Gladstone Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Courtenay

decent beer... but the burger was soooo disappointing... so small for 15 bucks! The weakest burger i ever had for that price... not comparable to a real restaurant beef burger... my gf who doesn't drink beer was told no kambucha left... also sold out of san pellegrino just fountain pop available. Then I'm told no fries available after I paid... was offered salad or chips after I had paid extra for the parm fries.. being offered something I don't want that costs $2 less than I paid doesn't compute... was like 630pm but somehow they came through though and were able to come up with fries 😄🤦‍♂️ yeah I guess I'm difficult. I just want a decent burger and fries... beers are just average... I went to a top gun brewery nearby that had both food n beer dialed.. just saying... the veggie burger was tasty but was surprised to hear my veggie friend said it's just a Costco patty.. makes sense.. hard to believe the burger came from some local butcher.. smallest beef patty EVER. Buddy who had the chicken burger was also disappointed... looked small like my burger.. 15$ for that small piece.. really?! salad was also meh he said.. definitely not a place to go for food.. that's for sure.. heard people ordering food and being forgotten about next to us lol......

Visitors to the island, we took a beautiful day trip which included Goats on the Roof and Cathedral Grove, great stops along the way. The BEST part of our day was Gladstone Brewery, where we were greeted by the warm and exuberant owner, Alexandra, who clearly knew many of her patrons. She offered up her husband, Daniel, to give us a tour which demonstrated how much passion and knowledge he had about his product. Speaking of their product - we had flights served on license plates and were able to purchase our faves to take home (mine were Hazy and Glad Light, my husband the Cream Ale and Pilsner, but flights will help you choose for yourself). We were there at 3:30 and the space was almost full with everyone from young children (and cute pups!) to seniors. We decided to stay for dinner, where I had the tacos- why choose? You can get one of each! My husband chose the burger, which he loved. Delicious and fresh, I found my tacos authentic, yet innovative - one is veggie! It was clear a great deal of thought and care went into everything, but the overall atmosphere for us was come as you...

Update: We went back to the Gladstone recently at the invitation the manager to give it another go after the unfavourable review below. The beer is still good and the local pub vibe was definitely a thing - very community oriented. We went for the Mexican dishes this time and the burritos were jam packed with goodness. Fresh and tasty and definitely filling. The kitchen was on the ball that day and the server was friendly. Glad we gave it another go and will definitely go back. It is a good manager who will read honest reviews and take them to heart.

The beer here is good. The food was not. The hamburgers were chewy, small and unenjoyable. The serving of fries were meagre but that was okay because they tasted like they were from a fry factory. I enjoy the brew pub vibe and ambience but on a cold, rainy December day, the whole place was wide open without not much care for how much energy they were using by keeping it so wide open. And where we sat, the heater was going full tilt. The guy at the cash was nice. But on the whole it was such a...