This out-of-the-way English-style pub, for adults only (as they announce very clearly), is much more “authentically” English than anything else we have found on the Island. The outdoor garden, where you can sit on nice days, is very pleasant, relaxing, and lovely. The food is pretty good for pub food, including decent warm French, er, “English” dip beef sandwiches and yummy burgers, and quite decent wine. The salad that comes with these dishes leaves something to be desired — the dressing is too sweet! — but the Caesar salad is decent (some actual anchovies, however, wouldn’t hurt). The service is excellent and pleasant. Lots of servers working very hard, and even when they do make a mistake, they quickly rectify it. Overall a very pleasant experience, but again, don’t bring the kids! Maybe that’s a good thing, or maybe not.
I can" believe these guys are listed under "Best fish and chips in Nanaimo" yet don't list it on the menu ? And Probably the ONLY "British style pub " that doesn't ! These guys need to wake up and smell the Cod !
Great pub, no kids allowed ;)) just joking. Went there for a late night dinner with cider and seafood. Baked oysters and shrimp sandwich are great. The place is extremely cozy with options to sit inside ( great design) or outside in the garden. Lovely people.
PROS:- Food is very good- Ambiance is great- Service and staff are friendly and efficient.- Dietary and allergy needs are met when requestedCONS:- Drinking water does not taste nice. Needs to be filtered through an RO- Benches without a back rest instead of chairs make it uncomfortable for seniors.OVERALL: Nice restaurant if you can sit on chairs instead of benches.
I would never give an establishment this bad rating except under these extraordinary circumstances. This was the first time I had ever been to this restaurant. First, let me say I still would not do this if I were not 100% certain I got sick from the food there. To be clear, this was not a little upset stomach case but violent illness for 18 hours and total dehydration, the result of being unable even hold down water. Let me explain. On Friday, June 17th, 2022, my walking group did a nearby hike and decided to have lunch afterwards at this restaurant. There were 9 of us (seniors) in total. We all ordered lunch and two of us ordered shrimp sandwiches. It was a lovely day, nice setting, very nice staff and the food did not taste “off”. Everything was fine until Saturday evening at about midnight when I started to feel quite sick and became violently ill by about 1:00 a.m. I was sick every 20 minutes for the next 5 hours and it continued all day Sunday if I tried to sit up or take a sip of water. By that evening I was on Gravol and electrolytes and feeling slightly better. I was able to check emails at that time and saw a message from the other person who ate a shrimp sandwich on Friday asking me if I was okay as she was really sick overnight and was wondering If it could have been the shrimp, since only the two of us had consumed shrimp. I was stunned as I never would have put this together myself. I’ve never had food poisoning in my life before nor have I ever been so sick. No one else in the group was sick. We checked with the others who had potato salad with their lunch, which we had also eaten, but everyone was fine so it was unequivocally the shrimp and/or mayonnaise. To protect other patrons, this incident was reported by my “co-walker” to the restaurant and a message was left for the manager to contact her. The manager never called back to enquire after our health or otherwise. The incident was also reported to the Vancouver Island Health Unit Inspector on Monday. The inspector did investigate on Tuesday but found nothing conclusive, and as it was already 4 days later now, any contaminated foods were likely gone or destroyed following my co-walker’s call to the restaurant. I know other patrons were likely sick from this as well, but perhaps just could not put it together if they were the only one in their party who ate the shrimp. I know if we had not both eaten the same thing at the same time and became so sick, at the almost the identical time on Saturday, I would not have figured it out. I had hoped the restaurant would at least acknowledge the suffering we both went through even if they did not want to admit fault. We were not looking for anything from the phone call except that and to warn management of the issue so they could mitigate further patrons becoming so ill. If you choose to eat at this restaurant, be selective in what you order. I know I will never be able to eat there again. One and done, as they say!
Oh my goodness! Huge on atmosphere and such a lovely setting! Wonderful service and exceptional food. Would definitely visit again.
As an elderly ex-Brit living in Canada, I have visited scores of pseudo English pubs across the country for longer than I like to remember. Many are forgettable, but not this one. We managed to snag the last table at lunchtime. Friendly efficient staff, a lovely garden, well poured Guinness, a cup of superb oyster stew and a perfect steak and mushroom pie. The next time I take the ferry to Nanaimo I’m coming back!
Really good English style pub The food was great and very large portions. Servic was excellent. If you can reserve I would as at even 11.30am it was very busy.
This was our first time here and were not disappointed. Even though it was a windy cold day the grounds were beautiful and I can't wait to see what it looks like in the summer. The Pub itself reminded me of being in an old pub in Europe. The service was really good and the food was excellent. I had the beef dip, which was very good. The green salad was good although the dressing was a bit too sweet for my liking. My partner had the chicken pot pie. He enjoyed it but wished the meat to vegetable ratio was more heavily leaning to the meat. These aren't meant to be 'complaints' just information for people who are considering what they might order. We will definitely be back and try different items on the menu.
Great food it’s just a cool place