6 Best Restaurants in Victoria, BC: My Personal Favorites (2026)

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, but it only has a meager population of 100,000 people in the city proper, and about 400,000 in the metro area. Despite its small size, Victoria actually has the most restaurants in Canada per capita!

I have spent the last 2 years studying in Victoria, and I was supposed to have one more year but I am doing exchange in the Netherlands and then just having a brief stint of 3-4 months in Victoria when I get back, so I thought now would be the perfect time to reflect on all of the amazing eats I had in the city!

Trini To D’Bone

If you have never tried Trinidadian food (or Trini food) you are missing out on one of the most underrated cuisines in the world in my opinion. Personally, Trini food is my favourite Caribbean + Central American cuisine, and Trini To D’Bone happens to be serving up the best Trini food I have ever had! If you visit this spot, you need to order pretty much one of everything on the menu, which means you have to come on the weekend because some items are only available Friday/Saturday. For a little appetizer/snack, doubles is a must. This dish consists of curried chickpeas and two fried flat breads called bara, which are similar to poori/bhature. It is theorized that this dish originates from South Asian chana masala and poori, which similar to doubles is a very popular breakfast dish. It may sound simple, but the texture and flavors will blow you away! After you have had your doubles, you are hopefully dining with another person because you need to order two more dishes, a roti and the curried goat with buss-up-shut, not goat curry, which I once mistakenly said and got flamed for on TikTok. The roti is like a massive roti burrito filled with a curried meat of your choice, of which I would recommend the chicken but you really can’t go wrong with any option. The curried goat is also a must because the flavor is mind-blowing and it goes perfectly with the accompanying potatoes and buss-up-shut, which is a flatbread similar to a paratha. In terms of value and flavour this would probably be my top spot in all of Victoria!

Dosa Paragon

I have talked about Dosa Paragon endlessly on my TikTok because it is easily the restaurant I have been to the most times in Victoria. The primary reason that I have been so many times is that so many of my friends have never tried South Indian food so I really enjoy taking people here! Even if you have tried South Indian food, in my experience, 90% of the places I have been to have been pretty mediocre, especially the dosa. Dosa Paragon offers really delicious dosas and great curries as well! I am not going to say that every item on the menu is great, for example I wouldn’t recommend the ghee masala or BDF, but the mysore masala dosa and other regular dosas are excellent as well as the chettinad and pepper masala! It is also in a really nice location on Wharf Street, so you can go on a nice walk along the water after your meal too!

Oak Bay Bon Sushi

I am sure there are a lot of really incredible traditional sushi spots in Vancouver and Victoria, but traditional sushi (sashimi, nigiri, etc.,) is very expensive… and I tend not to go to very expensive places. That is why, when I am not in Japan, I usually opt for Canadianized/Americanized sushi options, which are incredible in their own right. Oak Bay Bon Sushi is at the peak for me in this category in Victoria, narrowly beating out the lovely Sushi Momo. What you want to do when you go here is to order way too much of whatever special rolls appeal to you, get takeout, and then go home and gorge yourself on these decadent, loaded up, rolls. Some of my personal favourites are the pressed neigtoro, rainbow, ocean red, imperial, hot night, and double spicy. Also, make sure to get a hand cone as they are surprisingly good value given how loaded up they serve them. For a legendary takeout night this is definitely my go to in Victoria.

Tonolli’s Deli

Tonolli’s Deli is the sort of place that you drive by and say, “hey I should go here”, and then never return because it is halfway to Schwartz Bay. Well, I am here to tell you that you should absolutely return to this spot because it is lovely! This is a breakfast spot with affordable, and delicious, sweet and savoury options. I have tried everything from their soups to their eggs to their sandwiches and everything has been tasty. They also have a ton of different pastries, of which I really enjoy their cinnamon roll! Aside from the great pastries and breakfast options, the vibes are incredible! It feels like you are sitting in a cute little cottage with comfy seats and a really homey atmosphere. There also appears to be seasonal outdoor seating in a garden which I have personally never dined in but the area is really cute. I think that with the rise in popularity of brunch there have been a lot of modern stores that have opened which serve crazy loaded up eggs bennys or french toasts, so I find it to be a refreshing change of pace to go to a cozy, unpretentious, spot like Tonolli’s which has been around for 15 years now! If you want to read a little bit more about this place, I came across this article that you can check out!

