Ulla

Genuinely excellent service and masterfully crafted, not pretentious, one of the most well done meals ever… Many thank yous

Halibut… nevermind…I was going to list the good things but it was all good… not a ton to choose from but just make your pick and enjoy.
Ps…I always come in skeptical and this place swung me and killed it on service and food!

Fabulous food, but severely lacking in service and ambiance. The waiter only had 2 other tables, but it took forever to get cocktails. And then we felt somehow both ignored and very rushed the whole rest of the meal.
Servings were tiny, but very expensive. We don’t need much so we usually just split an app, salad and main. but this ended up costing over $ 200 and we felt like we needed a snack afterwards.
The experience here really soured our whole weekend. Bad taste in the mouth. and not from the food.

This place is very Cosy offering great service and delicious food … you will not find another place e similar

(this review was from 2011 for the old restaurant named Ulla) Here’s the thing: it’s like the place is just no fun. The food is usually error-​free, it just seems that everything is heavily scripted. Each experience there is *the same*.
The menu is pretty much the same, week after week. The menu is so small: one beef, one fish, one chicken, one pork, one other main. The service is warm and friendly, but doesn’t feel *genuine*. I’ve been there five times so I’m not basing this on just one night.
The food is very good and if you were a tourist, or only went once per year, it’s top marks for sure.
But I’m not a tourist. Somehow there is just nothing personal about the experience. It’s a formula, the 4−5−3 app-​main-​dessert, the handling and flow is the same every time — TOO the same, so it feels superficial.
For me, I’d like it to be more personal, for real. More fun. As it is now, you can be outta there in under an hour — they’re so efficient at processing the, well, the process. It’s all so un-​special.
Really engage your customers for a change instead of always scanning the entire room and flitting around. Treat us like knowledgeable patrons. Ask me a real question. I am looking for a better experience, not just nice food. P. S. Really — your wine list cheapens the whole experience.
P. S. Charge me $ 18 or $ 20 for corkage, not $ 25!

Always spot on, great service. Sometimes a bit overwhelming with explanations of simple food processes. (Yes a Gastrique is an acidic sweet reduction — Oh Wow, mind blown!) I’m sure not everyone knows so it’s just a bit funny.
Keep it up — Love the menu creations!

Enjoyed our meal and service but wasn’t wowed. It is expensive and the veg were not extraordinary, ie turnips? Meat a bit fatty.

Food: Impressive.
Service: Decent.
Drinks: Terrible.
Let me clarify. I ordered two of their cocktails. The first that came out had maybe an oz. of liquid in it. If you shook a shot of tequila over ice then poured it out, that would be about how much liquid was in it. Disappointed, I ordered another — and same thing! Sheesh! For $ 11, you can handle more than 1 oz. of EVERYTHING — not just the liquor.
Sadly what I ate doesn’t even spring to mind based on how cheap they were with their drink portions. Boo!

You know you’re onto something special when the conversation turns to highlight dinners of all time. This place ranks up there. Food is wonderful, ambience and service are superb, and the dining room is energetic and intimate (yes: both.) I can’t wait to return.

If you are looking for a great meal in Victoria, you won’t be disappointed with Ulla. It’s a nice little restaurant just off of Chinatown. We started with the sweetbreads and whipped tuna belly. The whipped tuna belly was quite nice! The squid ink cracker gave it a nice crunch, and the flavors really worked well together. I had the short rib, and my mom had the sablefish. Both were really well cooked, and tasted wonderful. Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. Glad we made it to this gem!

Very innovative dishes and friendly service. The beet salad was a great combination of flavors. The short-​rib steak was very tender and came with a few dollops of potatoes that were so creamy they must have been mostly butter and cream with a little bit of potato added (bad for cholesterol but very tasty) along with other interesting tidbits. The lamb and the halibut also won rave reviews from my companions.

Fresh wonderful local ingredients. Perfect sized portions. Every mouthful is a little piece o fheaven

One of the most innovative menus I’ve experienced. And they delivered. Tasty, fun drinks with a thoughtful wine & beer menu. Cool and open space. Rez is recommended. Mains and appetizers are worth arriving hungry for. I’m already jealous if you’re going now !

Had a special birthday meal here with my parents.
My husband and I are soy-​free Vegans and the chef made us an excellent thoughtful meal. Great atmosphere. The wait staff is very knowledgeable and the food was perfect!

Considering all the great Unilocal reviews, I was actually surprised when I was less than crazy about all of my food.
I had the semolina cubes, which were ok. Then I has the wild mushroom appetizer which was the best plate of the night but still wasn’t as amazing as I was expecting.
I had the pork 3 ways for my main. This was probably the most disappointing. When a main course is $ 30, I usually assume the flavours are going to be to die for, but the three pork dishes were all a little bland. Everything was WAY too salty. I will say the side of perogies were fantastic, and I would order a plate of them solo next time.
In conclusion, this restaurant should forget food and focus on cocktails, as this was their selling point for sure. Earl gray martinin is a must.

