Zambri's Review

Reviewed by swellguy from Vancouver on 1/9/09
Sometime ago, perhaps as much as five years, Zambri's was a magical place. The food was fresh, the staff friendly, the service professional. One was guaranteed a great experience and it was never a surprise to see Zambri's listed among Victoria's top restaurants.
Times change and so has Zambri's. After a period of disappointing meals and declining service — we've stayed away from Zambri's for almost two years — we gave it a try, a Wednesday night date night. Nothing looks like it had changed at Zambri's, the staff looked a bit older, the decor still humble with uninteresting art and the big cans of tomatoes still stacked at the door.
We asked of there were any specials and told there were none. How true this would be. We were offered a spartan basket with several slices of bread and olives which went quickly. For appetizers we ordered a salad and the calamari. The salad, which should have a simple blend of perhaps two lettuces and tossed with simple vinaigrette instead came with at least five different lettuces, carrots, radishes, cucumbers and other vegetables awash in a huge pour of dressing. My wife spent most of the time trying to sort out the different textures and tastes. My calamari came with white beans and something else, also heavily doused with dressing. It was impossible to separate out the tastes and textures as everything tasted like vinaigrette.
For mains, my wife ordered lamb shank and I ordered steak. The lamb oddly came without the shank and consisted of three or four small pieces of meat and three flowery potatoes. We still can't identify what was wrong except that it tasted funny and not very interesting. My steak, ordered medium rate, was cooked anwhere from rare to well done and came with two flowery potatoes. The whole plate was smothered in a heavy garlic sauce that also made it difficult to sense the tastes of either meat or potatoes.
It was only as we completed our main course did someone ask how things were. We almost had to force our feelings on the waiter who was more in a hurry than our actual concerns. When we told him how much we didn't like our meal, his response was plainly, "Fair enough." He went on to say that this wasn't an off night since "Peter is in the house." Moments later, a server asked "You're not having desert, are you?" then promptly knocked our second basket of bread on the floor - the one we paid $2 for - and never bothered to replace it.
Our bill, with wine, came to nearly $140, which is obscene. Zambri's is no longer that quality of restaurant. When effecting payment, I was obliged to walk to the till and pay with debit - no mobile terminal so common in other restaurants. When the machine asked if I wished to tip I answered "Yes" only to find out I had to tell my waiter what the tip would be as it's entered manually by him.
We were among the legion of locals who enjoyed going to Zambri's, supported their business and came back often. Last night we had an expensive, hurried and subpar meal. It only confirmed our previously held beliefs about a restaurant in decline, a light that no longer glows bright and a staff that doesn't care.

Member Rating: 1.4
Ratings details: Food: 1.0 Atmosphere: 2.0 Service: 1.0 Value: 2.0