If you can get in -- tables reserved for later will be fastidiously protected by staff, even with two hours leeway -- and if you are willing to put up with hit-and-miss service, Vis-a-Vis is a nice Parisien experience in Oak Bay. Being one of...the only sit-down restaurants here that's not a pub, it might just be taking its clientele for granted.
Menu is largely unchanged over the past few years (or longer). The steak frites is a safe choice, usually, except that your truffle fries are most likely going to be over-done and stale (but plentiful!), and your steak may or may not be done to your liking. Your salad is likely to be majorly under-dressed, unless you shell out big coin for the avocado & shrimp behemoth that is best shared by two (or three). While baguette feature prominently as part of the bar decor, no bread is offered to tables -- and soup orders often require begging for a little bread as a side (and if your server takes the bread to another table by accident, don't expect a polite "oops" when you ask for bread for the third time -- you'll instead be told that you already got your bread!).
Great wine list, and one of the best stocked bars in the area for a restaurant this size. If you can get your bartender or server past the initial setting of "slightly surly", you might even get them to suggest something creative.
Every time I go to Vis-a-Vis I want it to be good, or great. Instead, every time, it's okay or passable. A menu switch up here and there, a more attentive kitchen, and more friendly and accommodating service would all help make this place better.
Tables are close together, just like Paris. Bar seats offer an alternative, with full menu, just like Paris. Patio seats are open all year, also just like Paris. But when your last bite is complete, you'll be ushered through the presentation of the bill and payment machine so that you can be ousted from your seat, immediately. Decidedly not like Paris.More