We can't really recommend eating at the Poets Cove Resort's 2 restaurants. Despite our server saying the food is "awesome," the food is only okay. The AURORA restaurant on site is only open for breakfast. The SYRENS restaurant located downstairs is open from 12 noon to 8:30 p.m. for lunch and dinner. We didn't try Aurora. There are only a few tables at the restaurant. Likely because it is not that popular. As for Syrens, we went only once and that was it for us. We tried the Saltspring Island mussels dish and the seafood chowder. The white broth in each did not have a ton of flavor. The people sitting behind us said the fish and chips are good. Instead of eating either at Aurora or Syrens, we would recommend staying at one of the cottages situated on the resort's property as each cottage has a fully equipped kitchen and a barbecue. Bring and prepare one's own food. Particularly as there is a definite shortage of good food options on the island. As we were staying in one of the resort's hotel rooms in the main building, we preferred driving to the Copper Otter Bar & Grill to eat. The Copper Otter is located at the small shopping center on Pender Island. The Copper Otter Bar & Grill, on the days we went, was really busy for lunch and for dinner. Seems to be the place to eat at on the island. Next door to the Copper Otter is The Vanilla Leaf Bakery Cafe which was busy for coffee and pastries. read more

We really enjoyed our drinks, appetizers and soup. Dinner was pretty good but what really.stood out is the staff, our waiter really went out of his way to make this a great experience. Shout out to our waiter Sebastian. read more

We love good food. We travel with our stomachs. This place was way above expectation! Was here on a Tuesday. Turns out Taco Tuesday so ordered one of each and a clam chowder. Everything seemed done with fresh ingredients. Over filled tacos, of 3 types, cod, curried cauliflower, and a chorizo potato. Could not decide which was better. Each were great. Pair that with an excellent clam chowder and it was a hit. You can tell the chowder was made from scratch, no bagged veggies here. Seasoning was fresh. It's a wonderful dinner when it far exceeds expectations, this was one of them. Add in the view and the service and it's a winner. Pender Island of all places. They live well here. Highly recommended. read more

Syrens Bistro - 3 types of Tacos. Clam chowder - Burgers Near Me - Pender Island, British Columbia

i was happy to see the Ancient Grain meal on your menu - it was great - one suggestion to the chef (s) - the radishes could be pickled and a little lemon or lime added to brighten it up - i used the lime from my drink!! thank you for the great experience - 8 friends visiting Pender Island for the week and this was a highlight. beautiful setting and great service read more

Great service and food. Came Tuesday evening around 6:00. No need for a reservation but there was about a 15 wait to get a patio table. Great sunset views. read more

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Loved this pub! Great patio, great service and the food was so yummy! The drink menu was decent and prices weren't too bad, glass of wine for $8! We ordered the Poke bowl and the Puttanesca pasta. The poke was delish! Tuna fresh and had all the fixings, wakame, avocado, cucumber etc...only critic is they used a basmati rice I believe or a long grain white. not sure but a sushi rice would have made it top notch. The pasta was delicious. It's a spicy tomato with capers, olives, tomatoes. I ordered it just as is but you can add a protein if you wanted. The sauce was so tasty, not too spicy at all and the bread was perfect. The outside dining was so nice, great ambience and lovely water view. read more

Syrens Bistro - Puttanesca pasta - Burgers Near Me - Pender Island, British Columbia

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This is no longer a pub. It's now an amazingly lovely experience with truly exquisite food and drink. The menu offered so many tempting choices. We enjoyed the mezcal margaritas (w/spicy rim) and just the right amount of mango. And the ahi poké nachos!!! Delicious AND beautiful. A mountain of light and crispy wontons, excellently prepared poké, drizzled with a wasabi sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Our table mates enjoyed the calamari - raved about it, in fact. Best they'd ever eaten. Service was perfection. I can't recall our server's name - dark haired woman on the patio who chatted with us about wet suit etiquette. And yes, the view really is fantastic. We will travel wayyyyy out of our way to visit Syrens whenever we can. read more

The service is not customer-sentric. Not accommodating. This didn't encourage us to order dinner, stayed with a drink and snack, and we moved on. You need to prepare for difficult descent down to the restaurant. There is an elevator, but it still leaves you with a little hike. Important to know if you have limited mobility. I'm not a fan. read more

Delicious food and great drinks! Friendly staff and a great vibe, though there weren't many there when we dined. We stayed in the marina and came up for a lovely family dinner. The menu has a good variety of creative dishes, and the specialty drinks menu does a wonderful job of explaining unusual and culturally inspired cocktails. read more

