Our first time here and sadly will be our last. My husband had sushi which he said was good. I had a cajun chicken caesar salad but the lettuce was not fresh and had some brown spots and the dressing was tasteless. We were there a total of 2 hours which is way too long for a salad and some sushi. read more

Last week, in search of a special place to celebrate my husband's birthday, I stumbled on the Firehouse Grill. Surprisingly, this gem of a restaurant may be Nanaimo's best kept secret. I can't begin tell you how delicious the food was and how much I was impressed by our experience! Our intent was to order a few different things from their yummy sounding eclectic mix of savory grilled delights and comfort foods. But our server, Crystal recommended that we try the sushi. And boy, are we glad we did! Even though I've lived in San Francisco for the last 20 years, I've never been much of a Sushi person. But I must admit that this WAS THE BEST SUSHI I'VE EVER EATEN, ANYWHERE. I was told by the owner Michael (who actually came over to our table to introduce himself personally) that the chefs are given free rein to create delectable combinations of mouthwatering bites. They combine traditional fresh rolls with crunchy seafood bits and exotic flavors, resulting in sensational palette pleasers. And, if you order the "chefs special sushi creation" you won't be disappointed! The décor is casual chic, the ambiance, friendly and inviting and the food presentation, elegant. Bravo, Firehouse! read more

My wife and I escaped to Nanaimo for a mini-vacation. We were in the mood for sushi and decided to give the Firehouse Grill a try. We were staying in the Coast Bastion hotel and enjoyed the short walk over taking a detour to walk along the docks. We were mildly apprehensive with the negative reviews we read on yelp - although many of these seem to be people with some other issues that they take out on yelp reviews. When we arrived we were greeted warmly and were able to be seated at the bar without any reservations. We enjoyed a couple drinks - these were excellent. I especially liked the choice we were given for larger glasses. The menu is slightly overwhelming in the variety of dishes available - we opted for the "love me tender" roll and the chefs choice platter - which is 30 dollars and lets the chefs make you something they want. The results were incredible. We had a platter with two full rolls (we think these incorporated salmon, and halibut) and a fresh fillet of sliced sashimi. The flavors were excellent! You could taste the fresh fish and still enjoy the other tastes of an incredible variety of other ingredients. The total costs: California dream $7.75 drink of gin, lime juice, coconut rum (very good!) Mojito (double) $8.50 2 gin and tonics (doubles) $14 love me tender roll: $15 (very fair price) Chef's choice platter: $30 (totally worth every penny!) Total: $82.05 20%tip: 16.41 Total price: $98.46 To have a wonderful meal for two with drinks and fresh sushi for under $100 is incredible - very hard to do in other cities. A similar meal in San Francisco, or Seattle would easily be $150-200. Definitely a great choice for fresh sushi! read more

This used to be one of my favourite restaurants in Nanaimo, however our most recent two experiences were very disappointing. Firstly, we ordered take out and they combined the two meals in the same box resulting in half our party being unable to eat because of cross contamination. Secondly, we ate house, and it was not busy at all, but the service was incredibly poor, the portions have dramatically decreased and we were missing ingredients from the menu in our meals. We also saw one of the chefs without a mask preparing sushi which is very concerning.... read more

Sh!tty start to my long weekend! My husband and I went to Firehouse after work to celebrate an early start to the August long weekend. While the food (chicken and salad) tasted ok I became sick afterwards and spent the entire next day in the toilet. The restaurant did not reply to our message so unsure if others became ill as well. read more

I am giving this wonderful place a full 5 stars. I have two small children (1 and 2) so I'm always nervous taking them out to eat. While a table with two kids isn't always well received, we felt totally welcome here. Our server was wonderful and attentive and even interacted with our daughter and was interested in the game she was playing. The service was amazing, the food was delicious. We had the squid appetizer to share (would definitely recommend.) The kids menu has great options, better than most I've seen at other restaurants with sliced avocado, yam fries and cucumber cut perfectly for little mouths. I had a few sushi rolls and my husband had the halibut fish and chips. Others at our table ordered the Miyagi Caeser and the prawns were delicious. I will most definitely be returning here again. This place is a gem. read more

Outstanding! We had the fighting Buddha rolls, Hookah and Bombay. They were the best sushi we've ever had - and we've eaten a lot of sushi. The seafood jambalaya sounded so good we shared a serving of that too. Also outstanding! Ambiance was nice, service was great. Would highly recommend this restaurant! read more

Amazing food and service when we went here just before Covid can't wait for normal meal there again

Great food and fun atmosphere! Would recommend trying to sit on the main level - better view! read more

