Naples-Built Oven at 900 Degrees

Brad Holmes rewrites the menu weekly in a tiny, loud Chinatown room, so come curious and ready to share everything.

Beacon Avenue runs out at the water and Riva is what is there: seafood tagliatelle, a sweeping ocean patio and local jazz from 6pm Thursday to Saturday.

A Korean-born chef cooking Japanese soul food in a tiny Langford room with a 4.8 and complimentary tea that arrives before you ask.

Downtown Victoria's 4.6-rated Korean grillhouse where you cook for each other and emerge smelling faintly of garlic-soy triumph.

Victoria's Korean spot for crispy three-glaze fried chicken, a bubbling army stew with cheese, and a 4.5 that keeps the room packed late.

A 50-seat Fernwood wine bar in a charmingly creaky heritage building, built for daily-changing small plates and old-world wine.

Fort Street's oven-roasted Korean chicken spot where the lighter, juicier alternative to deep-fry has a near-perfect 4.7 to back it up.

A bright, clattering Mexican brunch room inside Market Square, where the benny lands on a potato pancake under pulled pork.

An 1889 heritage house in James Bay where the cooking is vegetable forward, the light is good and nothing is in a hurry.

A Market Square cantina since 1985, with over a hundred mezcals and bartenders who'll happily narrate your descent into agave enthusiasm.

Fort Street's beloved all day breakfast room since 1991, with art crammed onto every wall and a benny list that runs to double digits.

Sidney's teal boothed diner on Beacon Avenue, turning out stuffed Belgian waffles and five different hashes three blocks from the sea.

Victoria's long-running Ethiopian-Eritrean room, where dinner is one shared platter by hand and the closing act is a from-scratch coffee ceremony.

Fort Street Korean tapas and cocktails: low-lit, late-running, and serving a 'Squid Game' gochujang dish with the world's most appropriate name.