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Fiamo Italian Kitchen
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Wi-Fi:
- Free
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Romantic
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for Fiamo Italian Kitchen
14 reviews in English
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Review from Tristan R.
Vancouver, BC
3/25/2012
Goddamn, goddamn!
We rolled into Fiamo's and I wasn't sure what to expect. I've been past it lots when I've been to Lucky Bar but this was my first time stopping in. I'm glad we did. We wanted something nice, intimate and tasty. The price was totally fair and the food amazing.
We started with the antipasti platter which was delicious and followed by house bread with oil and balsamic vinegar. The white wine we ordered was delicious and crisp and was nicely presented.
I had the penne in the red seafood sauce. It was so wonderful it was like devouring my own yummy tidal pool with pasta. Normally I can be iffy on seafood, but this place was right on the harbour and everyone else's food looked good so I'm glad I took the chance.
Throughout the meal our server was sweet, attentive and had her eye on us from afar and wasn't intrusive in any way, but seemed to know when to appear at our elbow. Well done, miss. You were tops!
Cheesecake for dessert. It was fluffy and just a little firm on top. It was so good I had tears of pleasure welling up in my eyeballs. The espresso rounded it off nicely, though it did wake me up enough I wanted to go swimming in the hotel pool after dinner. I did, but I totally waited at least 30 minutes. A meal THAT good you do NOT want to accidentally vomit up. If I did, I might eat it again, though. It was that good.
Approved. -
Review from Susan L.
12/19/2011
Wonderful ambiance, the food delicious and our server was delightful.
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Review from Jason L.
2/9/2011 1 Check-in Here
Ehhhh. No dice, Fiamo.
Came here with a group of 7 and quickly realized that the only thing worth remembering about the night was the fact that we had a nice group chat.
PROS:
+ Ambiance: it's dark, warm, and the comforting smell of food wafts everywhere in the small space
+ Service: the servers are friendly and attentive
CONS:
+ Food: not a single dish we ordered met or exceeded expectations; the seafood was rubbery; all pasta dishes were coated with thick heavy sauce, think supermarket bottom-shelf sauce; "cheese and meat" plate was uninspired and very underpowered in variety
+ Wait time: ridiculous. We waited 1.5 hours for our entrees to arrive, totally unacceptable by any measure
+ Price: I am not a stickler on price by any means, but when you pay almost $30 an entree for rubbery, tasteless goop, you start to feel the pang in your wallet
If you bring a date here for drinks and a dessert, the ambiance will be perfect. But if you bring a date who knows her way around authentic Italian food, don't be surprised if she doesn't quite fall in love with your unsurpassable taste. -
Review from Alex A.
8/27/2011
Had the Marinara di Fiamo with fettuccine. I picked out the seafood and left the overcooked pasta untouched. Mussels seemed to be boiled and then placed over the pasta. The complimentary bread for the table was meant for table decorations.
Service was friendly and Stanley amber ale was tasteful but not worth the wasted time and appetite on the main dish. -
Review from Beth C.
Victoria, BC
2/8/2011
Meh. I've experienced better.
Plenty of friendly (albeit s-l-o-w) service in the form of beautiful women all over the place. The bread with oil and vinegar was nice. Our dishes were both appropriately sized, but both relied far too heavily on salt and oil for their flavour. I had gnocchi, he had a pesto pasta dish. Both tasted good, but seemed reheated. Elements of mine were overcooked and rubbery while the prawns were undercooked to the point of still being grey partway through. The amount of oil left on each plate at the end was off-putting.
Especially for the price, our experience just didn't cut it. It's a shame, as I'd been looking forward to trying it. -
Review from E. P.
4/20/2011
I ate here last weekend for dinner and was very pleased with the atmosphere and food quality.
You can dress casually; nice when you've been out sight-seeing all day.
I had a salad and the gnocchi; my husband order the salad with ahi tuna, both were very good. Attentive wait staff, nice and quiet with a variety of items on the menu. I can see why there was a 30-minute wait (popular place).
Our dinner entertainment was a guy at the table next to us pretending to be a wine connoisseur and trying to decide between two white wines. -
Review from Deacon K.
9/22/2011
Got there after the rush and got seated quick. Then we waited easily 10 minutes until we saw our server for anything. After she found us things went well. The Sicilian pizza was good and the water was full. Patio gets chilly when the sun goes down, however the waitress got s
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Review from Kat S.
8/7/2010
The bread at the table is delightful. I enjoy salty, oily goodness to dip my soft bread in, and Fiamo's brings it. Unfortunately it was brought by a cracked out dude who had serious trouble pouring water, walking straight, and making eye contact. Please do not show up to your service job on drugs. The other customers might start wanting some.
The food itself was pretty good. The cheese tower was rather small for what you pay for, so that was disappointing. My gnocchi was A-OK, and as a mushroom fan, I approve, but was not outstanding by any means. Our actual waitress was not on drugs (that I could tell) and was very friendly. However we were up in the top part of the restaurant and were melting from the heat (which made us sleepy after dinner, so instead of staying for drinks we left for fresh air to wake us up), and were not visited as often as the other patrons down below. She did her best, though, and I had no problems with the server. Prices are on the high side of moderate.
Nice little bathrooms which apparently have heated toilet seats for "your peeing pleasure" though I didn't notice the heat. Not that I needed heat on a hot day. I'm sure in the winter they are enjoyable.Listed in: Best Bathrooms
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Review from Brad W.
Victoria, BC
12/18/2009
I've been to Fiamo three or four times and each time has been a good experience. The service is comfortably friendly and attentive whether sitting at the bar or in the dining room and the atmosphere is pitch-perfect for a casual evening out.
