed things over by stopping by to apologize and toss a couple freebees our way.
The food arrived, and by all accounts, everything tasted great. We mostly ordered standard pub fare, burgers, wings, beef dips, etc. Portions were ample, and the food was hot. The manager made sure we each had a bowl of their signature (non veggie) gravy, and while I appreciate their attempt to jazz it up by adding a hint of curry, I’ve decided that gravy and curry aren’t the best match. The wings also had a curry sauce, and I think it worked there a lot better.
I ordered the Glasgow Kiss Lamb Burger for $12. If there is a Lamb Burger on the menu, and I’m in the mood for a burger, that’s what I’m going to order. Smith’s Lamb burger was very good…tasty, with a fresh focacia bun and tasty sauce. I would have said that it was one of the best Lamb Burgers I’ve tasted in town, if not for the fact that the meat was a little over flavored with garlic. It tasted great at the time, but I was plagued with horrendous garlic breath all night. I always have to wonder about the quality of a meat patty when they use so much garlic. I had fries as a side, instead of Salad, and used them to mop up that curry gravy. I washed that all down with a couple pints of Guiness, and was all fueled up to play a show.
Besides the obviously lacking service, everyone was happy with the experience at Smith’s. It’s inventive pub food in a modern, pub setting. Prices are slightly above average, and you can watch the hipsters show up and be seen. I’d definitely hit Smith’s for eats or drinks again…and they have mini burgers on the weekend!!!
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| "Great Atmosphere, Bad Service" |
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by Tara (from Victoria, BC)
November 2007 - We had some friends in town one Friday night and had heard that Smith’s pub has great food, so that’s where we ended up. The atmosphere was classier than most pubs and had a great feel to it. Our waitress was a bit strange and ended up touching each and every one of us at some point during the course of our visit. It also turns out she’s not very good at her job. There were five of us and she ended up messing up three of the five orders. My friend is a vegetarian and he made her promise that his meal didn’t contain any meat products. She promised and when another server brought the food out he told us it actually did contain meat products. Not cool. I ordered a regular burger and salad (although she messed up and it came with fries, so I got salad and fries). The burger was very standard and had nothing too special about it, but the gravy for the fries was delicious. It was curry flavoured, which was very different. Because they messed up and brought fries instead of a salad, they brought me out a huge plate of salad which was a nice gesture and it tasted good too. Everyone else at my table seemed to enjoy their food and we talked about that nutty waitress all night. She came to our table right before we left and apologized for messing up so much and said she was having an off night. Not sure about that, but whatever the case I would definitely go back. Hopefully next time we get a better waitress!
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| Note about Smith's Pub Reviews: Please note that the above reviews about Smith's Pub reflect the subjective opinion of individual readers and not the opinion of ReviewBlue.com or its affiliates. If you represent the Smith's Pub and wish to comment on any of these reviews, we encourage you to use the management response feature. |
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