Lakes Restaurant in Victoria

This is a decent place for food, the lakes club for lunch is excellent. Only go for breakfast if you have more than an hour to kill.

Very good service but Average food. A bit pricey too.

Excellent meals

Great place, relaxed, good food and has steered me away from Romeos, give it a try folks, hidden neighbourhood gem next to the Holiday Inn Elk lake Road.

Pretty good food. Got a good skillet here which was good. There was lots of sausage and ham as well as cheese. The interior was nice too. The whole hotel looks great after the renovation.

Oh man! I have no idea how barb got her job and has kept it considering the numerous complaints I have cone across. This woman cut us off, VISIBLY rolled her eyes when I politely asked for a straw for my kid and then while coming back from the restroom my kid paused for a second she lectured me about getting back to the table. This woman has zero qualities that you would want in a server. I emailed restaurant but no response so I figured I would warn everybody else. Honestly all the servers look like they hate their lives. Food was good but if I wanted to be treated like garbage I would of saved my $75.

Great food, great service.

It is great

Not friendly we walked in and got the what do you want look very unwelcoming. We left.

Friendly staff great food and cold beer. Another home away from home. Always feel welcome and the locals are always friendly. Coming here for years. Still coming here, still the same with a new look. Great service, good bar classics for food. If youre lucky and get Rene as your bartender you wont be disappointed. Thanks for all the years of great service and making me feel at home when Im not. Support your local small business here!

The food isn t very good , especially for the price ! Service was great , but food nasty !

We absolutely love the food at this restaurant!! We have been staying in the adjoining hotel on and off for months during renovations at our house and the best part of our stay is this restaurant!!

Loud .. sports bar .. normally a quiet place ..only one server for the whole place ..food is slow to appear but good and hot when it appears..

Want to say the waitresses really go above and beyond in here. The food was delicious. Thanks for making our meals so enjoyable. The lifeguards

We never had a chance to sit down. Our reservations were given away to a walk-in group and after waiting for 45 min we left because we were all getting hungry

Clean, friendly and good variety on the menu. Vegetarian options: Taco salad, Spicy thai peanut bowl, crispy tofu bowl Food : 5/5 |

Had dinner at this restaurant, and I gotta say, the food was delicious, like, it hit the spot perfectly. And the place had a cozy atmosphere, just right for a casual meal.

Great staff and great drinks and bites

I was a regular customer for 20 years I had just returned from India so I was very tired I laid my head on the table for a minute The heavier blonde waitress started yelling at me and phoned the police I will never ever ever go to that restaurant as-long as she is employed and neither will any of my friends as they have had bad experiences with her as well and we are alll Indo Canadians

The burger was excellent and portions are decent sized. Prices are a bit high, but I still would go there again.

If youre ever wanting to experience a Karen diner in Victoria, look no further. Just head on down to the Lakes and make sure you ask for Barb.

Vegetarian options: Great Food

I had breakfast. The meal was good. Standard prices.

Good food, well priced and awesome customer service.

A hidden gem in Royal Oak! Must try, whether you stop in for a beer to check out the game or bring the whole family out for a delicious feast! Situated in the newly renovated and renamed Holiday Inn(formerly HoJo) situated 2 minutes walk from Commonwealth Center, the Lakes Lounge offers tasty pub fare options alongside fine dining, kids menu and delectable desserts. Choose a comfy booth in either the lounge (19+) or dining room. or grab a chair at the brand new MASSIVE wooden wrap-around bar that has to be seen to believe. Friendly staff make you feel at home and newly renovated everything gives a fancy feel without the fancy prices. Definitely worth a visit! Bring the kids... or dont!Either way youll enjoy your visit at the Lakes Lounge. Vegetarian options: Im not much of a vegetarian but pretty much anything there in the way of pasta or salads can come with tofu or meatless, the chefs are more than happy to accommodate your dietary needs Parking: Ample parking in their lot or on the street that runs along beside it. Safely lit, secure. Kid-friendliness: Its an open concept plan with two rooms, kids are welcome in the restaurant area, 19+ in the sports lounge Wheelchair accessibility: The entire restaurant is one level therefore completely accessible to all.

Great food.