Parachute Ice Cream

It is shockingly difficult to make good ice cream. The amount of mediocre ice cream spots that I have been to in Canada, including some really famous places, is pretty astounding. Coming to Victoria I wasn’t sure if I would have anything that could satisfy my craving for good ice cream, unlike Vancouver which is home to titans like Ernest Ice Cream and Rain or Shine Ice Cream, but luckily I came across Parachute Ice Cream. This spot was conveniently located right by my old apartment which meant that I went quite a bit. I wouldn’t say that parachute ice cream is the creamiest ice cream in the world but they make up for it with their stellar flavours. Some standout flavors include their Vietnamese coffee, salted skor, mango lassi, and honey lavendar. They also have some great limited edition flavours, like their lavender haze flavor which came right after Taylor Swift released her album for which they developed a number of themed flavors related to the album which was so cool! I always had pints of Parachute Ice Cream in my freezer when I was in Victoria and while Vancouver has some good options I will definitely miss some of my favorite flavours!

Ay Mi Mexico

Birria tacos have become all the rage recently, and for good reason. The flavour and texture of the beef/lamb is incredible, the tortilla has a beautiful crust, and the consomé is like you are drinking the best soup you have ever had. I have had my fair share of birria tacos but my favourite may be from Ay Mi Mexico, a Mexican food stand located in a convenience store in Victoria! I have had some of their other menu items, and they are all excellent so you really can’t go wrong, but when you come here you need to try the birria tacos above all else. I don’t really know how to describe what makes this birria so good but I suppose it is just the fact that they have perfected making the tenderest beef imaginable with the most flavour possible. The people working there are also so passionate and kind, so maybe it is also the love coming through their food when you bite into it. I am sure at this point everyone has a birria taco spot that they swear is better than the rest and for me this is Ay Mi Mexico!

Honourable Mentions: Biryani Palace, Curry Shashwat, Serena’s Pizzeria & Hoagies, Pizzeria Prima Strada, Victoria Pocha

I probably could have added even more spots to my honourable mentions list because I have a lot of restaurants that sort of fall into a tier below the ones that I mentioned above, but in an effort to keep this post less bloated than it already is I narrowed it down to just five. The first is Biryani Palace, which is a Pakistani restaurant in Victoria. I typically find that Pakistani restaurants are pretty good and this one is no exception. They do traditional Pakistani dishes, like haleem and paya, pretty well, and their other dishes are great too, including the butter chicken which I typically don’t order but I know is a fan favourite. Ironically, I wouldn’t recommend the biryani, but everything else has been pretty solid in my experience! Curry Shashwat is a cool spot run by an Indian chef who worked for years as a head chef in China. While Indochinese cuisine isn’t related to Chinese cuisine much at all, they serve it up at this spot and it is quite good! It is also nice to have some representation of Indochinese cuisine because it is super popular in South Asia! They also have a variety of South Asian street foods, including chaat, which is awesome to see, and the curries are a bit unorthodox but tasty nonetheless! Serena’s Pizzeria & Hoagies and Pizzeria Prima Strada are probably the two most popular pizza spots in Victoria, which makes sense because they are both great! Serena’s Pizzeria & Hoagies serves up Philadelphia-style hoagies and pan/dish pizza, both of which are great but I definitely prefer the pizza. Pizzeria Prima Strada on the other hand serves up traditional “Neapolitan-style” pizza and while I don’t think it is quite exactly like traditional Neapolitan-style pizza I have had it is quite similar and ultimately it’s still tasty and that’s what matters most! Finally, there is Victoria Pocha which is a Korean restaurant/bar. I didn’t really expect much from the food at this place because I thought that the bar part of the establishment may be the focus but the food is awesome! It is simply, tasty, unpretentious, and perfect for going out with friends in the evening if you are looking for a spot with more of a fun bar vibe that still has delicious food!

Victoria may be small, but between Trinidadian doubles, loaded sushi rolls, and some of the best birria tacos I’ve had, Victoria has a solid food scene. If you want to explore more of what’s on offer beyond Victoria, check out my posts on the best restaurants in Montreal and the best restaurants in Tokyo. Also, make sure to follow me on my social media platforms and checkout my other blog posts if you enjoy my content!