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Ferris' Oyster Bar is a dimly lit, hip, New York-style bistro. Oysters are the mainstay served 14 ways but the rest of the dishes on the eclectic menu are not to be missed.
I've been going to Ferris's for many years and never, ever had a poor experience. The closest I ever came to being dissatisfied was actually the last time we were there, when my friend ordered yam fries that were soggy. But the way the complaint was handled, promptly and curteously, more than made up for it. My friend ended up ordering another selection which she then got for 1/2 the price, and of course did not pay for the fries. I love the ambiance, service and food. I dream about their chicken penne soup. The oysters are always great, the pasta is fresh and cooked al dente, their burgers and fries are fabulous, the ceasar is very good and I love their bread with roasted garlic. As a bonus, the one think I always griped about, their local beer selection, is actually expanding. If there are long waits at times, it's because it's such a popular restaurant, so if you're in a hurry, don't go when the line up is out the door!
Steak ( ordered by four in our group ) definitely not a wise choice. Will not be going back. Sorry we decided to give it a try. Did not find the staff to be enthusiastic .... food was mediocre to say the least. Would not recommend to my friends. There are some great restaurants in Victoria .... this is not one of them.
After much dithering, went to Ferris' Oyster Bar (upstairs, not the downstairs grill) on their Sunday Tapas night. Be forewarned - their regular menu is unavailable on Sundays. No concern, though, as the tapas are simply amazing.
The room is old and very Spanish-style, quite unexpected and not unattractive, with aged wood floors and brick walls. The artwork on the wall is, however, quite bizarre. You'll have to see it to judge for yourself. There are about a dozen or so tables, and lots of room to maneuver. The lighting is nice, and the music - instrumental Flamenco-style - is suited to conversation.
Our drink order was taken within two minutes of being seated, and they have a very nice selection of martinis, martini-style cocktails, Mexican drinks and beer. Some of their cocktails are definitely not what you find on seemingly every drink menu in North America, a refreshing change. The bar has a great selection of mixers, and if you sit at the bar you can also watch the tapas being prepared.
The tapas menu - comprising two pages - is awesome. From bacon-wrapped smoked oysters to lamb and couscous to chorizo in puff pastry, there was nothing that was not well prepared and delicious. Everything is made to order, so don't expect to place your order and get it from under a heat lamp in 5 minutes. Seafood definitely comprises the preponderance of the offerings (it IS an oyster bar, after all) so don't go expecting to find many non-seafood alternatives. As well, they have a special wine menu to complement the Sunday tapas menu, with bottles(!) starting at $20 - super value!
Our waitress was quiet, polite and non-intrusive. At first I took her to be a little stand-offish, but then I compared her to some of the obnoxious twits I have encountered at some of the more touristy spots here in Victoria (such as a popular patio spot on the boardwalk...Gallstones, or something). She was mature, friendly and offered positive information about the menu. Her tip was in the 25% range.
I highly recommend Ferris' Oyster Bar for tapas.
After a long plane ride and looking at many reviews and asking lots of people around the Victoria area the place to go and get a fantastic meal was Ferris`s. Either the people in Victoria have never eaten seafood or do not know what seafood is much less good seafood. After getting seated the wait was extremely long, I order the Pacific Rim . The bowl was huge, and that was it. It was suspose to contain prawns, scallops, and other shell fish, with linguine mixed with a sauce. What I got was a bowl of tough noodles, two shrimp that were about 40 ct. and three pieces of scallop the size of my little finger. The shrimp would be small bait at the best. The dish had almost no flavor and the price was unreal. I am 56 and of all the places I have ever ate this one was the worst and one of the most expensive. To the people who wrote a positive review on this place all I can say is you have never eaten seafood, if you want to eat real seafood try south Texas,
Very reasonably priced food, with a very large menu. My favourite is the oyster burger- oh, so delish! Both the sweet potato fries and regular fries are also good. Love the atmosphere. The only thing I'm not that fond of is the oyster soup- more tomatoey than oystery. Would definitely recommend this place
I have been to this place twice, with similar experiences. The second time, and most recent time I was with the grandparents. The food was pretty good, but I felt that in general the portions weren't big enough. The oyster burger which you would think would be a prominent item on the menu was small, but tasty. I thought it was a little lack-luster for an Oyster bar. I tried a couple other oyster dishes from around my table and the tasted very good. The service was lacking. I politely asked the waitress what she thought of the lamb burger and the oyster burger, and asked her for a suggestion. She gave me an unenthuasiastic response, very indifferent, didn't care. She was impatient. More annoyingly was her, hurry up and order demeanor, especially with my grandparents. The place was new to them and she made them uncomfortable and flustered. I asked what beers were available, and she looked exhausted by the question. Blank, rushed look on her face throughout, and it wasn't too busy! Ambiance is fine, I like the location, and the idea of the restaurant. You can have all the tools, but with out the proper delivery of the idea, it gets abit lost.
I am happy to report that the last half dozen times we have been to Ferris' that the service has been very good, and the food has been excellent, as always.
