Not what I thought it would be. 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. read more

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I was so excited to go to a restaurant - its a special and rare event for me. We went to the Shady Rest and I ordered the one piece fish and chips. I was expecting a nice large piece of fish like you usually get and for the price . Boy was I disappointed. The ONE Piece of fish was about the same size as a chicken strip. I looked at it and thought maybe it was just a little extra piece and thought I would see a proper piece of fish - it wasn't on the plate. They charge a large price for a tiny piece of fish and a spoon full of coleslaw and a few fries. So very Very disappointed - made my rare eat out meal expensive and very much not worth it. Definitely won't be back and would not recommend to anyone either. read more

Great location, right on the beach with full water views. That's the best thing I can say about it. We were a large group and I called ahead to find out about dogs on the patio. When I came in and asked again after checking the servers practically shooed me away and told me to go down the street, then walked away to refill salt. The rest of the group entered through the other door and waited a good 15 mins before anyone even bothered to say hello. They actively ignored us. Eventually the group split into take out and eat in groups. After the initial frustration, I visited the inside table and asked for my meal to be take out instead. When I tried to get the servers attention, she literally grunted at me! I mean how is that a way to address anyone. She was setting water glasses down and I said 'excuse me' - 'hrmpf' was the reply. The table later told me she was unfriendly up until they were nearing the end of the meal. As for the food, well I got the Fisherman's pie take out and it was 80% mash potato. Definitely not worth it. Even the dine in version was considered mediocre, wouldn't order again. Little seafood and no 'lobster bisque ' to be seen. Mussels got a good review and so did the fish and chips. Calamari and chips, not so much. Wish I had better things to say but the attitude of the staff across the board left a lot to be desired. If it wasn't for the group we would have just left. Small towns often have genuinely nice people working at local spots. This, not so much. View is nice though! read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - Hardly anything but mash potato and some super small scallops and fish pieces - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

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Stopped in to take the edge off our hunger, but didn't want to eat too much as you have to eat an early dinner (for us) in Qualicum Beach as the streets roll here early even in the summer. Our server Peyton was a gem, great smile, knew her stuff and provided us with everything we needed. The view from the patio speaks for itself, the ocean is right there, the warm breeze, and sunshine. We ordered two fried items, which was probably a mistake, but the dried ribs were pretty good, the calamari not so much. The ribs look like they come in prebreaded, which isn't the best, but they were tasty. The calamari was undercooked just a bit and a little on the greasy side. Neither of the dips had much flavour, and we had to ask for lemon for the calamari. We're not expecting fine dining at what is really a pub, but the food did not match the service. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - A little more colour would brighten up what is an average offering. - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

We have been on a roll with food on the island and this place came highly rated by family. We chose to head over to the restaurant side rather than the pub side and the place was packed for lunch- always a good sign. We were seated right away and drink orders came out quickly. We had a table overlooking the ocean and it was wonderful, but not as wonderful as my clam chowder - one of the best I've had. My fish and chips were also fantastic and my wife almost immediately started stealing my fries because they were so crisp. She said her fish tacos were to die for and finished her plate. Nothing to smack talk about here - awesome service, incredible food, great location....... We will be back. read more

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Stopped in for a quick lunch. The view is fantastic, and we enjoyed sharing oysters, mussels, fried pickles, and flat bread. It was very busy, but our server handled it efficiently and we never felt neglected. The mussel broth was definitely worth sopping up with bread (we even used the flat bread crusts for sopping!), and the oysters were excellent. read more

Good food, great service, excellent view of the straight . I had a shady burger with sautéed onions, mushroom cheese, and bacon delicious.. Wifey had the schnitzel and was equally impressed.. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - The Shady Burger with , sautéed onions, mushrooms, cheese, and bacon. Almost too beautiful to eat.. - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

