We came here for the Reuben and were not disappointed! Thankfully we decided to split the sandwich…read more(with fries) and added the Little Gem salad. Wow! What a great combination and great flavours! Plenty enough for lunch for two people. The meat on the Reuben was so juicy and flavourful and the Little Gem salad was amazing. We throughly enjoyed our meal. The service was great; quick, friendly and welcoming. I would definitely come here again when back in Nanaimo.

We had my mother's 96th Birthday lunch here. The food was excellent with a wide variety of choices…read moreeven for the vegetarians in the group. everyone was very happy with their meals. They happily accommodated our group of 12 with a reservation for lunch in a separated room and all the food came out at the same time which is often tricky with a larger group. As for the staff, our servers were terrific, efficient and friendly. Prior to the day Robert replied to emailed questions very quickly and made the whole event very stress free. I honestly can't recommend this restaurant enough.

This is my favorite after work pub in Nanaimo. The staff are…read morefantastic and provide a relaxed but entertaining environment. Wednesday and Friday are wings nights with Friday hosting a musical poker bingo that is very fun while having a good challenge, the host for this is fantastic at his job. Food is moderately priced with the best quality coming at night, from 3 pm to close. With daily specials. With a huge selection of local beers on tap this place will definitely quench your thirst for what ales you.

The Windward has a decent pub burger (comes with cheese, bacon, and sauteed mushrooms) for around…read more$12. Food is basic, and alright. I've never stayed in to eat because I felt slightly uncomfortable around the "regulars." They have frequent poker (?) nights and as someone that definitely looks gay/different, I've gotten a lot of looks.

So... This is a bizarre review…read more.. The food, I have to say, was pretty good. Solid pub fare. The most enjoyable hot wings I've had at a pub in years. Nachos that were cheesy and loaded with toppings. Weird toppings maybe, and a very strange tasting salsa, but not bad... The ambiance on a Monday night is a little meh. Only about 6 tables seated in quite a large, voluminous space, made it feel a little vacuous. Maybe if they turned their lights down a bit the vibe might be a bit nicer. They sure like their decorative lights here.... The server was very nice. Pleasant, but could have come around to check on things a couple times more, especially since it was so quiet. Now, for the weird part... Toward the end of my nachos I lost my appetite when I saw a mouse scurrying on the floor. It was very daring and was exploring under tables right up to me. I notified my server and she said "oh we know, we try to catch them but it's difficult. I think we caught one a couple days ago. Yesterday I saw one run up the stairs. I'm sorry you had to see that. Would you like a box for your nachos?" Um, no thanks! I finished my drink while watching this mouse wander around a few more times, and ANOTHER mouse come out from the opposite side of the room. and decided it was time to leave. There was no other response from my server about this - I just paid my bill and left. I get that this is a port town close to water, but it seems like these folks probably need to get a bit more serious about pest control.

I got a "mango smoothie" which at first tasted like water. And then when I sent it back for them to…read moreremake, it just tasted like mango flavoured water. I also have a friend that got served raw frozen fish. How do you even do those things that bad?!

OMG this place was utterly fantastic in every way!! Sitting outside, then later strolling the…read moregarden/yard was delightful! The service was excellent! I had the chicken and vegetable pot pie, and it was the best pot pie that I've ever had in my life!! The bread topping was amazing, light and fluffy and tasty! The inside was cooked perfectly and all the flavors melded together -- I was rolling my eyes back into my head throughout!! The inside decor was also very cool!! Be warned, though, we saw families turned away in anger because they didn't know there is a strict age policy in place, no one under age 19 allowed!

We sat outside as they were all full inside already. The service was really friendly and when we…read morewanted to move tables they were super nice about it. We ordered some Guiness, seafood cakes, scotch egg, seafood chowder, beef dip and a pot pie. I'm not sure if it's because we waited 1 hour for the food. But everything tasted pretty good. The serving sizes are large so make sure to share. Tip: don't come here hungry because you will be waiting for awhile. It's also a bit far from the city and visited by lots of locals in the area.

Lovely, friendly service and a delicious meal on Gabriola, a beautiful island near Nanaimo.read more

The pub review A little pub in the middle of Gabriola…read moreIsland, looks like your typical rough-around-the-edges spot... and then the food comes out and you're like wait, what?! So good.

