Martine's Bistro — Restaurant in Comox

We arrived having made a reservation on line on their website and were told we didn’t have a reservation, rudely. That we should have made sure it was confirmed. (It was and I had sent the confirmation to my friend who still had it in her phone.) She also said if we had had it confirmed we would have received a phone call that day to confirm as well. (How would we know this?) They then proceeded to seat us in the worst table in the place, right by the check in desk, after saying they would see if they could find us a table. Naturally my friend asked for a better table, politely. One was found. Turns out the person who was so rude to us at the door was now our waitress so she improved her service when she realized her tip would depend on it. Now she is back pedalling stating we are not the first people that the website has cancelled their reservations on. We suggest that perhaps they shouldn’t use this online booking tool if it is not reliable. Anyway, the rudeness that we were met with at the door set the tone for the evening so the evening was ruined. We will...

Our first visit to Comox was even more remarkable with this restaurant facing the harbour. We went for dinner twice and were very satisfied with the quality of the food, service and the reasonable prices. I gave the food section a rating of four because I found the sauces (for the Schnitzel and the Lamb Shank) quite thick and jelly like. It seems like it was prepared ahead of time ( which I understand) and was sitting on a warmer, rather than heated up for it to be smooth and moderately runny. I can understand this as we didn’t wait for long for our food to be served. The flavours are spot on, classic and comforting. On our first visit, we ordered the clams and mussels, halibut, pork schnitzel and strawberry cheesecake. The schnitzel was a bit tough but eatable. On the second visit, we ordered the escargot. The butter sauce was delightful! Followed by snapper, lamb shank and coconut cream pie. Thank you very much to the staff of Martine’s for the great food and service. We came twice with no reservations, luckily was accommodated even during the busy...

Ate there once and had a great time. Good food, good service. Decided to take my family there because of this experience. Went online to make reservation for the patio however the website says you cannot reserve the patio. We show up 5min after opening, with nobody in the restaurant and are told there is nothing available on the patio due to reservations. What? Thought you can’t reserve the patio. We ask to speak to manager, who comes storming out of the kitchen and immediately starts berating us for questioning his reservations. Turns out he can decide to allocate any reservations of his choice to the patio and therefore there is no room. After having his reservation list waved in my face while he yells at me that I have no idea what I’m talking about, we decided to try elsewhere.

Cannot express my frustration and astonishment of a restaurant manager treating and speaking to me like that. We will NEVER go back and will be sure to share our experience with anyone who asks about dining in the...