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The Mint is a funky, relaxed lounge & restaurant serving up Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine. Enjoy live music 6 nights a week and an extensive menu of fancy cocktails, wine and beer.
Went late nite for some food and drinks. Good atmosphere, altthough a little loud was late nite however.
I ordered prawn with red curry and my girlfriend ordered the naan pizza. Had cesars to drink.
Food was very good and came quickly. Very polite staff and perfectly attentive.
Price was fair.
I will go back.
I thought the Mint was amazing. Awesomer vibe with a live DJ. My friends and I all enjoyed our food. I had the Lamb Curry. I was surpirised that the potatoes and carrots were served cold but my friend Janice explained to me that they are traditionally served that way for a Tibetan dish. The service was also great, the waiter simply explained to us that our meals would be a little while because the restaurant was so busy and he was right. There wasn't a chair left vacant in the entire place. I was impressed how well the servers were moving in light of the number of people in that place. Lastly, the list of beers was the best I've seen since Fogg 'n Sudds.
Amazing place! Don't expect a two-minute meal, but I guess that is why they call it a lounge.
Last weekend I had my last experience at the Mint. A friend and I were on a schedule, so we just sat at the bar for a quick drink. Had to escort ourselves in to sit down, ask to see the drink menu, ask to order (2 different people - they were that clueless) and of course ask to pay. The whole thing was *quite* an ordeal for the staff to process, and it certainly was not the least bit busy.
My second to last experience saw two friends and I attempt to celebrate a birthday. The staff did nothing to acknowledge the birthday (which we noted out loud-- not even a dessert, nada), and we were literally not able to order another drink due to desertion by our waitress. Our drinks and water glasses dry and with no relief in sight, we quickly left. The butter chicken left MUCH to be desired, and was so salty I could barely get it past my mouth. Two of the side dishes were bland, flavourless and cold. No thanks, I'd rather not waste my money!
the description says they only accept cash, this is no longer true.
Onto the food, I ordered the grilled yellowfin tuna which was one of their weekly specials and my girl ordered the curry combo something rather (you get a portion of each of the three currys they have on the menu), after an unreal cheese appy which offered a nice taste of 5 or so cheeses olives and fresh baguette we feasted on some of the most delicious food i've experienced in victoria.
With a great selection of coctails, wine and beer I'd recommend the mint for either a pre club drink or for a full course meal, definitely reccomend to anyone.
The only time that there was delay in getting my food order to the bar, I got an apology and a complimentary glass of wine. It's not a fast food restaurant where you eat and run. Slow down... enjoy your company, savour drink and food and enjoy The Mint experience..
If I must write 300 characters I wonder if the negative responses are favoured as they can get wordy.
The ambience is quite nice (if you like dark) and I've eaten some delicious meals there. Their cocktails are quite good (I find them a little lighthanded on the alcohol but that might not be a bad thing.)
I really recommend you do not go to The Mint if you have any other plans that evening. The service is terribly slow, they forgot several drinks and we were there over an hour and a half before they asked us for our food orders. This was a leisurely dinner with friends so we didn't mind to much but we were all pretty starving by the time our food arrived and we left unimpressed all around by the service.
Maybe I've been unlucky, but other reviews here seem to indicate that the slowness of service is something they really need to work on. They were certainly not understaffed.
i really wanted to like the mint. i adore the darkly lit, simple ambience, their drink menu rocks, and some of the menu items are outta this world. but the service is just mind-blowingly and regularly abysmal. without fail. last night was my third time giving the restaurant a try .. there must have been maybe 5 tables being served in the entire place (on a saturday night) .. and the time between ordering and receiving the food and drinks was just way too long. it made us think, if they take this long with a very light customer load, how truly terrible it would be if the place was at all busy. one final gripe: they never pick up their phone, making booking reservations nigh impossible. its usually an answering service. my friend left a message as asked with the time we wanted our reservation for. they called her back. 24 hours later :-/
We went to The Mint for the first time on Saturday after Luminara. We were quite surprised how beautiful the restaurant looked after descending some stairs off Douglas Street. The room was larger than we expected with a bar in the middle, a brick wall with interesting metal artwork extending along one side and a rich earthy coloured wall with tribal masks on the other side. There was a DJ playing music on a converted commercial kitchen stove which was very interesting.