Most of the time I've had a pizza; The Italian, the Roasted Veggie, and the BC Prawn. The crust is good, thin but still chewy. The Roasted Veggie (roasted red pepper, zucchini, tomato with feta cheese) is only okay, I was with a vegetarian at the time so I couldn't have one of the more interesting ones (not that I have anything against veggie pizzas, Tapas Bar makes a great one). The Italian (capicolli and pepperoncini) is probably my favourite although the BC Prawn is really interesting (roasted garlic, parmesan, olive oil with sea salt & fresh ground pepper).
Friday night between four and seven appetisers are 2 for 1. My favourites are the Black Pepper Shrimp, the Mussels, the calamari, and the sauteed wild mushrooms.
I don't remember what I've had for dessert and considering that dessert is very important there must not have been anything remarkable about their selection. -
Review from Matthew L.
Edmonton, AB
3/17/2010
As my wife and I were craving Italian food and we didn't want to wait at Pagliacci's, we decided to check out Fiamo. We were intrigued by the handsome dining area and the promise of artisanal pizza.
The dinner service with a delicious Foccacia bread which made me optimistic for the rest of the meal.
But that optimism quickly turned into pessimism. Instead of an artisanal pizza, I received a thin, but stale-seeming crust topped with flavorless tomato sauce (but with high quality cheese and roasted vegetables).
My wife's pasta primavera boasted a sizable quantity of high quality noodles, but with a boring, tasteless sauce.
I would be willing to give Fiamo another chance - there is a chance that we just didn't order the right things. -
Review from Chris C.
9/6/2011
Stopped by after an afternoon of sightseeing. Sat at the bar, and ordered a beer and pizza - half fig and prosciutto / half mushroom, garlic & cheese was outstanding. Can't speak for the rest of the menu, but these guys can make a pizza. Love the decor - lots of little touches - check out the bottle lights over the bar - fantastic. Looking forward to going back for that pizza!
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Review from D N.
Victoria, BC
5/1/2011
My family will be boycotting this restaurant. We phoned a month in advance, then went down to look at and reserve the upstairs space for my father's 70th birthday dinner. When we arrived for the dinner our space had been given away because they could seat 4 more people up there than our party of 12. No one had mentioned the possibility of our space getting scooped at the time of the booking - if they had done so we would either have offered to pay an additional rental fee or found another restaurant with private room space. We specifically reserved there because we wanted a separate area where our family could mingle before dinner. When we asked the manager what had happened he gave no apology and suggested we phone around to see if "somewhere else" could accommodate us. After a month's planning for the event!! On principle, we will never return.
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Review from Mélanie C.
Victoria, BC
8/21/2011 1 photo
My parents and I ate there last night, my father's choice for his birthday. We were told no reservations were taken for a party of three and waited roughly 30 mins from 8pm. As we made no request, we were seated inside (though the patio area looked nice). There were two parts inside: the first included the bar/kitchen and an upstairs, decorated with vespa/scooter photos and through the 'broken' brick wall was the bicycle room.
Service was ok (our water glasses didn't get filled very often, even when the table next to us got filled, our main server reached behind me and over the banister to the server area to reach for the water pitcher and still didn't fill our glasses... so not quite attentive). The 'focaccia' with olive oil and balsamic was a nice touch, but the bread was a little crisp. From the time we ordered, it took about 30 minutes to get fed. My parents both ordered pasta dishes with seafood. My mother had the Marinara del Fiamo found her meal ok, and the seafood plentiful (though no scallops), but the sauce a little spicy. My father had the Pasta Vongole and found a lack of sauce, that many of the clams were empty, but was happy with his meal. I ordered the Ravioli and added scallops ($9 for 3). There were 2 large butternut squash ravioli, with toasted almond slivers and a few cloves of roasted garlic with non-descript oily sauce at the bottom of the plate. Overall I found it quite tasteless... but the scallops were well cooked and delicious.
It's been mentioned, but I thought the heated toilets seats were funny (and strange, as I've never experienced it before). The photos all around gave a nice nostalgic feel. I especially loved the 'bike' photo by our table of a team of 4 (Tour de France?), 1 was smoking, another was supporting the third who was being 'fed' a cigarette by the fourth (the latter was holding the smoke in the former's mouth). On the 'vespa' side, there was a poster sized photo (all were b&w) of a 60's lady in bikini with a sizeable pouff hairstyle in front of a scooter.
Overall:
- the food was ok, not a large selection
- the ambiance was ok, dark and pretty loud
- the service wasn't attentive, but not rude
- the price was a bit high (for the quality I got), but generous portions -
Review from Tom G.
8/23/2010
The location is great. For tourists, it is just a short stroll from Wharf Street and for locals, it is right beside the Yates Street parkade. This was a bonus... no problems finding a parking spot.
Our party of 6 arrived and were seated right away. The only problem was that the only tables they had for a group of six was outside (too cold in Victoria after the sun goes down) or in the upstairs part of the restaurant. I'm the kind of guy that likes to be sitting in or near the hub of the action -- see what's cooking, people watch, check out what others are eating/drinking, etc. The upstairs section doesn't quite have the same 'feel' as the rest of the restaurant. This was a disappointment.
Service was great. Our server was helpful, informative, polite. No complaints.
The menu didn't have anything that really jumped out at me. I settled for the spaghetti with meat balls. The serving size was huge and there was nothing wrong with the meal, it just wasn't remarkable. The other guests in my party were also fairly neutral about their meals.
Overall, I would say Fiamo was good but not great. It's probably not somewhere I'll be going back to anytime soon. Not because it was bad but because the other Italian restaurant nearby is miles ahead of Fiamo.
P.S. If you take your left overs to go, be careful of the box the put the food in. They stamp it with their Fiamo logo but the ink tends to rub off the wax box onto clothing!
