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While Mike and I were in Victoria for a day, we dropped by the famous Red Fish Blue Fish (@RFBFVictoria). Cooking all their food in an old cargo container, Red Fish Blue Fish is located on a pier downtown.

Red Fish Blue Fish

We arrived 15 minutes before they opened at 11:30 and there was already a line forming. Shortly after we got in line, it grew exponentially behind us. So, be prepared to wait.

The line-up

Even though they have plenty of seating on the pier, I’d recommend getting your dining buddy to save seats while you order. The seats go quickly!

Time to order!

Red Fish Blue Fish has a large sustainable seafood menu consisting of fish and chips, tacones (similar to a taco but in the form of a cone or sushi hand roll), sandwiches and grilled fish.

We had trouble narrowing down which tacones to order and ended up getting three of them. The first one I tried was the Grill Seared Albacore Tuna Tacone – with spicy spot prawn mayo ($6 or $10 for two). All tacones are topped with slaw, pea shoots and pickled onions, all of which give the tacones a nice crunch.

The Tacones

The tuna was nicely seared and served medium rare. However, I didn’t find this tacone to be anything special. I found it a tad dry for my liking. It could’ve used a bit more mayo, in my opinion. For a killer tuna taco, check out Tacofino in Tofino.

The Grill Seared Albacore Tuna Tacone

The second tacone I tried was the Chilled Chipotle Baby Shrimp Tacone – with Million Island dressing ($6 or $10 for two). It was simply an explosion of flavours! Saucy and delicious – easily our favourite tacone of the three.

The Chilled Chipotle Baby Shrimp Tacone

The last tacone we ordered was the Toro Tacone – with horseradish lime aioli and siracha ($7 or $12 for two), which was one of the day’s features. The tacone was stuffed with plump chunks of toro and while I thought it tasted fine, I thought it could’ve used a bit more siracha in it. It just needed a bit more of a kick.

The Toro Tacone

In addition to the tacones, we decided to try some fish and chips. We decided to go with the Halibut Fish & Chips ($14 for 1 piece/$20 for 2). The other 2 options include salmon and cod. The fried halibut had a nice, crisp tempura batter and was delightfully moist inside. We both loved it!

The Fried Halibut

All the fish & chips come with hand cut Kennebec chips but you can upgrade to poutine for an extra $2.75. Obviously, we upgraded to the Seafood Poutine – local shrimp, smoked tuna belly bacon bits, crispy shallots and miso-clam gravy. On its own, it’ll set you back $6 for half or $10 for a full order.

It definitely isn’t your typical poutine. It came with a generous amount of the miso-clam gravy which had a mild seafood flavour. While I enjoyed the fries on their own, I thought the poutine wasn’t anything special. Mike enjoyed it a lot more than I did. Perhaps I would’ve enjoyed the spicy fish poutine more (which is mayo-based).

The Seafood Poutine

Although there were some hits like the shrimp tacone and fried halibut, I felt a little underwhelmed with my experience. Given the stellar reviews and their notoriously long line-ups, I expected more. Between Red Fish Blue Fish and Tacofino in Tofino, it’s a no brainer – Tacofino takes the cake.

At a glance:
• Located on a pier in downtown Victoria
• While there were some hits, overall, we felt underwhelmed
• Seating available on the pier
• Lots of pay parking around the pier
• Notorious for long line-ups, so try to get there before they open at 11:30

Ratings (out of 5):
• Food: 3 stars
• Service: N/A
• Atmosphere: N/A

Red Fish, Blue Fish on Urbanspoon



  1. Dave (Reply) on Thursday 13, 2012

    I actually liked my Cold Grilled Tuna Tacone much better than the Baby Shrimp one. My Shrimp Tacone lacked the plethora of flavour you got on yours. 🙁
    Hit and miss?

    • Jess (Reply) on Thursday 13, 2012

      Aw, sorry! I felt like this place was a little hit and miss, overall. Too bad you didn’t make it over to Tofino. Tacofino was amazing!

      • Dave (Reply) on Thursday 13, 2012

        I plan to hit up their food trucks here in Vancouver. I already have a friend interested in coming with me. Only problem is, truck’s only out weekdays 11am-3pm and it’s going to be challenging since we both work Mon-Fri.
        Gonna have to pull another imaginary sick day. The things we do for food…!