I am always happy to see a place improve, but honestly, even with the ex-yucky service, I keep going to the place. I can't live without my oyster burger, my lamb burger, and my chicken penne soup. Because I love great food, I love this place! PS - for lunch, I can't comment on breakfast...by the way, they have a LOVELY back patio.
My friends and I go to Ferris' often because they have great food and you get A LOT of it. Everything I have ever had from burgers, to salads, to oysters, to pasta has been fantastic! The service however, is a completely different story. Do not go here if you are in any kind of hurry because it will take them several minutes to take your drink order, several more to bring it to you, then a long, long time to get your food. After you get your food if you need anything else, you will have to track them down because once they drop off the food, they are never coming back. Not to ask how the meal is, not to ask if you need anything else, and not to clear the plates, so you'd better order everything you need while you can. This is not an isolated experience either, we have been here about 15 times in the last 3 years and it's the same every time. Sometimes the service is friendly, sometimes not, but you always wait a long time and you always feel neglected. I would like to introduce this restaurant to new people but I feel a little embarrassed taking people there because of the service. Bottom line: if you don't mind feeling ignored and are not in a hurry try this place because the food is delicious!!!!!!!!
I actually enjoy the atmosphere of Ferris's. I have been comming here for about 5 years now and I almost always have the Half Pound burger with mushrooms and Cambazola Cheeze. I always order it with a Caesar Salad which is the biggest side salad I have ever had served in a restaruant.No skimping on the greens that's for sure. The service is OK and the staff are always hurried and too busy to give you that one on one feel of service. I do have a problem with their dishwasher though as it seems it does not do a very good job. On about a doezen occasions I have had strange things floating in my glass of water and I always have to wipe down my cuttlery as it is usualy dirty. But 9 out of 10 times the Burger is great and that is all I care about is filling my belly when it gets hungry for a burger. One more downside is that while the owner is great to his customers and generaly a nice guy, You can often hear him yelling at his staff and treating quite poorly. This is an unfortunate thing as they do work hard for him in one of the bussiest restaurants in the city. To sum it up...I go there for the BURGER and that is about it.
Is this place fun!! I went here for dinner with some work friends and was I ever surprised. The oysters are their specialty and they are some of the best I've ever had. They do them in a myriad of ways. They have a varied menu so if you don't like oysters they have salads, soups prawn dishes etc.. I had the oyster burger with the spicy oyster soup, fantastic! The houmous appy was home made and my friend’s dishes were equally good. Prices are very reasonable, the beer is cheap the space is an old brick building off Warf street. If you are in Victoria, do you self a favour and check this place out, you won't be disappointed. P.S. their French fries are huge and homemade, a side bowl is 4 buck with dips!!
I recently went to Ferris' for lunch after a long absence and it was like I had never left. I ordered their "famous" sweet potato fries, that are oh so delicious and I had their veggie nut burger which is awesome, I love the medley of texture and flavors.
All in all I am glad I returned to enjoy their tasty, eclectic comfort food.
I'd checked out Ferris online before going to Vic but was turned off by the negative reviews about service. My first choice was Garrick's Head Pub but they had stopped serving food because of a big power outage that night. So we decided to give Ferris' a try.
Perhaps the owners been reading some of the negative reviews about their service, but from start to finish that was actually the area that stood out the most for me. We were greeted immediately at the door, seated at the bar, told how long we'd be waiting, told again that we'd be the next to be seated, and once we were seated the waiter kept checking in to see how we were. So for us anyway, service was great. It was a Sunday night - maybe service suffers when it's really busy?
I had the Oyster bowl - the deep-fried oysters were great and the veggies were fine, but the rice it came with was overcooked and the dipping sauce was too sweet. My gf liked her choice - she got to choose four sauces to go with her oysters. I'd recommend asking for the sauces that aren't sweet, unless you like that style. Beer selection was good and lots of wines by the glass. I loved the space - a long, narrow room with high ceilings and lots of brick.
We visit Victoria often and have noticed a common problem with many restaurants there, the poor service. Ferris is another fine example of this. From the moment we walked in, the problems started. Firstly, we stood at the door for 5 minutes before anyone noticed. During this time 3 other parties piled in, one of which was served before us! There was no reason for this considering the place was half empty. The host eventually sat us in the back where he felt we would be more comfortable. Perhaps, it was because we had a baby with us? Sitting isolated in total darkness at 11am isn't exactly comfortable. We got nothing but attitude when we asked him for a high chair (like we need to ask anyway) and he proceeded to take his sweet time bringing it to us too. When the waitress arrived, she was no different. I don't know if it's something in the water, but what's with the "I can't be bothered moving a muscle" attitude? Despite all this, I was looking forward to the food, which was recommended to us. For the most part, the food turned out to be a huge letdown. My eggs benny arrived 10 minutes after everyone else's food and it was overcooked and cold. The $6 sweet potato fries turned out to be tiny little bits of greasy, burnt potato skin and couldn't even be dipped into the sauce which came with them. The waitress never did come by to see how everything was and not once was water, coffee etc refilled. About 45 minutes later she came by, dropped the bill on the table and left without clearing any of the dishes. I wasn't expecting fine dining, but anyone that thinks this is awesome is out of their minds. This is mediocre at best.