We were seated promptly and our drink orders were taken. I ordered a mojito which was delicious and the others shared a bottle of wine. The wine list looked great, however I would have liked to see more BC wines on the list.
We all split appetizers which included pork momos and Wildfire tapanade. These were both great especially the momos which were served with a tasty tomato cilantro dipping sauce.
We all order the Butter chicken curry on the waiters suggestion and were not disappointed. The curry was rich and full of flavour. It came with a bunch of different thing, but i liked the mustard greens the most.
Overall we had a fantastic time and am glad we stumbled across this hidden gem. We will all be back
I had been to The Mint several times before and always had a satisfactory experience. Good food, good tunes, great ambiance.
However, this time around was something else altogether. We were celebrating a birthday and had a party 10 - not small but definately should be manageable.
Slow, inattentive service (took 1 1/2 hours for a tapas platter to arrive??). Our momos arrived burnt but we were so hungry that we scarfed them down anyway. By 10:00 pm (fully 2 hours after we had ordered), the food arrived. My chicken & chiles was truly horrendous. The vegetables were raw, and I was certain that they had mistakenly given me tofu instead of chicken. Perfectly formed, spongy, air bubbly, tasteless white rectangles - you would think tofu, right? When I mentioned this to our server, I was told "IMPOSSIBLE!!" No, "oh, I'm sorry, let me check this out - hang on a minute...." I was sternly told that she would "investigate" and swept my plate away from me. I was told that it was, in fact, chicken and that I had 2 choices. They could comp the meal or they could bring me something else. I was already almost falling asleep on my plate as it was getting so late, I opted to take the "free" meal that I had taken a couple bites of and call it a night. Other people seemed content with their food, but everyone grumbled about the inordinate amount of time that it took to even get some cold cuts and cheese onto the table. Bad experience overall - doubt I will return
I love the Mint... The atmosphere is unbeatable. The friendly staff also make every visit memorable. The appys are always good and large portions. The prices are average. The drinks are good and the bartenders are always open to making you something special.
I always reccomend this restaurant. It is great for dates, special occasions and group get togethers.
The Mint used to be awesome, but they keep raising their prices and removing things I like from the menu. Service is usually good but there have been some experiences where it was annoyingly slow. The cheaper items on the menu tend to be the best, oddly enough, so you can still get very good value with some of the menu items. Some of the food is outstanding and some of it is poor. Any of their ethnic food tends to be excellent; however, I wouldn't recommend ordering something like a steak as it's likely to be tough. The Mint isn't perfect but it keeps drawing me back.
Been here many times. Sometimes with groups, sometimes with just my boyfriend. First time ever was with a group. We were all sure our server was drunk. She kept coming back to ask us what we ordered. Then the drinks all showed up wrong. The mojitos were all soda. When it was mentioned to the bartender that our experience was less than impressive the guy threw a fit and called my buddy a jerk. Not great customer service if you ask me. Last night we were there. There were 3 other tables. Our drinks took over 10 minutes to arrive. The bartender was a fat slob of a man, who kept leaving the bar to walk outside. We ordered shots at the table. We were shorted one. I went to the bar to get it and he charged me more than was the others cost.
So why do I keep going back? I really can't figure that out. If you do find yourself down there pray its on a wednesday night, cheap martinis and the bartender that night actually knows what he's doing. And I do recommend the flourless chocolate cake. It was delish.
Disappointing to say the least! Pork momos were ok, but what's with the non-descript dipping sauce? Tasteless! Cold food...after 52 minutes waiting? Huh? Crunchy rice and crunchy vegetables...totally undercooked...and, COLD! Butter chicken was ok, but cold, and chicken had not been cooked in the sauce. $50 for two people: 1 appetizer and two meals...not as "reasonable" as others have stated. It's loud, it's dark, it's just not that great.
