The Butchart Gardens - The Dining Room

It is hard to beat a perfectly presented Afternoon Tea. And it was perfect. We sat on the veranda on a cool September afternoon. Blankets were available if needed. It had rained, but the gardens were stunning in their deep green and bright colors. The tea is surprisingly filling starting with trifle, and followed with many one- and two-bite sandwiches, tiny quiche, sausage roll, the many beautiful little desserts, and a surprising scone (spiced with ginger). Service was quiet and efficient. (The only negative to being outside were some tenacious wasps who really wanted the jam and cream for our scones.)

Absolutely perfect dinner, beef tenderloin on the terrace, delicious chocolate desserts after, this is a gem of a place. Service stellar, food hot and a walk through the lovely gardens before and after the dinner, can’t imagine a nicer anniversary! Nice choice of our favorite local libations as well. Highly recommend!

Outstanding experience. Thank you

High tea. Most of the food was great except for the meringue cookies. Dry crumbly and tasteless.

Wonderful location to enjoy dinner.

The food was excellent and bountiful. Enjoyed the flight of wine to complement the tiers. The sunroom was light and airy with views of the gardens. We spent 2 hrs at Tea . This was our highlight in Victoria.

Our 50th Anniversary dinner was superb in every way. The food was cooked and plated to perfection. We enjoyed the Alberta AAA Beef tenderloin and Brant Lake wagyu this time followed with delicious desserts. We love the relaxed and special ambience that the dining room exudes. The personal work in a pleasant caring manner which makes you feel right at home as you experience the times that are special and close to your heart. The stroll in the Gardens before and after dinner added to the memories of our celebratory evening.

We made a reservation and were given a table at a window. The whole experience was lovely, nice variety of tea sandwiches and sweet bites, a very relaxing and elegant event.

A visit to Vancouver Island and the garden had long been on my bucket list. It was everything I had hoped for. A very special visit with top caliber food and service. The attention to detail by the waitress was far superior to many top restaurants we have frequented. Kudos to her.

From start to finish everything was perfect

We had eaten at the Butchart dining room 25 years ago and we had high expectations upon returning after so many years. We were not disappointed as the food was superb and the service was outstanding. We went to the high tea and everything was simply delicious. The price was excellent when compared to other teas in places like Victoria and Vancouver.

Of course the price was a little high, but wanted the experience. Then we found out what it would have cost at The Empress... about three times more!

Loved our Lunch at Garden. It was amazing outside seating by private garden. Food was very good, loved the tomato bisque soup.

The setting was beautiful. The food wasn't good at all (high tea).

Beautiful old home. Excellent food and service. You can not beat the beauty of the gardens

The food was perfectly prepared; every bite was a delight. Ate on the porch overlooking the garden.

Servers were so friendly and well knowledged. They were welcoming and making us comfortable. I love this place. Definitely I will be back.

Beautiful atmosphere and great tea. But deserts were not that impressive.

Quaint afternoon tea—excellent food selection/dishes. We really enjoyed the egg salad. Our waiter, Shay, was on top of everything. Beautiful view. We did the 11am tea to start our day before touring the gardens!

Delicious food in a beautiful setting. It’s expensive, but worth it. We loved everything we had- the tomato bisque soup, the bread, the roasted chicken , and my son had the beef dish with gnocchi. For dessert we had the lemon sponge / mousse thing. Interesting cocktails on the menu as well. We would definitely return - maybe for high tea next time!

We ordered three sets of afternoon tea. When we were half way through the food, we found two sets didn’t have macaron. Not sure if it’s missed by the kitchen or other reasons. However we were almost full so we didn’t ask. The overall experience was very good, enjoyed the restaurant ambience and the food quality was good.

I have an annual pass and always take guests to tea at Butchart Gardens. It never fails to live up to expectations of a great experience.

British tea? We received a large pot of tea. There were tea strainers for each of us. Waiter said to wait for two minutes, which we did. After that the tea leaves ware still in the pot with no way to take the leaves out. The tea got more and more bitter with each cup. I asked for more tea. The waiter put in more water in the same pot without fresh leaves. I was stunned that this formal tea would serve us bitter tea. Especially for the price.
I also had to ask for clean saucer since mine had mustard on it and we were only on the bottom their, with sweets to go. I thought the waiter should have noticed. I guess I expected too much.
I didn't want to spoil the ambiance with my friend so I didn't say anything. Ordinarily I would have spoken up.
I was not a satisfied customer.

Wow! We made a reservation the day before we were to arrive for the tour. We got to the gardens and enjoyed the first half of the beautiful Gardens before we made our way to The Dining Room. We had tea for both of us. Outstanding service and the food was exceptional. Our waiter took his time and never hurried us. We were so full after the tea that we had to take our time for the rest of the Gardens. Not to be missed, a real highlight of our time in Victoria.

Wonderful service and delicious sandwiches and sweets. It is very expensive though as you have to pay for entrance to the gardens which is about $30 and then the price for the tea which is about $40.Not something I can afford to do very often.

Nice place for a tea evening. I didn't try the entrees, but was told they were very good.

Cant get a better setting for tea and fancy food. Loved it.

Beautiful and wonderful. I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone visiting the gardens. Be sure to make a reservation well in advance. It will be worth your time and effort. We all really loved it.

The tea service was nice but a few too many sweets for my taste. Fresher savory offerings would be my preference.

Afternoon tea was spot on and well worth it. A great way to take a little break from exploration of the gardens. Really couldn't have asked for more.

We were seated immediately even though we were 15 minutes early. The service was great. We had the afternoon tea with all the extras (three tiered tower of sandwiches, desserts, etc.).

The server explained what each item was made of and even suggested what order to eat the different items. The cost was much lower than other "High Tea" locations (which we have also been to) yet we felt the quality of the food was much better.

Thank you for such a great experience as we were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary!!

Excellent! Worth every dollar ❤️

My Dad's pork loin chop was good, nice and meaty and tender, but my salmon was little over cooked on one end and under done (almost raw) on the other, I also could not separate the skin from the meat. It was cooked in such a way that it was stuck right on the flesh, it was pretty much impossible to flake the meat off. If one liked eating the skin, then I suppose that would have been desirable.
In the end, the rawish fish almost spoiled my appetite, I didn't order sushi.

The high tea was okay I was disappointed in the
Types of finger foods we were served seemed old to me like a but stale and not much taste

Anniversary

Staff were wonderful, very attentive and knowledgeable.

We had a wonderful dinner surrounded by one of the most beautiful settings. The food was delicious, the service a little on the slow side, but we were well taken care of. The food was delicious as well as beautiful to see plated. It will definitely be a “do over”.

The very best place for an excellent afternoon tea! We have never been disappointed in the quality of the food or the service. Looking forward to our next visit!

Food very good, polite friendly server but waited 45 minutes for food.

Taking Tea at the Garden was an experience I haven’t had in many years and something I miss. Fortunate to be seated with an outstanding view of the Japanese Gardens. The service was attentive but never overbearing.