Categorized | LOUNGES, SEAFOOD

Ferris Oyster Bar & Grill

Living in the oceanside city of Victoria, there isn’t a shortage of places to go eat fresh oysters.

Since I heard that Ferris Oyster Bar & Grill served some of the best oysters in town, I thought I should go check it out.

Ferris Oyster Bar & Grill is actually a restaurant and a lounge, with the lounge being upstairs and the restaurant downstairs. They each have different menus, but you can get oysters in both places.

My friend Mark and I decided we would try out the upstairs lounge first.

Once upstairs, we went straight for the leather couches at the far end of the lounge. There are a couple of these cozy spots to sit by the windows and since we weren’t in for a big sit down meal, I thought they would be fine to eat at.

Inside Ferris'

The lounge has an artsy feel to it, with wood floors, brick walls, and a high ceiling with thick wooden beams across it.

The music playing in the background was… well, I’m not quite sure exactly. I would say it was kind of folksy, a bit alternative, and there was also some mellow and laid back stuff which seemed to suit the place.

When we first sat down, our server came over with a rather large drink menu. With so many cocktails to choose from, we had to ask for suggestions.

Mark decided on one of the featured drinks named “Spicy, Sweet & Smokey”, and I went for the popular “Lavender Sidecar” ($8).

Both were good drinks, but to be honest, we were more interested in the food as we were both pretty hungry.

Roasted Garlic Bulb

To start, I ordered the “Whole Roasted Garlic Bulb” ($7). Now in case you didn’t know, I’m a HUGE garlic fan. In fact, I love it so much that I think it should be it’s own food group!

Because I’m such a garlic lover, I often order dishes that have it in it. In this case, it was the main event so I was pretty excited to try it.

Well, all I can say is wow! It was amazing! Definitely one of the better garlic dishes I’ve ever had.

Mark also had a great appetizer. He ordered the “Smoked Albacore Tuna” ($12).

Mark loves tuna almost as much as I love garlic. He often orders it so for him to say this appetizer was excellent is quite the compliment.

Smoked Albacore Tuna

After a great first round of food, I was dying to taste their oysters. Well, actually, to be honest, maybe more like really curious.

Here’s the thing. I haven’t tried a lot of oysters and the ones I have tried I haven’t liked much.

I am really trying to develop a taste for these famous “aphrodisiacs”, so I figure I just have to keep trying them.

Ferris Oyster Bar & Grill offers their “Baked Oysters” ($3 each, or $16 for one of each).

I ordered one of each, for a total of six, thinking that at least one of them would excite my taste buds.

When I was served my oysters, they looked really impressive. They all looked tasty, and most of them looked less like oysters, and more like mini casseroles or something.

I have to say that I have never seen oysters done up this way, and I have since heard many oyster lovers rave over the way Ferris Oyster Bar serves them.

Baked Oysters

I tried every one of them, but unfortunately my taste buds still weren’t cooperating with me when it came to the actual oyster.

I will say that I give the chef kudos for the presentation of the baked oysters though, even if I don’t yet have a taste for them.

I will just have to keep trying!

Overall I have to say my first experience at Ferris Oyster Bar was a good one.

I really like the atmosphere for having drinks and it was very comfy and cozy hanging out on the leather couch.

There are a lot of great looking appetizers on the menu at Ferris Oyster Bar & Grill, and I am looking forward to my next visit when I can try more of them.

IN A NUTSHELL…

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