* Nice view - but clumsy * This spot holds true to the old rule about the restaurants with the best views tend not to have the best food. The view, being nestled in Poet's Cove surrounded by water and distant islands, was the highlight: http://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/5W6YS6rZaO0VYs7h0AoNCA?select=65NMWQaQ4XwlbzE95IW2TA The setting overall is the feel of a pub plopped down into a marina with a nice view staffed by friendly servers who are rather inexperienced and a bit clumsy with their service paralleling the slightly clumsy food preparation by the kitchen. On to the food.... The grilled tuna burger had two pieces of tuna which had a bit of a clumsy portioning so that one was much thicker than the other. As you may imagine this resulted in one being underdone and one being overdone. Big surprise. The fish was fresh at least. It was served on a bun which was nice, although perhaps a bit too bready with lettuce, tomato, and an avocado spread. I think the avocado spread may have been made too far in advance as it was starting to turn slightly brown giving a clumsy feel to the overall burger. Photo: http://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/5W6YS6rZaO0VYs7h0AoNCA?select=kAxHu_RzmUpzTFHxTGh7XQ It came with your choice of salad or soup (we had one of each). The salad was a fairly standard supermarket quality mixed green with an overabundance of carrot shavings. It was a nice balsamic based dressing, but clumsily dressed with some parts being entirely dry and some soaking in the excessive dressing pooled under the greens. Photo: http://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/5W6YS6rZaO0VYs7h0AoNCA?select=d1UZ8BnxSy63BkTxa06Mkg The soup was the best dish. It had a rich tomato flavour and a nice thickness to it. The plating was a bit clumsy with a chip on the side of the plate and soup that sloshed around a bit too much without being cleaned up. Still overall the best dish: http://www.yelp.ca/biz_photos/5W6YS6rZaO0VYs7h0AoNCA?select=Pf_jpyvphsC7qVfUGx6yhQ Service was friendly, but clumsy in many ways (no water refills, no drink refills offered, plates put down somewhat roughly, no pepper offered, no cutlery given without request, etc.). I got the impression the waitress was seasonal help that had not been given much training at all. Overall a nice view, but I wouldn't rush back for the clumsy food and service! read more

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service was a little slow each time I've been here but they all look like they're working hard.. I think the last time I was here the server was a little scatterbrained but whatever.. ordered pizza this time - the meatatarian was good but the seafood one was too seafoody darts are fun to play and they have 2 boards.. I'd suggest some wipes or at least easily-available napkins by the darts because I couldn't grab the bar staff's attention so we just used the other board.. no biggie. hoyne dark matter is a really great beer on tap. truffle fries are bomb with lemony tartar-sauce-like dip, but now I'm describing it it doesn't sound so great.. whatev. read more

Syrens Bistro - late photo of the truffle fries - Burgers Near Me - Pender Island, British Columbia

This place is actually amazing! Great value for money, excellent food, and the service was awesome too. We had a really nice tall gentleman serve us at the bar, and the manager even came over to introduce herself and shook our hands. We felt totally comfortable there, wine list could be a bit better but the manager said that she is working on it. I would highly recommend stopping into Syrens. I'm looking forward to the restaurant upstairs opening for dinner in the summer. We will be back on our next trip to Pender. They also have a wicked Happy Hour and serve off sales for the boats and rooms. They were so kind to accommodate any kind of dietary needs. I wanted the seafood fettucine but they had ran out of gluten-free pasta, so they made it for me with rice! It was freaking delicious! read more

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The absolute best Jerk Chicken burger I've ever had. Also lovely calamari. Their fry cook is amazing. Unbelievable sunset view on their patio. Will absolutely be back when I'm next on Pender. read more

The food was surprisingly good here. Found out there's new chef that has improved things. The cheesecake was the best dessert. The Tuna tartar appetizer was very good too. read more

Solid food. Excellent location. Friendly but slightly overwhelmed service. Really solid pub food on the waterfront. Very accommodating to children, while keeping us comfortably separated from the adult tables. Fish tacos, burgers and fries were all above average for this kind of venue. The real star was the tuna tartare. Very well prepared and presented. Recommended. read more

Food was pretty good but the views were even better. Make sure to get a table on the patio. We ordered the salmon bowl and halibut special. We also tried the poke nachos. My salmon bowl felt like it could have used something more for flavour or for colour as it was a very green-coloured plate but everything tasted good. The halibut was delicious. One suggestion for the poke nachos is maybe remove the napkin at the bottom of the plate? I almost ate some of it by accident! But it was good. read more

Great place to relax and have a drink... Casual and not a ton of pressure. Servers gave great recommendations and sangria and specials were tasty. The yam fries were very good, though the chipoltle mayo (described as ghost chili mayo) was not spicy at all, and came not as the appetizer, but after the entrees were consumed. In Sumner, the yellowjackets can be aggressive on the patio... The restaurant is doing it's best to combat, but keep in mind. Good food - a good basic place on the island. read more

