88 replies to this topic

[Holden West]

Their chef must be The Amazing Kreskin because he predicted the wraps would be a sure favourite three years in advance.

[julienne]

I'd much rather have an old-style croissant and a flaky jukebox.

[zoomer]

...serving a full complement of coffees from around the world and an assortment of light fare, is the perfect sojourn to your day in Victoria.

The "perfect sojourn"?! Looks like someone borrowed the Condo Random Name Generator and put it to misuse.

Here's the liquor store recently unveiled.

[victorian fan]

Vintage Spirits, situated in the lobby of the Hotel Rialto, merchandises a wide variety of wine and spirits from regionally and internationally renowned vineyards and distilleries.

Our friendly and knowledgeable staff are here to assist you with a purchase for any occasion. As well, all of the fines wine and spirits offered in Mélanje next door are available for purchase in Vintage Spirits.

Mélanje Restaurant

Be prepared to mix it up when you walk through the doors of Mélanje. Located on the main floor, adjacent to the hotel lobby, Mélanje offers a unique blend of cuisine, drinks and company. Developed from the Creole word 'to mix', Mélanje captures the essence of flavor by combining Southwest, Italian and Creole culinary styles, which will tantalize the palette and reward the connoisseur.

Opening Fall 2007

[yodsaker]

Southwest, Italian and Creole!
Shite, I was hoping for Hungarian-Indonesian-Kurdish fusion
Why not do one thing well?

[gumgum]

Try the Hunindonkurd district. You know... near the hammock district.

[Rob Randall]

The ground floor is now uncovered so you should check it out--it looks great.

[G-Man]

I agree. My only issue with it is that it looks too good in comparison with the rest of the building, in particular the overhangs at roof level.

[victorian fan]

The hotel is about six weeks away from opening its 60 rooms, but today its Veneto lounge opens to the public, followed shortly by the opening of its Breve bistro and café.

http://www.timescolo...5907/story.html

Who will be the first to go?

[VicHockeyFan]

Veneto will go first, but not without a long fight...

http://venetodining.com/

The beer price looks OK, I'm not sure that many won't be confused by the menu first time, but it's not too bad either.

[julienne]

Go and look at the lobby interior and then take the staircase to the bottom. Lots of Island marble everywhere and the walls were painted by hand - fresco-like - and then polished. It's gorgeous.
And the dining room is a surprise. Again, very beautiful.
Can hardly wait to see the rooms when they're done.
I think their still waiting for outside signage - which will be an improvement - I hope.
But out of the starting gate, this place is really something, and really took me by surprise.

[Kikadee]

My co-workers and I booked a table at Veneto Lounge for last Friday evening. We were pleasantly surprised by the interior, which manages to be both cozy and modern. The wait-staff, bussers and hostess were all up-to-speed, and dealt really well with a large group, individual bills, staggered orders. The cocktail menu, which is the only one I looked at, had all the usuals and a few unique drinks that people tried: apple mojito was highly praised, as was the sazerac, and my black russian was A1, though it's pretty hard to screw that up.

The food .... hmmmmm. We were all sort of surprised that there were no salads on the menu. There were probably five women in our group who would have ordered a meal-sized salad, or soup and salad, or something with fresh greens and protein and bread, but this was a glaring omission. I mentioned it to the hostess when I left, and she agreed it was sort of odd and that she would bring it up with the powers-that-be.

I ended up ordering the "Beef" tapas: veal ravioli with mushrooms, beef short rib with polenta, and beef rouladen with lobster filling. These were presented in three small square porcelain dishes (5" x 5") on a long wooden tray, which is beautiful to look at, but damn, completely aggravating to deal with. It was really hard to cut things into bite-sized pieces in such tiny high-sided dishes; I had to use the tippy-tip of the knife and required the skills of a brain surgeon. I couldn't spin the tray to get a better angle because it was so long. So that's another minor quibble.

But the food was tasty, but it would have been much better if had arrived in a warmer state. The veal ravioli was divine: I could have eaten an entire plateful. The rest was good, and I liked it fine. My table-neighbours ordered the blue crab spring rolls, which sound delish, but they reported the taste as very underwhelming.

So, atmosphere, service, drinks, great.
Food temperature, food presentation, no salads, not so great, but could be easily amended.
Food itself, 7 out of 10 for quality, quantity, value-for-money.

I'd visit again if asked, but I think, personally, I prefer Ferris' Upstairs Lounge for drinks and nibblies, and the Tapas Bar in Trounce Alley, or any Japanese restaurant, for small-plates.

[Admin: Should this be a new thread in the restaurant/lounge section?]

[G-Man]

I think I may copy it into a post on the Veneto Lounge.

[Holden West]

This is pretty much done except for some touchups to the terra cotta. The planters outside give it a nice finish.

I saw a Vibrant Victoria-looking fellow taking photos of the building so I'm thinking there may be some updated pics here soon (I hope).

[Nparker]

This thread should probably be re-named the Rialto. The ground floor looks done, but have all the rooms been renovated yet? I must say based on what has been completed so far, the old Prince George Hotel (as it was originally named) has never looked better. The building will be 100 years old in 2011 so I hope they will have some sort of anniversay celebration as the date draws closer.

[G-Man]

I agree it is amazing!

[Holden West]

Thanks to glenalan54 at Flickr:

[VicDuck]

Looks good.

[D.L.]

Nice.

[VicHockeyFan]

Funny, I thought we had a hotel thread somewhere around here, but I can't find it.

Anyway, while doing a little surfing this morning, I noticed that the Hotel Rialto is closed (for room renovations, they say) from January 1st until June 1st this year. The food service areas and liquor store are open.

That seems awful strange. Anyone know what's up?