Great blend of a serious player yet music, ambience, and a real Player owner at the establishment.read more

Great vibe, service, drinks and pool. Terrible pizza, though. Not only is it grossly overpriced…read more It's really bad. They need to step up their pizza game. Otherwise a winner.

Cool old dive bar / hotel saloon. Not a hipster dive bar, but a barfly bar…read more There is a weekly meat raffle where you actually win meat if your name is drawn from the hat. Awesome. CASH ONLY.

Teddy Roosevelt once got punched by a Canadian hooker here. There's a dancing pole that's reserved…read moreespecially for Ryan Reynolds's character Deadpool. Nice patio out back.

Service and food was horrible! Spent 450.00 on our family…read moredinner and was very disappointed. We will not be back.

I was really disappointed in the food when we visited. The service is excellent, the ambiance, open…read moreand cheery, and the beer, no complaints whatsoever. Back to the food, both my wife and I were not happy. I had fish and chips, and the fries were fine, but the fish, was soft and mushy, not the least bit firm and flaky. I'm not a big fan of soft, white fish, but this was cod. It may have been hake, which is technically, cod. I actually complained, which I never do, it was that bad, but they brought me more of the same mushy fish. It seemed there was more batter than fish, and while the batter tasted, the small amount of mush fish stuck to it. The absolute worst fish and chips I have ever eaten. I scraped off most of the batter, and tried to reclaim some more mush. Overall, very bad food experience. My wife was not thrilled with her food either, but I forget what she ordered. Dave S

This Is one of the best restaurants I have been to in nanaimo. The decor is awesome. The couches…read moremake me feel at home. The service is the best I have ever had. Yes the menu is huge, but it's a good read! Paul was amazing, instead of picking off the menu he just asked what kind of meat I wanted and he did the rest. The kangaroo was amazing! Everything was so well prepared! Tip: try the Pharaoh cocktail, sooo good. Also I don't like coffee but when I have it it's with cream and sugar.....stay for coffee at the end of your meal, with no milk, it's a blend of 3 different beans and it's so yummy! The previous review on this place should be erased... How can you even put a review on a place you didn't even go into, live a little! yes the menu is intimidating but Paul makes it easy. Try it, u won't regret it!

This is by far the WORST restaurant I have ever been to. Allow me to recount …read more.. My friend took me here because she had been told by a few people that it was a Nanaimo gem. We walked into the 'restaurant' and were immediately greeted by an unpleasant odor. The room was decorated with both office furniture and mismatched sofas from the 80's. We were a little surprised, but decided to take an office chair by the window. Paul (the owner) greeted us and gave us some plastic menus as well as a few copies of his poetry books to browse. In between fits of giggles, we couldn't help but notice that the entire room was covered in dust, dirt and food particles (some of which I had to wipe off my seat before taking it). We sort of shrugged and thought 'well maybe it's one of those quirky places that are slightly sketchy but serve the most amazing food' ... Paul insisted that we choose a meat; lamb, chicken, beef or pork, and he would make us a special curried dinner. He brought over glasses of ice water crusted with food particles, some of which floated amongst the ice cubes and our glasses of wine, also sprinkled with a few complimentary crumbs. We managed to fish out most of the debris and take a few sips when our food came. My underdone and very pink lamb swam in a pool of watery instant rice while my friends' beef took some serious elbow grease to cut through and even more to chew. The veggies were covered in jarred salsa and peppered with a generic italian seasoning mix. After peeling off the VEGGIE STICKER from my yam and taking a few tentative bites, I decided to switch and try the noodles. Rice and noodles!? Yup. They were covered in this strange mayo, peanut, mustard sauce and totally inedible. There were but two choices: RUN or, ask if we could have our bill, gently explain that the food was abysmal and leave. We chose the latter and after still being charged $30 (my friend is a very kind person and paid as I opened my mouth to say we weren't paying a cent) we RAN!! I would like the epilogue this novel by saying that I do know what I am talking about, food-wise. Seven years in the service industry will do that, and although I can be a bit food snobby, I love to experience new and interesting food, even if the atmosphere is a little grotty. This was scary. Avoid at ALL costs

The only real nightclub experience in Nanaimo. The…read morebartenders and bussers are always grooving while they work and the DJs really know what they are doing. It's a place for drinking and dancing and having fun; nothing else: No food. No darts. No pool table. It's a real deal dance party.

Absolute garbage club, the dance floor is the size of a closet, mediocre performers, drinks are…read moreterrible, service is slow, and the bouncers are not friendly at all. Do not recommend.

