Wow my third option was outstanding!!!! Forgot Friday nights and no reservations 🤯 Well this is a real treat for a dinner We started with a grilled octopus with potatoes, bacon in a spicy paprika sauce and then ordered a Friday night special pizza red...tomato sauce, spinach, artichoke hearts and fresh ricotta all finished with a bottle of Sono Montenidoli Vernaccia De San Gimignano….stunning dry bold white wineMore

It's been a long time since my last visit, not because of the pandemic but because the previous time I was last dejected. The great: I was so impressed by the front line staff. Everyone super friendly and attentive, and gave us the right amount...of time and space. I hope this crew is getting star remuneration! Can't say enough about them, especially in this tight labour market where I have observed indifference with folks in the service industry. Also delighted to see a full house - yes, every table full on a Tuesday night. Hope this will refill what has been a brutal run for restaurants. The good: the food remains (compared to last time), good. Portion sizes nice, flavors good, nothing bad to say at all. My starter, tuna, was a little on the dry side. However, Halibut was perfectly cooked. You'll see the kitchen uses the same garnish (baby pea shoots) on both dishes. For a quite high-end restaurant, I'm sorry to say that that's a bit 'uncreative' and a real cost cutting measure (I acknowledge inflation pressure here). Overall, it was a much better experience than last time but still would not come back (came because someone else injured group wanted to try). I would recommend trying yourself.More

Still good service from friendly staff and pizzas decent but dinner menu mains, appetizers and deserts are incredibly overpriced for their size, lacklustre taste and presentation. Very disappointing and quite a change. Have been coming to Zambris for decades but after a second disappointing meal...here where for example you are paying over $40 for a small chunk of meat tossed on a plate with a few potatoes dropped beside then I'd suggest there are several better places nearby to spend your money, such as Paggliaccis, Cafe Brio or Brasserie Lecole. The panna cotta was tasty but at $10 for a portion slightly bigger than a toonie no thank you. Our three appetizers all looked as if they had been thrown down in a fast food kitchen. A very decent bottle of wine at $75 but the entire bill was over $400 for 3 and it should have been a memorable meal but it was not. I can't see myself coming back for dinner havin gbeen burnt twice now.More

We had been promised on the phone that a room was reserved for us. To our surprise, when we arrived, the room had been given to another group, which was quite disappointing. The acoustics of the place is unbearable: we had to scream to make...ourselves heard, which makes the experience quite unpleasant. Also, without notice, the waitress came to our table to tell us that it was reserved at 8:00 so we didn't have much time to order for desert. We said that this was unacceptable and the manager came to talk to us and granted us permission to stay for dessert, but we felt as if we had to rush. What was supposed to be a pleasant, relaxing evening with friends turned out to be a bit stressful. Luckily the food was good, but there are plenty of restaurants in Victoria that serve excellent food. I would recommend going somewhere else.More

Not happy that we need to pay for bread ($5) whereas all Italian restaurants in downtown Victoria (Terrazo, Brio, Covo) offers complimentary bread with tapenade, butter or olive oil/vinagrette. If you want olive oil and vinagrette at Zambris, it is an additional $4. Total of...$10 right of the bat for something that everywhere else is complimentary. This sets a negative mood to the whole evening, when you also consider that the list of appetizers is limited to: bread, olive oil, olives, ceasar salad, and burrata (served with seasonal vegetables, instead of prosciutto, like it is normally serve in Italian resraurants). Zambri used to be one of the best restaurants in town with true appetizers list but in recent years, it has significantly lost at all levels, in terms of style as well as the quality of food served.More

We had our wedding reception dinner here and it did not disappoint. Authentic Italian cuisine was outstanding (especially the mushrooms and polenta). Service was great. Wines were a nice change from the everyday. All our guests had a great time.

We visited this Italian restaurant in July and found the food to be quite tasty and plentiful. Our favourites include the Lasagna, Tagliatelle and Orecchiette. While it may not be Victoria's best Italian restaurant (people prefer Il Terrazo), it does occupy a nice location and...offers a comfortable atmosphere. The Cesare salad is the perfect size for two people to share and the croutons melt in your mouth. Pizza lovers will enjoy the many options, along with the capability to add items. While the menu is a bit confusing, it does list one beer in a bottle, and you have to guess that the other options are actually on draught. You can get wine by the bottle (over priced, as you'd expect) or by the glass. There should be more options in the $28-35 range. They do not offer half-litre flasks, which many other Victoria restaurants now do. If you wish to have bread and oil/vinegar, you're looking at around a 9.00 charge (Terrazo and Il Covo include it at no extra charge). All in all, it's a good restaurant. And we'd like to attend more often if they'd make some necessary changes. Two thumbs up for offering bookings through Open Table.More

The food was very good and the service was excellent. We had the Burrata appetizer and pasta dishes. Nice choice of wine.

Sadly, it looks like Zambri's is one of many prioritizing the COVID-inspired trend toward take out, to the detriment of those who want the whole dine in experience. Three of us made a reservation for 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night. The app made it...very clear that we were only entitled to the table for an hour and 45 minutes. Given that we planned to see a movie right across the street at 8:10 p.m. we figured this was not an issue. We ordered fairly promptly, received our appetizers in a reasonable time frame, and then .... sat. And sat. We enjoyed ourselves with good conversation and a second glass of wine ... but by 7:45 p.m. we were still waiting for our main courses and started to get anxious. Once we started watching, it became immediately obvious that there was a constant stream of people picking up take out orders. The kitchen was cranking out food incredibly quickly ... just not ours. Unfortunately we have recently had this experience at two other restaurants (not in Victoria) that style themselves as "high end dining experiences" with high end prices to match. It seems that the COVID-inspired trend toward take out isn't slowing. Many restaurants have found it to be more lucrative than dine-in experiences ... and sadly, Zambri's prioritized the easy buck over us last night. The food was good (not excellent); the music far too bass heavy for a restaurant; the atrium lacking in ambience; the service attentive but either oblivious to or unconcerned by our extended wait. As a result, we won't make it a priority to try our luck again any time soon. Lots of other better restaurants in Victoria who place more value on those who dine in.More

When we visited Zambri's we were seated immediately. Good so for. We were right across from the bar, but drinks were slow to come. Food arrived within a reasonable time....but "WOW" the portions were tiny for the amount they charged! My husband said his drink,...a Caesar, was unpleasantly spicy...and overpriced. Our server was conspicuously absent for a good deal of time, so the service was very slow. To top it all off the acoustics in the place trapped sound and amplified it to the point were we had to shout across the table to be heard. I won't be recommending this restaurant to anyone!More

Great food. A menu that changes. Decent wine selection. Attentive staff. A wonderful dining experience.

The food and wine here are very good. Downside was it took almost an hour before we got our appetizer and longer to get our food so we were sipping wine for an hour before we ate and didn’t have much wine with food. The...waitress seemed overworked. Also we were seated very close to the path of wait staff - less than optimal social distancing. If the food weren’t delicious I’d recommend against this place. Maybe go on a less busy time.More