Match Eatery & Public House — Restaurant in Courtenay

I would like to share a disappointing experience I had at your Courtenay Casino location.

My husband and I visited for a quick meal. The restaurant had only a few occupied tables, and we were seated near the entrance. Since we had other plans afterward, we didn’t order any drinks besides water and were ready to place our food order right away.

While my husband was ordering a burger, our server — a woman with long black hair — asked if he wanted to add cheese. My husband replied, “I’m okay,” meaning no cheese. She followed up with, “You don’t want cheese?” which made my husband, a non-native English speaker, a bit flustered. He answered “Yes,” then quickly corrected himself to “No cheese.” The server reacted by sharply saying, “Yes or no?” — in a tone that felt more like she was scolding a child than clarifying an order.

I found her saying “Yes or no?” quite rude and unprofessional — definitely not the way a server should speak to a guest. Had she at least offered a smile or shown a friendly attitude, I would have been more willing to overlook the misunderstanding.

Later, she brought over parmesan cheese and chili flakes, adjusted the lid on one of them, and told us to be careful when using them. Even then, there was no smile or eye contact. Her attitude left me increasingly uncomfortable.

During our meal, she passed by our table several times but never checked in on us or asked if we needed anything. Only after we had clearly finished did she come over to ask how the food was. By that time, I believe she realized I wasn’t happy. Even while we were paying, she said nothing. Strangely enough, other servers nearby greeted us with smiles and friendly looks.

We have visited this location many times before, but this experience left us with a very unpleasant impression. Because of the poor service, we chose not to...

We were in town for one night only and were looking for a nice sit-down place for dinner, 6 of us. It was this place or Boston Pizza. After reading most of the reviews here, a few common themes quickly emerged over dozens on reviews. 1. You'll wait 1-2 hours to be served, 2. If you don't order booze you're ignored, 3. They hire staff that literally rolls their eyes when customers enter, and multiple, multiple reviews of poor service and a general attitude that most of the staff give the impression that they would rather be anywhere other than doing their job, and 4. the management is likely to blame as they have an entitlement complex where they think it's acceptable to charge an 18% tip if you have several guests.

So can you imagine where we went for dinner? Sure as heck wasn't this place! The people have spoken!!

TO THE MANAGEMENT: Time for you to wake up and know your place if you hope to survive! Tips are 100% optional, all he time! They are for service ABOVE the norm, not something you can insist on! Holy entitlement attitude.

It's no wonder your staff has constant bad reviews. That's your entitlement attitude rubbing off on your staff! Rolling your eyes when paying customers enter?

Finally, take a reality check and remember where you are! This is Courtenay, the backwater sludge of the Island! You can't afford these kinds of idiocy if you want to get and keep customers. Anyone reading all these reviews would never consider patronizing you! It would be different if it was 1 or 2, but dozens and dozens of different people say the exact same things. Therefore YOU ARE...

I had a deeply disappointing experience dining here with two of my friends recently. We’ve visited this restaurant multiple times before and never had any issues, but this time the treatment we received was unacceptable and frankly felt racist.

When we arrived, the server /bartender (a lady) asked for IDs, which we understand is standard procedure. However, only one of us had an ID on hand. We were politely trying to explain that we’ve been here before and have never been asked for ID at the door like this. Instead of listening, she cut us off and said, “You’re not even allowed to be in the building.” Her tone and attitude were unnecessarily harsh and dismissive. For context, we were only there to have food — not to order any drinks — so the reaction felt completely uncalled for.

To make matters worse, another server was actively taking orders from other tables, but we were told we only had 3 minutes to place our order — at 9:40 PM — which felt incredibly rushed and rude, especially since the place was still serving others without issue.

Even while we were eating, the same server kept coming by and reminding us that we had to finish and leave by 10:30 PM. It felt like we were being pushed out and monitored in a way that others weren’t. The entire experience made us feel unwelcome and targeted.

This kind of treatment is unacceptable. We came in for a meal, nothing more, and were met with hostility and what felt like racial bias. Sadly, we won’t be returning and cannot recommend this...