Every time I go to Ferris' Oyster Bar (upstairs) I am completely satisfied with absolutly everything. The servers are friendly and efficient, the oysters, no matter the preperation, are remarkable! Not to mention the Pulled Pork Sandwich, it is on par if not a little better (in my opinion) than Smokin Bones Cookshack. The meat is so tender and the Chipolte Mayo is so flavorful, this sandwich is to die for. They have a nice wine list to accompany anything and everything on their menu. Not to mention that it is very reasonably priced. I guarantee you will enjoy your experiance at this resteraunt.
This is, for some reason, a favorite amongst many friends and colleagues. I just don't know why.
My wife and I strolled past there about a month ago looking to try out a new restaurant. There were a few employees wandering around and it was only about half full. After waiting for about 5 minutes at the entrance, we had to track down a waiter and ask if we are supposed to seat ourselves, despite the sign saying to wait. He told us to go back to the entrance and wait for the guy who was the host. About 3 minutes later, the host came along. Without any pleasantries, "How many." 2. "Look, you can sit there or there. (pointing several tables away)" It looks like you have a patio in the back, could we sit there? "Um, I think I have it mostly reserved" Could you double check? "Ya, but it will take 5 minutes or you can just sit here." What a smug putz.
For some reason we still sat down. From all the raves, we figured that guy was just a one-off. The tables are relatively small and are very close to other tables. My wife was still quite put off. We basically decided to try a different place. Then our waiter came by and we told him about the host. He apologized and said he would guarantee we would all have a blast tonight.
He took our drink order and about 10 minutes later we finally got our drinks. We ordered a couple champagne-oyster shots, a bowl of yam fries and I ordered Jambalaya (forget what my wife ordered). Took about 25 minutes to get food. First drink was done 10 minutes earlier. No one noticed.
Everything was boring and had no presentation. Jambalaya was incredibly boring. I don't know how you can do that, but they managed to pull it off. Bland everything in it. Oyster shots were decent - and they better be with 'oyster bar' in the name. Fries were skinny, peel on, and almost broke when putting in the sauce. Never saw the waiter again, despite his promise of us all having a blast.
Ordered dessert. Some sort of a chocolate-bomb. Boring again. No presentation.
Took the bill to the counter to pay with debit. Bar maid saw me standing there with card in hand but continued chatting with some friends. Had to call her over. I entered about a 5% tip. I said "goodnight" and she just gave me a look without saying anything.
All in all, everyone here seems to have some sense of superiority that is totally unjustified - especially given the quality of the ambiance, food and presentation, and service. There are many better places to spend your money in Victoria.
The descriptions of the oysters at Ferris' were so good, we ordered some as an appetizer for the first time in recent memory. The (huge!) pan-fried oysters with butter, lemon and garlic were fantastic, and you could easily make a meal out of a half dozen of those monsters with some bread or fries. They were so good, I may have to try them on the half-shell next time we're in Victoria.
Lunch entree was the falafel sandwich with yam fries. The falafel were flavourful and wonderfully chewy. The yam fries came with skin on, which I quite enjoyed.
An excellent lunch option, not too far from downtown.
The place was packed on the night we came, but we were shown to a table right away as we had booked. The service was efficient and friendly and the seafood was fresh, tasty, and abundant. Not much of a wine list, but seafood is the reason to come here. It is noisy and without much ambiance, but with good service and food it is a great place to come during the week.
Ferris's is one of those restaurants you almost want to keep a secret, however the word is out and its good news. This place is cozy and dark, exposed brick walls, and dark wood tables add to the warm atmosphere. I have yet to order somthing I have been disappointed with. The Vege burger is incredible, a homemade patty on a whole wheat bun. The Falafel wrap is also a yummy treat. Save room for dessert though, they serve the ultimate brownie- worth going for that alone!!! And they have these wickely delicious rice fritter/balls you have to try. They are a sort of rice pudding ball with raisins, nuts, and orange zest. They are served in a paper bag, which they shake icing sugar into. You just rip open the bag and indulge in hot heavenly goodness.
Mmmmmmm.
Let me state this right from the top, I have only been here once to-date. It had been recommended by a couple of friends. The food was good but nothing remarkable, although I would like to try it again. The reason I have not been back is because the service is absolutely offensive from the servers to the on-site owner, who is espcially noteworthy for his lack of charm. Whenever Ferris' comes up in a conversation, there is always always a new story about the lousy service. How can one place be so consistently bad? I feel sorry for the cooks who take pride in their work only to have it ruined by the service staff.
It is such a shame because their food is great, especially the burgers. but no amount of great food can make up for such poor service. In a service industry driven city like Victoria the service stands out like a sore thumb. The servers seem severely 'put out' by the very fact they have to serve you, there is often a long wait and just a general lack of good service. People will put up with a lot as long as it is accompanied by friendly and gracious service. This is sadly lacking at Ferris.
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