Beach Fire Brewing Company — Restaurant in Campbell River

This is a fantastic craft brewery, the beer is excellent across the board, with something for every taste. The atmosphere is great, the service is friendly, and it’s one of my go-to spots.

Where they could really step things up is with the food, specifically the vegetarian options. Right now there are a handful of choices (like the Buddha Bowl, Caprese Crostinis, and Portobella burger), but compared to the range of seafood and meat dishes, it feels very limited.

The good news is they already have ingredients to expand the veg-friendly side of the menu without complicating things. The fried tofu, for example, could easily be featured in multiple ways: Tofu Bites as a vegetarian alternative to Cod Bites. Chili Tofu + Crispy Wontons as a swap for the chicken version. Tofu add-on for the Buddha Bowl, just like the soba salad already offers. Fried Tofu Sandwich/Wrap as a counterpart to the fried chicken sandwich. Tofu Burger Option — tofu in place of a beef patty. Tofu Yam Fry Upgrade — yam fries topped with crispy tofu and tahini-soy dressing. Tofu Po’Boy — swap tofu for the cod in the Po’Boy build. Tofu Fingers (Kids) — kid-friendly battered tofu with veggies and dip.

On top of that, with the simple addition of an Impossible Burger patty (superior to Beyond, in my opinion), any of the burgers could easily be made vegetarian. Since they’re frozen, there’s no spoilage risk and it would immediately broaden the menu’s appeal.

Even simpler tweaks (like offering the artichoke dip without salmon or turning the kids’ quesadilla into a shareable starter) would make the menu much more welcoming for vegetarians and mixed groups.

One other note: the kitchen can be slow. My sandwich took about 40 minutes to arrive, which is a long wait for what should be a quick dish. If they can tighten that up, especially at lunch or peak times, the overall experience would be outstanding.

All in all, this place is already a great brewery with excellent beer, and with just a bit more attention to vegetarian variety and kitchen pace, it could easily be one of the best...

My wife and I and our dog got to Campbell River last Saturday evening, and we were looking forward to going to Beach Fire for dinner and some beers. We got there at 7:45, and they told us the kitchen had closed early. They advertise that it’s open till 8 pm, but they closed early on a Saturday night. That’s really disappointing.

We went back on Sunday afternoon to give them another try. Our server was great, but the vibe from the people at the door is not unwelcoming but not exactly warm either (unlike a couple of the other places we went to in CR). Our server had told us that our small dog could be on the bench as long as there was a blanket or coat underneath her, so that’s what we did. Then, almost as we were getting ready to leave, another employee came out and told us we couldn’t have our dog there. We explained what we’d been told, and he rather snarkily replied, “Hey, we’re just trying to follow the regulations.” I’m happy to follow the regulations as well, but the staff needs to know what they are and all be on the same page.

The food was hit and miss. I ordered spicy chicken with won tons. By definition, won tons are dumplings in won ton wrappers. But what I was served was just pieces of fried won ton wrapper. It’s a bit like ordering a taco and getting a tortilla shell. The homemade salsa was really good, but it was served with stale bland chips.

As for the beer, the West Coast pale ale and the golden ale were both very nice beers. The dry Irish stout was a bit thin with regard to both body and taste. It would have thought it was a mild dark ale, not really at all a classic example of a dry...

Edit: After giving this place a break for a couple months, we decided to give them another chance of redemption last night. They failed yet again... Service has gotten worse, we sat for 10 minutes before anyone came to take a drink order. Once they finally took our drink and food order and it came to the table, only 1 order showed up. They completely forgot about my wife's order. And what do we get for an appology? A taster of beer.. gee thanks.... This place seems to rotate there serving staff more than they rotate they're beer list. Its very unorganized and seems like a chaotic work environment with no management. I've also sent friends here because of the good food and they were also forgotten about. I will not be coming back again and I will not ever recommend this place again. Its to bad because they do have some of the best food in campbell river, there service is just unacceptable for the prices you pay.

We were there today. My wife and I both had a beer and the beer was very good but no one came back to take a food order so unfortunately we didn't get to try the food. The place wasn't even busy. Pretty disappointed with the service. We ended up going to Sessions Taphouse for some killer nachos and some more beer. 5 out of 5 for...