Discovering another gem in downtown Nanaimo Modern café is nestled in a heritage site built in…read more1910. They bring a fresh twist to classic comfort food using locally sourced ingredients. We stopped by for brunch and indulged in the Modern Acai Berry Bowl ($16) and the Modern Breakfast ($18). Whether you're in the mood for brunch, lunch, or dinner, this all-day dining lounge has something for everyone. Don't miss out on this unique spot! The Modern Cafe 221 Commercial St, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5GB 11:30-9pm (open till 10 on weekends) Food Parking 4.5/5 Service 4/5 Ambiance 5/5

I was visiting Nanaimo for the first time and had brunch here with a large group, it wasn't super…read morebusy and I appreciated the service. I thought it was a decent brunch place however felt that the dish was a bit heavy -- big portion though. The duck while there was a decent amount in the hash, didn't have anything special to it and tasted like a regular pulled meat. I did like the addition of pineapple as that was something I hadn't seen before and the potatoes were pretty good! Overall, for the price point ($26), it's definitely not a go-to for me if I lived in the area however it's a nice spot to visit if you're on the island for a getaway.

The Oxy is a classic! Although they sold the pool table to make it through Covid :( great staff,…read moreand great patrons full of stories! Food menu is good, but if you're over 50 and get the poutine, have some tums ready...

My First Friend and I decided to check out Oxy last night. It used to be a venerable watering hole…read morein a hotel called the Occidental. We'd heard it had been renovated recently and wanted to see what it was like. Our waitress was very friendly and helpful, and got my FF's drink order spot on. We ordered a couple of half-price appys - onion rings and vegetable samosas - and a couple of entrees - a Reuben sandwich and a rib-eye steak sandwich. Everything that was deep-fried was a little too soggy with oil for my taste, and the Reuben could have used some real Swiss cheese instead of processed, but the steak was tasty and the fries were good. Standard pub fare, really, but that's not what folks come to the Oxy for. What they *do* come for is the atmosphere and camaraderie. There was a good mix of younger college folks with more mature types like ourselves, all very friendly and looking to have a good time. We specifically came for the karaoke and were not disappointed; the DJ was friendly and never overbearing, only singing one song himself, and his selection was the best I'd seen in Nanaimo so far. All in all, a fine time. Highly recommended, especially if you're looking for some karaoke on a Friday night. We'll be back.

We bought a new hot tub from Calais Spas a year ago. Have been back a few times to have water…read moretested-they do a free test for anyone, whether you bought your spa from them or from some-one else. Seem to be very helpful with any questions or problems we have had! Murray was a great salesman. He had all the answers to all our questions when we were buying the spa. Made us feel at ease more than the "eager" sales people at the other hot tub dealers we checked out before buying. Would recommend them to friends any time!

Dont deal with Darian. He is a jerk , gives you bad advise and then makes you feel like an idiot…read morewhen you do as he says. He has horrible customer service skills and should never deal with the public. Oh he will be nice to you until you spend $8000.00 then treats you like garbage.

This Casino is right downtown , so it's very conveniently located…read more It's much smaller than the ones around Vancouver. As with any casino, it's completely hit or miss. The previous time we were there it was so good! This time it was just ok...broke even which isn't bad. They have a coat check, but they won't take any bags... They also have a really nice, big clean ladies room. As always, don't bet (or even take with you) more then you can afford to lose. 3.5 stars

The only reason I am giving 2 star for the service is the blue shirt mustache control freak running…read morethe show! After being seated in this tiny table we asked to be moved to a booth, the young lady helping us said "No problem" then I noticed this blue shirt giving her shit for seating us there, where there were another two people parties seated there, too? The server under duress, walked up to us, as he watched, telling us if it got busy we would have to move to another table, WTF??? Before I give you the goods on the shitty food, I have to say that both female servers did an awesome job, and got tipped out over 30% for their service, which is my standards! The blue shirt wouldn't be working for me, if I owned a restaurant, as he has the wrong temperament for the trade!! Now the food, which was some of the worst food I have ever tasted at a Casino anywhere!! The wings were substandard, the beef dip was burnt and totally tasteless (signature item!) Ajus was crap!! I felt bad telling the young shorthaired server that her food she was serving tasted like shit, but I should have, she did table check accordingly, and did an awesome job, management material right there! Unfortunately, I should have gone to The Pantry or Gina's, as this is a sad flop!!!