By Kelly J Clark
Guest Service Agent

Hotel restaurants have a bad rap.   They’re expensive.  They’re poorly staffed.  They have no view at all or a beautiful view with no seating.  Many of Victoria’s seafood restaurants fare poorly as well. They’re on the ocean but have no view. They’re either tourist traps or holes in the wall. They’re overpriced. They’re bland.

The Blue Crab Bar & Grill happily rejects such reputations. Tucked away inside of the Coast Harbourside Hotel, this small, yet elegant restaurant-lounge delivers delicious pescatarian delights with a stunning view of Victoria’s inner harbour.  I was fortunate enough to attend an informal staff dinner at The Blue Crab and came away joyfully sated and with some wisdom to share.

Let’s start with the reason we both know you want to eat there: the view. It’s a shame that though Victoria is coastally bound we have so few decent restaurants that provide both an attractive menu and a delicious view. The Blue Crab is one of the few restaurants in Victoria to break the mold and offer something beyond the charming, yet often repetitive historic brick of the downtown core.  From its James Bay shoreline you can easily see some of the prettier parts of the inner harbour: the majestic Delta Ocean Point Hotel and the Vic West shoreline, the barest bit of the Johnson Street Bridge, and the expansive blackness of the star speckled sky expanded into duplicate by the water beneath.

The Blue Crab is inventive seafood. The menu provided by Executive Chef Andrew Dickinson and Restaurant Chef Shawn Morrison has elements both traditional and novel. They offer steak, lamb, and other, redder options, but their speciality is that which swims. I enjoyed the night’s special: a lovely plate of blackened halibut served under lobster medallions and drizzled with a hollandaise sauce. It also was accompanied by a lima bean stuffed micro-pumpkin that was discernibly nutty with a mealy texture. The lobster and hollandaise combination was an outstanding blend of buttery and savory that was the star of the meal.

Being the sneaky reviewer that I am I was able to smuggle a few bites of my companions’ dishes. Nick had the filet mignon which was good, but the beef was outshined by the thickness of its accompanying bacon, which seemed over a quarter inch. Colleen enjoyed the rack of lamb, which came lightly charred and dusted with mint, but was still tender and pink inside. While I didn’t spend much time at the bar, I did note that the wine list was expansive and that my manager never went without a “Mangotini”—a beverage that defines the word macho, I’m told. It’s this attention to detail that has earned The Blue Crab the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for eight consecutive years.

The combination of menu and view does mean that The Blue Crab’s cost is a little higher than its peers, but not obscenely so. When compared to other seafood specialists without such a view, The Blue Crab is on average only a few dollars more expensive per dish, which isn’t much for a great night out.  This is a restaurant to be enjoyed, so if you’re in a hurry, this may not be the choice for you.

The Coast Harbourside Hotel offers free underground parking for patrons of the Blue Crab, but I would recommend street parking if you can manage. Personally, I would always rather walk through the rain than drive my way up through the bowels of a parking garage.

Overall, the Blue Crab provides something much needed to the Victoria dining experience. It delivers good seafood, a convenient location, and a view that celebrates our coastal scenery in a way unlike most other restaurants around.

The Blue Crab Bar & Grill
146 Kingston St
Victoria, BC
www.bluecrab.ca
250-480-1999