Carve Kitchen & Meatery — Restaurant in Campbell River

As a local, it’s genuinely hard to find great spots to enjoy a night out—especially something that feels a little special. So when I heard about the resort restaurant, I was excited. I decided to make a date night of it with my wife, hoping for an experience worth remembering.

We had a 5:45 reservation—perfect timing. The atmosphere was calm, intimate, and surprisingly upscale for our small town. From the moment we walked in, the staff were outstanding—warm, attentive, and professional. Honestly, I wish the rest of the evening had lived up to the welcome.

We started with a pork belly tasting bite and a beautiful Italian wine. It was delicious—rich, flavorful, and full of promise. We thought we were in for a real treat.

Next came the locally sourced sourdough bread, which should’ve continued that momentum. The bread was great… but the butter was frozen solid. It didn’t melt, didn’t spread, and didn’t belong on a table that felt so refined otherwise. It was a small detail, but one that set the tone for what was to come.

For our mains, we both chose the bacon-wrapped tenderloin cooked medium. I paired mine with charred asparagus, tallow-whipped mashed potatoes, and herb-glazed prawns. My wife had the same steak and prawns, with braised carrots instead. It all sounded incredible—and that’s where the magic stopped.

The tenderloins came out medium-rare, leaning rare—not what we asked for, but still tender enough to enjoy. The prawns, though? Flat. Lifeless. Completely lacking seasoning or any buttery richness. A serious letdown, especially when I’d been looking forward to them.

Shockingly, the standout items were the vegetables—my asparagus and my wife’s braised carrots were easily the stars of our plates. That alone says a lot.

And then… the mashed potatoes. Thick, cold, and unpleasant. They had the tallow flavor, sure—but the texture was reminiscent of powdered mash from a discount shelf. Not what you expect when you’re paying for fine dining.

We passed on dessert—not because we were full, but because we didn’t want to risk ending the night on another low note.

They did bring us some little chocolate-filled bites to finish, which was a sweet gesture—and honestly, that thoughtful touch was appreciated. But no amount of chocolate can cover up a meal that misses more than it hits.

For the price point, and the hopes we had for our first experience, it was a letdown. We wanted to love it. We tried to enjoy it. But we walked away feeling disappointed, not delighted.

I hope this was just an off night. But for now, our search for a truly special local dining...

Three of us for dinner on Tuesday August 12. We were seated quickly, but after 10 minutes wait with no server. We asked a server walking by and she said she will get our waitress for us.

We ordered two appetitizers to share among us...Grilled Octopus and Heirloom Tomato & Fennel Salad.

We mentioned to our server that we will be sharing, yet we have to ask her for plates the second time. Turned out the plates we received were the same bowl as the appetitizers, which is approx. 10" diameter, everytime you put the cutlery down, it slided down the bowl and get dressing on to the end of the knife and fork.

The Grilled Octopus was great, highly recommended, but not so good with the Heirloom Tomato & Fennel Salad, it was missing olives, pickled shallots and radish. The radish was substitute with dragon fruit, which has no flavour. In hindsight, we shouldn't have ordered this dish because fennel is not a good match to heirloom tomatoes and burrata. Fennel is a perfect match with arugala, castelvetrano olives, orange slices, pecorino and lemon vinaigrette.

Our main courses were Beef Short Rib, Seared Sable Fish and Carve Burger.

My brother in-law had Beef Short Rib and no complain, everything was good and tasty, I had the burger and definitely recommended, but I would change one thing to elevate...get rid of the iceberg lettuce (it didn't look good on the burger at all), replace with leaf lettuce, better yet, replace with a piece of beef steak tomato. My wife had the sable fish, not a good dish at all. The white bean & guanciale just didn't work with the subtle sable fish flavour. It was over powering the fish plus the bean was very salty, probably because of the guanciale, save the guanciale for pasta instead. Some of the guanciale was quite chewy. The worst part of this dish was that there were 5 small bones in the fish, not good at all.

Lastly, the server tended to reach over to serve or take plates away. For the price of two glasses of wine, one non-alcoholic beer, 2 apps and 3 main course (no dessert), plus tips, the night was $241.09, I expected to get better service and quality of food for this amount. Having said that, the interiot decor was very nice, but having white table cloth would made this dining room...

“Be warned a very strict dress code to make it past the front desk to dine!” We dropped in to have dinner on our 20th Wedding Anniversary on our way home to Qualicum Beach. We were confronted by the hotel management and 3 staff all staring at us at the front desk. The manager proceeded to tell us we needed to change to eat at the restaurant. My husband asked if he had a room we could change in and he replied that he thought we were staying at the hotel. He did not give us any option to change into something else. I had on what i thought was pretty nice casual wear an expensive t shirt and very modest knee length shorts and my husband could easily have changed into his good shirt in our vehicle but a very frosty stare down by 4 people made me feel embarrassed and ready to leave as fast as I could never to return! Too bad as we had dined at Marilena in Victoria just a week prior with nice jeans and a t-shirt and were whisked in without even a glance at our attire and treated to the chefs table, if you have never dined there a truly 5 star experience not to be missed, we returned twice while there it was excellent. I really wish we had made it past the front desk stare down so I could have written a glowing dinner review instead! Please be aware you need to wear very smart attire to this lovely venue so you can have a warmer and more enjoyable experience than we did! A very disappointing experience especially for our 20th Anniversary we were so hoping to enjoy a special meal for. We settled for a Salt pizza from Parksville instead with a great bottle of wine which was delicious as usual and made up for the bad experience we had, probably why we are still happily married...