TLDR I recommend the lamb burger with potatoes Tourist here. The patty was rather crumbly, which I wasn't sure if I liked, but it still had a ton of flavor, especially alongside the pickles and everything. Potatoes were outrageously good. They were JUST on the verge of burning, so they were smoky without being overwhelming. And DANG this place knows how to season! The salad was kinda eh, honestly. Dressing was pretty generic. If you're looking for flavor, get more potatoes instead of half/half. Got the zucchini brownie out of curiosity. It was fine, but odd. I thought maybe they would just use the zucchini as a binder, but no - there were still some small chunks spread throughout. Didn't really like that, but the brownie was still smooth and pretty good. Interior is quaint, and waitress was very polite. read more

Zanzibar - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Lexi is an amazing server. She is friendly, quick to understand what one is looking for. She has a good sense of humor as well. On food, their tapenades is a must try. Delicious olives in olive oil, it comes with bread. I tried their fresh grilled fish. It happened to be salmon on that day, grilled and skin was amazingly crispy. The vegetables that came with it were DELICIOUS. For dessert, i had Crème brûlée. The consistency and taste was good, but the middle was cold, which surprised me. Ambience was nice... made me feel that i am away from normal business of life, as i was on vacation. Music played in background was easy instrumental. It was a Wednesday abd i was surprised to see busy they were... for a good reason. Thank you Lexi for an awesome service. read more

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Found this spot on our way to Brentwood Bay, and loved it! Great brunch spot, very friendly staff. We were seated almost right away even though they were super busy. The food was great, the eggs Benny with the mushroom pesto pate was creamy and delicious. Love the eclectic cabin atmosphere, good for conversations. read more

We spent the morning at the Beauchard Gardens. They are amazing and one of the highlights of the island. For lunch we found on the internet a highly recommend restaurant that sounded like fun. Zanzibar Café is located about 15 minutes away from the Gardens. We were able to get a table at one of the outdoor seating areas. The restaurant has a bit of a Middle Eastern menu. My wife had a large mulligatawny soup, I had the barbequed chicken with seasoned pita bread. Overall, the meal was outstanding. Wonderfully flavored. Sadly the restaurant was closed on Tuesday evenings or we would have driven back for dinner. It was one of the fun best meals we had during our stay. Highly recommended. read more

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Excellent service, great food and love the ambiance... always return when travel to the Island!

Quaint, rustic, casual, homey, and comfortable Was there for breakfast and it was awesome! A lot of choice with original, creative offerings with an emphasis on healthy ingredients. I had the British breakfast that was massive and delicious. You even get a proper porcelain teacup for your tea and they serve homemade jam. I'd like to go back and try out lunch and dinner read more

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Went during covid-era and still found the place to be very charming. We sat on the patio and it was a great spot. Staff were also very nice and attentive. Food was pretty mediocre. The sandwich was good, but the fallafel platter was pretty disappointing and very overpriced! Things were served on paper plates which is understandable due to the times but really cheapens the bland food even more. I would recommend this place just for drinks and a nice spot to hang out, but skip the food. read more

Food tastes great. Service is pathetic! Been going here for years and the food has always been great but, each time we've gone in the past year the service has just gotten worse. Lunch by far worse than dinner. You get seated and then you wait 10 minutes to have your drink order taken. You wait another 10 minutes for your drinks to show up. You wait another 5-10 minutes for your food order to be taken. I don't know what the kitchen is doing because what we order shouldn't be taking 30-40 minutes to prepare lunch dishes. When you get your food, make sure you know what should be there because if they missed one of the prime ingredients (prawn & avocado salad missing the avocado) you better mention it while the food runner is there or you'll be waiting another 10 minutes for your server to swing by and do a quality check. Once you're finished eating your dirty plates sit there for another 10 minutes. By this time you're just so annoyed at all the waiting that you don't want to have dessert or a coffee. They obviously have staff because you can see all the support people running about but NONE of them are doing any support like refilling water, clearing dishes, etc. The sole server they seem to only ever have on shift, you never see. The only time they appear to be quick is when you say you want to pay your bill and leave, then they seem to get focused enough to bring it over quickly. To top it off the default tip amounts start at 18%! WTF!? For crappy service like that they expect people to default to 18%? If you go here for a meal, keep in mind that you can put in a different tip amount by hitting option 4. I sure did. Won't be coming back for a long time. read more