I will always go to the mint because the food is SO good. Especially the momo's but the service consistently sucks. I have had some nightmare servers. They all seem to cool for school as if they can't be bothered. That's not to say that I haen't had so-so service occasionally as I have been there many times. If you just want some delicious food and great drinks, go to the mint, if you want to be wowed in every aspect... maybe skip the mint.
Stumbled upon The Mint as we were walking to our hotel. So happy we did. It was a little dark as it is located below street level but our eyes soon adjusted. We were there very early, shorlty after they opened. The waiter/bartender was very attentive and helpful. He let us know right away that the our dinners would take a little time as the rice wasn't ready yet. He recommended the pork momo's and we were not disappointed. We split the Nepalese Platter and it was enough for the two of us. Great selection, really enjoyed the peanuts, potato, mustard greens and butter chicken. Would highly recommend this to my friends. Good food for a good price.
We are from out of town and this was our first time at this restaurant. We almost missed it as it is below street level. Contrary to what an earlier reviewer said, the music was not too loud during our visit for dinner. The food was delicious. Two of us ordered the thali with butter chicken while two of us had the prawn curry. Both were exceptional dishes. Portions are generous and some of us had no room for dessert. Our young hostess was pleasant and professional. We certainly recommend the restaurant.
Have been here for dinner twice. Both times the food has been excellent. Noise level is high during dinner. Decor is interesting. Lots of neat art to look at on the walls.
Service the first time I went was impecable, the second time not as good, but not bad either. Food took a long time to come. They have very tasty cocktails for resonable prices. Interior is so dark its almost hard to read the menu however.
First time I ate the Tofu in a penut coconut sauce. I don't normally eat vegitarian but this looked interesting. WOW was it ever good. Second time I had a lamb curry. It was good too, but the lamb was cooked a bit to much for my tastes. The Tofu was better. I'd recomend it.
I'd definatly come back here again.
My husband and I have been to the Mint about 4 times, and we can't stop coming back! Try the Butter Chicken Pizza and the Parsnip and Carrot soup... Delicious! The food service is rather slow, but get a bottle of wine and its worth it!
I really love this restaurant, It's probably my favourite in the city for the price range. The atmosphere is eclectic, very diverse and the music is great. Yes, it's loud but only after around 9. Yes the food is spicy, the chef is a great Nepalese chef and does awesome dishes especially for the price. The service sucks (we use the order-your-next-drink-when-you -get-your-first-one system), but the food and drinks are worth it (awesome martini list).
I'm a little disappointed in people giving it bad reviews because it is not to their liking, instead of rating it as a restaurant on its own terms. Ive never experience bad, cold, or slow arriving food. I've been at least 20 times and still love it. Great industry place, they serve food really late and are open til 2 on weekends.
The Mint though being a great places to have some drinks is unfortunatley not a spectacular place to come for dinner. However I would say that one of the highlights of the restaurant is its chiles and chicken/tofu which is very good either way you order it. The tofu especially is well cooked and seasoned as is the chicken. Their cheese and cracker platters however are by far the best feature of this place. While perhaps its difficult to scew up a platter of this nature, The Mint uses some exceptional cheeses and pairs it with some very good breads and crackers. The bad points include first, the music is way too loud, second the meals are overpriced, lastly service can be sketchy uncless you are being served by CJ
| 1. | Breve (21 m) | |
| 2. | De Dutch Pannekoek House (29 m) |  |
| 3. | Pizza Pi (30 m) |  |
| 4. | Veneto (59 m) |  |
| 5. | Sizzling Tandoor (60 m) |  |
| 6. | Subway (64 m) | |
| 7. | John's Place (79 m) | |
| 8. | Sockeye Sushi (85 m) | |
| 9. | Alano Club (90 m) | |
| 10. | Lunch Kit, The (98 m) |