On a recent road trip to Qualicum Beach, a friend recommended we stop by the Shady Rest Restaurant for a meal. A toasty hot afternoon made the restaurant (nestled right along the beachfront) a very enticing stop. The parking lot itself is quite small, but we were able to find plenty of street parking (beachside parking) within a few minutes walk. No surprise, we were informed all seats on the small patio were taken up by restaurant patrons. We were able to snag one of the few remaining window seats, and I felt it was probably cooler to sit inside than brave the sun on the patio. As my friend promised, the food served at the Shady Rest was mouth watering good. Split a Calamari (our sometimes tradition) that inexplicably came with an arugula side salad. Otherwise, it was a standard calamari dish. Then, my husband decided to try the Fisherman's Pie. The best comparison I could come up with: deliciously rich Shepheard's pie, but without the pie shell/crust and filled with seafood. A good hearty meal especially if you are a hungry traveler. Incredibly generous portions: we probably could have split the appetizer and pie between the two of us and felt full afterwards. I'm glad I tried the Shady Special Pizza (took some to go). It was a great combination of chicken, arugula and real slices of parmesan cheese that melted onto the pizza as the meal went on. Hooray! Real slices of cheese versus having that powdered cheese on top made a ton of difference. Service was solid and food was great. It is nothing upscale or super fancy, but I would highly recommend Shady Rest as a great place to stop for lunch if you want to sit by the water and/or go for a beach stroll afterwards. If you have eagle eyes, you may even see whales off in the distance! read more

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Stopped in on the motor bike. Walked in and was acknowledged right away. Had the short rib again and again just wow. $30 even and worth every penny. These guys are doin it right. And as always , the room is very nice and the view is really world class. The servers , once again , just professional ladies doin it right. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - Cheese cake - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

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There was good variety on the menu. The food was excellent as was the service. Our table was on a window that overlooked the water... about 10 yards away. read more

Smoked brisket was awesome! Cod and Chips was awesome also. Waitress was friendly. Watched for whales as we ate. read more

The worst dining experience in years. We waited well over an hour for the food to arrive after ordering and when it arrived the pasta was cold. During the long wait the staff ignored and ignored a neighbouring table's request for their bill. The staff seemed ill-trained and indifferent. We have been going to this restaurant for over 30 years and won't be going back. read more

Great food and service. Nice view on patio of waterfront. Will go back again. No question about it

Sat afternoon fish and chips. I'd recommend asking if the fish is fresh or out of a bag frozen. Oh, ask for a lemon slice or bring your own. ! read more

The main attraction here is the view! We sat right over the beach, lovely view. The food was mediocre and overcooked, which was particularly bad for the salmon. The bison burger was ok but could have been better if not so dry. Service was perfectly friendly, just slow. The location is attached to a hotel, so the clientele was a mix of guests and locals. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - View of beach - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

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My wife and I dined here for dinner. She had the Salmon chowder and really enjoyed it, I had the Oceanwise burger and it was good as well. We shared desserts as well. The sticky toffee pudding was nice while the Angel food cake was good although was sponge cake not angel food. Service was awesome, our waitress was attentive and responsive. We enjoyed our experience here. Oh, and the view is to die for! They are very Covid aware. We felt very safe. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - View - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

First time here for us new island residents. Service was spot on...food was excellent and fat to arrive. Atmosphere was pub ish with a fantastic view of the ocean. You can and will see some locals in their work attire, stopping in for a beer and a bite, which bodes well for the place. Will return. read more

This is a pub that we frequent often, for the food, service and scenery. Today we arrived for dinner at about 6:30. We expected it to be busy because of the tourist season, but we got a table on the patio right away. We placed our dinner order shortly after and waited and waited for dinner to arrive. We were told by our server that the manager was involved because it took so long to come out of the kitchen. When it arrived, hubby's dinner was good, but my calamari was literally dripping in oil. Not at all what was expected. I sincerely hope that it was just an "off" day for the kitchen and that it improves the next time we come for a meal. read more

We went to the Shady Rest for lunch. It must be pretty popular because it was crowded! We were seated by the window which overlooks the water, it was a beautiful setting. I ordered the prawn salad. It was delicious! The prawns are served warm and it's served with a homemade dressing which was a touch of sweet & tangy. All the items on it made for a really flavorful taste. My husband ordered the wings and enjoyed those but said they could have been a little meatier. We also shared the vegan flatbread and it too was delicious! They have a wide beer selection with special local beers that change each day. Our waitress was nice & efficient, she was busy but yet always found the time to check on us. Yes, I would recommend eating here. read more