Service was excellent! But I do not recommended the Braised Short ribs at $34.00!!! Sever said it was delicious and the meat just falls off the bone..Not true at all !!! So tough and the potatoes oven roasted tasted oily and deep fried, mushroom glaze way to salty..But on a good note the seafood chowder was delicious..

To expensive, potatoes are cheap .not enough fries and sandwich was minimal.

Very noisy due to the recent renovations. Too many flat hard surfaces to reflect the sound.

TERRIBLE NACHOS. My husband and I attended a 60th birthday party last Saturday. We ordered the nachos and there was barely any cheese. Only a bit of melted cheese on the top layer. Not a spec of cheese underneath. We asked the waitress if we could get more cheese and she said No. We could reorder but we would have to order extra cheese or we could get 25 percent off our bill. ( The table next to us was complaining about the lack of cheese on their nachos also ) The manager came out and said he could remake both tables a small plate of nachos and we both agreed. When the plates came out there was even less cheese. For $23.00 a plate you think you would get some melted cheese. The table next to us said they were going to refuse to pay. Two very disappointed tables of customers.

Very average

The new renovation looks great. Same great service. A solid neighbourhood pub.

Great food, excellent service.

Very good food and good service! Good prices too!! Dietary restrictions: Gluten and vegan options

Surprised and delighted by this unexpected gem thanks to Heather for the hospitality.

Decent price for the quality. Typical hotel restaurant.

Great place to hang out eat good food and meet the friendliest bunch of strangers around good selection of beers and great staff

A bit of a reno, looks good great bar area... food good, service great. Coldest pintscin town !

This place used to have cheap breakfast now its $20 for some basic breakfast stuff.. unfortunate

Love coming here for breakfast. Good food, good service and easy parking

Small diner type Cafe with a bar. Good brunch menu & had the lunch special, which was delicious. Hence the 5 star rating. Though its called The Lake, dont expect a lake view. There is a lake close by though.

Enjoyable meal & Great service. Was my first visit, definitely not my last. Thank you!

Great place for breakfast especially if you have a larger group

Some noise from the bar made conversations difficult in the restaurant.

Central location. Friendly Staff. Pricy food.

Great Benedict!

Amazing Mushroom Burger. Kyla is outstanding waitress. Very polite and attentive. Food

Dietary restrictions: Gluten free ! Food

What a gem of a restaurant! We were in the area and hungry and boy are we glad we stopped in. The food was impressive, we just had burgers and fries, but they were better than most places of this calibre. The food also came out quickly. My wifes cocktail was delicious too! But in the end what made it memorable was the great friendly service! The staff were smiles and visited our table frequently enough. Abby (Avery?) was lovely and made sure we has an enjoyable visit. Thank you

Nice and clean, renos look nice. Seems to open up more seating in the pub side than the restaurant side. Eggs Benny were great ~

Excellent place and great price! Food was delicious. I went with my wife and we really enjoyed it!

This place is a hidden gem just outside the main city. Ive been coming here for years, and the service/food has always been consistently satisfactory. The few times over the years when an order was wrong somehow, the staff very politely and efficiently fixed the issue. The Lakes Club and Avo-Toast are so good!!!

Group of 8 us dined at lunch 2 of the 4 I was closest to were disappointed with their meals, fish and chips, and a pasta bowl. I had the special and it was okay.

They gave me exactly what i wanted for breakfast even though it wasnt on the menu. Great service

Decent old school restaurant by Elk Lake in hotel. Good service. Had the fish tacos which I enjoyed

The breakfast was very good, but unfortunately our experience was somewhat tainted by a grumpy waitress, who seemed to be very irritated that we didnt have a reservation even though the restaurant was nearly empty.

Food was ok. Service would have been great, but they served the majority of our group just fine, for whatever reason the rest were served 35 minutes later.

Overpriced pints...which are actually not pints.... limited food selection...lack lustre atmosphere and service. It was just mediocre in my opinion..

Wings were good as were the yam fries. Very friendly staff and good service. They chek al the boxes for travellers. Located in the Holiday Inn. Wheelchair accessibility: No stairs entry with adequate bathroom.

Happy hour Jumbo wings...still $11.99 for 7 pigeon wings....embarrassing for the staff.