Best. Earl Grey. Martini. EVER.
EG-​infused gin with lemon juice, egg white, simple syrup and a dash of wonderful. I could drink these all day. As it was I had several when we had dinner at Ulla and now I can’t recall the minute details of our meal. I do remember that the food was very fresh, tasty and well-​presented. The greens we had were organic and I believe grown close by and the fish and meat were delectable. Dish sizes were on the modest side as the emphasis is on quality not quantity but we still left feeling perfectly satisfied because the food was so well done. I can’t recall if we had dessert but if we did it was probably another martini.

By far my best meal in Canada!
I came on a Thursday night, after reserving the night before. Even on a weekday, the restaurant was mostly full. I think it would be a crap shoot if you can get in or not without a reservation, so it’s definitely recommended.
I started with Angel’s Halo (cocktail), which was very yummy. Bartender got some skillz and when I told him to make some kind of drink but I don’t want gin, he gave me a gin drink I like, that’s some guts.
The food was delicious and unique. Each plate is like a work of art, it’s a play of taste, texture and sight. The menu changes often, so I won’t bore you with the details of my meal. Safe to say, it’s superb and I will definitely stop here every time I visit Victoria!

Woohoo. Seriously as good as it gets.
The man beside me, was born in BC … lived on seafood most of hs life… and tonight DH had the best halibut he’s ever had. I could go on and on, but it might be the champagne and perfectly executed bourbon sour that I enjoyed. Service was almost perfect, 2 out of 3 appetizers perfect, all mains … perfect.
We just came back from Vegas recently after eating at some of the best establishments there … this place certainly comes close and BETTER than many of the fine meals we had. I can’t say more than if you enjoy properly prepared and plated food, attentive service and a bartender who is truly passionate and knowledgeable about his craft, don’t miss this place.

Would not have found this if it weren’t for Unilocal.Unexpected and awesome. Based on the pictures I thought it would be very pretentious — but the staff was very friendly — and the beautiful food was solid and inventive. Good cocktails too.
Some of these dishes were outstanding or unusual. I took off a star only because of some technical issues — sous vide lamb that was delicious, but oddly chewy for instance. But this would be a great place for a date night or a good place to impress out of town guests.

Ulla falls squarely into the new style of upscale-​casual chef-​driven restaurant. It’s not the kind of place that’s affordable to the average diner on an average night out, but when you’re paying an arm and a leg for dinner, the value is represented in the food first and foremost. Well, I would include drink in that as well.
See, under the old régime, people paid a lot to dine at «fancy» restaurants, where it was all about white tablecloths, white-​gloved waiters, crumb scrapers, and 14 forks per place setting. The new school is focused less on the ambiance or snootery, and more on the food. Ulla delivers on the food in more ways than one, but sloughs off the white-​tuxedos for stylish, almost hipster appointments; friendly-​to-​casual service; simple décor; and, again, crazy good food.
We lucked in to this spot on a Friday night with no prior reservations. It was our pleasure to learn that a reservation had just canceled and our party of 3 could walk right in. The cocktail menu rides the line of simple, classic drinks. The wine list has some interesting choices. And the dinner menu offers an array of high-​end dishes made with locally-​sourced ingredients. The prices match the quality of ingredients and, as you’ll see when it hits your table, the beauty of the plating. Oh, and not to forget, the flavor.
We sampled the quail, a tasty salad of micro-​greens, cheese and root veggies, the grilled octopus and the short rib steak with a beautifully-​arranged array of mushrooms and roasted onions. Each and every dish could have ben hung on the wall as a piece of food art. This was no gonzo, grease-​fueled hardcore Rocco Zifretti food porn. No. This is a classy adult food-​film… maybe the gustatory equivalent of a Marilyn Chambers flick. everything meticulously placed on the plate to create a tableau as breathtaking as it is mouth-​watering.
Needless to say, the serving sizes here are not going to be over the top. One entrée was enough for me to feel satisfied, by far. But if you’re the kind of person that, regardless of the quality, expects to be inundated with grotesquely oversized portions for food at this price, well, Ulla may not be the place for you.
The cocktails that accompanied our food were well-​prepared and of the craft-​variety. Our wine selections matched quite well with the food. Service was friendly and welcoming, but most importantly lacked the pretense you often find with food of this caliber.
I feel that Ulla would compete on the level of many of the better restaurants in PDX, and that’s saying a lot since I find the food in PDX to be excellent. The prices are higher than I’m used to, but that seemed to be the case everywhere in Victoria. I guess I’m spoiled in Portland.
I highly recommend Ulla for a special night out in Victoria.