For a number of years we have bought shaved salt ice here during our annual fishing trip out of…read moreGold River. For one whole tote, delivered to the parking area beside our boat, the price was $35 in the early 2000s. One tote was enough to fill 3 or 4 ice chests, plus a couple of fish lockers on the boat. In recent year the aged woman who runs the place has been accusing us of "stealing Ice" and has raised the price every year. In July 2023 she raised it to $150, and told us the commercial fishermen were complaining because they used their own totes???? She also insisted on cash payment, which we suspect went directly into her own pocket. Beware the Ice Nazi of French Creek! We, nor our fellow fishermen, will ever again stop there.

We recently moved to Parksville and were delighted to learn there is a fresh seafood store near us…read more This is my first yelp review and the one-star rating of this place prompted me to sign up for Yelp and proceed with this review. First visit we bought shrimp cakes. You know if you don't mix jello enough, there's a layer of thick rubber at the bottom? That's the consistency of the shrimp cakes. The next time I asked if the crab cakes were any different, and she said if you don't like the consistency of the shrimp cakes, you're not going to like the consistency of the crab cakes. Second visit was for halibut. Not fresh, but apparently flash frozen and cut the same day as it is sold. Was extremely watery, so...... Third visit is a charm - or not! Fresh sockeye salmon for $27.99 a pound. They were not deboned so I spent half an hour deboning four fillets. Of the four, one still had a section of bone attached to the side which had to be trimmed. One fillet had a large section of fat that had to be trimmed. There goes about $6. Thrifty's and Quality Foods has better seafood - just sayin....

Our second visit to Chameleons, and we couldn't be more glad that we returned. Our dinner…read moreexperience was tremendous again, and this place will be on our must do when in Parksville. Our dinner mates were unfortunately very much under the weather so we were dining just the two of us. The degree to which they take care of you is so spot on, the decor is subtle again with local artist works adorning the walls. There is no rush at all which we appreciate. The food was spot on again, my ribs fall off the bone, and the mashed potatoes so good. K's Chef's Special was also so good. Dessert again was the sticky date pudding with ice cream. Sublime? Until next time.

Food and service is always superb...never have had a bad dinner. My sister and brother in law from…read morethe mainland say it is the best.

Maggie's Fish and Chips serves up absolutely stellar top notch fish and chips. The batter is thin…read moreand crispy without being greasy. The portion of fish in each piece was quite substantial. Our party ordered cod, red snapper and Ling cod. Every piece was cooked to perfection; meaty and tastey. The fries were hand cut and fried perfectly. They stress fresh oil and wild caught fish is used to prepare the orders. I will definetly be going back to Maggie's because the quality is equal or exceeds Red Fin Blue Fin in Victoria. There are about maybe 10 to 12 tables and counter seating. Not a fancy restuarant because after all, it is a seafood store. Maggie is very friendly and there is a self serve water station. You order at the till and the food is brought to your table. She totally gets a two thumbs up from me.

We found this spot far from the waterfront and decided to try it. Wow am I glad we did. The first…read moreindication that this was going to be good was the fact that they had a fresh fish market counter. We ordered Halibut fish n chips and was not disappointed, it was amazing. Maggie came to our table and made sure we were happy, she was great! I love supporting businesses like this, they have a quality product and are passionate about what they do. You won't get a waterfront view but you will get the best fish n chips in town.

Had everything we needed. Rib eye steaks sweet corn, and salad mix. Got in , shopped and got out…read more Lots of parking too

It's a good market for a small town. Found everything we…read morewere looking for quickly. Veggy department is good. All the staples there Pricing is fairly reasonable for peak of the summer tourism season. Parking is available. Good to find a supermarket of this quality in Parksville

The only gluten-free options they had was salad and nachos. They asked if I wanted jalapeño peppers…read moreon the nachos and I said no thank you. A very small plate of nachos came complete with the jalapeños and lacking cutlery to remove them. The chips were mostly burnt. I like grocery shopping there, but will not return to the restaurant upstairs.

I am so, so annoyed. I bought some of the sausage on appy hour from the deli department only to…read morerealize after I cooked it that it was 6 days past due. Whatever, that's my bad, I'm not upset about that, accidents happen. I tried to call customer service to let them know what happened and sat on hold for just over 5 minutes before I hung up and tried to reach the deli department. They answered the phone after quite a while and IMMEDIATELY hung up. Just picked up the phone and set it down. That is what made me so mad. I tried customer service again and same thing, no answer just waiting on hold. Finally I called the bakery. I figured they're at least close enough to the deli that they can at least run over and let them know they have spoilt sausages mixed in with the good ones. Thank you bakery!

Honestly one of the best fish & chips I've had. The batter is crispy, tasty and light. Portions are…read moresizable to share amongst 2. The quality of the fish is fresh and supple. The slaw is pretty standard but favorite had to be the rich tartar sauce. Pipers pale ale was also tip top and fulfilling after a great morning of hiking and outdoors.

Vacationing in BC, we are in parks ville and had a hankering for seafood. The halibut sandwich I…read morewas told by the hubs was good. Jambalaya shrimp was missing flavors and salt. The parmesan linguine was meh. Missing some flavors in my opinion. Chicken was braded and topped with 3 type of cheese, cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella. Chicken tenders were ok. Would I recommend this place? Probably not unless there's nothing around.