Great brunch, great atmosphere, great service!!! Coming back for Father's Day because it was so…read moregood!!

Great food... but apparently "Social House" doesn't mean socialize…read more We visited Browns Socialhouse Nanaimo on Saturday, September 5 for our anniversary dinner. We'd made a reservation through Yelp and requested a booth. When we arrived, the hostess told us, "Oh, it looks like someone was seated at your reservation." So instead of the nice, darker corner booth we were expecting for an anniversary dinner, we were seated right at the bright front window with a romantic view of... a car. And can we talk about those front chairs? I'm a size 16 woman and could barely get my ass comfortably into one. Bigger gals, consider this your warning. Maybe that's the business strategy: tiny chairs = eat faster = table turnover. Thankfully, the FOOD was excellent. Seriously, 5. Everything tasted delicious, and our server was great throughout the meal. Then we finished eating. Apparently that activated the GET OUT sequence. We ordered a second round of drinks. My cocktail arrived, and literally about a minute later--while it was still completely full--we were asked if we wanted the bill. Shortly after that, the bill and debit machine arrived. My husband was in the washroom and I was asked whether she needed to wait for him. Nope, I paid. Meanwhile, I still hadn't even taken a sip of the drink I'd JUST ordered. Once I'd paid, I felt like our anniversary dinner was officially over whether we were ready or not. Maybe give people five minutes to actually enjoy the cocktail they just bought? I might even have ordered another one! A simple "Whenever you're ready, no rush" would have made a huge difference. And then there's the parking lot. If you drive a truck, good luck. Between the tiny spaces and all the 15-minute, 30-minute, Starbucks-only, Noodlebox-only, Little Caesars-only spots, apparently you need to arrive in a Smart car. Food: Service while eating: Service once finished eating: Ambience: Noise level: LOUD So our takeaway from Browns Socialhouse: bring a small car, a small ass, and apparently don't plan on doing too much socializing over a couple of drinks. The food was fantastic. Unfortunately, the overall experience made for a pretty shitty anniversary dinner.

The waitress was so mean to a customer. Unprofessional…read moreand we left and will not be back. Management didn't stop at the waitress for belittling the customer.

Not really impressed. We ended up here due to the missing two ferries. We needed somewhere to pass…read moretime, have lunch (plus a drink) that was close enough walking distance to the ferry terminal. Out of the two pubs nearby, this one had more of a vibe going. Note to self, maybe that's not how I should make future food decisions... We were greeted and seated pretty quickly. But after that, it was like we had to wave done someone to place our order. They have a big cocktail menu, we ordered a Caesar and a Blue Hawaiian. To me, pub meals tend to be on the extra large portion size, so the two of us opted to share a Celtic Shepherds Pie with a Caesar salad. It took a while for the food to come out. Everything was just alright, the Shepherds Pie was definitely living on the salty side of life. If there wasn't an issue with the ferry schedules, I'd have no reason to be there. And I won't be making the same mistake twice.

Tragic- used to be pure magic. The new Fish and Chip batter is thin and bland. It just tastes like…read morethe oil it was fried in. It's served in a single layer of fries. This dish fell fell flat in all ways. I used to tell people to make the trip from The Comox Valley for the Fish and Chips- sadly I will not anymore nor will I or my friends ever be back. It's too bad the former recipe was perfection.

ABSOLUTEY TERRIBLE! Some of the worst food we've ever had, but they have a great selection of beer,…read moreand the bartenders are amazing. When we do get food everything comes out cold, and the BLT was two measly strips of gross hard bacon, wilted lettuce and a slice of old soggy tomato. The fries used to be great but now theyre the worst ive ever seen, theyre just bland and dark, and always mushy, sometimes they switch back to the old ones and its great. Come for the beer, and stay for the more beer, if you have to eat the food stick to something deep fried. All in all, don't go. Save your money, save your dignity, and enjoy the next few days of your life since you didn't just get food poisoning.

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.

Love the place very friendly and good serves the owner is a a hoot a great person I recommend it…read morehighly give it a try and tell her Leo says Hi

Had SO much fun!! Delicious cocktails, clean comfortable space, and the staff are the best. Thanks…read moreto Jason for taking care of us on our night out in Nanaimo! We had the best time! Love forever! ^_^