Ordered Blue Buck got a Blue moon, worst beef dip in history, horrible service!

Portion sizes of fries reduced significantly, wing recipe changed and no longer jumbo and crispy. Burgers always hit or miss. 50% of the time juicy and well prepared, the other half over done and dried out. I sent an email over a month ago, never heard a response. Figured I d post something here about the changes. Maybe they look here instead of emails? Used to enjoy ordering here.

Very good

We have been here once before and had a good experience. But I guess we hadn t met Barb yet. We sat down and when she finally acknowledged our existence, was quite rude. It definitely felt like we were inconveniencing her. We didn t get as far as ordering, as we decided our money was better spent elsewhere.

Great.

Canadian eggs Benny was delicious, the coffee was very strong and service was good

Went for breakfast...price for two...$35ish Positive: easy to find, lots of free parking, service was great, clean and spacious interior. Lots of option with breakfast menu. Food came out quickly. Neg: none Food for thought: opens earlier than most other restaurants in the area.

I went to this restaurant the other night as my family came in from out of town for a funeral. I did not realize we would have so many people want to come for dinner and did not make a reservation. When we got a table Ryan noticed we were greeting each other and there were more people than could fit at the table. He asked us if we would like the banquet room for more privacy. This was an amazing offer and we really appreciated it. Thanks to Ryan and his team we had a great night with amazing food.

Good great food, service and crew, with the reasonable price

Well its consistent medium good restaurant food. Its nothing special but it doesnt suck and super convenient.

Great food, this time we had bacon burgers for lunch and they were delicious

Great hot French Onion soup!! We were there for a ladies birthday luncheon & were all pleased. Friendly waitress

the staff was unfriendly and stand-offish or inattentive. food also made me sick.

Its pretty vanilla food wise, and theyre pretty consistent with the food quality

we waited for 15 minutes after seating to be watered. I mentioned it to our server who told me it was her 3d day, twice. I dont know why the maitre didnt get us water. The food was exquisite, but wait service is in progress, perhaps.

Appies were good. Service was good. Lounge is very quaint and comfortable. Vegetarian options: There is a variety of menu options Dietary restrictions: Somewhat accomodating. Depends on restrictions. Parking: Free parking Kid-friendliness: Yes in the restraurant. Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

All day happy hour Monday, good food, good service

Professional service.Hot food...Great food.Would certainly go again!

This is a regular spot for my friends and I and we always have great service until our last visit yesterday. Not only was the greeter rude and dismissive but our server (Barb) was exceptionally rude. Not only did it take an hour for breakfast but your attitude towards us, walking away while muttering under your breath was disgusting customer service. We would of walked out but we were trying to catch up since we havent seen each other in 2 months. By the end of our stay, we were very unhappy and did not want to even tip you, but we were the bigger person(s) and did so. Please learn to treat your customers with respect because next time you may get nothing.

Good food and great staff

While old reviews praise this place for value and great food, my experience was that it screamed of being a fine fine restaurant while failing at every aspect. The food was average. Portion size was tiny. A steak the size of a small potato, for $26 I ordered the salmon and got a medium filet, with two boiled carrots, 5 boiled asparagus, a small scoop or plain rice, and some mediocre salad / veggies dumped on top

Great Service and good food. Prices are good, especially with the 5 star food choices! Great stop after Butchart and Butterfly Gardens.

We both had 6 chicken wings for $18. They were good but not that good. We then both ordered the 1/4 chicken dinner which both were freezer burnt and tasted awful. The waitress was first class. The salad was not made fresh especially he day or two old cut cucumber. The asparagus tasted disgusting. This place needs someone who knows how to cook using fresh ingredients. Again the manager and the waitress were first class.

This place need a manager!

Walked in the door. Spoke with 2 staff members that made my family of 5 feel like we were putting them out! Not an inviting atmosphere or pleasant experience. After not feeling welcome, we turned around and walk right back out the front door. Was really looking forward to having lunch here for the first time, but unfortunately we ll never go back. Maybe try hiring some staff that are more welcoming.

Good food at reasonable prices. Not an overly large menu but enough to keep you coming back. Good precautions being taken for COVID. Pleasant staff during what appears to be a shortage.