Nice little place for breakfast near our accommodations. *dear yelp, we don't have time for long reviews, we just want to know if we'll get food poisoning or not. read more

Zanzibar - ZanzaBenny $14.50 - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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about our 5th visit here but about a year since our last outing. outside seating at the back, comfortable shady table for two. the puréed seafood soup was very tasty although I would have preferred to see some of the seafood rather than just a purée. my partner enjoyed her halibut which I would guess at 6 ounces. slightly opaque and underdone. my duck breast was the worst I've had anywhere in some time. the veg was alienate and enjoyable but the duck was quite over done with no pinkness whatsoever. hence the flavour was similar to eating bland paper. it is my belief that any competent chef takes great care not to over cook duck breast so I hope this was an anomaly read more

Lunch today. Not great. $12 for a bowl of soup that was sub-par. The breakfast wrap was tasteless. Service was fine. We won't be back.

My mother loves Zanzibar, so we went there on Dec 23rd for dinner. The restaurant was not too busy at all, as there had been some snowy weather the previous day. We ordered the soup of the day which was a shrimp/scallop/asparagus bisque as an appy, and two of us had the green curry, one had the veggie burger. After about 20 minutes I got up and walked to the front counter to check on our soup. The server said "it should be right up" and then it appeared. I'm figuring it was likely forgotten. I had a couple spoon fulls and asked what my mother thought of her soup. "Very bland" was her reply, which I was glad to hear as I thought the exact same thing. I didn't get any of the flavour that was described by the server. When the server did pick up the bowls. I mentioned that a couple small pieces of seafood on top would have added a bit of texture and maybe brought the seafood flavours forward. She said "well it IS a bisque" and that was that. The meal showed up as we were still finishing our soup. I had the curry, and again, was surprised by the lack of flavour. To be sure it wasn't just me I let my mother try some and she agreed. It too was quite bland. She had the veggie burger and I asked her how it was. She said "mushy". So overall quite a disappointing meal. My mother was truly surprised as this is one of her go to places. She was looking for the owner to have a word but he wasn't around that evening. I'm hoping for my mother's sake it was just an off night. read more

A great find! Home cooked breakfasts in a lovely setting! We found this place on our way to Butchart gardens and were glad to be off the beaten tourist path. My breakfast came with a "cup of fruit" which was actually a teacup of fruit smoothie which I enjoyed! read more

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Situated on the edge of the village, in a beautiful spot surrounded by gardens, Zanzibar is conveniently located en route to the ferries, Butchart Gardens and the Airport. Chef Mohamed Dehairi has found the ideal location to continue to serve locals and visitors the superb fare that made Quattro Stagione an institution on the Peninsula. Zanzibar preserves the taste and value clients have come to expect, with some refreshing changes and seasonal lunch and dinner menus. There were 6 of us there for lunch and we all had something different and each one was perfection. Will we go back there again? You bet your boots and by the way our server Rowen was top notch . read more

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Home style cooking in a beautiful old setting. This is a favourite of ours for breakfast.

We walked up from the marina and i must say it was worth every step. We had the Classic Eggs Benedict and the West Coast Eggs Benedict, with Salmon, capers and red onion. The eggs were perfectly done and the flavors were amazing. We finished the meal with a house-made Blueberry-Coconut muffin that was warm and worth every calorie. Many other items on the menu looked great as well. We'll be back! read more

Zanzibar - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Unpretentious place with super friendly service. Yummy. Baked brie, fresh clams and butternut squash ravioli made a very pleasant meal. Added a local Meritage and finished off with espresso. (Work) Life is good. read more

This was THE best place I found for Lunch. Very close from Butchart Garden. We were vegetarians & their Red pepper Pasta was delicious & they added so many Cashews. Vegetarian Panini was tasty. Black Bean Burger was delicious with soup of the day which was Red pepper tomato soup. Falafel Was ok, lacked spices but the Salad that came with was very fresh. Will highly recommend this place. Service was excellent too read more