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I was craving Tempura and Miso soup decided to try this place Huge disappointment! Extremely loud, nothing to buffer the noise of other dinners so having a conversation with the person across from you was impossible I got greasy fried veggies with no tempura batter on them. The Miso soup was made from a package, as I had dried soup mix sitting at the bottom of the bowl. Would never go here again even if I was given a free meal. read more

Change your hours of operation on here, i drove a ways to find out youre not open until 10 tonight as per yelp infact youre closed at 9, and i was told to leave. read more

We went in with high expectations as they had good reviews on google, but our experience was anything but that. The waitress was nice at first when she seated us. It took quite awhile to get our glasses of water. We had a celiac in our group and she told the waitress that hers needed to be gluten free. The waitress did not respond so I commented that it needed to be gluten free and the says "yup". So when our meals come the manager (I think) came out and said that the burger that was ordered was not gluten free and they would bring her a chicken breast. They never asked her if that was what she wanted or if she would rather order something else. When they brought the chicken breast it was not to her liking at all, and she couldn't even eat it. When the bill came we thought her meal would be free but it wasn't, she was given 25% off her meal. When they talked to the waitress about it she said she was not told it was to be gluten free, just that she didn't want the burger bun, so they discounted her meal 25%. When we tried to tell her what we all said, the waitress just turned around and said she wasn't going to argue about it. She reprinted the bill and came back once again and said she wasn't told about gluten free and they take gluten allergies/ celiac very seriously and when we went to tell her again that two of us told her it had to be gluten free, she just turned around and said she wasn't going to argue about it. She would not even let us talk, she just stormed away. Very unprofessional and the whole experience by her tainted our visit. The rest of us enjoyed our meals but will never go back there having been treated like that. Tracy read more

Good great building but missing something inside. Food ok. sushi decent. Just want it to be better. Guess I've heard so many good things I expected more read more

Absolutely amazing food and service. Great atmosphere and location. Fast service and excellent staff. Would recommend to anybody.

Everyone in Nanaimo talks about the Firehouse Grill, people in Nanaimo seem to think it is the place to dine. Maybe that is why my family and I are so disappointed. The decor is semi modern with a hint of Ikea, but is on the trendy side for Nanaimo. The menu is divided into appetizers, sandwiches, salads and entrees and a separate side menu for Sushi. The menu is filled with middle of the road restaurant fair, such as pulled pork sandwich, beef and chicken burgers, fish and chips, chicken and pasta, oh, and sushi... After seating we patiently waited 15 minutes before being notice or approached by our waiter. From the now memorized menu I ordered the stuffed chicken, which wasn't amazing but good none the less. My son requested a sushi bowl and my husband asked for the battered Salmon and Chips. After ordering Chris vanished for another twenty minutes or so leaving us both dry and parched. Upon our waiters eventual return we were advised that our dinner would only be another two more minutes. Instantly seizing on the limited opportunities to interact with our server us we quickly ordered a couple glass of vino and settled in for a continued wait. 15 minutes later we received our wine and 5 minutes there after we finally blessed our food. My chicken dish was barley warm, my husband's dish consisted of cold fries, warm coleslaw and 2 pieces of over fired fish. Our waiter was nowhere to be seen, I had a feeling he was not coming back until it was time to clear plates. My husband had to get out of his seat and walk up to the bar and tell someone that is dinner was not right. I had to even go up to the bar to get the water jug to refill our waters. I was very disappointed with the Firehouse Grill, especially how some of the locals rave about it. I can honestly say I would not return. read more

new to the area and ventured in I/we did ,.... . upon entering waiting little for a host to seat us three , I personally liked the venues looks overall entrance impression is a clean trady style to it the hostess was very personable easy attitude made us all feel welcomed We were sat into one of the booths and enjoyed the service we recieved the waitress came back and took our order appies we ordered a few the fries a little too greasy for my taste , the wings were great simple and tasty and rib appy as well enjoyed I personally had thier volcano roll as well as other house (similair to a dragon roll ) roll specails and found it presented visually well but too much accent on the sauces ( which were in itself very good , just excesssivly applied ) , I love sashmi and such but woud have enjoyed thier rolls alot more with a little less overkill on them my guests went for a pasta but she was disapointed as it came to the table presented well but seemed to have little for flavour , I believe Bland was her descpition of it her companion had the pulled pork sandwich which he enjoyed it all . one side note ladies washroom I was told was ridiculously small , if you are a BBW you may feel a little closed in overall and with time and I'm sure this venue will endure, they have a nice overall presentation just continue to improve price a little rich for really what is offered even if you compared it to any jap/fusion style restaurant in vancouver would be less thier creative use and obvious pride in thier sauces seems to be thier way of justifying i guess the cost here for the three of us it cost over $ 100 without drinks 2 appies wings , dry garlic ribs 3 house specailty rolls volcano ,fighting budda , ceasar ( great coutons ,dressing bland ) pasta chicken afredo i believe 2 coffees and a PEPSI no Coke product here given thier is not much in this style in nanaimo I will give it three stars for here if this was in van no more then a 2 1/2 read more