Even more of what I expected. Good food and good service

Coldest beer in town...need I say more. Very low profile, you wont see anyone you know...love it

Wheelchair accessibility: Staff have accommodated our need to have a table instead of a booth.

My Husband and I love going here. We enjoy the food and services.

Good service,and great fresh made salsa.

Well portioned and prepared. The main staples of meals.

Fantastic staff and experience! We booked the banquet room for our small wedding ceremony in February. We stayed at the hotel after and had meals in The Lakes. Our food was delicious and the staff were lovely and accommodating. Highly recommend The Lakes!

The buttermilk chicken burger is absolutely delicious! The calm sweetness of the coleslaw, crispy chicken outside moist inside. Slaw is fresh. Pickles for savory bites. Well done!

The Eggs Benny are very tasty ! Nice smoked ham flavor ! & Good service !

So far has been really nice, reasonably priced, great service, great people, great food. I will eat the tuna tataki every day im here.

Great service .

poolside patio is great for drinks! i hope that it can stay open like that indefinitely.

The food is fabulous, the patio is warm, and the service is so friendly it s like family. Holly is a gem, and they make a great surprise cocktail!

Amazing food and service. Holly was wonderful, and makes some awesome surprise cocktails!

The restaurant manager took care of my disappointment with the hotel and made everything back to perfect on my staycation. I was impressed with her understanding, empathy and determination to make me, as her guest, happy. I will 100% be back and am recommending this restaurant for everyone to enjoy!

Awful manager, awful food Dont waste your time or energy booking with the hotel and expecting good service from the lakes. Super unorganized

Food is good, service is great!

My friend and I came to the hotel for a staycation with the kids. We ate at the restaurant morning, noon, and night. Food was good. Service was great! Especially the server/bartender Ryan! Blown away by his friendliness and love of his job. He also makes the best mojito! Will keep coming back!

Best place in town!!

30 years Ive been getting takeout from this place....its just good food.

Excellent vegan options.

I m a Skip driver and my first delivery one day last week was from The Lakes to Central Saanich. Very odd to deliver that far away. I hope Skip begins regular delivery on the Peninsula . Anyhow, the staff at The Lakes are very courteous. Thank you for the coffee. Hope to be back soon.

Great service. Good food ..good size servings .. good wi fi

Good food friendly staff.. decent prices beer on tap many TVs with sports on.. nice location at Howard Johnson Hotel on Elk Lake Dr.

Nice little hotel restaurant with a lounge attached. Food is good and staff is friendly. Great overall atmosphere. Closes too early weekends is the only complaint, I would like to sit and have a beer after getting in.

Very nice to be able to bring our dog with us when we had a snack at the pub.

We really enjoy both the lakes restaurant and the lounge. I would have given 5 , but the coffee blows chunks.

Ordered delivery via Uber Eats and was pleasantly surprised by the quality! Everything we ordered was great (and hot)! The Jumbo Chicken Wings were a real hit! Fair prices and fast 5/5

Local restaurant. A great breakfast spot. Friendly service, good size portions, traditional breakfast favourites

Such great service!!! Highly recommend this place!

Buns are always hard or stale or something, otherwise the food is great.

The food is very good and the service is excellent. Staff are always friendly. Prices are reasonable.

Happy hour all day Monday, great friendly staff , cozy atmosphere. Consistent in asking for covid vax ID......good for them! Love going there.

Great food and service Would recomend going there.

Good and friendly service. Good food, lots to choose from for the family.

Place was very busy, restaurant was full and room was filled with 50-70+ guests for a Christmas party. But this poor waitress on her first day was set to deal with all those guests. As a result spent less then I would have due to management not providing adequate service. Not the waitress fault, just subpar management planning.

Ordered from here via Skip the Dishes on New years eve. Food exceeded my expectations! Very tasty spicy chicken wrap and clubhouse sandwich.

Comfortable space, if youre not in the lounge, and decent food. Nothing ground-breaking, but portions are very 90s

Great food and service. Friendly staff. Be back soon

I go here pretty frequently, its got some great food. The staff are also really consistently great with their service.

