The Courtney Room is an award-winning restaurant located in downtown Victoria, BC, within the popular Magnolia Hotel. Just this year, it was awarded Restaurant of the Year by YAM Magazine, and previously has been ranked as one of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants in 2019.
Even though we are Victoria locals, we had our first visit to The Courtney Room just this month. We decided to treat my grandmother to a special birthday brunch and figured The Courtney Room would be the perfect place!
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The Courtney Room Brunch Review
The Courtney Room serves up Pacific Northwest cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For dinner, they also have a special Chef’s Seasonal Tasting Menu, and on weekends, they offer brunch.
We were contemplating the tasting menu, but at $135/person, we figured brunch would work better for our group of five. And brunch is my favourite meal of the day, anyway!
Location
Somewhat removed from the hustle and bustle of Victoria’s Inner Harbour, on a quiet side street, you’ll find The Courtney Room on the ground floor of the luxurious Magnolia Hotel.
It’s just two blocks from the inner harbour, on the corner of Courtney Street at Gordon Street.
Address: 619 Courtney Street, Victoria, BC V8W 1B8
Parking: Street parking is available just outside the restaurant, along both Courtney and Gordon streets, or there’s the Broughton Square parkade a block away.
The Courtney Room Hours
- Breakfast: 7:00am-11:00am Monday-Friday
- Brunch: 7:00am-2:00pm Saturday & Sunday
- Lunch: 11:00am-2:00pm Monday-Friday
- Happy Hour: 2:00pm-5:00pm Daily
- Dinner: 5:00pm-9:00pm Sunday-Thursday, 5:00pm-10:00pm Friday & Saturday
The Courtney Room Reservations
Considering how popular this restaurant is, it’s wise to make advance reservations, especially for dinner.
Brunch is very popular in this city and we have had to wait in hour-long lines, so we figured we better make a brunch reservation here to be on the safe side.
Reservations are easy to make right on The Courtney Room website via OpenTable. Confirmation is instant and no pre-payment is required.
The Restaurant
Upon entering, we were immediately struck by the elegant decor of the restaurant.
It definitely felt like a high-end hotel. I loved the dark wood and brass accents, floral arrangements, high ceilings, and beautiful large windows to let in lots of natural light.
We were seated at a long table by the entrance, next to a picturesque window. The table had already been set for us prior to our arrival. They even had a birthday card waiting for my grandma on the table!
The Brunch Menu
Thankfully, the menu offered something to suit everyone in our party. Ryan usually goes for an egg-based dish, my daughter and I prefer something sweet, and my mom and grandma usually go for healthier fare with protein and veggies.
The Courtney Room brunch menu was divided into lighter fare, eggs, benedicts, waffles and pancakes, pastries and sides, which worked out perfect for our family!
Kids Menu
Our server brought out a kids menu for our daughter which had four kid-friendly options. However, our daughter had already made up her mind on the adult menu haha.
Drinks
Ryan and I started off with some coffee, which was quite good. My mom and grandma went with the Silk Road teas, which they also really enjoyed. And our daughter ordered the orange juice, which tasted very fresh!
I also appreciated that a carafe of water was left at our table so we never had to ask for refills.
Lighter Fare
Our daughter ordered the Apple and Cinnamon Oatmeal. The server asked if we wanted to make it kid-sized but we decided to just go with the usual adult portion so that we could potentially share it with her.
It came topped with hemp hearts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, blueberries and strawberries, and apple butter. Our daughter absolutely loved it and ate up all the toppings first. I did manage to squeeze in a few tastes and it was quite delicious.
She ended up finishing almost the whole bowl!
Eggs
My mom ordered The Classic Breakfast with eggs, bacon, hasbrowns and toast. It was nicely presented and not too heavy.
Grandma, on the other hand, is fond of avocado and went with the Breakfast Sandwich with half hashbrowns and half greens. She quite enjoyed it, although she mentioned the ciabatta was too hard.
Benedicts
Ryan went with a full order of the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict, plus a side of sausage. He said the smoked salmon was very good.
Waffles and Pancakes
The souffle pancake sounded very intriguing so I just had to order it. I was expecting something like fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes, which I love, but it was totally different.
This souffle pancake was almost as large as my plate, was flatter and crispier, and topped with delicious chantilly cream, berry compote and candied walnuts. It was quite interesting but very tasty!
I always appreciate when there are nontypical options like this on a brunch menu 🙂
Pastries
We were all full from our main dishes but couldn’t help ordering a pastry basket to go. Our daughter especially LOVES pastries so we figured we’d enjoy them as a snack later that day.
They made us a fresh box of warm assorted pastries, complete with jam and butter. Our daughter was eager to rip into the box as soon as we got home haha, so we ended up all sharing them while they were still warm.
There were two small croissants that were so soft and buttery, and paired perfectly with the jam and butter. My favourite was probably the cheddar and scallion scone, while our daughter loved the blueberry scone coated in powdered sugar. The blueberry muffin was a hit with her as well.
I would definitely order these pastries again!
Service
Our server was very warm, welcoming and kind. She made sure to wish my grandmother a happy birthday, and also quickly brought out some colouring pages and pencils for our daughter.
When our food was ready, it was brought out by multiple servers from the kitchen, all at once. I love it when restaurants do this. It definitely makes it feel like a more upscale experience.
Our server checked on us throughout our meal and always ensured our coffees were topped up. When we were done eating, each of our plates were cleared, but we never felt rushed to finish up and leave.
Definitely some of the better service we’ve had in Victoria!
Prices
Mains ranged from $23-$28, which we felt was very fair for the more upscale dining experience and is in line with what we usually pay at hotels. It’s only a few dollars more than what we usually pay at more casual brunch spots in the city so it felt worth it.
American Express Platinum Dining Credit
Another reason why we chose to dine here at The Courtney Room is because we discovered it on American Express’ curated list of Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants.
If you hold an American Express Platinum card, you get a $200 annual dining credit to use at any of the restaurants on this list. Since The Courtney Room is on this list, we were able to use our dining credit to cover our entire bill for all 5 of us!
We absolutely love our Platinum Amex cards and getting to try new restaurants using the dining credits. If you don’t have this card in your wallet yet, we highly recommend it! Check out our referral link to learn more and apply to get a nice bonus in return!
Final Thoughts on The Courtney Room
We were excited to finally have the opportunity to try out this popular restaurant and are grateful it is included under the American Express Platinum Dining Benefit.
The restaurant itself is beautiful and we loved the atmosphere and kind service. We really enjoyed our food and will definitely be back to check out the Chef’s Tasting Menu for another special occasion!
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