My wife and I went there on a Friday evening and about half the tables were empty almost all with reservation signs. We were seated and gave our order. Both of us have eaten here before and my wife had had the Halibut and Chips which she had raved about. So we both ordered this dish and since I had had the Prawns Tempura before, we decided to order them again as an appetizer. What a disappointment! What came were six soggy shrimp dipped in what appeared to be fish batter. They were awful. When we were there a month previously I was served properly tempura battered large prawns. We were then served our fish and chips which lived up to my wife's billing except that the fish portion was very small. Very good but not much there. On our previous visit the fish piece was much larger. I mentioned this to the server although she had gone and talked to the manager no adjustment was made to the bill. Also on the previous visit I had had the sushi which appeared to be made out of rice that had been prepared much earlier; not unlike sushi that is sold in supermarkets. Our server was attentive except she had too many tables to serve which made our service slow but was not really her fault. The reserved tables had filled up by the time we were finished our meal and the added tables really slowed the service. I am older and really felt that the poor food was fueled by the efforts of management to appeal to a younger crowd. I am of the opinion that there is age discrimination here as well as in other restaurants in Nanaimo. I have not experienced this elsewhere. The bill including tax and tip came to $92.00. Way too much for what we got. read more

The firehouse is one of my favourite sushi places in town. The food is great, the service I have found to be hit or miss. My one complaint about the restaurant is, don't expect to be able to show up with no reservation and get in (that night) I worked in the restaurant industry for many years and the places I worked always ensured there was enough room to ensure that walk ins would be accepted. More power to them for being able to sell out most nights on reservations but its a pain in the butt if you are in the area and want to sit down. read more

I was pleased with their creativity around vegetarian sushis. Delicious combinations of avocados, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, shitake mushrooms and flavorfull sauces. I will go back for sure next time I am in Nanaimo. read more

Our meal at the Firehouse Grill was very enjoyable. An eclectic menu of western and Japanese fare. We stuck with Japanese and went with the chef's special platter. Most of it was pretty good. One roll was a bit heavy on cilantro and light on fish, which isn't my favorite combination. Overall the rolls were a fun take on Japanese and I would go again to see what kind of rolls they would come up with next time. read more

Worst food and service I have ever had. Went here with some friends. It took over an hour to get our sushi and miso soup. The soup was ice cold. Asked for it to be heated up and 10 minutes later it arrived back still cold. The sushi was horrible as well. Would not even send my enemies to this place. It's that bad. read more

Sadly for me, I'm not a big fan of sushi. Being that this is a sushi joint, the sushi I have had was really good. But I was thoroughly impressed with the more conventional north American food I ate here. I'll deffinently come back. read more

The food was flipping awesome, the stuffed avocados were absolutely killer. All the other plates at the table looked really good, like there was time & attention put into all of them. Great spices and awesome flavour. read more

Good food and neat atmosphere. Good portions and quality forbthe cost. Not an everyday dinner place but nice treat ince and a while

Awesome food. Great atmosphere. Great service and reasonably priced. Will definitely make this s regular restaurant yo visit.

Everyone rants and raves that firehouse has the best sushi in town, disagree, sushi is on par with going to the grocery store, nothing to sneeze on, it gave me the trots and had no flavour, won't be back read more

I love the food, especially the hookah roll! Have been to the firehouse grill quite a few times there and would return. Haven't always had the most pleasant service though. Good thing the food is just that good.. read more

We were excited to try this restaurant after reading the reviews however we were very disappointed. When we first entered the restaurant we noticed there was a lot of flies. We then ordered our food which was the chowder, crab cakes and fish and chips. The chowder had way too much black pepper and crab cakes were overwhelming with onions. You couldn't taste the seafood in either of them. When the fish and chips came the fries were cold and rubbery but the fish (both types) was very fresh. read more

Amazing servers and amazing chefs ! For such a small space and the amount of people that cycle through I have nothing but awe . Will return again and again . Highly recommended . read more

Excellent food. Nice view. The volcano sushi was great. The burgers were delicious and the local beers were nice. Service was very friendly and efficient. read more