The food was great, and so was the ambience. Staff were very approachable and friendly and very well put up with the hassles caused by three kids.

Nice. Good food and portion size commensurate wit the price. Bar and restaurant area. Staff very professional and friendly

Good food good service.

If there is a Zero, i would give it to this restaurant, the service is sooo bad, waiters are ignorant, needs so much work on staff to be polite

Friendly service good food :)

There has been many changes to this place. Although some I have not agreed with, especially particular staff members, there is one thing that has kept me coming back. That is the consistent great service from Renee. No matter how busy she always delivers great service with a smile! Cheers for the cold beers and great service!!

Solid Breakfast, very good Hollandaise sauce.

The food took quite awhile to come and wasnt so good when it arrived

The Lakes used to be one of my go to restaurants. However, I was really let down when my family and I decided to go for the Thanksgiving 3 course dinner. The advertisement stated it was an oven roasted turkey dinner, that was extremely misleading, as when we received our dinner the meat looked like ham, I mentioned this to our server and he even agreed that it looked like ham but assured us it was real turkey. The gravy was gelatinous and had the consistency of pudding. My family and I expressed our concerns to the server and he advised us we could could order new meals as he continued to joke him self how the turkey looked like ham. It was extremely disappointing meal, not only did we pay full price for our new meals, that we waited on for another 30 mins. But the server nor did the manager make any changes to our bill to rectify the issue, we were met by the manager that in so many words said she s not going to argue with us and that she comped our turkey dinners (which as explained above, they should be comped as they were not edible and was clearly not real turkey and we didn t eat them). It was a very unfortunate experience that the server and manager did nothing to make the experience better. We will not be returning.

I like what it is.

Good lunch spot. Excellent food and service

nicest staff in the world ..great food too...

Good food, friendly service. Nice and clean.

Delicious food very good attention

California benny was delicious

Sunday waffles, poached eggs, hashbrowns, black coffee.... lovely service too all at a reasonable price. Sundays couldnt be better.

Very happy withe food quality and service. Good selection of beer. Too bad they didnt have Twa Dogs beer as the Brewery is around the corner from them. Look forward to trying their stake dinner special.

Smittys reimagined

Great place for brunch. Food is consistently delicious.

Had some great eats here

Great food turkey clubhse beerbatteredfris

I have not been there for a few years, but then again they will not serve me as the retired cops do not like me that hang out there. Food was good, the evening bartender is not very bright. I imagine prices raised due to minimum wage. It seems every month the restaurant is looking for new staff.

Tasty food and friendly staff. From what we saw we might very well stay at the connected Howard Johnson hotel on our next visit to the island.

Busy place but service was excellent. Top notch breakfast, nice portions. Would come here again

Not much of an actual bar which is included in the name and advertisement of the establishment. The calamari I ordered was mediocre at best, very quick and polite staff make this review not terrible, if you want a quick eat from your hotel room this will do but dont come out of your way to come here. You can find better.

Always great food and great service

Staple for our company to have impromptu informal breakfast meetings. Friendly, comfortable and convenient. Try the Lakeside skillet.

Really really good garlic bread for the pasta.

The food is consistantly good.

Fabulous staff!

Its a good spot for breakfast and lunch.

Good food

Pub is too small, excessively loud patrons... barely warm wings on first order.... made right on the second order....

The Elk Lake Banquet Hall charges insane catering prices! We rented the lounge for a private event and were overcharged by almost double! We paid for the room rental knowing we would have a dedicated drinks server (which we didnt) and 1 platter of chicken wings, fresh veggies, fresh fruit and charcuterie. There were no drinks except water included (we had to remind them of this as it was not planned when we arrived). It was almost $1000!!! Road robbery! Buyer beware!

We rented the lounge for a private event and we were overcharged by almost double! We paid for a room rental with the understanding that we would have a dedicated beverage server (we did not) and 1 platter each of chicken wings, fresh veggies, fresh fruit and charcuterie. There were no beverages except water included (which we needed to remind them to provide as it was not set up when we arrived). It was almost $1000!!! Highway robbery! Buyer beware!

We enjoyed the time we were there. As usual.

Experienced staff great menu

Nice ambiance. Enjoyed the food. Will go again