We wanted & we got. Viewservice was very attentive. We missed sitting on the deck and will try to next time. I felt like I was in some sort of time warp with the history of the place so close The menu was varied. We shared the jalapeño calamari- delicious start How two people ordered the Halibutt I'll never know - they must have had an intuition or, someone extolled the flavor and density of the fish. They loved it. My wife had what amounted to a fish burger. Her criticism was not on the taste - which was fully enjoyed but rather it was messy to eat! She would have preferred the flatten style patty. I asked the waitress for suggestions and I was offered a seafood Mac and cheese. Never saw that as a combo before! Ok I'm in. Served with a slice of toast and creamy sauce my taste buds relished every morsel. I couldn't finish the last third of the dish and took it home to be savoured again later. We surprised ourselves and have memories to prove it. Great ambience. Oceanwise BurgerSeafood FettucciniOceanwise Burger is all good read more

We were visiting from the mainland and stopped in here for lunch on our day in Qualicum Beach. The menu looked so good and I was torn between the clam chowder and fisherman's pie. I opted for the soup and my boyfriend got the Oceanwise burger. The meal was SO good we decided to come back for dinner the same day so we could try the other things we had wanted and got the Fisherman's pie and the prawn Cobb salad. Everything we ate was out of this world! I will be dreaming about the pie and the chowder until I can come back again! read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - Fisherman's pie and prawn Cobb salad. - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

wow, food was mediocre at best, service was not good, waitress didn't even check on our table when we got our food. Salad was not dressed even though it was asked to be. pizza is the only good thing here. fish tacos are not good, experience overall is a 2/10. read more

I took my 11 and 14 year old here for dinner - first time for all of us. Beautiful view of the ocean, but more importantly the staff were very friendly, the service was AMAZING and the food was hot and delicious. The halibut and salmon were perfectly cooked. We will absolutely be back and will highly recommend to everyone we know. Seriously, best service I've experienced in years. read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - a view of the ocean - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

On Vancouver Island for two weeks, our last stop was Parksville. Seafood should be at its best here...and at Shady's Rest it is. THE BEST fish and chips we had on the island! Done to perfection. We went twice (in 3 days!) and we're happy we did. Friendly, efficient "covid-check-welcoming-hosts" , friendly, cheerful, experienced waitresses and wonderful food, drink, Ambiente and view. I communicated with the waitress that the Cobb salad's shrimp were not sautéed (as the menu stated), and she assured me she would pass that on. I added the smoked salmon so the cold shrimp were ok but warmly sautéed would have been better. That's the only little reason I'm giving them a 4 instead of 5. Will visit again! read more

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I have been to this pub a few times and the food was so delicious and the service was so far out and good and the view of the ocean was so excellent. Hey now peace out and have a good day. read more

Hit and Miss- really enjoyed the Ocean Burger, the wings were so so, and the salmon chowder was yucky - just milky water and old salmon with a few potatoes. read more

Warning: The chef has gone rogue and is on a solo mission to bring down the restaurant. That's the only possible explanation for the quality of the food we had last night. Let me explain.. The 4 of us go on a Sunday night at 7:30pm, its very quiet and we get a table by the window which was covered by spiders on the outside. It ruined the view but at least we saw some nature? We ordered: Clam chowder - based on the good reviews off of previous posts. This tasted like they mixed some cream, water and wine and heated it up to a luke warm and threw in some clams as an after thought. The soup had absolutely no seafood or any other flavour whatsoever. Calamari - oily, bland, rubbery and void of flavour. In fact, they didn't even salt the dish (a common theme among the meal, I think they were out of salt). Salt spring mussels - WOW! Actually was a good dish and well flavoured. Mussels were big, juicy and flavour was good. Focaccia bread that came with it tasted stale. New York Striploin - This dish was so ridiculously bad it was actually amusing. The steak itself which was low quality and bland, was not even the highlight of this horror. Never in my life have I tastes mashed potatoes quite like this. It had no potato, milk or butter flavour. I think they ran out of milk and butter too. It tasted like they actually tried to make this with water and it was very confusing. This also came with half a cob of corn and a big piece of broccoli. I had a nibble of the corn, and this tasted frozen too and like they heated this back up in the microwave. Of course, no flavour.. The corn wasn't even sweet. We didn't dare try the broccoli. Smoked salmon and leek fettuccine - heavy, barely any flavour, and the frozen meal variety would have been several steps up. After a generous salting on our part we were able to eat a few bites. Second best dish of the night. The service was pleasant enough and the server was apologetic. We had heard her say sorry to the table behind us a bunch of times too, but we had already ordered and were past the point of no return. When we got the bill they took off the clam chowder and calamari which was a nice gesture, but we still ended up paying over $60. We left hungry and headed to McDonald's. read more