Great food service by Jetson . Our first time and we really love the shrimp so tender. Steak and…read morelamg shank was excellent

What a great meal, with exceptional service! They were kind enough to seat us a little late in the…read moreservice as two of our guests were from out of town and could only get there for a 7 PM reservation. The place is a round log frame building that is quite spectacular inside of you are a log fan. This time of year in Parksville is pretty quiet, most places make hay in the summer and shutter for the slow season All of our food was delicious, prepared with care. Now to be fair there was hardly anyone in the place other than us five, so the kitchen wasn't slammed with people. That all said we enjoyed a wonderful, if somewhat pricey dinner, that would bring us back again!

Not what I thought it would be…read more It definitely exceeded my preconceptions. It's right along the Island Highway and hard to miss. Wanting a bite, so in we came. Just simply looking at the exterior, the place appeared to be a pub. The signage says the same thing! I later find out that it's split into two. A pub side and a restaurant side, separated from each other. You wouldn't have guessed that at all. The restaurant side is a bit more upscale and has nicer decor for a sit down meal. Great view of the beach is a bonus! Friendly service and decent food.

Not good. My husband and I went for an anniversary lunch…read more He had the mussels, they were very small and five were empty shells. They were rubbery and the wine sauce was tasteless. I had lobster Mac and cheese. There was hardly any lobster and it tasted like canned substitute, the Mac was not in a good cheese sauce (like it was a few years back) in fact there was no sauce at all. There was a thick layer of marble cheese melted on the top, which made it very greasy although it was still somehow dry. Very disappointed, we had our first date there and return each year. This is the last year though.

After staying here in December and loving the hotel and the surrounding area, we stayed again on…read morebusiness a couple of days ago. Our dinner in December was a mixture of excellent service and very average food. This time we ate dinner elsewhere but stopped in for breakfast on our departure day, and boy do we wish we hadn't. The lovely K was on a call so I went down and ordered our breakfasts, she poached soft eggs, me sunny up. Both crispy bacon, potatoes and toast. We were the only people in the place at 9:40 AM which should be an obvious red flag. Our previous experience had me concerned, but our timeline dictated it was this place or nothing until the ferry, which is not really an option either. The crispy bacon was fatty and swimming in bacon grease, the potatoes tasted off, the poached eggs very nice, my sunny up had a good skin on them, obviously under the warmer while eggs were poached. The toast almost crumbled when bitten into. Peanut butter and jam were asked for, and delivered. The peanut butter was fine, but the jam was so runny it wouldn't stick to the knife. I ate the eggs and the toast and left everything else as did K. I can't express how bad it was. Our waitress was out setting tables in the attached tent while people waited to be sat. One gentleman actually sat himself, I mentioned he may want to go elsewhere. Hated to do that, but........ We spoke to our server and she was very apologetic, and it looked like the apology was a common refrain. We will for sure stay at the hotel again, but will not set foot in that restaurant again, I'd rather go hungry.

Don't Sleep on This Spot…read more Let me just start by saying: Thursday night at The Beach Club Restaurant might be my new favorite holiday. If you've never experienced their Prime Rib special, cancel your plans next Thursday and make a reservation. Seriously. I'll wait. From the moment we walked in, the vibe was pure vacation, chill, relaxed, and classy without being stuffy. The entire staff, including our server, were knowledgeable, friendly, and the kind of folks who makes you want to order everything they recommend... which I pretty much did. We kicked things off with oysters that tasted like they'd just been plucked from the ocean by Poseidon himself--so fresh and delicious. Drinks? Let's just say I every single one my husband and I had were refreshing and delicious. I'm not saying they were life-changing, but I am saying I briefly considered asking the bartender for career advice. Now, let's talk Prime Rib. It came out looking like a centerfold from a beef magazine, perfectly cooked and paired with a Yorkshire pudding that was so legit, I half expected a British grandmother to come out and give me a hug. Fluffy, golden, and big enough to qualify for its own zip code. Dessert? Of course we had dessert. At that point, I was basically committed. Beautifully presented and sinfully good, just like everything else. 10/10 would recommend. In fact, I already have. Don't sleep on this place. But if you do overeat (which you will), at least you'll sleep happy.

This is very close to where my parents live on the Island, and they introduced me to their…read morewonderful delicious cheese. I wanted to pick up some to take home, so we popped on by to grab some. It's located on a large Dairy Farm. They have many cheery looking buildings you can tour to see how they make the end product. We didn't have much time before we had to catch our Ferry, so I didn't check it out other then what was close to the store. There are many photo friendly places, and we took advantage of a few. Inside the store, besides the cheese, they had many miscellaneous items for sale. Resin & cedar coasters and cheeseboards for example. There are different flavoured cheeses to chose from. We purchased a Feta Garlic one and one called Herby. They were both very good. The Feta one was a stronger flavour and was a bit on the saltier side. The Herby was softer to spread, but lacked just a bit in terms of flavour. It was perfect when we mixed them together. In the past, I also tried a Cranberry one, which I would buy on my next visit. If you are in the area, be sure to check it out, and when shopping, look for the cheese as I believe it's sold in some Grocery stores.

A little gem of a place tucked away at the end of a residential area. Truthfully, my husband and I…read morewould have never known about it, if I had not searched for a list of must see places in the area. A working family farm, looks like you can visit all year-round and have a self-guided tour. We were able to walk around at our own pace and see all the different animals: the cows, the goats, rabbits, etc. I was the most fascinated with the robotic milking machine and the explanations of all the recent improvements to the place. There was a nearby play area and a cafe. We had plans for lunch so we stopped by the store to pick up some small blocks of cheese and happily discovered an extensive list of where we could purchase the cheeses closer to home. Overall, it is a good place to keep the young kids entertained for a couple of hours and introduce them to some farm animals in real live. It is also good for the adults to purchase different types of cheeses and have a chuckle over some of the amusing signage posted around the farm.