Went to Firehouse Grill on a Sunday night, hoping to get some sushi. The ambiance was very nice, and it seemed like a cool place. When we arrived, we were greeted in a pleasant manner. Our Server was very nice...however, the service and the food was not. It took a while to get our drinks (not a big deal). A few of us ordered a miso soup appetizer. When it finally came (it took close to 25 minutes), all of our soups were cold. Our server took them back to get 're-heated'. They came back cold. She was nice enough to take them off our bill. The entrees took close to an hour to arrive. The restaurant was not all that busy (there were a few tables and one large party which were finishing dessert when we sat down). We eventually got our food after 50 minutes of waiting, and were not all that impressed. The avocado on the Avocado Roll was brown, the rice was undercooked, and the cooks had plated the meals wrong (a vegetarian received a crab dish). We also did not receive napkins. All in all, we were not impressed with the food or speed of the service. For what we received, it was overpriced. Our entire party left hungry. If you're looking for sushi in Nanaimo, don't go to Firehouse Grill. read more

We were very disappointed me and my husband and our 1 year old son went here for my husbands birthday dinner , the hostess wasn't very friendly when we got to the booth it was dirty and my husband had to wipe off the seat before sitting down ( right in front of the hostess) no apology or offer to wipe the table then we asked for a high hair and she gave us a booster seat and didn't tell us they had two high chairs that weren't being used ( not impressed having to try and contain a squirmy 1year old in a booster seat with no buckle ) then gave the high chairs to the next two customers . Flies were flying around and swarming our table and food which grossed me out . Appetizer took atleast a half hour The food was okay nothing spectacular that's for sure .. Wouldn't go back read more

Came here with my dad. Creative sushi options made with fresh and delicious seafood. We both ordered the chef's choice (which we were told each plate would is different) and we were both incredibly impressed. This is a great sushi restaurant. Service was also very good. read more

Appies were pretty decent but I would stay away from their pasta entrées. I ordered the Basil Seafood Alfredo - the fettuccine was practically drowning in a soup of thin, diluted cream. They also used dried instead of fresh basil with no seasoning so everything was bland. The mediocre texture and flavor combined made for a very off-putting meal. We saw the kitchen put out a few other pasta dishes and sadly they all looked quite similar to mine so I don't think the one I received was an an anomaly. read more

My wife and I are on our Honeymoon from Los Angeles and we made a couple day trip out to the Island. We stopped by a local shop called the House of Indigo. I asked the nice lady Danielle what her local favorites were and she said if we were looking for sushi, Firehouse was the place to go. We took her advice and went there couple hours later for our first dinner on the island. We were blown away by the amount of rolls and the menu, and the quality of everything was top notch. The Fighting Buddah and the Godfather was ridiculously good. Sushi with Lox is such a winning combination. The service was great, all the girls were smiling and nice and their selection of Granville Brewing beers were awesome. I think we may go back tomorrow night, because everything was so good. read more

My family came into Nanaimo on May 31. Found that a lot of restaurants close early on Monday nights 6pm or 8pm. After search and searching for a place to eat on Yelp we found a brochure in our hotel that recommended the Firehouse Grill. What a great find and they were open later on Mondays. This place is in a former fire station. I was traveling with my wife and teenage children. I had the seafood jambalaya which was very good. My wife had the mushroom soup and the fire and ice chicken salad. She loved both. My son had the seafood Alfredo, which he said was very good as well. Now my daughter is very picky and when we saw the menu on line we saw they had garlic shrimp but when we got there, it was no limber on the menu. But our waitress was super nice and made a Side order you can get with your meal as her main course. She loved it so much she had seconds. I would highly recommend this place if you,get a chance. read more

our hostess and first waitress were very nice. the atmosphere sucked so bad. so loud and crowded. our first very nice waitress moved us to a quieter location in the restaurant. then we got our second waitress, who was friendly until i mentioned im vegan. then she got very condescending and sort of offended that i was vegan. even though i've heard everywhere they serve vegan sushi. my omnivorous family enjoyed their meals. the sushi roll i got was quite nice though i can't see myself spending that much on sushi that won't make me full again. read more

the hubby and I went on multiple recommendations from friends, and we are glad we did. The chowder was my favorite, I wish i could buy it, freeze it, and bring it home! Environment is not cookie cutter "fancy" (ie. cactus club, earls ETC) but doesnt need the cheap wannabe suave decor. Its fun, doesnt take itself too seriously, and was in general aesthetically pleasing. Friendly waitresses, but a little disoriented and rushed without reason. Even though we were there on a slow night, as if they were just trying to get us out ASAP every time they came to the table. read more

Arguably the best sushi place in Nanaimo, but the service is slow and the water never has ice. Parking is limited and I would recommend walking or taking transit if you can. read more

Awesome food! We asked them just to surprise us and the sushi was awesome! I brought My 4 year old picky eater and they did a great job accomadating him! read more