35 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

I spoke with Bill today, the owner of Rumrunners, and he told me that he sold his interest in GLO quite a while ago.

[ChrisA]

^ I agree, the Royal Oak restaurant is very well run...and their deck in the summer is delightful.

The deck is nice. The food is dreck. Go to Fireside just across the street instead. The food not great but it's good---dramatically better than Med Grill---and they have two decent patios.

[AllseeingEye]

That would be Bill Singer if I remember correctly; long time Victoria bar hoppers will recall Bill as the head bartender back in the early 80's at the Snug in the old Oak Bay Beach hotel. Nice guy with a facinating background......

[mik]

Paul Simpson is the owner of the Med Grill in Royal Oak and Glo Euro Pub.

[Nparker]

The deck is nice. The food is dreck...

Well that's YOUR opinion. While the food may not make the Michelin Guide's Best of the West, it is certainly NOT dreck and compared to many places that call themselves "gourmet" in this town, it is outstanding.

[ChrisA]

RAGE

You should disclose if you have a financial or other interest in Med Grill. If not, obviously restaurant reviews are opinions: if you can't handle opinions which differ from yours, perhaps you ought not read restaurant reviews.

[Greg]

Baro - were you wearing regular clothes or bike gear? Wouldn't be surprised if they ignored clients who didn't look the way they wanted. My feeling on the place is that is pretentious and pretty poor on the food side of thing.

I'm a fan of Glo. We eat there several times a summer, always arriving by bicycle. The food is decent, and it is one of the largest and sunniest outdoor patios around. Service is a bit hit and miss to be fair, but when I'm sitting outside on a sunny patio at a place with a good beer list I'm less bothered by slower service.

And while I normally hate the whole DJ thing, I kind of like it here. Seems to match the place. I mean it is called Glo Europub after all.

[Baro]

Crappy service is a bit euro I'll admit, but DJ?

[Greg]

Crappy service is a bit euro I'll admit, but DJ?

Not the sheer existence of the DJ, rather the music he is choosing to play. At least it reminds me of some of the places I used to have a beer while sitting on a sunny patio.

[Mike K.]

Crappy service is a bit euro...

I don't get it.

[Baro]

Many places in Europe have an (often deserved) stereotype of poor service, at least from a north american perspective.

[Bob Fugger]

Rumour has it that Glo is in currently in receivership. My understanding is that they supposedly owed $90k in HST to Canada Revenue Agency, due to some kind of "accounting anomaly." Glo managed to come up with $50k right away; however, one week after that payment, CRA called them on the rest of it. Having failed to pony up the dough, they are now in receivership.

Or such is my understanding. Not sure if they are operating or not, atm.

[VicHockeyFan]

I heard there was some difficulty too.

[Mike K.]

I can confirm their doors are still open.

[spanky123]

Do they not have the same owners as Med Grill?

[Bob Fugger]

Do they not have the same owners as Med Grill?

Kinda. It's complicated...