Fabulous food!! Had the Panini (1/2 eaten prior to the photo) and the lamb burger with salad (with gluten free bun). Absolutely delicious!!! Did take out - great service! COVID sensitive! Phone ahead as they were open today (Sunday)! read more

Zanzibar - Delicious panini! - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Great little Cafe in a fun setting. Looks like a cabin in the woods. Great variety of food and super friendly service. The cream of asparagus soup was on point! read more

Very cosy and charming place. We went for dinner, the menu was limited but options were great. Food was absolutely amazing for a very good price. The cocktail are good, especially the aviator. We had the roasted parsnip, the scallops with red peppers pasta and the bison ribs. Your waitress was nice, we came at closing time but they let us in. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. read more

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Sadly one of the worst meals we've ever had at one of favourite restaurants. During covid, yes I can understand paper plated food and individual packets of ketchup. I ordered the breakfast wrap which sounded great with its ingredients. It arrived, as a very ordinary looking wrap with a splotch of salsa. The colours were all the same: white/ tan. Worse, it had no real taste. Presentation 1/10. Taste 3/10. My husband had an omelette with his favourite fillings. It too was bland and uninteresting. It was plated with a sprinkle of pea shoot, and the potatoes that were the side seemed to be a half serving. Frankly speaking restaurant meals during covid have really been poor in quality but service seems fine. Lack of presentation using paper plates- Zanzibar used to include toast with their omelette or a bit of fresh fruit. Dont just stick food on a plate and dont think we dont notice presentation. read more

Pros: - Lovely interior, all made of woods, lights and cute chairs. - The waiter was efficient and pleasant. I little bit too much (he asked us 5 or 6 times if everything was okay) but that was no bother. Cons: - I took a Chai Tea Latte that was more latte than chai. Maybe I am used to the taste of Chai tea latte in the US, but I did not taste that usual rush of spices in this one. In my opinion, it tasted like sugary milk. - My husband chose the Chicken Panini and it was not good. The chicken was dry, made with so many onions, and the bread was not as good as other Foccacia breads we have tried. - Similarly, I went for the La Vita e Bella and there was too many onions among the grilled vegetable. Moreover, they added way too much herbs (probably Herbs of Provence) in the sauce. - I chose the Crème Brûlée for desert and I was also disappointed. The bottom was very cold and the top was not caramelized. The sugar had not harden, and was more chewy than crispy. read more

Quaint country diner pleasant staff - food is fresh with good variety. Hope return soon

This is a great destination for brunch on a weekend. The building is very funky, and the seating comfortable and homey. The prices are very reasonable. read more

Good service, great food, "rustic" atmosphere. Really surprising there aren't more reviews for this place. Had the English breakfast platter, and my s/o had something with poached eggs and vegetables. Both dishes were great, she said the poached egg was exactly the right consistency. Drip coffee was kinda bland but the cappuccino was very good. read more

Zanzibar - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

- charming atmosphere, cozy and funky at once -- I was initially a little off-put, but the charm just poured off of this place - amazing menu with lots of selection for persons with dietary limitations (I have none, but guests of mine did) - terrific hosts and knowledgeable staff - our questions were answered brilliantly...customer service in this venue is top notch - a bit of a hike from town, but well worth it - take a designated driver and enjoy your glass of wine - odd bathroom location is my only negative observation...but they're working well with what they've got there, so I won't complain read more

My 3 D's are decent food, decent service and decent price :) This little spot is truly a local gem. The menu offers a very good selection with options for those who are vegan/vegetarian & gluten free. Breakfast is served late which is also nice. We sat outside in the arbor area. It was a lovely atmosphere for chatting and the day was beautiful so sitting outside was pleasant. We were away from the parking lot noise. Our waitress was prompt and courteous. One guest ordered a vegan dish that arrived with meat. Quickly the dish was replaced and we received a discount on our bill (unexpected surprise). Will certainly return for brunch and to explore the dinner menu. This cafe supports local produce. read more

Zanzibar - CINNAMON RAISIN FRENCH TOAST -Fruit compote, maple syrup, real whipped cream with a side of bacon added - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Def would not return. Got the breakfast platter here I forgot the exact name but the potatoes weren't even crispy, no choice of bread / toast that comes with it, turkey sausages were super soft when we asked them to be cooked crispy. I ordered grapefruit juice and it tasted like bottled juice and not fresh. Food was a huge disappointment. Service was decent however, hostess was not friendly. The old lady could smile more. I am not sure how this place has 4 stars ........ I would not recommend at all. Just make your own breakfast at home and you won't be disappointed. read more

