Sitting right on the waterfront at the Sidney Pier Hotel on Beacon Avenue, 10 Acres at the Pier earns its reputation through the food and the setting in equal measure. The patio looks out over the Salish Sea toward the San Juan Islands, with fire pit tables that extend the season well into the cooler months. It’s casual enough for a weekday lunch and polished enough for a proper dinner out, and the crowd tends to reflect that range: locals, hotel guests, travellers coming off the BC Ferries, and people who’ve made the drive up from Victoria specifically to eat here.

Farm-to-table, to them, is not a buzz word or a phase. It’s how they operate. The 10 Acres group runs its own working farm in North Saanich, and twice-weekly harvests from that farm form the foundation of the menu, season by season. Meat comes from Berryman Brothers Farm in Central Saanich, a Vancouver Island operation focused entirely on ethically raised, pasture-raised meats, and the seafood is Ocean Wise certified. One of the more interesting details: the pigs on the farm are raised on food scraps from the restaurants themselves, closing the loop in a way most farm-to-table spots only talk about.

The Raw Bar serves freshly shucked oysters, which drop to 50% off every day during happy hour from 2 to 5 PM, easily the best deal on the peninsula for waterfront oysters. The menu also leans into daily fresh-made pasta, local draught, and a solid cocktail list. Patio and bar seating is first-come, first-served, so if you want to catch the afternoon light and settle in for happy hour, arrive a little early. Interior tables can be reserved, which is worth doing on summer weekends when Sidney fills up.

The restaurant grew out of the 10 Acres group’s broader commitment to sustainability. The whole operation composted around 60 tonnes of waste last year, all of which goes back into enriching the farm’s soil. That kind of closed-loop thinking shows up in the food: things taste like they came from somewhere specific, because they did.