The three-star overall rating of Syrens is pretty accurate. It's true that the view is lovely, but I wouldn't make a trip over to Poet's Cove just to eat here. My husband and I had a few meals here while staying at Poet's Cove, and the meals were fine but nothing exceptional. I tried the butter chicken and the margarita pizza. There wasn't much chicken in the butter chicken and I left a little hungry, and the pizza was great but missing the basil pesto listed on the menu. Like many restaurants located in hotels (especially ones with few dining options in the area), the prices were a little high for the amount of food we got. Our service was fairly average, but we were able to buy some off-sale beer at the bar to take back to our room at an excellent price. Syrens isn't bad if you're already at Poet's Cove, but the other food options we tried on the island were much better. read more

Great food! We were able to make same day reservations for a party of 8 and 2 babies. They accommodated us for some dietary restrictions with such an easy going attitude. Food arrived quickly and all of it was great. Beautiful view too. A great way to finish our family vacation. read more

Not at all what we were expecting! We went for our wedding anniversary. When we found the patio was fully reserved they tried sitting us at an old filthy table with sagging chairs and surround by leaf debris. We went inside to eat. Service was so-so. There were plenty of staff not doing much. Buffet was not worth $22 a plate and only included butter chicken, small veggie samosas, curried veggie, white balsamic rice, Dahl and the usual naam bread and Crispy Pompadom. We ordered from the regular menu. Hubby started with seafood chowder which by far was the worse either of us have ever tasted. Bland, bland, bland with more flour for thickening than we've ever experienced. I started with the Oyster Tacos - 2 soft tacos with Two very small oysters for $12! My lamb burger was fine and hubby's fish and chips was so-so. 2 beer, 1 glass of wine and 1 cocktail it came to $95. With a merger tip. Frankly I wish we'd gone to our local pub in Port Browning. The food is ALWAYS great, the view is great, the price is great and although service can sometimes take time, you can see that the servers are hustling as fast as they can. It's a warm, welcoming atmosphere. read more

Great pub food but yikes, be careful how much you order. Wife and I ordered the sweet potato fries, poutine, calamari, house salad, and a house soup. The portions are large and we could not finish all that we ordered. Food was tasty but due to the large portion size the taste became less as our stomachs became fuller. We ordered enough to comfortably feed four! Views are great and service so-so. Prices about average. Would return but order way less! read more

This place must be owned by a corporation as no proprietor could possibly stand for such poor execution or unfriendliness. Granted the entire resort is run by summertime help who want to earn an honest buck but they are hardly trained or prepared for prime time. I witnessed this half-full restaurant turning away customers as the staff were overwhelmed. The building is gorgeous and well kept. The view is stunning and the overall atmosphere of the place is quite good. It so disappointing that it is not managed well. read more

I came here hungry after a day sailing with friends and made a major mistake of thinking I would actually get a proper meal at Syrens Bistro. The service was clumsy, the knowledge of the menu by the server was nonexistent, and the meal was substandard at best. I ordered the lasagna thinking it would be voluminous, in fact I inquired first and the server shrugged her shoulders and said she thinks it would "be okay"... however it was not; the portion was the smallest piece of food I had ever ordered in my life. For just under $16 (taxes in) I would expect to get fed. The piece I was given covered less surface area than 6 loonies. The taste was on par with Costco lasagna, tasty, but certainly not worth $16 for the sliver. The server was unsympathetic when I asked her where the other half of the portion was, especially since I asked first. I talked to management the next day and the lady I talked to had to be the biggest dolt I ever talked with. Her argument was that it was quality not quantity, I told her it was a pub not a fine dining establishment and it was lasagna, not some exotic dish. I understand marina based establishments need to pinch pennies and watch the bottom line, however this place certainly has the aura of a failing business and the attitude of the staff and management should not be rewarded with repeat business. I was so appalled and felt so let down by the encounter with management that I canceled a planned trip back there, to Poets Cove, and went to Ganges instead the next week. My friends had typical pub food, burgers and fries and they thought it was okay but nothing to write home about, in fact the bread was stale on their burgers. It was a Sunday evening near the end of August and the place was as dead as doornails, only one other table was there being served and I heard them complaining too. If you have to go to Poets Cove I suggest you walk or take a taxi to Port Browning or elsewhere for a much better tasting and much better value meal and much better atmosphere. read more

Syrens Bistro - Rip-off $16 lasagna with mini salad. Poor value and taste on par with costco (but not in the mini-portion size given at Syrens) - Burgers Near Me - Pender Island, British Columbia

Worst value on the west coast, I had the lasagna and mini salad that comes with it... the quality was comparable to Costco lasagna but the portion relative was so small (roughly the size of four twoonies but at a crazy price) I went to my boat and had dinner after. The service was slow, clumsy and very unknowedgable regarding the product as I asked ahead of time if the lasagna was enough to satisfy a normal healthy male -- it was not anywhere close. The management was unresponsive and rude when I bought the situation to their attention. As my Latin friend says "Cavet Emptor"! read more