I can't imagine there is a better restaurant anywhere near here. The food was complex, cosmopolitan, excellent and interesting. Our server couldn't have been more attentive or helpful in getting the kitchen to prepare something special for our children (her idea, not ours). Or more complex, cosmopolitan, excellent and interesting (tall, slender, red hair, strong features). But I digress. Some really really great food. Restaurant is in a quiet property in a country road. An unexpected pleasure. read more

Zanzibar is an interesting place with an eclectic menu that may be a bit too ambitious for the chef. One of our fish dishes was excellent and one was poorly executed and dry. Hopefully the off dish was unusual. read more

I usually love places I find here on Yelp but I stopped at Zanzibar for brunch and I can't say I'd recommend this place to anyone. The menu ranged from Indian to Mediterranean to continental breakfast. I'll just leave a quick break down of what was good and what wasn't. Hummus and pita: the best thing we ordered. Was delicious. French toast: decent but wouldn't order again. Chicken panini sandwich: not good, wasn't generous with the amount of chicken. Bread wasn't good quality, a bit stale. Breakfast platter: the potatoes were over-cooked and the English muffin was bad. The eggs, however, were great with very orange yolks. Cinnamon roll: horrible and very dry. It came with butter on the side, which I've never seen before, but that helped with the dryness. read more

We were headed back from Victoria to take the ferry from Swartz Bay back to Vancouver and we decided we wanted to check out the Butchart Gardens and the Butterfly Gardens. We were blown away at how expensive the Butchart Gardens were, so we skipped that and instead enjoyed the butterflies. When we were done, we were ready for lunch and asked for a recommendation for someplace between the Butterfly Gardens and the ferry. The nice girl at the counter immediately directed us to Zanzibar. Zanzibar was wholly unexpected, but in a good way. We came there not expecting much, but the menu had lots of great, tasty-sounding options and was reasonably priced (for Victoria, anyway). And, best of all, the actual food we ordered tasted great. If you are heading to the ferries or just find yourself in the area, this place is worth the detour. read more

It was our first time visiting and were so pleased. We ordered the smoked salmon Benny and the classic breakfast. You could tell the kitchen staff really cared by the attention to detail and excellent garnishing. All this for a good price. Highly recommended. read more

Zanzibar - Salmon Benny - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Wonderful evening, sophisticated menu, excellent food .... and superb service (especially , if Jennifer is your waitress). There was a bit of a miscommunication among our friends, so we arrived 1/2 an hour earlier than we were supposed to. Jennifer didn't bat an eye, just sat us down and served drinks, appetizers and bread as if there was no problem whatsoever. Eventually we were a party of 10 and everybody got their food sizzling hot, and everybody was happy with their choice. read more

We were a little unsure about having breakfast at a place called Zanzibar....but it was fantastic. The casual atmosphere was relaxing. Their entrees with poached eggs were perfectly cooked. All too often, the simple things are overlooked, but not here. We will definitely return! read more

Zanzibar - Poached eggs on vegetables (half eaten) - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

I would have given Zanzibar 4 stars if the bread was better, tasted like a loaf of olive bread from a grocery store. The soups were excellent, salad was really good but the salmon was dry. The halibut special was amazing, moist with a nice jus. read more

Zanzibar - Diners Near Me - Brentwood Bay, British Columbia

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Such a quaint and relaxing atmosphere. Dog friendly (outside). Food was amazing! I had the traditional Eggs Benedict and my husband had the Benedict with salmon and capers. Both were exceptional. We were here on a boat and walked Up from the marina. Highly recommend . read more

We went for lunch and it was awesome, such an unusual chowder and so tasty (red seal chef recommendation). The curry/mango pasta was to die for, the server was friendly and attentive, highly recommend Zanzibar.....sitting in this restaurant is warm and natural. read more

Always excellent. Consistent quality, very lovely staff. Can't go wrong. We love Zanzibar and are frequently happy customers! read more