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Would give Zero stars. Do not eat here. Especially if you have allergies. Called ahead with allergies: dairy and soy. Was reassured they could accommodate. When ordering stated allergies clearly at beginning of order. Ordered something modifiable (leave off sauce with soy and butter), no sauce/plain. Waitress verified with kitchen this was safe given allergies. Served food, looked great. No sauce. First bite of vegetables and tasted butter. Double checked with waitress and she checked with kitchen and yes there is butter on the vegetables. Unbelievable. A simple "sorry". No visit from the manager. No change to the bill (the allergy laden food was taken off since it was sent back). Worst service. Don't be deceived by the great deck and view. read more

Visited this historic pub and had one of their Canadian Eh pizzas. Pretty good. I look forward to coming back and trying some of their other menu items. read more

Just average leafy salad with shrimp. Nothing special. Field greens are not my fave. Focaccia bread was tasty. Very good wait staff snd of course a good view of the water read more

We stumbled upon this beautiful little town by accident. Looked up "restaurants near us". And this gem popped up. We ordered the: - Schnitzel with mashed Potatoes, mushroom gravy and seasonal vegetables. OMG this was the best meal I've had in a long time. Wish it wasn't a 12 hr drive to get here. Flavourful. Rich. Vegetables were perfectly cooked. - Shepherds Pie - husband says it was "excellent" and one of "the best shepherds pie he's had in a very long time" Did I mention that we had ordered from our hotel and got it as take out? The view just from the parking lot took my breath away! Yum yum yum! read more

Shady Rest Waterfront Restaurant - Seafood Near Me - Qualicum Beach, British Columbia

We ordered the salmon salad, beef dip and the shady burger. The salmon salad and beef dip were very good. Although the burger was fresh and handmade there were too many fillers in the meat. I had a hard time tasting the beef. The service was excellent and the prices reasonable. read more

Mixed results here, tried it 3 times ourselves and once with friends. Friends didn't like it, our three visits were good, mediocre, and bad. Haven't been back in at least a year read more

I had low expectations for this restaurant based on the reviews, but really wanted to sit outside on the water so I went anyway, and was pleasantly surprised! There wasn't available outside seating or seating along the window at the restaurant, but the hostess took us over to the pub side where we sat on the patio. The menu is exactly the same so the difference is confusing but we were happy to have the view! There seem to be drink or appetizer specials that change every night. We got the calamari appetizer and it was very fresh and light. For my entree I had a special, the lobster cakes. The lobster cakes were really good and it although it said it came with mixed greens I was happy it was more of a side salad. Our waitress was friendly. Overall, a good experience! read more

just had the worst service ever ...a little boy that looked 15 came on like a young pouty kid about me seating myself after I informed him it was a waitress he started screaming which one? I told him to slow his roll and left..The staffing shortage has left many establishments having to hire sub standard help..watch out... read more

I was unsure of Shady Rest because of the yelp reviews but we tried it anyways because of its great location. The meal was amazing from start to finish. The best view around, great service, and all our meals were amazing. I had the beet and chèvre pasta on arugula and roasted beets and it was the best pasta I have had. My husband had the fried halibut and chips and said the fish was great. The fried pickles are delicious and my kids loved the kids pizza. We are from out of town and it was our best meal on Vancouver island so far. read more

A friend and I stopped a few weeks ago to have lunch and we were very impressed. We were given a table right by the window and had a great view while we ate. I had the oyster burger and it was hot and delicious and my friend got the deconstructed nicoise salad which was also yummy. It's totally worth stopping here when you are in the area and even making a special trip. read more

The view here absolutely makes it. The whole restaurant has an uninterrupted ocean view, and even if you just have a cup of coffee it's worth it because it's beautiful. The food is above average, with the seafood items being the best on the menu. The seafood fettuccini has a very generous portion of seafood in it! The chicken neptune is also really tasty. I always take any visitors from off the island here at least once. read more

Dirty inside. Shoes stuck to tile floor when walking to and from bathroom and didn't even use kids seat as it was sticky everywhere to the touch. Food was ok, but even if the food was great, being unclean as it was knocks this place down to 1 star. Won't be back. read more

Great location right on the beach. Plenty of tables inside by the windows but the patio is even better. Great seafood and cold local beers. Consistent from year to year read more